Neil
Western Thunderer
Late this afternoon I had a phone call from my friend Otto asking if I wanted to take a look at his new O gauge loco, and perhaps see if it worked. Of course the answer was 'yes'. I'd known for a couple of weeks that the new loco was a Bing live steamer; Otto and I had discussed testing it in my garden on a suitably dry and still day; the weather in mid Wales has been gorgeous from daybreak on.
Otto turned up half an hour later with one of the most charming locomotives I've seen in a long while and his portable test track.
We gave the ancient engine a head start by filling the boiler from a boiled kettle, topped up the burner with meths and waited.
Water boiled and bubbled up through the safety valve, the engine showed signs of wanting to go, but just kept ejecting hot water through the oscillating cylinder.
Four times we topped up the meths, each time greater promise was shown; however the front burner (seemingly bent in some previous incident) kept blowing out. We gave the little engine one last chance as dusk was drawing in and were rewarded with it whirling round the circuit. Brilliant.
Not finescale, not pristine, not easy to use, but gorgeous and huge fun.
Otto turned up half an hour later with one of the most charming locomotives I've seen in a long while and his portable test track.
We gave the ancient engine a head start by filling the boiler from a boiled kettle, topped up the burner with meths and waited.
Water boiled and bubbled up through the safety valve, the engine showed signs of wanting to go, but just kept ejecting hot water through the oscillating cylinder.
Four times we topped up the meths, each time greater promise was shown; however the front burner (seemingly bent in some previous incident) kept blowing out. We gave the little engine one last chance as dusk was drawing in and were rewarded with it whirling round the circuit. Brilliant.
Not finescale, not pristine, not easy to use, but gorgeous and huge fun.