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Author Topic: Rhydypenau Garden Railway.  (Read 189 times)

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  • Tony Bird
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Rhydypenau Garden Railway.
« on: February 06, 2026, 03:15:31 am »
Hi,

Given the bad weather that some of us are experiencing, a reminder of better weather.

Cracker XL hauls some newly made stock based on the stock of the fictious 15" gauge Churchwater Slate Railway thought up by Brian Clarke in the 1980's.

https://youtu.be/R-IsIQLehiE?si=FNyW0xWN1JU5WNy9

Take care Tony.
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Re: Rhydypenau Garden Railway.
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2026, 01:52:22 pm »
That is quite the impressive consist to be hauled by a little single cylinder oscillator!

Well done on all of that!!!
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Re: Rhydypenau Garden Railway.
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2026, 11:23:54 pm »
What a fantastic layout.
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Cheers.
Jim

Blue Heelers Model & Toy Steam Engine Room YouTube Channel -
 https://www.youtube.com/user/Blue123Heeler/videos

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Re: Rhydypenau Garden Railway.
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2026, 03:15:50 am »
Hi Daniel

That is quite the impressive consist to be hauled by a little single cylinder oscillator!

The cylinder is a Mamod double acting one, a pair of which are used on their locomotive. The drive train uses Meccano gears, sprockets and chain that give about a 5:1 reduction to the axle. The models wheels are brass Meccano flanged wheels.

The traction is remarkable, what is seen in the video might be considered a light load; some months earlier at an open day at the model engineering club I belong to we ran out of wagons that would couple. The wheels, axle boxes and saddle are 3.5" gauge castings. The heavier load is seen towards the end of the video.

  https://youtu.be/Ok_NALMqico?si=gwtaH1mSLh6Y1mhJ

Hi Jim, Glad you like it.

Take care Tony.
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Re: Rhydypenau Garden Railway.
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2026, 08:12:56 am »
That's awesome, Tony...!!! 
You have built a superb display of locomotive and rolling stock.
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Re: Rhydypenau Garden Railway.
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2026, 10:34:38 am »
Quote from: Tony Bird on February 07, 2026, 03:15:50 am
Hi Daniel

That is quite the impressive consist to be hauled by a little single cylinder oscillator!

The cylinder is a Mamod double acting one, a pair of which are used on their locomotive. The drive train uses Meccano gears, sprockets and chain that give about a 5:1 reduction to the axle. The models wheels are brass Meccano flanged wheels.

The traction is remarkable, what is seen in the video might be considered a light load; some months earlier at an open day at the model engineering club I belong to we ran out of wagons that would couple. The wheels, axle boxes and saddle are 3.5" gauge castings. The heavier load is seen towards the end of the video.

  https://youtu.be/Ok_NALMqico?si=gwtaH1mSLh6Y1mhJ

Hi Jim, Glad you like it.

Take care Tony.

Okay, yes, a double acting cylinder and some significant gear reduction all help and that makes perfect sense, but in my opinion, that is still just a single cylinder oscillator, and as such I continue to feel that as quite impressive performance!

Well Done Tony!!!
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Re: Rhydypenau Garden Railway.
« Reply #6 on: 15 hours ago »
Hi Daniel,

Yes, the geared single double acting oscillating cylinder produces more than enough power.

You might be interested, when first made Cracker XL was like the original Cracker and had a geared 2:1 drive to both axles. The original Cracker had a 4:1 gearing but the cylinder was only single acting.
With its original gear train Cracker XL ran well enough even with a reasonable load, but it had to be run quite fast, especially on my portable layout with its tighter curves.
 
I decided to use a lower gear ratio and as I didn’t want to make new frames I came up with what might be called a hinged/ flexible gear box idea with a ratio of just over 5.8:1.  As it wasn’t practical to drive both axles with this new drive; a chain drive was used to connect the axles. The photographs, I hope show how the system works.

When designing Cracker XL I had made a prototype chassis, so along with two other prototypes: a model boat boiler and a simple three cylinder oscillating engine also designed for a boat but not the one the boiler was to be used in I decided to make a locomotive.  The result I call the ‘Three into One Locomotive’ or 3in2.1 for short. It has runs well on air but because of other projects I haven’t done any work on it for some months. I have been out of the UK for a bit but when I return home in a week or so unless something comes up I intend to try and finish it.

Take care Tony.

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