Trains @ Station Studios

I’m thinking of adding to my live steam collection in the new year. Keeping with the small size of the rolling stock I already have for the Lost Hollow Railway, I was thinking that the Roundhouse Katie would be a good addition. I’m definitely considering the radio control option this time around. Black or green? That is the question.

Once again, John Frank hosted a group of south Texas live steam fans at his house for the Spring 2008 Katy Steamup. I’ve made a photo set available on Flickr.

I was a little sad because I knew that this would be my last Texas steamup for a while. Thanks to John, Steve, Ed, Dave, Caleb and all the others for welcoming me into the live steam community.

Robin and I visited my dad and stepmom at their house in Florida over the last week. While there, we were invited by a friend of my parents to visit the Ridge Live Steamers layout in Dundee. The Ridge Live Steamers have a large 7 1/2″ gauge layout covering several acres. Our host Allen Newcombe took us all for a tour of the facilities and a ride around the layout on his diesel-powered train. Very impressive. A photo set is available on Flickr.

I’ve now also put a short video up on YouTube.

Once again, John Frank hosted a group of south Texas live steam fans at his house for the Fall 2007 Katy Steamup. There was a good turnout today and the rain held off until late in the afternoon. A wide range of live steam locomotives were run including Fowlers, Russells, C-16’s, K28’s, K37’s, Konrads, Shays, and Heislers.

I ran my Konrad for a lap or two, but spent most of the day photographing John’s terrific layout and the passage of trains across it. I’ve made a photo set available on Flickr. I’ve also made a movie which is available on YouTube.

Another fun day.

John Frank hosted a steamup at his house today. I did a lot of photography rather than running this time as my Regner Konrad has been having some troubles firing up. Thanks to John for hosting another great get together. The full photo set in available here on Flickr.

The first engine for our garden empire is a Regner Konrad. It is a very simple engine that uses a single oscillating steam cylinder to drive the wheels through a gear system. Reviews for the engine have been very positive and I bit the bullet and purchased one. Here’s what it looked like right out of the box:

The Konrad looks like it could easily be kitbashed into a small turn-of-the-century logging locomotive. Here’s a list of things I’m considering to change:

• Install new wooden bumpers at both the front and rear.
• Install link and pins couplers back and front.
• Paint: red and green colors need to be repainted black.
• Add a new more-to-scale engineer figure.
• Add a roof.

Well, here’s everything done but the new roof:

And one with “Engineer Bill”, my scratchbuilt engineer figure:

I attended my first steamup yesterday with a group of Texas small-scale live steam fans. It was a great day of running trains outside on a beautiful garden railroad. I got the chance to run my new Regner Konrad locomotive with the big boys. The full photo set in available here on Flickr.

Thanks to John Frank for hosting us all at his place.