Here it is, as finished as it’s going to get
And here’s a movie: Wish I could figure out how to embed a movie on this site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykNhU-Rvfpc
That’s great! Your Yard is looking great for Spring. Jan’s prepping breakfast and just commented, “Looks like a neat yard”. The Ruby surprised me when it crossed the walk. Didn’t expect it to come out there. 
Mike,
I like your plantings.
You must have done a good job on the track work. The Ruby is running along at a pretty good clip!
Ralph
Thanks! We had a nice garden and we ft the train into it, which is not the best way to go but it worked alright
The Ruby’s going to fast because I can’t run the camera and the train at the same time!
You can see pretty much the whole layout in that video. The railway is in our side yard, and our house is to the right. In the distance you can see the red car barn where we store the trains at night. There’s a cutoff that shortens the mainline by about half and then there’s a little point to point line that runs along the pond.
I’m really thinking about selling the electric engines and going to all live steam
“I’m really thinking about selling the electric engines and going to all live steam”
Another soul lost to the dark side.
Thinking about it–but probably won’t. It’s nice to be able to just flip a switch and run–the steamers take all these fiddly accessories. There’s nothing easy about it. Also we have a lot of stuf running on track power–building lights, passenger cars. I’d need to go with steamers that don’t short the track, or else rewire everything
Mr. Golding’
Did I read that right???
“Mr. Golding’
Did I read that right???”
Oops, got caught on that one.
This was the statement that caused the reply - “I’m really thinking about selling the electric engines and going to all live steam”
There needs to be balance. Even the EBT has other means to push the cold dead steam engines around. (I’m not going to win on this, I’m just digging a deeper hole. )
Ric Golding said:
"I'm really thinking about selling the electric engines and going to all live steam"Another soul lost to the dark side.
I thought you battery/RC guys were the dark side
Then I saw Vic over on MLS welcoming someone to the Dark side. And I know Vic doesn’t run battery/RC or steam.
I’m sooooooooooo confused :lol:
Ralph
If someone calls Live steaming “Being on the dark side” I have to admit that I am proud of it to be “on the dark side”. I only have one track powered loco and 13 in total. No Engine got the number 666 refering to the dark side but owning 13 pieces of motive power should give some food for thought !
The following statement is my own personal view on garden railroading and might be discussable:
The operating of a live steamer gives my engineering soul more confidence than putting the locos on the rail switch on the track power and see it go! That´s too easy for me! The preparing and sometimes the tweaking before the opreation is part of the fun. It´s more like the real thing to boil some water to gain motive energy out of it ! The top notch experience it must be to have a coalfired live steamer than, this might be as closed to the real thing as possible ! It´s sometimes greasy, dusty and you´ll burn your fingertips regularly but that is worth the experience every time you operate your engines ! As lovely it is to watch electrically powered garden railways I prefer live steaming and I ever will !
cheers Joe
Now there’s one man who is passionate about steam! Welcome to the board from a fellow newcomer.
Yes, I really am, Randy, and I am proud of it !
cheers Joe