@ J.D. Gallaway - respectfully, most of us here can’t afford ANY kind of a full-size live steam locomotive, so watching one is about the most that we can do. Even being a volunteer on a 12 inch to the foot railroad is passing rare, so bully for you and your full-size steamers.
Most of us here have to be happy with something rather smaller. 
tac
Thats what makes live steam fun. You have to watch it and actually contol it. Its not something you take your eyes off of. Thats the thrill of it. The 1:1 steam is nice but I get borded standing around waiting for it and then see it for a minute as it goes by. I rather play in the garden layout.
Just saw your post tac. I have to agree with you. Our live steamers can be run at home.
Like I can afford to have one! I still play the lotto though.
Volunteering got me in on the A&A originally and I left the railroad as a conductor on the passenger excursions and the freight roster.
I’m now a locomotive engineer for Norfolk Southern (no, I haven’t run a heritage unit… had the Southern one as my trailing unit one day though) though I still lust for gorgeous works of art with a tender behind. (Take that how you will, lol)
As for the videos, I feel exceptionally privileged to have stood trackside and watched these two triumphs of human spirit and determination thunder past, pulling memories of better days. Steam, be it 1/32 scale or 880,000 pounds of the real 1:1 thing, they still evoke a deep seeded mystical part of our psyche. For those who have the fortitude and determination to deal with the different characteristics of scale steam, lucky you. You actually get a chance to be steam engineers while the rest of us are relegated to being privileged observers.
Ah, I apologise, Mr Gallaway - from the way you wrote your post I was left with the impression that you had a full-size steam locomotive.
However, you get to play with the real thing that has internal combustion - a job to be greatly envied! Trains, Sir, are trains, no matter whether they go ‘chuff-chuff’ or ‘vrooom-vrooom’.
tac
However, you get to play with the real thing that has internal combustion - a job to be greatly envied!
Yes for sure TAC.
In about 1973 I applied to CPRail for employment. My dream was to become a Engineer, but they wouldn’t have me because I wore glasses. 
Should have applied to Conrail. They took just about anyone with a pulse.
When I got my orders to report to McDonough for Engine School, I had to have a physical to make sure i met the FRA requirements (eyesight & hearing mainly). The idiot Doc put my uncorrected vision in the “corrected” box. Imagine my terror when 3weeks into my classroom training they pulled me aside and said I couldn’t go forward because of my vision (keep in mind, NS has a mandatory promotion policy. If you can’t make it through engine school, you get a one way pass out the door.)
Had to drive an hour into Atlanta, burn an hour waiting in a doc’s office, spend 15seconds reading the chart, 2 minutes getting corrected paperwork and an hour back to the training center. At least I can tell the different between a “Clear” and an “Approach” now.
All that, and I still yearn for the day when I can add “Certified Locomotive Engineer - Steam” to my resume. Yes, a diesel engineer can run a steamer… with a pilot. But it requires much more training (pun?) to get the FRA’s blessing to operate a steamer on your own on FRA-regulated rails.
**J.D. Gallaway said:**At least I can tell the different between a “Clear” and an “Approach” now.
Uh, that’s good to know…
tac
tac Foley said:
. . .
The great thing about the more simple AccuCraft locos is that more often than not, only one servo is actually needed - the one that operates the Johnson bar. Setting the throttle beforehand, and selecting the amount of opening or closing of the reversing block allows you to trim the speed to one that you care to handle, up or down-grade. Of course, a model with semi-scale valve gear like the ‘Countess’ or the Garratt, where there is a slight possibility of effecting an element of cut-off on the valve setting whilst in motion, would need the two servos, but they are getting cheaper and cheaper by the weeek, even here in rip-off yUK.
tac
One servo can indeed provide speed control, but you’ll find some debate whether the throttle or the Johnson Bar is the appropriate ‘control’.
Accucraft says don’t try to use the Johnson Bar for control - it’s a forward-off-reverse device. And that’s been my experience with my C-19; the Johnson Bar makes the loco stop or go.
Just controlling the throttle should (in theory) solve the uphill/downhill issues, but (again, my experience with the C-19,) in practice you can’t set the throttle control so that it is hard shut when off, as that can make it difficult to re-open. Consequently, when you close the throtle downhill the loco drifts - very prototypically - but doesn’t slow down much. (It doesn’t tend to go any faster, fortunately.)
My C-19 now has both, and I can usually control it with the throttle and use the Johnson Bar control for any actual stops.
A final comment about the Ruby. There is a ‘kit’ available consisting of a machined block of metal that fits in the cab and has mounts for the two servos and receiver. It seems to be an easy solution to the problem of adding r/c to such a small loco. (One caveat - it is designed for the older locos that had a servo arm type throttle, I believe. Newer ones have a knob so you may have to chase around for an arm.)
For those that dont or cant afford the geared power from Accucraft. Do not forget the geared engines from Regner, Willi, Konrad, Vincent, Lumberjack, Chaolner and the new class A climax. My little Willi runs a nice slow speed, around my check railed curves, R1 radius everywhere and up and down the grades with never the worry about running away. All without RC control. Willi and Konrad are under $700, Chaloner just under 1K RTR, Lumberjack is also just under 1K in semi kit format. Affordabe, excellent running steam power for the beginner. They also make excellent basis for bashing into backwoods logging/mining engines. Here is my Willi as of last fall, he has a different exhaust pipe arrangement now. Mike
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j285/cadetpwr/livesteam.jpg)
Neat looking little teapot.
