Had some fun this morning over at Jack’s Calusa Creek RR. A little chilly, so we fired up the steamer first.
Then it was Butch’s turn. [This thing is solid steel, and weighs a ton. It widens Jack’s rails anywhere the spikes are loose!] It’s battery powered manual control.
In the last photo, we’re about to head out for the long loop through the tunnel. Didn’t make it - the coach at the back is too tall, so it got stuck! Tore the coupler off the last hopper - which was probably a good thing.
Man! That had to be a ride for those passengers. What a story to take home and tell your family.
Reminds me of this !!!
Which BTW is about 1/2 away from York
Didn’t get much running on my recent trip to the Calusa Creek RR, as you will see below. Bit I thought you’d like a couple of pics of Jack’s buildings.
The Station:
The Hotel:
The Problem:
Not having a micrometer or allen wrench, that put an end to the runs!
Looks like flats filed onto the axles might not be a bad idea for the future.
Greg
Another fine morning on the Calusa Creek. First, the roof of Jack’s 3-stall engine shed with individual cedar shakes. I happened to be standing behind it and realised what a great photo it made with the sun at an angle.
Then I fired up Otto with my train of new loads in the hoppers. “Turface” is a baked clay that is used for baseball fields (e.g. home plate.) The gon has a bunch of sandstone from a tile backsplash mesh.
And then we took an unusual path around the pool. We’ve been finding that the Florida weather isn’t kind to wooden ties, so the track has become proplematic in places!
Pete said - “We’ve been finding that the Florida weather isn’t kind to wooden ties, so the track has become proplematic in places!”
When we first started running in Florida, we thought it was strange that the ties were completely covered with ballast at places like the Ridge Live Steamers. Its to protect the ties from the sun. Ties of pressure treated wood that are 1 5/8’s by 1 5/8’s will totally cook and need replacing on the top surface in a short amount of time, but can literally be reused if turned over. So ballast covers everything, except at the turnouts, and of course those are the ties that have to be subject to maintenance most often. Interesting climate.
.
Love those vertical boilers.
Pete,
All my Regners came with back to back gauges and allen wrenches for the grub screws. I ALWAYS have them with me because I’ve had the same experience with wheel migration.
Great pics!! Love that depot. Same goes for the Roundhouse engines and UK style Accucrafts with regaugable wheels. I always have my back to back gauge and proper allen wrenches with me, along with spanners and other needed tools to do any work on a disabled live steamer short of silver soldering. Mike the Aspie
back to back gauge
I don’t recall getting any gauge with my Regners. I do carry the allen wrench with me, but, by the time the loco had cooled down, it was lunch time so I did it back at home. Otto did it at the latest visit - must be a January thing. A back-to-back gauge is an obvious addition to the kit if they are going out of gauge that often.
Tom Bowdler said:
Pete,
All my Regners came with back to back gauges and allen wrenches for the grub screws. I ALWAYS have them with me because I’ve had the same experience with wheel migration.
He is alive! The reports of his demise are wrong. Or someone is using Tom’s identity.
He is alive!
He’s in the middle of a (permanent) move to Florida, so he’s are a but busy, I think.
Just in from an 880 mi 15 hour slog from MD to FL so I can play at Big Boots an extra day before Jane’s brother and friend arrive for a visit. So barely alive at the moment. Yes, moving but a long way from completing that project. For now thinking trains, not worrying about “stuff”.
Ric, Are you coming up for the winter steam up event at BB&W this week? I want to pick your brain about ride-on stuff.
Pete, I have an extra Regner back to back gauge. PM me your mailing address and I’ll get it to you. It is only plastic while some are metal but it works well enough.
Now to hit the sack,
Tom
Hi Tom,
Glad you made it south. Roger and Susie Caiazza just left Ridge Live Steamers, yesterday, after a weeks stay.
I was at “Boot’s” last Winter and made the decision this year, to stay at “Ridge Live Steamers” and work on my “Steam Training with the Crab 101” instead of spending another day on the road.
Always available by phone, email or here in person, if you have questions. Of course, I have more questions than answers, myself, but its fun to discover new questions through other people’s eyes.
Our plans are to be at “Ridge” until the middle of March, except for one week’s vacation around Jan’s birthday at Cedar Key.
Stop by after you get settled and we’ll spend a day riding trains, talking steam and catching up.
One side effect of keeping two homes is that the various bits and tools end up spread between both homes. I now have two Futuba 27Mhz transmitters - probably on the same frequency - but one is with my Merlin loco in MD and the other is here. I think I now have 2 Spektrums, a UK 2.4mhz, a Deltang and 2 Futuba transmitters. Oh, and one wifi rx that uses my smartphone as a tx.
[If anyone wants some AM radio gear, I know where there’s a box full going cheap - if it isn’t already at the dump.]
What if you used a brass tube sized to the gauged and place it on the axle between the wheels ??
Sean McGillicuddy said:
What if you used a brass tube sized to the gauged and place it on the axle between the wheels ??
That might work, though it won’t stop them going wider! And there’s a big gearwheel in the way. A bigger issue is that you’d have to dismantle all the axle with rods etc., to get the tube on, which means re-quartering it. Easier just to carry the allen key and re-gauge it when necessary.
Ok
Make up a block to place between the wheels …quicker that measuring same for edge to wheel …
Well you could add washers between the frame and wheel. Years ago, I believe KS described using nylon washers and cutting a section out slightly smaller than the axle, using the ‘give’ in plastic, the washer could be forced on. Same could be done with a plastic tube(s) so prepared…
I’d pull the screws and drill in divots for the set screws to seat in and add a dab of gel super glue on top of the screw. Should you want to reset, the glue is easily defeated by heat and is flammable.
Another fun day at Jack’s Caalusa Creek with my new Merlin Maestro (ex-Mike Toney - thanks Mike.) A good little steamer, it turned out.
First I ran the passenger coaches.
Then the small gondolas. (They need better couplers and more weight!)
And then Jack persuaded me to run through the tunnel, into the woods, and over the mountains. Bersides the swimming pool, he has a regular pond with a waterfall and a couple of bridges - this is the high one.
Here’s a short video.