artfull dodger

One of the Roundhouse basic series would be perfect for you Andy, more affordable than the classic range and once run in, the Millie with her pot boiler can return runs nearly 45 min long. I love my Sammie, even before I went wild and fitted different valve gear to him. I would defiantly recommend saving your money for an engine from Roundhouse as your first engine. Mike

Maybe I missed it, what color are you going with on the coach? These common LGB coaches make excellent bashing fodder into something different. Heck the W&L run several examples of LGB coaches these days. Mike

RC in live steam is not all that hard(most of the time) but it depends on the brand of the engine. A manual control Roundhouse model is just a simple change over with the RC bits from Roundhouse, 2 servos, a 2.4ghz reciever and a four AA battery pack, The style of the battery pack depends where you want to mount it. Accucraft take bit of thinking and maybe drill a couple of holes to mount servos. Both my Pearse and Merlin engines were RC right from the factory. But one has been updated to 2.4ghz, same servos and battery pack, just swap out the reciever. The new 2.4 stuff has just a stubby antenna, no long antenna wire to hide somewhere on a hot steam engine. My Pearse still has its 75mhz AM radio for the moment, and with most everybody already being on the new 2.4 band, its almost totally glitch free. But you still have a long antenna on the transmitter. For the moment, both of my live steamers use the old large twin stick radios. But newer hand held controlers like above are offered now for live steam and I plan to further upgrade both engines to use one common controler. The days of bulky handheld radios are a thing of the past if you want them to be. Also battery technology has come a long ways in recent years with good duration batteries that can fit under the bonnet of many diesels that might normally run on track power. I have converted several LGB diesels and the Accucraft diesel to onboard batteries. Not the best pic, but you can just see the twin servos at the top of the pic, they are tucked along side the boiler in the right side tank on this Pearse W&L Countess. The reciever is mounted under the engine between the middle and rear axles. Battery pack is carried in the rear cab bunker and is a flat style 4 AA pack. I have also used AAA battery packs when space is tight. You can see the excess antenna wire wrapped around a white piece of cardstock, and its soldered to the brass steam dome, which is then insulated from the boiler. This goes away when I convert this model from 75mhz AM to the new 2.4ghz RC control. Mike

Just figured out who made the coaches, they were Brandbright kits, found them in my old catalog. Mike

Mine only has one of the twin whistles. Which brings up the question? Why 2 whistles. Never see them use the other one on any of the videos on youtube. I need to find a bolt on smaller whistle for my Countess. I would check the timing and position of your return crank on the middle axle as to why it will not move. If the valve that switches the whistle on is working, that is also your throttle I believe. Make sure the steam stop valve in the cab is opened up a couple of turns as well. Since the return crank is not "pinned" like a Roundhouse, it is easy to knock out of timing as it can just revolve around the crank pin on the center axle. It should lean slightly forward when the side rods are at bottom dead center. The timing adjustment is bascily the same as the old Merlin engines. If even one side of the valve timing is off, the cylinders will fight each other and she will not move. I also found on my friends Earl, that the O rings that are between the valve chest and the cylinder block had perished and were allowing steam to cross over between the two. Replacing both of them stopped this. The O rings on the lines to the cylinders that are under the smoke box also needed new O rings as did the whistle/throttle valve in the right side tank. All were rock hard and flattened out, allowing lots of leaks. The one in the side tank was making an oily,watery mess of the footplate. Mike

Here is Countess, fresh from the shops and looking much more splended and polished up. Ready for the steam up on the 22nd of this month. Mike

The roof isnt were the ripples are, its above the "Countess" name plates on the real thin cab platework. When running on the line, I do not even notice it. Someone just hamfisted it when they picked it up. Probably when packing at some point and by someone not familar with the engine and where not to grab the model. Mike

I was able to repair the hinge, but I did think about just making the roof unhinged and just sitting in place, I believe it would stay in place while running, even without the hinge. The coaches are really nice, just need decals now. Both have working lights as well. The damage was pre shipping I think, probably from non live steamers handing the gentlemans engines. He passed suddenly while at the huge Diamondhead USA steam up in January and he normaly took every engine he had to that event. That would explain why Countess was so filthy and such. She never got the post steam up cleaning. The damage is fixed for the most part. You can still see some ripples in the upper cab but only if you are really looking for it. I do need to find some GWR green enamel paint on my side of the pond to touch up where it flaked off, mostly inside the cab, from the damage. Or I might take the plunge and paint the inside of the cab that off white color I see others do, and the way my Merlin's cab is. Mike

Being in the states, 16mm on 45mm gauge track is much easier on the wallet. Very hard to source second hand sm32 track in the states! That and my fav Welsh narrow gauge is closer to 45mm than 32 ! Mike

Here is a pic of Countess in bits, she was in dire need of a degreasing and tightening up of loose fasteners. The smoke box supports were loose, cab had a dent from shipping and one hinge on the roof is broken off, gotta figure out how I am going to fix that part, other side is almost broken off. I am pretty good at spot soldering with my micro butane torch without destroying paint work, thinking of laying some pieces of sheet brass around the soldering area to help protect the paint on the top side of the roof, not so concerned with the paint inside the roof at the moment. RC needs updating eventualy, has 75mhz AM in it right now. Second picture is the supprise. From the pics I couldn't tell much about the cars, but for the price, the engine was a steal. The cars are the really nice W&L coaches sold thru GRS in the UK. I do have a few pieces I need to JB weld back on, one set of end steps and the end railing on one of the composite brake coach. Both cars are full of people and have battery powered lights. Mike

Thats what LGB R2 is, roughly 5 foot radius. With R1 being 4.5 foot radius. The turnouts are a bit abrupt in R1 and I worry about the engines or long bogie coaches picking the frog. The R3 are more expensive but smoother in operation. I already see that the Pearse engine is more tempermental about trackwork than the Merlin, which could care less about how rough or out of level sections of my old nearly ground level line is. With our temp extremes of 98'F with 100% humidity in the late summer to 20-30 below 0'F wind chills in the winter make ground level lines a chore to keep level. The fence has every post set deep in the ground with concrete and hasn't moved or heaved in 10 years, so once the shelves are mounted and track laid, it will be a nice level and smooth line. Not going to try to model the hill and dale of the W&L! Going to keep the line as level as possible for ease of live steam. Mike

Nice double heading pic Phil. Thanks for posting. I found some track plans for the layout at Llanfair, which will be the first part we model. Going to do a trunicated Llanfair Caereinion to Castle Caereinion(first section reopened in preservation) along my rear fence, right after the run around loop there, the line will go around a 90' curve to the right and travel up the side fence 55 feet to Raven Square station. Going to do point to point at first with the possiblity of return baloon loops later on. Would be fun to model the entirety of the line over time, but that is more space than I have. Just going for the spirit of the line in style and flavor. Scratchbuilding the stations ect are beyond my means so I found some kits that will fit the part. LGB 45mm track will be used with R3 turnouts and R2 curves. This should keep The Earl and his Countess happy vs using my exhisting R1 turnouts and curves. Mike

Thanks for the pic of Countess! Mine will be here tomorrow, along with 2 GRS coaches they included with the engine in the estate sale. My friends newly aquired Pearse Earl is in black with lining. He got it from Anything Narrow Gauge. Which is our favorite shop to purchase from in the UK. All the track I have now is LGB radius 1 and I suspect that even Countess would prefer turnouts that are larger radius, along with the long bogie coaches I have on order for later this year from Accucraft. We wil be staying with 45mm gauge LGB track(local source for second hand at a really good price) and its closer to the gauge of the W&L than 32 mm gauge track. Mike

Cant wait to see the new pics as you progress Phil. My wife and I are planning to do the same thing, ease the radius to better suit our Pearse Countess and long bogie coaches and raise it up to a comfortable height for adults to operate live steam. Beautiful railway you had, so I am sure the next will be just as good if not better! Mike and Michele T

The 45mm LGB track is so much more robust, it can be floated in ballest to some extent. Mine is on a hard packed dirt roadbed, then ballested and shimmed as needed to level it out. Every spring, the track crew must relevel and tune the track before derailment free operation happens. This will come to an end this summer as a new raised railway along my wood fence will be under construction. Between our new Beagle thinking everything on the old layout is a chew toy and my aging back, its time to get up off the ground or nearly ground level railway. Mike

My friend and I went to the local shop that deals in large scale trains, I picked up a second hand brown Zillertal coach(my second one) and he got one of the green 3062 bogie coaches(looks very similar to the pair from Hungry that W&L has). He put a second 3062 in layaway till next month. I also ordered some spoked metal wheel sets for my 2 axle wagons and coaches I have already. We went out to a nice lunch before heading home. Enjoyable day, despite the blustery winds and winter like temps. Mike

Is the old Merlin factory also the empty yarn making company building that the W&L just bought recently? It would be neat if they paid some homage to the old Merlin Locomotive Works when they redo the building for thier use, maybe a image of one of the Merlin builders plates on a wall as a big mural ect. Mike

Just messaged Simon @ Anything Narrow Gauge for a quote on 3 of the Pickering coaches (saloon coach and both brake composites) along with brake van #1. Thinking wiser to get some proper rolling stock than any more steamers right now.(was considering a RH Bertie that might be up for sale locally). I would consider trading the Merlin or Sammine for an Accucraft Joan in maroon color to better fit in with the W&L theme of the railway And how in the heck do I change my avatar? I changed the profile pic, but that must be different from the avatar. Mike

Stuart Browne must be getting up there in his years as well! I have seen you can get a brand new Archangel and they are not cheap. Wouldn't mind either of those models myself. But I think an Accucraft Joan would be my next steamer to keep with the W&L influence. Another W&L steamer would get me to trade off the Merlin, probably the only way I would let him go right now. Espicaly my own Pearse Earl to go with the Countess. Or I might let it go to get funds to get 3 of the Pickering coaches that are coming soon. Need to see how much 3 of them will cost. My friend owes the balance due on his Mayflower that he purchased from me. Those funds might get the coaches. Mike

The Chassis and boiler were by Beck, Merlin started to do thier own bodies to make them more UK looking fairly early on from what I have read. I like the looks of the Major(Hendey) over the Lady Anne. The LA looks to large for its wheel base. To much overhang, espically out the back. The Mayflower and Major just like "right", more balanced. If only the consistant quality had been there. But then looking at my friends Pearse Earl, you can see the same basic design as in my late model Merlin. But then Ian Pearse was involved with many of Merlins better models. The valve motion and cylinder/valve block design is very similar, as is the whistle/throttle valve. Now we see that same design influence in the Accucraft UK products. One reason the Edrig was so much better as a beginner engine over the first Ruby's we had in the states with the smaller cylinders(later versions like my Ruby#5 have larger bore cylinders). One must remember the selection of small scale live steam was very limited back then, you had Archangel and Merlin as the main producers. Smaller private individuals were probably making bespoke models I am sure of. Aster was gauge 1, so not in the narrow gauge picture till the Frank S for LGB and it was gauge 45 only. I do need to source someone to make new side rods, as mine are quite worn, mosty in the front crank journel. Need to see what it takes to put bushes in the rods to see if I can do this at home myself like Tag Gorton did on his models. I have a worn set from a Pearse engine to try for my Countess, which shipped out to me today. Mike

Next time I have his Earl apart, I will try to take some pics, best I could do now is with the roof open as he is all back together other than the cylinder covers. The Mayflower and Merlin are probably the best balanced 16mm engines out there IMHO. Yes some of the early models were a tad ugly. I think the Hendey is better balanced than the Lady Anne(which is a beautiful engine in its own right!). Same with the Mayflower(0-4-0 version of the Hendey). He is staying, if any go on the for sale block, it will be the Sammie once I finish the valve gear install. Obviously the one I got as a gift is decorated to pull my special Autism Express train, so she is going nowhere. Cheers Mike

I believe the coaches I got with my Countess are the same as your GRS Composite. Just painted differently. Both have full interiors and figures in them from the pics the estate trustee sent me. I will sort of do what you are doing. Line will be pseudo W&L(I would like to get a couple of the forthcoming Accucraft coaches) and when the mood strikes I will get out Sammie and run him. Need to see what the recommend radius is for the forthcoming Accucraft Pickering coaches and see what the UK pound does in the mean time. Would love to get 2 or 3 of them to pull with our two engines, might pass up getting the Bertie so I can get the coaches. Our elevated line will be 70 foot by 55 foot "L" shaped raised line along 2 sides of my wood privacy fence. A return loop is easy at the one end, other end I am working on ideas as my garden shed is there and I need room to open the doors and get the lawn mower and pool supplies out. Seen some ides on how to do the raised benchwork on another forum that I plan to use. With the ease of getting LGB rolling stock, I believe we will model the line as it is today. Much easier to get coaches and much more afforable for now. I already have one of the brown Zillertal coaches. And the green LGB 3062 coaches are real close to the Hungarian ones they use today. Then get a few of the Accucraft W&L or a couple kits like a guards van and a few various wagons for mixed trains ect. My idea is to be able to run the future railway as point to point, or continious loop when I just want to watch trains run. Need to see if any of LGB's little diesels would make a good stand in for one of the W&L's heritage diesel fleet. Finding UK looking stone and brick buildings is a real challenge over here. Mike

With the Welshpool running engines from all over, its not much of a stretch on a loosely modeled line to have a such an engine on the line. Once Steve and I build the railway, which will be at my place. The actual engine roster will be a Mayflower and Major from Merlin, The Earl and his Countess from Pearse and possibly a Bertie later this year if the gentleman decides to sell it. And yes, they are hard to come by, well anything UK style is hard to come by in the USA unless one orders a new Roundhouse engine. The UK style engines that came up in an estate sale after a well known live steamer died suddenly this past January, sold quickly. Mike

To say that I am less than pleased with the condition of the model as received is an understatement. But, I have gotten all the steam leaks fixed other than between the valve chest and the cylinder block. I took 1 O-ring from each so I could fix the steam valve in the cab that was spitting and spraying oily steam all over the whole lower cab and footplate. Being this engine cost my friend way more than Hendey cost me, I hoped for a model in better condition(both from same dealer). I have yet to find a source for these micro O rings localy, so I have a request into the dealer for a few as I used all my spares for my Merlin to sort out my friends engine and still need 2 more O rings to finish the job. As soon as he cools back down, I can reinstall the body work. Runs better when an engine has no steam leaks everywhere. There are O rings on both steam lines to the cylinders under the smoke box, 2 rings between the valve chests and the piston bock and 2 more on the shaft for the selector lever for the steam valve that chooses the whistle or to the cylinders. And every one of those was brittle, flattened out and leaking steam. Works number is 108, so an early one and probably have never been changed. Hopefully the next run in the garden will be better. Mike

Now I am jellious. I have always like those Welshpool Pottery buildings, but back when they were being made, the cost plus shipping those heavy things to the USA make it a non starter. Still fighting with my friends Earl. Refuses to run well I can get a few feet with no power. I am going to pull the valve chests as soon as he cools back down. He is acting like my first Merlin, a Mayflower, that had O rings that had swelled up from age and blocked off the steam passages between the valve chests as the cylinders. Once I fixed that, he took off and ran excellent. Also have several steam leaks around all the banjo fittings on whistle/throttle block which is nicely buried behind body work. Time for a tear down! Other than really needing new side rods(front crank pin holes very worn), Hendey runs excellent. Mike