Tuesday 22 December 2015

Eaugate Light Railway

The imminent delivery of Teddy led to a rather dark and extremely windy evening of emergency track laying on Monday night. Fortunately simplified by the short term use of Ride on Railways portable track connectors.

So when Chris Dixon of CMD Engineering  delivered the loco this morning there was at least some track to test it on.


Needless to say I'm very very pleased with it. It runs very smoothly and controllably. Although I went for the modern Loncin engine rather than the Suffolk Punch I think it still sounds rather nice. I must add the obligatory Scamp bicycle horn though to scatter any poodles on the line.

It was a bit of a challenge getting it into the engine shed at the end of the day, since the railhead is currently around 60 feet and 90 degrees away from the limit of shunt, but I managed it using the traditional approach  of  swapping track panels around.



7 comments:

  1. James I would like to congratulate you on your bravery. You are no longer a railway modeller. You have outed yourself as a railway (if only of the transient kind) owner.

    I'm not jealous. Honestly! I think that is a terrific set up to have.

    Have you aspirations to Teddy Boston's crown?

    Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

    Kane

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    1. Kane, Well the loco is named after Teddy. He christened me so something might have got passed on in the process.

      The truth is that if you can live without live steam then passenger/freight hauling in the garden has probably never been so accessible. Teddy RTR was comparable in price to a high end 16mm steam engine. If I'd built it myself it would have been cheaper still. I seriously considered 5" gauge instead of 7 1/4" and might have gone that way if passenger traffic and live steam had been a a major part of my plans. Have a look at http://www.rideonrailways.co.uk/ourrailway/page31.html

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    2. I remembered the connection from a past post, so I was being a bit tongue in cheek! I still think the new setup is cool.

      Loads of fun ahead.

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  2. Come on...of course we're jealous! I will have to come over and black my nose, James!

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    1. Martin, we'll have to arrange that once Xmas and New Year are out of the way, and I've enough level track to justify a play.

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  3. Jealousy must spread like wildfire! I wouldn't mind a little 'estate railway' myself, but there's little room or call for one in a Derbyshire backyard.

    I like the skip. But how long will skip and loco stay super shiny?

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    1. Paul, Scamp has successfully negotiated 5ft radius curves that were never intended to be loco worked on Chris Stockdale's line.

      I'm hoping the skip will take on a suitably used patina fairly soon, since it is intended to work for its living.

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