4158 working a borrowed military train at the 2006 Train Mountain (Oregon) Triennial meet. Guest engineer with the Reiter family working the rear end. Dad built her heavy (1200 lbs) and liked pull lots and listen to her work hard. Construction was first seven years of retirement. Then 20 years (1989-2009) booming railroads from California to Burnaby Canada, Georgia, Ohio, Texas. Wanted to run in St Louis and San Francisco, but there were no active tracks in those cities at the time. His pride was the whistle. Propane fired for forest fire restrictions. Trips at train mountain take 1-4 hours depending on route/s chosen. End of trip is up sustained 2% and steeper grades. Max out the fire and open the throttle until the pressure gage twitches down, then close it a bit to have steady state heat for the feed water being added. Or have to stop and wait for pressure to build.
He wrote me and asked what the dimensions of 1522's whistle years ago. I saw a tape somewhere where the engine was working hard and by golly, it's a Frisco engine with a nice bark. Beautiful piece of work.
Wonder what train handling a miniature train like this is like? Reason: In the above video, all the weight seems to be at the hind end of the train. On the prototype, such a train made for some interesting train handling back in the day when I was running with only air (no dynamics). Andre
When I was a member of the Kansas City Live Steamers (1 1/2" scale, 7 1/2" gauge) we hauled three cars loaded with adults and children behind Kay Volrath's Allen Mogul 2-6-0 with only engine braking. Our maximum grade uphill was about 1%, downhill about 0.3% and we had no real issues with slack action. Fred Shields had a 4-6-2 Heavy Pacific and would haul up to four cars loaded similarly with ease. Edson Chadborn had a little Allen Models 0-4-0 Switcher & Tender that pulled 1 loaded car.
@klrwhizkid Shortly after we moved into our house here in the woods, I now had 1.3 acres. I got seriously interested in live steam and designed a loop w/access spur that ran through our backyard, out into the woods, to return to the yard. The spur was going to be from the work bench area, passing through garage exit doorway via a temp piece of track, then ramp down to the sidewalk and onto the the connection track. Awkward, but do-able My interest led to me to make a visit to the live steam enthusiasts layout at McLoud, OK (east of OKC), some 2.5 hours drive from me. They were very patient and accommodating to me and my many questions. I spent the day getting familiar with what was required to do live steam. I had decided to shoot for a "Chloe" type live steam engine and go with a 2 1/2" scale "narrow gauge" look. In my mind could hear that little stack barking working some of the grades it would have to work. Alas, reality hit: During that time (1998-1999), even then the cost of serviceable track was like $10 a foot. AND, to build a "Chloe" locomotive was going to be something like $12,000. That cooled my firebox in hurry! Looking back, I'm very glad I did not sink serious money into the hobby, for it turned out to be a dead end for me. Live steam enthusiasts are a very special breed. Andre
We have 3 acres with 50 pecan trees. We have a nice 25 X 35 cinder block outbuilding with a concrete floor. The first year we lived here I seriously investigated live steam on the property. Between the expenses and my lack of knowledge (machining, etc), I decided against it.
I have considered it several times. We are on 5.75 acres 3.5 is horse pasture. It was think of a spur to service the stables. it's the cost of the machine shop and do I really have time to build the right away and lay the track. Next best thing would be G scale live steam. But how do I keep the chickens off the track?
