A new locomotive arrives on the railway

[artfull dodger]

Shop crew is hard at work preparing the lines new(second hand) Fowler 0-6-2 for service. Arriving via FedEx this morning safe and sound from the other side of the USA from me. Previous owner has upgraded the old girl with flanged middle drivers instead of the blind ones that do not even touch the rails and the combination lever/crosshead upgrade. I plan to replace the dummy headlamp with one of the Darjeeling ones from Roundhouse along with a second of those lamps mounted to either the rear of the tender or the cab roof, haven't decided that part yet. I have seen the reverse lamp mounted in both places, even on engines with tenders. Currently manual control, that will be getting changed as well. Maybe a Slomo once they get the Fowler version on the market. Mike

 

[stockers]

Looks very nice.
If that is your layout in the picture you may need to revert to the flangeless wheels with those corners!
With the small wheels on the Fowler you may not need a Slomo.

 

[artfull dodger]

She will go around the corners with the flanged center drivers, but it puts enough force against the lead drivers that they will sometimes climb the outer rail or pick the points on a turnout, both a huge no no on a raised railway. That is my little line in the picture. I will be reinstalling the blind drivers later this evening. Had to let her cool down. Also need to work on the tender draw bar, its short enough that the tender wants to buffer lock against the cab. I removed the cast foot plate off the tender for now to solve the problem A longer drawbar would be better. Need to see what I have in brass stock to make a new longer one. She came from a much larger line, So there were a few mods made to the stock engine. Which as I understand, should go around LGB R1 curves without any issues. The driver size is the same as the other Roundhouse engines that Slomos are made for. The one for the Lady Anne may fit but they have not tried it yet. Mike

 

[artfull dodger]

Center drivers have been restored to as delivered from Roundhouse. That really eases her binding in the R1 curves. For now the tender will have to loose its cast metal foot plate. The drawbar looks home made, but I have been unable to find anything suitable to rebuilt it with in my drawer of "stuff". Still looking! Mike the Aspie P.S. Instead of making whole new drawbar, I found a short piece of brass and extended it about 5mm. This gives some air space between the footplate casting, which is back mounted to the tender, and the backside of the cab. Will test run again tomorrow as it is dark here now.

 

[artfull dodger]

Having issues with the old girl picking the points going one way around my layout and the frog if I reverse direction and run the other way. She is a big engine for my layout with its R1 curves and R1 turnouts. Going to larger radius anything isn't an option. I read somewhere that adding a strip of styrene to the guard rails on LGB turnouts will help this. Atleast with picking the frog. 9 times out of ten she will go thru the points without a problem running the normal way I operate. But then without warning the lead drivers will pick the point and derail. This turnout goes right off the table right now as this is where the line will be extended soon. Once the new loop is built, this will not be a problem as you will be going straight thru instead of taking the diverging route. I think I am going to have to pull that turnout for now till the extension happens. Lest I have a heart attack every time she tries to go thru that part of the layout! Otherwise she ran excellent pulling my normal short LGB consist. Mike

 

[dunnyrail]

I could be wrong but I thought that the wheels would be the same as a Jack or its various follow on of 0-4-0's (33 mm dia). So I think a SloMo would be appropriate. Have words with SSP as the Lady Anne one might work for you.

I had one of the very early ones of these but sold it on back in year 2000 as I was dissapointed with the lack of haulage on a less than flat line. All that Tender and Pony Truck wheels to drag about.

As for riding up on curves, does it do it if you bodily turn the Loco round? Though the effect may be less than Chimney first due to the turning, it may be assisted by the Bogie and Tender.

Might be worthwhile to put the Loco on a piece of Plate Glass or other perfectly flat surface to see of the Chassis has been put out or twisted in any way. If it has this may be resolved by loosening all the Chassis Screws making sure that the drivers all sit level and tightening up again. This should be possible without dismantling the loco.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.
JonD

 

[stockers]

Try these

http://www.modell-werkstatt.de/vorsatz-radlenker-fuer-lgb-weichen-radius-1

 

[Eeyore.Boater]

Bertram has an English language version of the page as well. (the detail is still in German; its a work in progress as they say.)
http://modell-werkstatt.de/completment-check-rail-for-lgb-turnoutes-radius-1
Easy to deal with, and will accept Paypal (there may be a small additional charge for Paypal.)
No connection; just a satisfied customer.

 

[artfull dodger]

I know the LGB check rails are way to wide and do little to actually keep the wheels in "check". You can even watch my LGB 2073D Eurovapor 0-6-2 jerk as it goes thru the frog of the turnout, but with much deeper flanges, it just gets a rough ride and doesn't derail. Never though to check to see if Fowlers chassis is square. I will dig out my piece of glass and see how she sits. For now I will probably remove that turnout and replace with a standard piece of curved track till I am ready to lay in the new loop. To much danger of a derailment on a raised line. Also thinking about a catch fence around the table incase of a derailment. Kind of like I see around some of the Didicot(I think that was the museum/club layout on the Roundhouse video over on youtube) as any live steamer is no small sum of money. No need to see one plug to the rocks 4 feet below the layout. Mike

 

[artfull dodger]

Ok, I checked the chassis, its nice and square with all flanged drivers sitting square on the glass surface. I did replace a missing screw that holds the smoke box to the frame. I removed the offending turnout for now. A "catch fence" is still in the development phase. Need to go to the local home improvement store and see what they have in stiff "chicken wire" fence that I can cut down and paint a flat black. Whatever I use, I want it to look nice and be able to retain a heavy and hot live steamer should it decide to nose dive off the rail. Mike

 

[Zerogee]

Bertram has an English language version of the page as well. (the detail is still in German; its a work in progress as they say.)
http://modell-werkstatt.de/completment-check-rail-for-lgb-turnoutes-radius-1
Easy to deal with, and will accept Paypal (there may be a small additional charge for Paypal.)
No connection; just a satisfied customer.

And, like last year, he will be at the Llanfair show in a couple of weeks' time with a tradestand full of fascinating things!
I've put in a pre-order with him for some stuff I specifically wanted, because he doesn't bring everything that he makes.....

Jon.

 

[artfull dodger]

would one of my fellow railroaders be able to pick up enough to do 2 R1 turnouts and ship them to me? I can send funds thru paypal.

 

[Zerogee]

would one of my fellow railroaders be able to pick up enough to do 2 R1 turnouts and ship them to me? I can send funds thru paypal.

So would that be two of these that you would want?

http://www.modell-werkstatt.de/vorsatz-radlenker-fuer-lgb-weichen-radius-1

Jon.

 

[Ralphmp]

Just curious - the write-up on the web site suggests using glue to help hold the check rail in place, and I wondered what sort of glue folk had used to attach the brass check rail to the plastic one the points come with.

 

[artfull dodger]

Yes, 2 of those. I dont know what kind of glue as not much sticks to LGB plastic. The design of those brass check rails is that glue isnt really needed. Anyways, here is a video of Fowler running on my railway. I just removed the turnouts that will connect to the yet to be built extension loop till I am ready for them. Mike

 

[Rhinochugger]

Looks very nice.
If that is your layout in the picture you may need to revert to the flangeless wheels with those corners!
With the small wheels on the Fowler you may not need a Slomo.

I think you'd need flangeless drivers for any 6-coupled loco on most G scale turnouts, except the larger US-made turnouts.

If my memory serves me well, US 1:1 turnouts do not have any curvature through the frog, and the larger US-made turnouts mirror this, unlike LGB R5s

 

[Zerogee]

Yes, 2 of those. I dont know what kind of glue as not much sticks to LGB plastic. The design of those brass check rails is that glue isnt really needed. Anyways, here is a video of Fowler running on my railway. I just removed the turnouts that will connect to the yet to be built extension loop till I am ready for them. Mike

Yes, I think they are meant to fit without glue. If you want a couple of them, send me a "conversation" (a PM) with your details - if Herr Heyn brings some to the show then I'll pick a couple of them up for you and post them over, we can sort out costs via Paypal.

Jon.

 

[dunnyrail]

Yes, 2 of those. I dont know what kind of glue as not much sticks to LGB plastic. The design of those brass check rails is that glue isnt really needed. Anyways, here is a video of Fowler running on my railway. I just removed the turnouts that will connect to the yet to be built extension loop till I am ready for them. Mike

Love the Flatulent Safety Valve, reminds me of an Archangel one.
JonD

 

[artfull dodger]

I believe its one made by Wee Bee locomotive works, aka Jim Sanders and sold thru The Train Department over here in the USA. The stock RH ones want to weep constantly long before proper blow off pressure. Jim's blow off and snap closed, just as a safety should. I will know if its one of his for sure one of these days when we get together to steam again. He lives about 1.5 hours from me. I will see him more often once train show season starts up as he has a portable layout that we all steam up on at shows.

 

[Hutch]

I know the LGB check rails are way to wide and do little to actually keep the wheels in "check". You can even watch my LGB 2073D Eurovapor 0-6-2 jerk as it goes thru the frog of the turnout, but with much deeper flanges, it just gets a rough ride and doesn't derail. Never though to check to see if Fowlers chassis is square. I will dig out my piece of glass and see how she sits. For now I will probably remove that turnout and replace with a standard piece of curved track till I am ready to lay in the new loop. To much danger of a derailment on a raised line. Also thinking about a catch fence around the table incase of a derailment. Kind of like I see around some of the Didicot(I think that was the museum/club layout on the Roundhouse video over on youtube) as any live steamer is no small sum of money. No need to see one plug to the rocks 4 feet below the layout. Mike

Here's an alternative check rail (guard rail) that requires no adhesive. Just a strip of brass formed to a tight fit over the plastic check rail.View media item 2349View media item 2348