Locomotives

We have two locos for running on our line. Polly is a Polly 1 0-4-0 steam loco constructed as a kit build from Polly Model Engineering and Lily a home built battery electric.

Polly

I think that Polly is an attractive engine and certainly powerful as she will easily pull 4 adults on our line or 8 on the railway in the park. However she has had a number of irritating teething faults which have gone on for a long time after she was completed.

My friends in the local model engineering group have been a big help sorting out the feed pump, lubricator and injector.

Also, as built, the springs were far too soft and she tended to sit down and catch the ballast with the valve gear and rip off the cylinder drain taps.

I've since fitted stiffer springs which are a big improvement. Whilst modifying the springs I also lengthened the frames and added a small coal bunker which is useful for topping up the fire at the top end of the line.

Lily

Lily is a 0-4-0 free lance battery electric based loosely on a diesel shunter. The motor (which is located in the cab) drives a lay shaft then the wheels by chains giving a reduction ratio of 6:1 I obtained the 1/3rd HP motor, sprockets and chains from Parkside Electronics and this company were very helpful by offering plenty of advice.

I fabricated the cab sides and bonnet from steel sheet recovered from a storage heater which was being scrapped and also built the electronic speed controller. All the remaining components I turned up on my lathe or fabricated from scrap steel. The loco is powered from a 12V diesel car battery that I bought in good condition for £5 from a scrap yard.

Lily has proved to be exceptionally reliable and whilst not as powerful as Polly will still pull 2 adults over our line or 4 on the park railway.

She also has been heavily used on our local Park railway and one day earned £25 in fares when operating as the sole locomotive. Because she's easy to operate children are allowed to drive her when supervised on our railway.