# Beautiful Autumn day at RGS East (with some EBT trains!)



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

This weekend was open house for Roger's RGS East layout in MD. He suggested it was time for the D$RGW stock rush and some coal trains. As it turned out, there were more EBT coal trains than stock cars - in fact, I don't recall a single "moo" or "bleat". Here's my pics. I'll put a couple of videos in the next post.


EBT #15 and the passenger train stops at Jack's Ft Mallison depot, with his detailed engine house behind.











And the same consist crossing the long bridge. You can see what a beautiful day we had.











Geoff brought his EBT stuff, so there was plenty to see for the 'eastie' fans. Here's my #15 simmering in the sunlight while his #14 with the work train passes the hoppers:











Rico depot was taken over by EBT trains - no idea how they got there. That's my #15 heading through on the main with a full load of coal, the Jolly Green Giant (Roger's #14) in the background with some empties, Geoff's ganister rock hoppers and combine #17 in the background, and his work train in front, with baggage #29 front and center.











Geoff brought his ganister rock train out of the yard for some exercise. (Ganister rock weas mined near the coal, and used to make refractory bricks in Mt Union.)











At lunch time, my mikados were parked in the Ft Mallison depot next to the President's Business Car (#20, "Orbisonia") waiting for their next turn.











After lunch I fired up #12. Running live steam is normally frowned upon, as the delicate paint jobs can be ruined by a splosh of hot water and steam oil. However, I had run a test the previous weekend at the work session with my 'chuffer' installed, and it (as usual) cut down on the spray so I got the thumbs up. [That didn't stop a few horrified looks from Geoff when I passed his beautiful models!]











The RGS East is, like the original, quite hilly, so I can't run live steam without r/c. I had just finished installing the gear, and it proved to work fine (see the videos next post.) Here's #12 taking 11 hoppers and combine #16 up the 3% - 4% grade:











And at the end of the day, #12 sits back in the depot next to #15 with the blowdown open, producing a nice steam cloud!











Finally, another pic of Rico with a non-EBT train in the yard - Jack's Dulles & Reston Garden Weeds #12.


----------



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Here's the two videos I took at Roger's RGS East on Saturday. First #15, the sparkie, crossing the long bridge (15 sec): 






Then a composite from a few locations of live steamer #12 with the passenger train and starting the hopper train on the hill (54 secs). The Autumn air was so crisp you could see the individual puffs of steam.


----------



## bottino (Feb 7, 2008)

Outstanding photos and video Pete. I love the setting again. You told me once but I forgot, where exactly is this layout. 
Paul


----------



## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

That wood truss bridge is really really impressive!!!! 

I enjoyed seeing the East Broad Top railway in all her glory too!


----------



## Alan in Adirondacks (Jan 2, 2008)

Pete, 

Thanks for posting. The shots of #12 are truly inspiring... even if Geoff did almost have cardiac arrest! 

Best regards, 

Alan


----------



## Don Howard (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for the beautiful pics. 

It is unfortunately rare that I get to the RGSEast. 
I'd love to car pool with someone attending that comes from New England or Albany, NY area, then it would be easier for me. 

Is 9A holding up? 
I tried to check for deflection in your video but the loco was already half way across. 

Thanks again.


----------



## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Okay, what's with all you eastern EBTers and your beautiful steam plumes from #12? I was running in 45-degree weather the other day, and _still_ not so much as a trace of an exhaust plume. Could the dry climate out here have _that_ much of an effect? 

I'm still on the fence about the chuffer. I heard Andy's at Orbisonia, and it was almost too loud for my tastes, but my loco is borderline too quiet. It needs _something_. Having something to catch the oil probably wouldn't be a bad thing, either. Anyone install a bark box yet? I'd love to compare the sound of the two. 

Later, 

K


----------



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

stream plume 
Must be a all that dry mountain air. Come back to sea level! 


You told me once but I forgot, where exactly is this layout 
Paul, 
It's in White Hall, MD, north of Baltimore. 



I'm still on the fence about the chuffer. 
I agree - the origial sounds quite prototypical (i.e. soft) and the chuffer has a real bark and a hissing sound. Chris reckons the hiss can be reduced by adding a release hole on the bottom of the chuffer - my take is that would result in lots of steam coming out under the smokebox! But the chuffer isn't bad and it significantly cuts down the spray of goop, which lets me run at Rogers. So it's a keeper.

Have you seen this 'feature' ? 










I noticed recently that, when hot, the valve chamber and cylinder joints seem to weep! Andy confirmed his loco does it too. No visible way to tighten any screws - my C-16 needed tightening occasionally to cut down on steam leaks. This doesn't actually leak steam so I'm not worrying about it.


----------



## rwjenkins (Jan 2, 2008)

The smooth lid over the valve chest is held on by the dummy lubricator fitting on top. The lubricator lines are a press-fit into those fittings. Remove them and the fitting unscrews (good luck with that without damaging the paint) to release the lid. With that out of the way, the valve chest and valve chest cover are secured to the cylinder block by the traditional screws in the four corners.


----------



## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Yeah, I've got that "feature" on mine, too. I just haven't gotten around to tightening the screws yet. I've also got to tighten the screws on the cylinder heads, as they're weeping a bit, too. Like yours, no visible steam leak, but enough to know I should probably snug things down a bit. 

Any photos of the R/C installation? 

Later, 

K


----------



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Any photos of the R/C installation? 
Thousands. (Well, dozens, anyway.) I promised Dave Cole I'd write it up for SitG, but as we've had a conversation about publishing photos on the web and in print, here's a couple. 

The tender is very "r/c ready". It only took me about an hour to finish the install of batteries, receiver and extension cables, plus switch and charger jack. It took longer to go buy a 7/16" drill to fit my charging socket! A zip-lock bag holds the electrics out of any water splashes. The two servo extension cables went through the tube easily. I pulled them through with fishing line.












The cab had to come off, and I discovered those two big air tanks are (a) not hollow and (b) attached with the same screws holding the cab! The masking tape is keeping the heavy tank under control while I mess about above. 
I found a 12" 2-56 threaded steel rod at GPA Hobbies (local r/c shop) so I drilled a couple of holes in the floor and tapped them to take the servo. 













The throttle uses my normal servo mount of a piece of 3/8" x 1/8" brass rectangle tube drilled to slide on the throttle outer sleeve - which turns out to be 5/16" diameter. This install needed two pieces to stabilize the servo - it twisted too much at first. The bottom of the servo has a brass tube (barely visible) bolted to the floor to stop the whole thing rotating around the shaft.
The sprockets are 1/4" holed (= cheap) and easy to fit on the servo crank with a couple of slots. The throttle is 6mm - almost 1/4" - so I used a 1/4" collar (local r/c shop again) and bolted the sprocket to the collar so I could tighten the set screw to hold it in place.


----------

