Narrow Gauge in the Rockies not quite

[Mayner]

Matariki Màori New Year Holiday:

Friday was Matariki or the New Year holiday, the weekends weather was sunny but cold as hell (by our standards) so time to run some trains on the garden railway including some live steam. 

On Friday ran a Stock special also some practical work transferring lawn mower batteries from the tool/implement shed to the workshop via Utah-Extension.

#348 with stock train in spot of afternoon sunshine. #348 had been recently through the shops for attention to her leading truck and this was a bit of a test run.

#348 picks up a laden gondola from the lithium mines at the end of the extension. 

The old RGS became infamous for transporting radio active ore used in the first Atom Bomb in wooden freight cars with archbar trucks hauled by steam locos, possibly one of the main reasons the road survived the war rather than been torn up as scrap.

Gondola added to train and away without incident.

Arrived at its destination, I have set up a charging station in the workshop for garden and other battery powered hand tools.

Saturday was to be the big day with livesteam operation. While 278 successfully raised steam only ran one lap of the circuit, the seal on the lubricator filler was not quite steam tight which made a mess and did not help the running. I managed to loose the original cap and sealing washer a week or so earlier, the replacement seal is a bit of 'bush engineering" a typical Kiwi No8 wire solution and washer needs replacement.

The "Line Up" #278 cooling down, Motor #6 in the photo #348 & #463 waiting to run round the circuit to the Wye reverse their trains and return to the staging & home for the night. #6 although recently charged I carried her home to the shed than return by rail.

Bit of a success story #464 waits to depart with her train late afternoon. I recently replaced #464s NiMh batteries after approx 4 years use and replacements wern't showing much sign of improvement, though today she successfully managed 3-4 laps of the circuit before I switched her off after a full charge.

 

Once switched on she almost but not quite made it back to the staging approx 200' away. I'll probabably use her batteries as a replacement for the batteries in "Galloping Goose" Motor #4 and get replacement sets for #464 & 4-6-0 #40. Interesting todays NiMh rechargable packs have a life of similar duration to the Drumm batteries of the 1930s, the replacements potentially see the through to 2030 when I hit my mid 70s, what happened to the youngish chap that left Ireland 20 odd years ago?

[patrick]

I love these updates, they always inspire me to work on my own modest garden railroad. 

[Mayner]

On 13/7/2026 at 7:39 AM, patrick said:

I love these updates, they always inspire me to work on my own modest garden railroad. 

Appreciate your feedback Patrick, got a bit of a shock when I realised this thread has being going on for nearly 10 years and started building the railway 18-19 years ago.

Finally got round to uploading some videos from last weekend and one from a year earlier, seems to be a lot of repetion.

#278 out for one of her Mid-Winter runs during our Matariki/New Year holiday, it was bloody cold hence the nice plume of steam, the engine is also fitted with a 'Chuffer" (basically an organ pipe/whistle that fits over the exhaust/blast pipe inside the smokebox. I need to clean & re-apply/glue the ballast in this area, the blue material is plastic pond liner that protects the baseboard in this area.

#278 again on the scenic section.

 

Putting the trains away! Although taken last year this is how I put the (electric) locos and stock away at the end of the running session. The rails being dry #348 managed to get half way up the 4% grade before stalling, #463 following behind with a freight coupled up and acted as mid-train helper similar to RGS practice.