Took a chance and bought a Merlin Mayflower

There is a mixture of cement dust, horticultrual grit that Tag talks about to keep the track in place and it should work in our climate here as well and like Tag, I like the look of overgrown track work. I may just do it with my exhisting 45mm track and see if that "tones down" the oversize LGB rails a bit. Mike
 
Be aware t
artfull dodger said:
Thanks Tag, she does run well on blocks, when weather hopefully permits later this week, I will try on the rails. Video attached(I hope). Forgive the messy desk, but I know where everything is at and my therapist says it an Aspie thing to have a messy work area, but know where its all at. There is a spare tap on the back head where I think I can fit the Regner whistle valve. I will need to source another servo so I can remotely control it. Those who just watched missed out, with some light buffing, she looks almost new with no major scratches in the paint work, the brass shined up nicely and she runs flawlessly on blocks. I wonder how many of these were produced? An old article in Steam in the Garden had some numbers for the real low production models, obviously this one and the saddle tank Monarch were more popular. Mike
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hat the extra steamway on the back of the boiler is actually a level plug rather than a banjo bolt. This means that if you put a banjo ring on it then the hole across the bolt will be in the wrong place to be a steam takeoff. You will need to replace this bolt...
 
The Regner valve is one that just normaly screws into the boiler, not a banjo bolt. However the threads are different, so no whistle right now. Do you know what the amount of water is at full working level Tag? I put 150ml in it and there was no priming of the cylinders when I test ran the engine. But I didnt try to get a full run from it either so I wasn't worried about a full charge of water. Guess I might have to pull that level plug, and keep filling till I get water out of the plug then make note of how much it took. Mike
 
artfull dodger said:
The Regner valve is one that just normaly screws into the boiler, not a banjo bolt. However the threads are different, so no whistle right now. Do you know what the amount of water is at full working level Tag? I put 150ml in it and there was no priming of the cylinders when I test ran the engine. But I didnt try to get a full run from it either so I wasn't worried about a full charge of water. Guess I might have to pull that level plug, and keep filling till I get water out of the plug then make note of how much it took. Mike
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I used to fill mine to overflowing then take out 30ml with the Syringe that I use to fill it with. Use the same method with my Roundhouse locs as well.
JonD
 
I ran the Mayflower on my overhead indoor line, handles 6 LGB two axle passenger wagons with power to spare, but has a bit of a lope to its get along. Like there is a bind, but there isnt one, I checked and rechecked. So, Tag, if you would be so kind to hook me up with instructions to set the valve timing. See if that clears up the hitch in the Mayflowers get along. Thanks MIke
 
artfull dodger said:
I ran the Mayflower on my overhead indoor line, handles 6 LGB two axle passenger wagons with power to spare, but has a bit of a lope to its get along. Like there is a bind, but there isnt one, I checked and rechecked. So, Tag, if you would be so kind to hook me up with instructions to set the valve timing. See if that clears up the hitch in the Mayflowers get along. Thanks MIke
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That does sound very much like the timimg is a little out. If you have not already suggest you PM (Conversation) Tag via the forum, more likely to get a quick responce.
JonD
 
email me at tag.gorton (at) blueyonder.co.uk and I will provide a dog and instructions...
 
We have a Monarch and a Mayflower, The Monarch and Mayflower, of course, have the same chassis. The Monarch was bought new in the mid 80's and came with R/C which I have now upgraded to 2.4mhz. The 'flower was bought S/H by my wife at the Warwick show a few years ago, and I fitted 2.4 R/C for her.
I too experienced derailing issues on LGB point work and resorted to doing the same as JonD and reducing the flange-way at the check rail.
They are great little locos and I'm sure that you'll get a great deal of pleasure from running yours.

The Monarch in full cry with 7 up and plenty in reserve.
128.JPG
 
Great pic, love the Monarch. I could be possibly getting the larger brother to my flower, the Major. Got a question, I love your brick supports. Do they just sit on top of the ground, or do you pour a foundation pad for them? We are looking at options to raise our railway up in the near future, and I have plenty of loose brick stacked up here. Mike
 
artfull dodger said:
Great pic, love the Monarch. I could be possibly getting the larger brother to my flower, the Major. Got a question, I love your brick supports. Do they just sit on top of the ground, or do you pour a foundation pad for them? We are looking at options to raise our railway up in the near future, and I have plenty of loose brick stacked up here. Mike
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Not sure what Merlin has done but I have used two methods for such pads. One indeed is to put in a Cement Pad. The other is to put in a Paving Flag say 18in square onto well compacte soil with the stones as shown to disguise or not as would be your choice. Another option for raised lines as you might see in my line is Fence Posts in Metposts with all the wood above ground. The Metpost being in a thin hole dug with a Posting Shovel and secured with Postcrete. If your soil is somewhat soft it is worthwhile having a piece of broken paving slab below the point of the Metpost to discourage further sinking. Can make very rapid progress.
JonD
 
I was thinking of a flat base paver stone. Ground here is mostly clay, so hard packed by nature. To set posts in the ground takes a hole 3 foot deep and concrete on each one, otherwise you get frost heave. The offer pylon stones for 4"x 4" deck posts, but the do not look as good as Merlin's brick set up. Getting tired of the dog's tearing up things, so this year might have to be the year to raise the railway up. I still want to keep the "garden" look with live plants. So some type of "window box" set up will have to happen. I know my wife does not want to loose the garden aspect. Our hot tub has died, so once I remove it from the deck, that will free up space to bring the railway up on the deck where one could sit and service live steam without going into the yard when its wet out. So for the new puppy has chewed up 2 of my LGB power poles and snagged and ripped out a street light(light survived ok thankfully). Trying to train him to stay off the railway. Hardest part is she really likes the water feature and bridge over the running stream. That is a bit more difficult to achieve on a raised line. Mike
 
I found the problem with my Mayflower's choppy running. I had it traced down to the RH cylinder assembly. She would run fine on just the LH side alone. Valve timing did nothing to help. It would also get worse as things heated up. Motion work and axles were checked for any binding, both hot and cold, nothing. So, after reading in a post about there being O rings between the valve chests and the cylinder. I took both of mine apart. The RH side had a squashed O ring that barely has a hole in the middle when cold. Not having any of these little buggers, I just removed the offending one, kept the good one and put it all back together(I also inspected the LH side of which the picture is taken of). No additional steam leakage was noted with the missing O ring and she ran nice and smooth. Simon Whenmouth said mine has the early design cylinders with the rounded valve chest bottom. He is sending me new O rings to replace all the old ones when he ships the Merlin Major that is going to be joining the stable, replacing the Argyll that didnt like my LGB R1 reverse curve on the railway. Here is a pic for those that have never seen the early style cylinder and valve chest apart. Mike
 
Hi Mike, sorry for the late reply; yes the brick columns are on concrete foundations about 15 - 18 inches square and about 6 inches deep, set a few inches below ground level to allow for a backfill of turf or gravel. I usually use bits of hard core pushed into the underlying clay as a link between the ground and the foundation.
 
Thanks Merlin, I really like that set up for a raised line. Something my wife and I will consider in the near future. Mayflower got sold to my good friend as he wants to build a portable UK style layout with me. But I have his big brother the Major now with the later style valve gear and whistle. And more importantly, has been gone over by Simon over at Anything Narrow Gauge. Huge thanks to him for a great little locomotive. My wife finally got released from the hospital(been in since Dec 27th) and got to open our Christmas presents. She got me a Ruby #5 saddle tanker. So I have a USA style steamer to pull my USA rolling stock. Cheers Mike
 
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