Putting the pressure on Willi

 

If I want to run Willi on our club track at public events, it needs to pass a boiler test, and the problem with that is that the gauge showed around 10psi, even when the boiler was empty and loco cold! It seems that one of the first checks is that the pressure gauge works, and this one didn't. 

A new guage was £22 from Gardenrailways.co.uk and I've finally go around to fitting it. Well, Boxing Day was to see some steam action in Rowington. An event that will sadly mean me missing the annual visit from my cousin. Don't worry, we'll both get over it...

Anyway, fitting the new gauge was simple enough with the aid of a small spanner (6mm I think) and a touch of liquid PTFE on the threads. Somehow, on the final tightening, I managed to get it wonky. I'll fix that later. 

I wanted to make the best of the late afternoon sunshine for a quick test. Very quickly, it became apparent that the gauge worked fine. Winding the gas up a bit, the safety valve fires off at around 3 bar, which seems a little high, although it's slowly venting steam a bar below that. Working pressure is 3 bar apparently, so I'll stop worrying. You have to get the burner to very loud to get that anyway, and I prefer these things to be a whisper. 

The loco steamed well on blocks, and no leaks around the pressure gauge, so I'll call that a success. Not that impressive I grant you, but then I am still new to this live steam tinkering.

They are talking pictures of my Willi!

 

It was the offer of cake that did it. 

Andy Christie was opening his garden up as part of the national Open Gardens scheme, and it has a 45mm gauge railway. A last minute decision to turn up, I messaged him the day before and was not only welcomed, but promised suitable refreshments. 

Willi was test fired in the morning and behaved himself on a rolling road, so I hoped to turn up and not shame myself with my lack of steam know-how. 

The line currently consists of a horse-shoe out-and back with impressive viaduct and a couple of bridges. It will eventually become a complete circuit, with an impressive length run for a back garden in Bournville. Loops in the station, and one end of the line can hold four bogie coaches. 

With Andy's friend Richard supplying an DHR B class along with Andy's couple of chuffers, we had more than enough locos to keep things moving. I was the poor relation compared to the other machines, but Willi performed very well and fascinated people with it's whirling cylinder and flywheel. 

The line loops around some very tall plants and you can't see your train without hopping over a bridge, but this didn't matter as he runs so smoothly, I could just let him get on with it. You get used to catching glimpses of your loco as it goes on it's little adventure. The well-laid track helps, since I wasn't worried about derailments. Mind you, radio control would have allowed me to shelter from the showers which seemed to accompany my runs!

Visitors, and there were around 200 of them during the day. They helped me locate the loco as I could follow the gaze of thier mobile phones filming progress. Everyone really enjoyed themselves - and I feel sorry for the other garden owners, as "the one with the railway" will surely be the talk of the event. 

A terrific day out, I stayed far longer then planned, and wished I'd taken a bit of Garden Rail memorabilia to hand out. I don't think there were many converts, but we did find some railway enthusiasts, and plenty more who knew railway enthusiasts!

Thanks very much to Andy and family for inviting me along. As soon as we have a date for next year, I'll put it in the calendar.

A box for Willi

  

Willi didn't arrive with a carrying box. The postman delivered him well packed, in an old Amazon cardboard box. By the time I'd hacked away all the sticky tape holding it shut, that wasn't going to do the job containing him in the future. 

For years, we've made boxes for model boats, so producing something suitable for a small steam locomotive wasn't going to be much of a problem. 

The main parts are cut from 6mm plywood by our local wood shop. They do an excellent job with everything being straight and square. The open-fronted box is assembled with PVA and some 6mm square stripwood strengtheners. 

Once dry, the angled pieces to hold the sliding front are added. There's usually a bit of faffing around with the measurements on these, but they are soon glued in place as well. 

Finally, the box is given three coats of Ronseal hard gloss varnish - the stuff that dries super-fast and the brush can be cleaned with water. I like to sand between each for a nice finish and to make sure the door slides in an out without too much effort. On that score, let the varnish harden overnight before slotting it into place. 

A couple of stripwood lengths stop the model sliding back and forth. I'd put them lengthways except the loco can run in 32 and 45mm gauges and getting those right was a fiddle. This way works nicely anyway. 

I'm pleased with the box and have another under construction for the Piko "Clean Machine", a loco that is properly packed, but the packing is a nuisance to extract it from and this will be so much easier. And better looking.

A train for Willi

 

 

Willi needs a train, and everything I have in 45mm gauge, for the line in our garden, is a bit LGB. Lovely, but hardly approproate for our vertical boiler loco. 

No problem - a few quid thrown at Peter Binne and a couple of days later, a box full of kits arrives. 

We chose Hudson skip wagons. At a tenner each, they are cheap and easy to assemble. A coat of red oxide primer followed by a dry-brush of Humbrol No.70 does the job for the initial paintwork. I plan to try some rust replication products on them later, but want a working train first. 

A couple of chassis were also added to the order and these have been turned into flat wagons - you can read how I did this on World of Railways. (Go, on click on the link. It will be funny if this blog makes it into the higher levels of the monthly stats report) A process that's pretty painless and yet the results really (to my eye) look good. 

The train is 77cm long - plenty for a little loco and it should look nice snaking around the line. Being plastic, the wagons are quite light, but I'll glue some lead under the central rib initially. If they need more, some dummy loads will be required.

 

Willi on the tracks

  

Excitement got the better of me and a day after Willi completed his test run on the bench, I brushed the leaves off the garden railway, hacked back a few plants that were encroaching on the rails and tested the line with a Piko Clean Machine. 

The rail clamps had done their work and everything was swiftly in operation. 

Willi was flipped over and after searching out the correct Allen key size, his wheels were loosened on the axles and moved to the correct gauge for my line. 

On the track, pressure was once again quickly raised after a little faffing around with the burner. I think I overfilled the gas tank as we had a few "burps" before settling down to a nice, steady burn. I'm one for turning the gas down as low as possible after hearing many stories of Accucraft locos with burnt paint on the smokebox because their owners like to hear the roar from the other end of the garden. 

With pressure raised, I gently opened the regulator and was really pleased to see the loco trundle off slowly. 

No high-speed travel for this machine, it potters at a very realistic speed. Or at least did until it tried to exit the tunnel when the chimney caught on the portal top. 

The problem was tiny - a couple of mm and I seriously considered attacking the cement with a chisel, but in the event, just shuffled the track back and forth to dig into the ballast a bit more and provide clearance. 

The re-start was slightly marred by setting fire to a plant, but only one leaf and there are loads more. Turn the burner up too far and you get some impressive flames shooting out of the chimney!

After this, Willi pottered around for around 20 minutes (I think, I forgot to time it) followed by another session because I was so pleased. He handles the slight gradients on my line easily enough and will surely haul a reasonable train. 

A train? Well all the 45mm stock I have is LGB and colourful. Willi needs his own wagons and that's another project/excuse.

My new Willi

 

 

Roll out the double entendre's, I have a new locomotive!

 

Now, I'm not really a steam man. I mean, I like watching both miniature and full-size steam locomotives in operation, but the urge to actually own one has never been that strong. As a child, and even an adult, I never wanted to be a steam train driver. The smell is lovely, but all the effort to make the thing work, give me a diesel or electric. 

In the garden, I love building battery electric locos. They aren't exciting to watch, or challenging to operate, but I like sitting back with trains trundling by without worrying if the thing is going to explode. I own an Accucraft "Ragleth" which is lovely, but that's mainly because I feel as Garden Rail editor, I should have a chuff-chuff.

Despite this, since watching a vertical boiler loco at ScoutRail earlier this year, I've fancied owning something similar. Watching all the moving, waggly bits is fun. 

A couple of weeks ago, I spotted a Regner Willi for sale on Facebook. I ummed and ahh'ed a bit then messaged the seller. It was still for sale and we agreed I'd buy it. A Regner for Mamod money (that's two full-ish fat OO locos for small-scale modellers) seemed almost too good to be true and I'll admit paying by bank transfer rang a few alarm bells. 

I didn't need to worry, the photo of a Post Office reciept was followed a day later by a parcel containing the locomotive. It was greasy, but looks good. 

 

The wheels were set to 32mm gauge and I don't have a line suitable for that, so the first test was on bricks. It makes sense to do this anyway. Go through the learning curve operating the model without having to chase it around.

Despite being warned it could be tricky to steam, I had it running very quickly. The only niggle was that you don't shove the reverser all the way around, 2/3 of a turn seems enough. 

Pressure was raised very quickly thanks to a warm day and warm water. 

And there we go! Chuntering away like a Swiss (or German) watch. Quality if construction seems really good, I especially like the hand-wheels on the gas tank and lubricator. I'm sure someone will say the geared drive isn't realistic, but I don't care. 

So, I'm happy so far. Time to clean the model up and break out the Brasso. Yes, I plan to polish my Willi...