What does one do when you dont want to get live steam out, and the batteries in the converted track power engines are all low? You get the old clockwork engine off the shelf and wind it up! While I lack proper cars for it to pull, it runs ok just fine by itself. I get 1 and 3/4 lap of the railway from it with a really tight wind, which I dont like to do. But will run one lap, from the station and back to the station with ease. Not bad for a model made in 1920! Engine is made by Bing for Bassett-Lowke in coarse scale gauge 1.
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
I say, that was a spot of all right!
Looks like fun,
Ed
And the live steam 0-6-0 was soopah, also!
100 years old.... impressive!
Simon
7j43kLooks like fun,
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Sitting here with my rum and Pepsi, I was having almost as much fun as you.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Cool!
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
There was a great O gauge garden railway in the UK called Crewchester. In its heyday it was run with both live steam and clockwork locomotives. Everything was to timetable and it had working signals with members of the club manning the scale signal boxes to move the point and signal levers that control the train movements. It was quite the operation back in the day. There also was a nice article in Class Toy Trains many years ago called "Just like Clockwork" that dove into the world of wind up trains. Bassett Lowke, Bing, Carette, Marklin, Hornby, Walker-Fenn, Marx, Hafner, Chad Valley and many more made clockwork trains.
You're having fun.
That is not allowed in today's model railroading
Report to the division superintendent for your punishment
LMAO! They day I stop having fun, I will walk away from the hobby. Fun is what its all about!
In a very old book about model railroading that I have, there was a wonderful description of realistic operation on a clockwork layout.
The trains were controlled by electrical signals in the track, but powered by the wind up machanism. I have read about similar control described for live steam locomotives.
The trains could run from town to town, but occassionally need to stop at a water tower to "water" the tender. This was when the engineer could wind up the clockwork mechanism.
The stop for "fuel" made the operation more reallistic for the crews.
It sounded like an interesting scheme for operations.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Kevin, that was probably the Crewchester garden railway in coarse O scale over in the UK. It was originally designed for clockwork and live steam operation, with outside 2 rail power later, which I think became regular 2 rail power later on with a smaller version of the railway. Even the signal boxes(interlocking towers) were manned with a person to control signals and points with levers and linkages just like the real thing.
emdmikeKevin, that was probably the Crewchester garden railway in coarse O scale over in the UK.
That sounds right.
Running model trains "back-in-the-day" sounds like it was quite an adventure.