Where would we be without the locos to push and pull trucks and carriages around the railway?  Actually, the answer to this question will be given in the fullness of time.  I have plans for a human-powered fleet of various contraptions.  Until then more conventional motive power will be put into service.  I have an almost endless list of ideas on locos and such, mostly leaning towards the unusual.  Here is what we have so far...

1. The Diesel

2. Rose

3. Sage

4. 'Nashi' a small semi-whimsical 0-4-0 loco.

5. Vincent

On arriving home I decided to plough ahead and build a loco.  But I wanted it sooner rather than later so I plumped for a simple boxy diesel.  A couple of boxes glued together and that would be it.  Well, once I got stuck in I kept checking the diesels in Garden Rail to get an idea of what proportions were acceptable.  As I saw what these little locos could look like I kept changing the plans to include a roof on brass pillars, some engine vents, a nice radiator grill, oh, you know what it's like.  So the diesel I built was mainly from cardboard box bits with whatever I could scrounge for free (or there abouts) with the emphasis on fun.  Taking into account this is the first attempt apart from the railcars I don't think it was all too bad.  Plenty of room for re-fitting at a later date.

The whole body can be removed by just two screws.  This was so I could upgrade or keep the same chassis while having a completely different loco.  All for a couple of minutes work.  Yes I know, why not just buy another chassis?  Money again.

UPDATE (Nov 05):  The diesel has had a full cab constructed.  Here you can see some of the cab.

 The reason for this loco is two-fold.  Firstly, the outlay for a new gas-fired steam loco is about 400 pounds.  Add to this another 75 quid to post it to Japan and you have a figure far far beyond my price range.  A young family severely limits the amount one can spend on a hobby.  The second reason is that I have no experience working with metal, save my secondary school inspection lamp project so the idea of building a working steam loco is daunting to say the least.  The answer is to make a fake or outline steam loco in a way that I can cope with.  Oh, I've just thought of another reason.  There are very few steam outline kits to be had in the 16mm arena so scratch-building one looks like the logical next step.

My plan, not at all cunning, was to build a loco from anything I could find, spend as little as possible on parts, make it as simple as possible to avoid headaches and finally to produce something realistic and more than anything enjoyable to make.  I began with the boiler, which is essentially a long cylindrical tube like a tin can.  So I used a tin can, a long thin one which had white asparagus in it.  A saddle tank loco, Hunslet (or Percy cum Peter Sam) was out of the question due to the saddle tank bit being beyond my present abilities.  Something more on the lines of Edrig (or Rheneas from 'Thomas the Tank Engine').  So, a boiler with a rectangular tank each side, a simple cab and those bits that go round and round underneath. 

So what did I actually buy?  A funnel, safety valve and cranks from GRS.  That's it.  The wheels are from a coopercraft running gear set, axles from a piece of metal rod, the chassis base is a piece of black plastic sheet with frames of cheap wood painted black.  The tanks are a plastic project box (the kind people put electronics projects in) cut in half.  The coupling rods are bits of brass rod (the flat kind) cut with a hole each end.

At the outset I intended to spray the large parts with a gloss spray paint in order to get a good shiny finish.  The lining or trim is all gold.  I found a basic water transfer sheet in gold at a local model shop.  This was expensive, 10 pounds!  But this exorbitant purchase was softened as I realised how easy it is to cut the strips and apply to the boiler and body sections.  The colour of the loco is red.  There was no alternative, not because Rheneas is red but because my 5 year old daughter insisted on red.  After all I have used the RC from her old RC car (not a girls toy but why be stereotypical) and I want her to share time with when I'm in the garden playing trains so it's her engine and I can use it sometimes.

Actual construction is a combination of nuts & bolts and glue.  The chassis was built first, mainly because it seemed the most difficult and problematic section so I wanted to get all the mistakes out of the way first (ha, ha).  By far the worst bit was fixing the motor with worm and the driven axle so they would mesh but not get stuck together and not move.  Plenty of oil liberally used on and around the gears helped a great deal.  The fly cranks were stuck with superglue on the ends of the long axles and connected together with the coupling rods I had fashioned.  I luckily had read about 'quartering' so the wheels would turn properly.

I thought about calling the loco 'Frugal' to reflect it's origins but as it is my daughter's engine (alright, you know what I mean) so the name will be suitably feminine and must have some connection to either the garden (flowers or herbs) or something else that has influenced me.  Well, as the engine is red, it had to be red as red is my daughter's favourite colour (pink was never an option), the name should suit the colour.  Some words conjure images of red and some don't.  My garden has a rose section (roses are red,...) and also a rosemary ring around a flowering dogwood tree.  Rose is also a girl's name so I gave my daughter a list of names she could choose from, with 'Rose' as the word on the list I was gambling she would like the most.  'Rose' was chosen, which is great as I won't have many letters to write on her nameplates (yes, I will make them too).

A tender for 'Rose'.

Looking for a way to add to the length of the passenger train without making another carriage yet I decided that Rose could do with a small tender to carry extra coal.  So far, it is almost ready.  I will line it in gold as I did Rose and find some way to fake the coal for the top of the bunker bit.  It will cost around 2 pounds including wheels and plastic card sides.  As usual, I look first for something I can use that has cost me nothing!  The wheels are the same variety as the flat wagon and carriage, the wheel runners for the bottom of Japanese sliding doors.  These have a flange on both edges which allow the wheels to grip the rails like a Formula 1 tyre on tarmac.  At 15p each they fit in perfectly with my philosophy of something for virtually nothing. 

The body of the tender is made from 1mm plastic card with 5mm wood strips to strengthen the corners.  There is a front floor for the fireman to use when he (or she) gets the coal.  This is made from the same metal mesh I used for the diesel's radiator grill and floor. 

Here's the tender.  It still needs numbers and a re-engineered buffer to the footplate.  By the way, the coal is cork which has been sprayed with metalic black, not bad ha?

Long before Japan got it's hands on steam locos and long long before the use of petrol-engine railcars was a time of peaceful slow transportation.  No, not horse-drawn carts but human-powered carriages.  A little research has uncovered more than 20 lines where the sole power came from a pair of legs and some elbow grease.

These carriages had between one to three pushers per carriage with a small 4 - 6 person compartment for the lucky passengers.  The from end had a ledge or rail where the pushers could stand when a friendly slope allowed free-wheeling and the occasional application of a rudimentary brake.

This is my next project, motive power of a sort.  You don't need to understand any of the three Japanese alphabets to have a good look at some of the photos of the original railway lines so Click here 

You know the pump human powered carts one occasionally sees on American railroads , the ones with two ol' timers going up and down like blazes.  Well, this is the Japanese version, really only at home here in Japan.  I have only a vague idea at the moment, but I want to attempt a 16mm version with a powerful chap pushing for all he's worth, legs moving at the back of a small carriage.

Later on in the history of the human-powered railways, with the advent of the combustion engine, a few of the small carriages were converted using very small petrol engines, making a rudimentary railcar.  These had a driver and space for around six to nine (squashed) passengers.  I have a photo of an example which I intend to replica so that I have both motive power versions of these little delights.I think though, that these rather eccentric carriages will appear on the Daruma Line sometime next year.

I'll let you know how things go, perhaps an article for Garden Rail will appear next year.

Watch this space... well, early-ish next year.

November Update:  I have found a fantastic 3V motor/gearbox that I intend to employ for the engine version.  It cost me 482yen, which is about 2 pounds fifty pence.  With this bargain I have renewed motivation so expect a new railcar towards the end of the year!

This is the smoothest loco I have, basically because it has an IP Engineering deluxe chassis.  Everything else was scrounged for nothing, except the plasic card.  For example, the funnel is a marker pen, the dome is a deoderant cap and the boiler is a tin can. 

You might be able to read the nameplate 'Sage' in the Japanese 'katakana' alphabet.  The English nameplate is on the other side.  This mirrors the Welsh idea for naming locos.  In a bilingual society (my garden not Japan!) it is a necessity.

Live steam arrives in the shape of 'Vincent' an 0-4-0 locomotive fromRegner in Germany.  The over boiler clyinder and flywheel is remeniscent of Aveling & Porter and the red lining gives a real vintage feel.  Vincent runs on butane gas and water to make the steam.

Running a Vincent live steam Locomotive

It has been a few months since I bought 'Vincent' and I now feel confdent enough to write a a report on my progress so far.  I will begin with the usual pre-run preparations and then a few thoughts on the loco.

Saturday 12th April 2008

Today was a really lovely spring day.  From early morning the sun shone and it was a joy to get out in the garden.  My aim this morning was to put Vincent through his paces and write down a few observation.  This would be the start of a record of all steams and performance.

I keep Vincent in my house and bring him with me when I go outside.  The first stop was the shed where I set the loco down on the bench and began pre-run preparation.  With a meduim oil I lubricated all moving parts, paying particular attention to the gears and cogs.  As Vincent is open to the ground underneath this is where the grime and dust accumulates.  A good wipe down with an oily rag and application of lubricationg oil assures a smooth run.

Next I added some steam oil to the lubricator.  Unscrew the top of the lubricator and drop a few good globs of the heavy steam oil Regner supply.  This done I then squirted water into the boiler via the water fill valve.  Checking the sight glass I stopped squirting just before the water rose to the top of the glass.  Should be enough air left in the top of the boiler to raise steam.

Finally I added the gas.  I have SnowPeak Isobutane/Butane gas bought from a local camping store.  Initially, the filling was somewhat problematic as I when using the Regner gas canister adapter I couldn't hear the gas going in or know when the tank was full.  I bought a new gas inlet filler valve and gas adapter from Chuffed2Bits when I was at Stoneleigh this year (March 2008).  The filler valve is much smaller than the Regner inlet valve an hence, I think, allows more gas into the tank.  This should extend run times.  With the new valve I can hear the gas going in and at the end, when the tank is full, I see gas squirting out of the top of the valve.  If you don't have a replacement valve yet, get one!  This, and a new adapter, are the essential mods that ones must do to get a satisfying prep.

Time to go out and put Vincent on the track.  I opened the gas flow regulator valve a little and  could hear the gas flowing.  I applied  a flame to the funnel and the gas lit with a small woosh.  With the fire lit and the boiler heating up I have a few minuted to go over the track with a large paint brush to clear away unwanted ballast and leaves.  Once I got back to Vincent the pressure had risen to 2.5 Bar and it was time to move.

With the regulator handle open, the reversing lever set to forward and a few flicks of the flywheel Vincent spluttered off a short way.  It takes a bit before the single cylinder is warm enough for normal opperation.  Close the regulator, wait a few seconds and go again.  This time Vincent speeds off for the initial circuit.  There is a small oily puddle of water on the flywheel side just to the side of the funnel on the running plate.  A quick wipe with a cloth will remove this.

As Vincent sped (well not actually sped) around the track I set up a small train of two covered vans and the low loader with vintage car load.  Just before Vincent arrived at the rear of the train I shut off the regulator, put him in reverse and let him go again, this time all the way back to the start of the train.  Coupling chain attached and Saturday morning's delivery was off down the track.

After a few circuits I turned the burner down with the gas regulator wheel.  Ten minutes later and Vincent requires about 20 squirts with the top up water bottle.  I added a total of 60 squirts in total to keep Vincent going for 40 minutes.  There was still water in the boiler which read about 5mm on the water sight glass.  With the gas all gone I left the loco to cool down a little before taking him back to the shed for a wipe down.  Unscrew the lubricator bleed outlet and allow the condensate to soak into a waiting tissue.  Unscrewing the top steam oil filler cap help the oil/water mixture to empty.

It really was a lovely morning to run a live steam locomotive.  Even on a warm day Vincent gives off fantastic plumes of steam.  My wife and daughter enjoyed the display of steam with me and everything was right with the world!

The driver

I made a driver figure from children's modelling clay using cut-off plastic drinking straws in his feet/legs.  There are two stubs on the footplate which I assume are to allow a figure to be secured.  The straws were chosen to have a good fit over these stubs.  At the moment the driver's mustache is too British and will be modified to a more Japanese style.  Well, he is supposed to be a local driver.

Vincent looks just right pulling trucks as he has an industrial feel.  It must be the black paint and open cab.  See what you think:

Here, beer ballels are being taken to wherever they need to be taken.

There are many modifications planned which I will detail in due course here.  Planned are the addition of a front lamp, green tea kettle, repainted buffer beams, rosco oil lubricators, bucket, name change, coal supply toolbox and colonial style roof.  Crikey, all that!  Just wait.

I have added lubricators from Talisman Castings, which needed a hole each drilled in the sides of the smokebox.  They then just screw fit.  I added some copper wire leading down out of site to finish.  A bucket adorns the front.  This is from Chuffed2Bits and cost 1.25 (GBP).  Next I will begin working on a roof, colonial style with brass posts.

Here is a rare photograph of the Takasaki Light Railway's post delivery speeder.  This is yet to be finished as it is woefully heavy on the rear end causing endless derailments.  Mods are ongoing...