It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I had to share this image because it has been months to get it done. I finally got my ground garden layout weeded enough that I could run a train on it. I have been trying since April and some parts were weeded at least 3 times before I finally got it all done. This is my Accucraft Santa Fe locomotive and it's train making some rounds on it.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I went to the Steam Up that a friend has on Memorial Day weekend again this year. It was a fun time as always and I got to see some neat Live Steam engines. I ran a couple of mine as well and this was my C-21 2-8-0 running in the evening on the ground loop that he has. The conditions were really good that day and the locomotive was putting out a quite nice plume of steam as it ran along the line.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Sharing another image of my steam train by the mini Lilac. I wish Lilacs lasted longer, they smell so great and look nice. The flowers are just about done already. This is the Accucraft Forney Live Steam locomotive and it's train by it.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! It's also a double digit day. 😁 Spring has come to my Garden Railway as my mini Lilac is blooming rather profusely. I took a few images of my Accucraft Live Steam Forney and a train with it the other day. I have been doing a bunch of spring cleanup on the railroad and hope to be running again soon.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image was one I had taken to use as my Christmas card image for the upcoming season. It was, until we received 8 inches of snow and I took a proper one. 😁 At the time I didn't know if this would be all the snow we would get. This is my Live Steam Accucraft Shay locomotive and it's train out on the snow.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I have a very steamy image for today. This is my Accucraft Live Steam locomotive after it had been repaired this past year for leaky cylinders. I was operating it on a friend's layout during his steam up event. The steam out of the smokestack showed up very well against the sun setting sky.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! A friend had his yearly Steam Up get together over Memorial Day weekend and I took a couple engines over to play. This is my Accucraft C-21 on one of his layouts. This one is interesting to run on as it changes elevations and has a pretty good grade. I was able to get my sunset photo before it started to rain. Had to end the run slightly before it ran out of gas and steam because it was sprinkling with harder rain on the way.
I have a short video of it running on that layout HERE.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog once again. It's June and we are halfway through the year already! Wow! Today's locomotive is the last one I ran on my mini steam up in early May on the new/used raised layout. This is my Accucraft Live Steam Emma. Emma is a model of a Brooks industrial 0-4-0T. Brooks Locomotive Works, of Dunkirk, New York was an important supplier of locomotives to railroads and industry. In 1901, Brooks and several other locomotive builders merged to become the American Locomotive Company, or ALCO. It's a bit larger than a usual G scale locomotive which is generally 1:29, this one is 7/8 scale. It's a really fun locomotive to operate though and it's run time is quite long as it has good size water and fuel tanks.
I have a video of it operating on YouTube HERE.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! It's also a double digit day! 😁 Today's image is from my little steam up that I did on my new/used raised layout not too long ago. Today's locomotive that I ran that day is the first live steam locomotive that I had. It's an Accucraft Mimi locomotive. This one is very picky about where it is run because, without remote control, on an uneven layout, it can run very quickly and derail. It's very nice to have a level surface to run it on when I want. I usually could only run it at a friend's house on his layout.
I have a short video of it operating on YouTube HERE.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is of my Accucraft Live Steam Shay locomotive on my new/used raised layout. A Shay locomotive is geared differently than the typical locomotive. Shay's were designed with a flexible geared wheelbase and a jointed driveshaft. This made them able to negotiate tight turns and handle steep grades so they were used in logging operations primarily. It's a fairly smooth running locomotive but is not able to go very fast. This locomotive is fun for me to run even on my layout on the ground as it negotiates the uneven grades of the track well and doesn't want to move too fast on a down grade.
I have a video of this locomotive running on the track on YouTube HERE.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today is about my latest Live Steam project, my raised layout. I picked this layout up from Florida over my Christmas Break on a whirlwind trip. We have been working on getting it installed since then and after some snow and bitter cold delays, it is finally usable! It needs some finishing work like trim but I did a test run with one of my battery locomotives and after that went well did my first Live Steam run which is what the layout was really designed for. The locomotive I am running is an Accucraft Forney that I purchased along with the track. It had some pretty bad scale buildup that took several vinegar soaks and some other soaks and rinses to get cleaned out but it seems to be running pretty well. I need to figure out the best settings for it but other than that it sounded good as it ran. It, like my other locomotives operates on Butane and water.
You can see a short video of the first run HERE.
Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!. It's also Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Here is another look at my new Emma locomotive made by Accucraft. From this angle you can see a bit of the controls for it. In the front side window is a glimpse of where you put the oil to lubricate the locomotive as it runs, it mixes with steam. In the back, the lower bronze knob is the gas control and the upper silvery one is the throttle. The circular tubing, visible from the back side window, goes up to the steam pressure gauge. The locomotive is an 0-4-0 Tank engine modeled after the kind that carry their water over the boiler. This one has no fuel tender but probably should have as there is no where to store it if this was an actual locomotive. Also, for some reason, the whistle was lost before I got it.
If you missed it, there is a video of it HERE where you can see it running.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I recently purchased a new Live Steam locomotive from a friend during a get together. He had never used it so it is essentially a brand new locomotive and on Memorial Day I ran it for the first time. After getting a few bugs out, including the fact that the port to put the Butane in was loose and leaked (just needed tightening) I ran it around my railroad. It performed wonderfully actually except that, due to no fault of the locomotive, it needs to be remotely throttle controlled due to the grades on my layout, on the downgrades it would run pretty quickly. In the image you can see my winter project, I scratch-built the water tower. The ladder was 3D printed. I based it off a Rio Grande style one. I have a video of the engine running in this area on YouTube if you would like to watch. More info is there as well.
It's a double digit day today! It's also Steamy Sunday here on the Blog today! Today is my annual spring photo. I have a miniature Lilac growing in the railroad that I like to take one of my steam engines with. This is my live steam Accucraft Mimi locomotive with it's train and the Lilac which didn't have a lot of blooms this year for some reason.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I took this image last weekend while outside on a nice day cleaning the weeds out of the railroad. I recently got a scrap of AstroTurf to use as crops on the farm. I set up a little scene to show how it was being used and I liked how it turned out so I am sharing it for today. See if you can spot the other steam related item in the scene. 😄
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I'm looking forward to being able to run my Garden Railway trains again. This is an image from one of it's first runs this past year before I put out any buildings. This engine is battery powered so I don't have to worry about any track cleaning. 😂
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Last year I finally was able to get my garden railway up and running for the first time in several years. It had been over run with weeds that I finally got cleaned out and did a bit of track work to get it running. I had been constructing some new buildings in the meantime. One of them was the fire station that the train is passing by in this image. It's a kit that I bought on-line. I decided to do this image in B&W for an old time feel.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Longing for spring and winter hasn't even started. This is an image I took this past spring of my G Scale locomotive and it's train in front of the mini Lilac I have growing in the railroad. The water tower is actually a bird feeder that I have yet to use for it's original purpose as it fits in perfectly on the railroad. 😁
It's Steamy Sunday once again here on the Blog. Today's post goes back to my Garden Railway once again. It cooled off and I was able to put out some buildings and autos to spruce up the area. I have a video that highlights this area as well which you can view HERE. The Sawmill, I built it over the winter and the works inside were 3D printed by the hubster using some plans I purchased off the internet. It's lacking a steam engine to drive it, we are still working on that. It will be just for show and not actually work but...
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I did some more work on the Garden Railway. Did some more weeding and put down some indoor/outdoor carpet to resemble grass for a couple areas. Still putting more buildings out but got a few set out for photo taking. Here is the steam train passing by the freight and passenger depots. I am building a new water tower, the last got devastated by termites, a bird feeder stands in for now.
I have an updated video available HERE if you would like to take a look.
