Most people make little toy train tracks in their basement.. this guy turned his entire property into a toy train track! That is a lot of work! Just the upkeep alone is a full time job!
I have loved trains and steam locomotives my entire life close friend of my grandfather built one used to take it festivals locally and take me for rides. Watching this made me so happy I had tears running down my face would love to see this in person dream come true awesome video
Watching this I can totally grasp how the early RR's got going. A bunch of guys got together and rigged up a locomotive and laid some tracks running between a few farms and towns and got paid to move building supplies & animals/food to 'points between' Hills needs to be knocked down and Gullies filled, 'a bridge built and a tree removed. The customers could not be counted on to unload their product in 10 minutes while the train just sat there so a spur was built. Lots of planning and hard work and all benefited. About this time the Gov. stepped in wanting a piece of the action from all those willing to hustle - work - save - produce. And the rest is history. I'm going to watch more of your videos
What a little beauty "Merlin" is. I really enjoyed your explanation and seeing her working hard up those steep inclines thanks to her diminutive driving wheels.
Hi all, it has been a real pleasure to be involved in this video. John Phillips suggested a video could be done and thanks to his expert handling of the camera, the video is a real success. Merlin is the brain child of my brother, who designed and built this magnificent locomotive. In time it will be fitted with a single stage scale Westinghouse air compressor when due for a minor overhaul. Thank you from me and the master video maker John Phillips. Who knows, another video may be in the future. Cheers.
Very nice. Like a fairytale. The young children must have heartwarming stories of spending time on and around the tracks! May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, in every moment of your lives. Kind regards, Kobus
Muchas felicidades por este tremendo trabajo,,es un placer saber que aun se mantiene este amor por las maquinas a vapor ...es una maravilla. saludos desde Chile. Consulta: Donde puedo obtener informacion sobre la construccion de una loco a vapor de jardin ,,me interesa mucho el tema. desde ya muchas gracias.-
It's good to see you still driving trains Neil been a few years since the last time I saw you At Ringwood signal box have a great Christmas and new year mate
This is so amazing !!!! I really enjoyed this unique kind of pretty engine really running on the track. May you live long all who manufactured,assisted and helped in this project and posted as well.
Definitely not a retired Train Driver. Just a self reassigned train driver. Beautiful little loco mate. What a perfect way to "retire" I think we'd all like one of these magic units in our back yards.
I'm actually really surprised that steam held on as long as it did. Even after internal combustion powered vehicles were commonplace locomotives still ran on steam. I remember reading that steam was phased out in the United States in the 1960s and in some countries even later into the 20th century.
I just so love this, I just wish I could go to Australia to visit. I live in England and will be moving to Scotland hopefully next year. Would love to see something like this up there. All the best.
Im fm india sir.watched your class of operating a steam engine with curiosity and interest. Thanks for loading up such a video in your vlog and is amazing.
Once again a great opportunity to get the glimpses of those bygone days! The smoke, the sound and the Merlin passing beneath the knotty trees in lush green landscape arouse the spirit of nostalgia in me. Pretty cool!
A very good friend of mine once said that I hadn't grown up, I'd just got more expensive taste in toys. This being occasioned by my turning up for supper in a mud splattered Landie with twigs and such hanging out of the grill. And to some extent, I think she's entirely right as I don't think I would ever get anything productive done ever again if I had easy access to such a brilliant little machine. Be too busy goofing off and playing at being a train driver all bloody day long.
@@johnphillips592 Thanks for taking us along for the ride. A quick question, the oil you used in the lubricators, is that just regular oil you could go to Supercheap Auto and get or is it a specialist grade of oil?
Dear old dad would have loved this. Never had one of his own, but was a charter member of the Lakeshore Live Steamers railroad club. Smaller gauge. Based out of the Lake Metro Parks of Cleveland, Ohio. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for posting, what a fabulous little loco, Great to see it working hard up those gradients, it's a credit to you. Where I live in the south west of England we have a main line running through our village & occasionally we see heritage excursions of a dozen coaches with a steam loco heading it up. It certainly is a sight to see it thundering through our little village halt. You can't beat a bit of steam nostalgia, both large and small.
Hi John - My name's Chris and I'm a first time viewer from Wales in the UK and really enjoyed seeing the delights of the Lynton Railway in Australia. I too have a passion for steam (or anything 'railway' come to that!). I have worked the footplate on full gauge heritage lines in the UK and a narrow-gauge 1 foot 11 1/4 inch tourist railway in the Welsh Mountains. The only thing you do differently from what I am used to is completely blowing down the boiler water at the end of the day. I am used to blowing down periodically but have always left the remaining water in the boiler when putting the engine to bed as it helps the boiler to cool off gently, whereas emptying the boiler shortens the cooling down time in the boiler and in theory could increase the risk of temperature differentials inducing stress cracking in the boiler itself. However, it seems to work for you so who am I to comment!! Thoroughly enjoyed this one and look forward to visiting you perhaps one day.👍
Thanks for the comment Ruby , the boilers on our steam engines are so over engineered that the faster cooling down does not cause any problems , because we don't fire up our engines every day , they can sit around for weeks sometimes , especially in the fire season , rust can be our biggest problem , getting rid of the water helps stop that , we also remove the boiler plugs to dry out the inside of the boiler , we have had no problems over the years , again thanks for your interesting comment .
Immediatly recognised it as based off one of the Kempton locos. I live very close to where the line once ran, and rowed out of a boathouse built on the site of the Wharf on the Thames
Magnificent! Such a wonderful machine you have there sir. I really enjoyed the step by step to the start up. Merlin looks to be so well built. Simple, Functional and Beautiful. Thank you for sharing
It is a wonderful video worth preserving. Steam engines had their unique beauty and elegance. Their rhythm was music to years. Always loved watching them in the childhood and mesmerized by steam bleeding with whistling noise. Thank you so much for this great video.👍
Thank you sir for the video and all your knowledge you need a shirt that says I still play with Trains LOL ,Wonderful job onthe Locomotive boy that Dog sure looked like he was wanting a ride with you I’m quite fond of the Poodle mixes as we have two of them inmy family
I just stumbled across this wonderful video! Thank you for posting it and explaining all you have to do to get it up and running. I have a few questions I hope you won't mind answering. First, how much weight can it pull? I saw you loading gravel into the gondola, so this is quite powerful. Second, how fast can it go? I saw quite a few curves in the video, so I know that'll slow you down. Finally, do you operate it year round? Thanks again!
It's a private railway and not open to the public , we can get up to about 15 to 20 kph in short bursts but it's not recommended , Merlin will pull about 6 to 8 tons .
No problems , glad you enjoyed it , there are many more at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Kjy8gGPv7Ys.html&start_radio=1&rv=Kjy8gGPv7Ys
@@johnphillips592 - thanks for the link; I'll go and check it out now. Brings back a lot of happy memories when I was firing on the Kent & East Sussex Railway. Sadly, I'm not up to that job now; lungs shot due to gas poisoning 50 odd years ago, but I still work as a guard and signalman on preserved railways. MTA - thanks again for your suggestion, John - plenty of good stuff there!
This loco has an awesome sound! I guess it's the long stack that does it. It sounds totally different from my 1.5" scale 10 wheeler. Regarding the injector and the "canary sound": the injector is sucking air when it is "working", and putting that into the boiler along with the water. A check-valve on the injector waste line will prevent this and improve its efficiency. You will hear a CLACK when it picks up. Safety first! it is dangerous to oil around the valve gear when the loco is under steam. Safety glasses should also be worm when operating loco. When I steam up, I start the draft before lighting the fire. This way, there can be no explosions or blowback into the cab.
@@johnphillips592 What bothered me was that he inserted his fingers into pinch-points on the valve gear while oiling, and had his face near plumbing (such as blow-down valve) without eye protection.
I disagree as well, Brian. As long as the engine is in midgear and the brakes are on, the valve gear will not move, simple as that. I have two 1" scale locomotives and have always oiled 'round every time I stop for water. Additionally, if you have an "explosion" or backdrafting event when you start your fire, you're using too much accelerant and fuel. By doing this, you're damaging your boiler by heating it too quickly. Ideally, you want a fire that slowly grows in size and warms the boiler slowly.
Thank you for sharing your start-up routine for your steam engine! Merlin is just adorable! I also learned how the latches on the smokebox door work! That is a neat 1'-scale railroad.
