Today wasn’t too hot so I went over to Jerry’s place to run my new acquisitions. He’s about to head for the NNGC in Maine so he wanted to test run his lumber train.

First up - Otto with the whole english train of Thomas wagons. Only one came with a face and that popped off very easily. All are excellent models of older UK stock at around 1:22.5 - apparently the UK guys swap the wheels to gauge 3 and run lots of them. The guards van on the end is a slightly smaller scale - maybe 1/26th (“Thomas Scale”) and won’t handle a 1:22.5 figure, but hey, the price was right. The flat car is my first LGB car, somewhat modified with UK buffers and Accucraft coach wheels - the largest I could find in my truck drawer, but still not as big as the Thomas ones. Which are rather nice spoked wheels, btw.

Jerry’s Lumberjack, somewhat improved with a corrugated roof, etc. I think the cars are Bachmann, and the backwoods caboose he bashed from an LGB DB freight.

Sea Lion taking the UK train around the main line past the vineyard (real vines!) We removed the LGB car as the Accu scale wheels were catching the LGB switch frogs - a well known issue. I’ll probably reduce the back-to-back a little.

Otto attempted the hill out of the inner loop onto the mainline and just about made it. There’s a limit to what a single oscillator can do! You can tell that not many trains go that way.

Lumberjack and the cut timber load. Jerry does a great job of detailing his cars and locos.

Sea Lion cooling down by the bush in the yard while we ate lunch.

I think the cars are Bachmann

Nope, I have one of those log cars

They have Delton trucks, and are some kind of cast resin.

Thanks for the photos, Pete, nice morning runs for sure

Yes Dave, the log and lumber cars are a Delton “special issue” cars made by the fellow who put the plate on the bottom of the cars. Who then apparently vanished…but I am very fond of the cars, and have been wanting a loco to pull them, and the Lumber Jack fits the bill

Jerry

Lumberjack looks splended running with the log cars. I wish I could have gotten an Otto when they were available. Regner geared engines do better on my line. I love my Frank S, but really long for a geared engine from Regner thats more “hands off” once steam is raised. I really miss my Willi that I had. Great pics. Mike

Great photos Pete. I have to say love the Lumberjack. One of my favorite engines I have in my collection. The Otto is another great one and can climb decent for a single oscillator and pulls well.

I love Otto to, wish it was still in production, it was such a short run and at a time when I was not making much if any money. Have never seen one second hand for sale, but I am watching. My Frank S is fun since it has RC to deal with the hill and dale of my railway, but it gets old after a few min of having to constantly change the throttle. Next steamer I buy it gonna be a second hand Regner geared model since it seems they have killed off most of the easy line since Herr Regner passed away. Shame as they were one of the better intro live steamers for the money. Mike

Mike Toney said:

I love Otto to, wish it was still in production, it was such a short run and at a time when I was not making much if any money. Have never seen one second hand for sale, but I am watching. My Frank S is fun since it has RC to deal with the hill and dale of my railway, but it gets old after a few min of having to constantly change the throttle. Next steamer I buy it gonna be a second hand Regner geared model since it seems they have killed off most of the easy line since Herr Regner passed away. Shame as they were one of the better intro live steamers for the money. Mike

Mike you should look into the Regner Konrad or Vincent. Both are geared low like the Otto and will move nice and slow. Another geared engine that runs slow. I wondering why they did a short run on the Otto. They did the same on the Class A Climax.

The Class A was overpriced for a mostly wood model IMHO, but still a beautiful engine. One of the engines I care take for a friend is Regners shay, I find it to be very sensitive to track being the slightest bit out of level. His Lumberjack, which is the one I run the most, really needs deeper reduction in the gearing to really be totaly happy on my railway. My Regner Willi was the best fit on my line, but like Konrad, appears to be out of production as well. Only engines on Jay’s website is the Lumberjack, Chaloner and Vincent. Not a big fan of Vincent, but would love a Willi, Otto or Lumberjack of my own. Seems Regner has really cut back since the father passed away. I have a feeling he was the driving force in the company.

Another pleasant evening running on Jerry’s railroad. Great steam in the cool Fall air, so I put together a very short (1.25min) video. No Regners this time.

Thanks for posting Pete, I like the look of the sea Lion.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Great video, thanks for posting. Give me a nice crisp weekend morning and I will get Frankie out and try to set up the camara to shoot a video in the crisp fall air. If anybody is close enough to Kokomo and wants to steam up, shoot me a pm. Mikie