09-02-2012, 02:15 AM
I'm glad you liked it, it sure was a blast! We knew several of them from the Norwegian model railroad forum, it was nice to finally meet them in person. There's a rather small group of people hosting unofficial meetings where they get together and have fun, the locations of those meetings aren't publicly announced due to the fear of vandalism and theft. I'm so glad we were invited! This was out first time ever attending a garden railway meeting, but there will definitely be more! Maybe later, when our own layout is more presentable, we can host our own meeting.
Ralph:
There were two tunnels about 2-3 feet long, accessible from the ends. In addition, there were two underpasses where the track went through the wood frame for the upper level. The longest one about 4-5 feet I guess (between the staging/service area by the fence and the twin truss bridges), but with plenty of room to reach in if anything should happen. In fact, my own train got rearended by another one in just that underpass at one time (guess I was running too slow
), but luckily no derailment or damage.
AF350:
I have never heard of any serious accidents involving live steam. Of course, since you are dealing with actual steam engines, they get hot, but so does your stove when cooking, right?
Also, the steam pressure is controlled by a safety valve, which pops at about 40psi on my engine, so any boiler explosion is very unlikely, if even possible. Regarding the reliability of these engines, they should always be subject of proper maintenance and lubrication. Cheap and low quality models would be more of an issue, you get what you pay for I think.
Svein
Ralph:
There were two tunnels about 2-3 feet long, accessible from the ends. In addition, there were two underpasses where the track went through the wood frame for the upper level. The longest one about 4-5 feet I guess (between the staging/service area by the fence and the twin truss bridges), but with plenty of room to reach in if anything should happen. In fact, my own train got rearended by another one in just that underpass at one time (guess I was running too slow
), but luckily no derailment or damage.AF350:
I have never heard of any serious accidents involving live steam. Of course, since you are dealing with actual steam engines, they get hot, but so does your stove when cooking, right?
Also, the steam pressure is controlled by a safety valve, which pops at about 40psi on my engine, so any boiler explosion is very unlikely, if even possible. Regarding the reliability of these engines, they should always be subject of proper maintenance and lubrication. Cheap and low quality models would be more of an issue, you get what you pay for I think.Svein