Mike's review of Regner's Willi live steam locomotive

[emdmike]

I recently was talking to a couple of local guys that have garden railways and knew that I also had one.  The topic of live steam came up and both of the other guys had poor luck with thier entry level Accucraft Rubys due to fast running and layouts that have a hill and dale profile.  They also had the same problem with running a shay due to using LGB R1 curves like I have.  One had never heard of Regner and the other didnt know much about them other than they are made in Germany.  So, with our break in the weather, they got to see my Regner Willi run in my garden, a line that has a nice grade at one end with other shorter up and downs along the way, R1 curves and some rough track work here and there.  Willi handles this with ease while hauling several LGB feldbahn series wagons.  Willi uses a single oscilating cylinder mounted upright just ahead and offset from his upright style boiler.  The cylinder is geared 6 to 1 thru double reduction gearing to the front axle.  Nice side rods carry the motion to the rear axle.  Willi can be regauged wtih the supplied gauge to 45mm, 32mm and 30mm gauge track.  Regner sells a line of 30mm gauge feldbahn equipment including track, so thats were that odd gauge comes from.  Willi is heavly built, comes complete with a water level gauge glass(something absent from other higher doller engines from another well known UK builder), steam oil, a nice full color instruction manual.  Willi can be upgraded with a water top up system, a working steam whistle and a roof kit, all from Regner.   I added lagging(cotton string soaked in ACC glue after wrapping) on all my hot side steam pipes, this seemed to help with running outdoors in the cold wind, along with not burning my fingers if I touch one of the pipes.  I also rerouted the exhaust from the front mounted condisate tank to up the chimney instead of the factory seperate exhaust pipe.  I still use the condisate tank to keep from so much of the oily water coming up the stack.  My Willi is one of the earlier models that came with the cast metal driver figure, this is an optional item now.  Willi is part of Regner's ":Easy Line" of locomotives.  Konrad is the same basic chassis with a horizontal boiler instead of Willi's upright one.  Price as of my typing this was $682 plus shipping from The Train Department.  You can check out thier website for further info or to order yourself an engine.   I was torn between a Roundhouse Billy or Katie or the Regner.  The Regner was much easier on my wallet and after reading a review and talking to Jason at The Train Department, I was sold that the Willi with his gear drive would be much easier to operate on my railway.  This has proven to be very true, I can set Wili going and walk away if need be, even at full speed, its basicly a walking pace with little to no chance of derailment.  I can highly recommend one of these or any of the models from the Easy Line range to someone new to live steam or with a line that uses tight curves. No connection to The Train Department here, Jason is just the USA agent for Regner.  Regner is a small father/son business in Germany, nice old world German quality in thier product with several add ons that you dont normaly see from other companies.  Here is a pic of Willi and a short video of him running on my line.  click on the 2nd pic to play the video.   Cheers  Mike