With high heat advisorys out, being in the hot shop all day at work left me whooped. Took a nap once I got home, then gave Frankie a test steaming on blocks, runs like a fine swiss watch. Below is a pic of my engine during his time with the previous owner. There is an excellent write up by Kevin Oconnor on getting the most out of the Frank S, it can be found over on another site that deals in Aster brand engines. You can print it out for free, or just read it online. If you are seriously considering adding a live steamer to your line, and have tight curves, I highly recommend this one from the premier builder of small scale live steam. Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Added a new(to me) live steamer to the roster that actualy belongs to me. I swapped my coal burning Accucraft Ruby(was to stressfull for me to enjoy operating) for a nice LGB/Aster Frank S locomotive, which to me is the best beginner engine out there on the second hand market other than anything from Roundhouse. Handles R1 curves with ease, super easy to see sight glass that reads true all the time and is quite powerfull as long as you like a chunky German narrow gauge 0-6-0. Way to hot and humid to do much outdoors right now here, so no pics till the temps moderate a bit. Mike
Had my first quasi open house yesterday evening. We hosted one of my wife's coworkers and her family for a cookout. They all loved the trains, ran both the Euro passenger train, and the 2-4-0 on a freight. I hope to join the local large scale club and host an actual open day sometime. But if anybody is in the area and wants to run trains, feel free to shoot me a message. Mike
Hopefully, in the next week, an LGB/Aster Frank S live steamer will join the stable. My wife and friend had gone together and got me a Accucraft Ruby with a coal fired boiler. While it was fun on one hand, trying to keep up with the rate of water usage and the anxiety associated with it was more than I wanted. So I am trading it for the Frank S. My railway is bi polar in nature. I will flip back and forth between my American style trains and my LGB German/Austrian trains. I am building special autism trains for both sides. The USA side is done till I find the matching observation car for the passenger train(a Kalamazoo Observation in Union Pacific is the matching paint scheme). I am working on cars for more European special cars. I tend to run mostly mixed trains with freight cars in behind the locomotives. I am adding people to bring some of my scenes to life. I hope to write up an article with decent enough pics for publication. See if I can get a small railway, built by someone on the spectrum, in the magazine. Mike
This just looks bright and fun! Thanks for sharing!
Added some new details to the layout this afternoon. While at the LHS in Indy this afternoon, I picked up LGB people to put on my station platform. I use clear RTV caulk to hold them in place. I also picked up another European passenger wagon and an end of track lighted bumper. Will get some pics tomorrow after work, got the work done as dusk fell. Was running trains till a few min ago. Mike the Aspie.
I wonder if Garden Railroader would be interested in an article on my line, its back story and how trains help me cope with being on the austim spectrum? I have written and had a couple articles published that deal with my other obsession, antique garden tractors, one tractor even made the cover of that magazine. Would give me imputus to clean up the railway even better and finish out the waterfall area.
Here are some updated pics, it stopped misting so I have some trains out running. The railway is roughly 15' by 20', pond with stream feeding it. The rock water fall is my father's day gift from my wife, looks like it feeds the stream, but its just an illusion, its a seperate fountain but looks like it feeds the stream. Still need to build up the rockery around it. I also want to relocate the bier garten resturant thats under the tree, doesn't sit right there but not sure where I want it. I also need to install lights in the Beck's brewery, who's boilerhouse and stack are almost invisable in my wife's rasberry bush. Enjoy. Mike
The first 2 pics are links to videos of the line, the later shots are from last fall when most of the plantings were new. They have matured quite a bit giving the line the grown over look I wanted. For motive power, I have 2 Kalamazoo 4-4-0's, both with onboard battery power, A LGB 2-4-0 donated to me by a gentleman from one of the major online forums, and a LGB 2073d Eurovapor 0-6-2 Austrian engine to pull my European cars. The "Autism Express"/MCRR decals were done by Cederleaf Graphics, and they were paid for by donations from more great guys over on one of the major online forums for large scale trains. What I do have for trains have been gotten with money from mowing yards, trading off my smaller HO trains that my failing eyesite can no longer see well or donated to me. What I make from my day job covers bills with little to nothing left over for trains. The track was mostly all second hand track purchased or traded for. Hope you enjoyed the pics and video, I can take more if folks want. Mike
Here is a short video of my railway, it has a water feature, covered bridge over the stream that feeds the pond, deck bridge over the dry wash/walkway I use to weed the rear portion. I built two tunnels out of brick to keep the bushes off the trains. I use onboard battery with a simple on/off switch to turn them on in forward direction only. Track is 100% LGB, trains are a mix of LGB and Kalamazoo with both Austrian and American prototypes. I have done a few up in a custom "Autism Express" paint scheme using both decals from Cederleaf Graphics and some I printed on my home computer on photo paper then glued to the car. I would love to see Garden Railways do more articles on smaller railways like mine. Many more outdoor railroaders do not have the budget to do a large outdoor line, the track alone is a huge expense. These were just quickie shots as its a bit drizzly today. Mike
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