Locomotive Driver Help

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Bill Shields
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Re: Locomotive Driver Help

Post by Bill Shields »

Just be careful about shrink fits on the axles with this material combination.
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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gwrdriver
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Re: Locomotive Driver Help

Post by gwrdriver »

Virginia is ride-on, in that it's intended to pull at least a driver and a few passengers..

To your question . . . the lack of small locomotives (0-4-0s, 2-4-0s, 4-4-0s etc) in Ga1 (1:32) in the USA may be explained by a couple of things. The first is that most US buyers want "big" locomotives which will haul a lot of stuff. I've been active in Ga1 for over 30 years and have seen plenty of Berkshires in steam, but never a Reno. They're always sitting on a shelf.

The other reason is that the design envelope of a Ga1 (1:32) 4-4-0 restricts the space available for a boiler which will produce adequate steam to give the owner satisfying runs without having to constantly fiddle with it. Of course it's been done a number of times now, but they still require more than the usual amount of careful design, construction (or manufacturing), and driving.

I also agree with Dick Morris about steel tires.
GWRdriver
Nashville TN
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Benjamin Maggi
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Re: Locomotive Driver Help

Post by Benjamin Maggi »

GWR: all that you said is true.

It is interesting though that in the UK many if not most of the Gauge 1 live steam engines are actually models of narrow-gauge prototypes, are scaled 16mm = 1', and usually tank engines of some sort of the 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 varieties. Here is a great website showing many of them: http://www.sidestreet.info/locos/intro.html
"One cannot learn to swim without getting his feet wet." - Benjamin Maggi
- Building: 7.25" gauge "Sweet Pea" named "Catherine"
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gwrdriver
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Re: Locomotive Driver Help

Post by gwrdriver »

Ben,
Marc is a "Critter" guy (Critter = smaller, sometimes curious locomotives), so that's what you'll see a lot of on his site, but to say that "most" Ga1 in the UK is narrow gauge would certainly not be the case, far from it, unless one ignores everything but 16Mil. One advantage of 16Mil is that a model of a very small prototype can usually accommodate the Ga1 standard (almost) 2"od boiler tube which when properly designed and built will handle the cylinders usually found on an average Ga 1 locomotive.
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Benjamin Maggi
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Re: Locomotive Driver Help

Post by Benjamin Maggi »

GWR-
I defer to you on this. However, after reading Garden Railways magazine going back to 1986 (admittedly, written by Marc) and a bunch of Garden Rail magazines I admit that those influenced my opinions on the matter.
"One cannot learn to swim without getting his feet wet." - Benjamin Maggi
- Building: 7.25" gauge "Sweet Pea" named "Catherine"
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LVRR2095
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Re: Locomotive Driver Help

Post by LVRR2095 »

Ben,
Check out this site: https://www.g1mra.com/
You will quickly see that the vast majority of interest in the U.K. is in standard gauge prototypes.
And even here in the U.S. many of us are members of the Gauge One Model Railway Association and model standard gauge equipment.
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jrosene
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Re: Locomotive Driver Help

Post by jrosene »

GWRdriver, your point concerning gauge 1 scale and the corresponding size of small locomotives is well taken. However, as you mention, with careful design and construction, it is possible. Here is one of my Aster Reno conversions with a butane poker burner and axle pump. It’ll run for 30 minutes without any attention.
https://youtu.be/f_MB3grtuyw
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