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is live steam dead?


Go_West

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This forum page looks like its just an extension to the live steam club with come and see an engine on our rolling road??
There must be more people out there with more interesting layout and thoughts on this great product how they run there loco's hints

and tip on caring, servicing track and so on It would be great and get more people invoved in there own thoughts and ideas.
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Hi gowest,

Do not knock the 00 Live Steam Club, without our demonstrations at exhibitions and our website, interest in these marvels of engineering would have died a death. We have a new two track layout, which will be on show at NRM Locomotion

on the 9th & 10th June and again in Perth on the 23rd and 24th.

I am currently building my own exhibition layout for Wales and the West of England Exhibition. This will have three ovals, two for the mainlines and another for refueling and preheating

locomotives, so that we can have constant action on the track. I am designing a tpreheating controller and the inventor is working on an instant control controller, The design will be available for club members and it can be seen in operation at NRM Locomotion,

Shildon.

The rolling roads driver experience is very popular with young childern, who get an opportunity to practice driving a real steam locomotive. One four year old, at Bristol, kept coming back to have ago and was quite an expert by the time his

parents dragged him away to go home.

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It's good that people are trying to keep live steam alive but in answer to the original question "is live steam dead?" The answer has to be yes for now, it's sleeping until Hornby decide to revisit it. Lack of spares are a major issue now and my business

spares bins are on the last items with no hope of replacement.

I have two A4's out of action in my own collection due to lack of parts.
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I think they shot themselves in the foot by not making live steam fully DCC compatible. This was the one thing that stopped me from getting one (well not quite true the two granges and the King Arthur helped). If it ever to be resurected then I think DCC

is the only way ahead.
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I must admit that I was originally fascinated with the concept, having experienced using a Mammod steam roller years ago (well, it was my young son's really). I was disappointed that you needed separate track for Hornby because of the the voltage incompatibility.

Also, I asked a friend what it was like and mentioned that my very young grandchildren would probably love it. He warned me off, though, because of the possible danger of real steam, especially to them.
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reply to graskie; you don't need a separate track; just a switching arrangement to select either dc or live steam. You just need to be careful not to mix up live steam and dc loco,s! And you can only operate 1 live steam loco at a time. Also conventional

fine gauge wiring is not suitable. It needs to be beefed-up to avoid voltage drop. I have a 16 x 7 foot layout in the loft and live steam does no harm to the structure, as some people have worried it might. As for small children, my dad passed his 'donkey

boiler' on to me at about age 4 or 5, with suitable safety warnings, and I'm still here over 60 years later! Kids are brighteer than fearful parents give them credit for.
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The problem with the voltage change is the average guy in the street won't be into electronics today, a neighbour had trouble fitting a power clip let alone switching voltages. You have to take into account who's buying the models, today's buyer wants

to take it off the shelf and make it go straight from the box. Different times.
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[reply]The son of Triangman said:
Its good to see some interest on live steam with many comments here ?
To switch from standard 12v to 16v live steam only requires a change over switch as for DCC I do not think this to be a change needed with 12v

DCC you can run many engines at one time on the same track this would not be a good thing with live steam as one engine takes 6.5 amps so 3 engines on one track will be 20 amps and I think this would be too much for the rails network.
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Hi SOT,

There is no answer to the ccurrent

consumption axs you need the higher ampage to boil the water. Just think sa about your household kettle, which uses 13A at 240v. |If you lower the voltage then you would need to increase the amps.

I any case the fun of OO live steam is that you control

the locomotive (you have to drive it, like the full size version). DCC would take this away from you and be just another model railway item.

The inventor has designed a new controller add-on which give almost instantaneous ccntrol of the locomotive

and reduces the time lags and response times. The prototype was offered to H----y but they turned it down. The Club is now developing the idea and it will be available to club members, when it has been fully tested. We are also working on a new combined transformer

& controller which will incorporate the new add-on hand held controller.

My new exhibition layout will incorporate live steam for the hands-on element and a DCC for the hands-off element, such as shunting carriages and trucks in sidings.

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Hi SOT,

It looks like H----y are holding on to spares to support their LS service department. This offers a brilliant services at a very good price. If your locomotives are out of service due to lack of spares then you should consider sending them

to Margate to get them repaired. I have three locomotives that are playing up, due to being run into the ground at exhibitions and I am taking them to Margate to get them overhauled and repaired.
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  • 2 weeks later...
Hornby Live Steam is wonderful. You get the feel, smell and sounds of being on a steam shed. I am the very proud owner of all nine live steamers - this includes the Flying Scotsmann set, separate locomotive and the double tender variants. It will return!
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i disagree live steam is not dead, will admit i dont think it took off like hornby was hoping, had the mallard since the came out and the sec i found out the flying scotsman was being done well never been so excited (scotty has always been a fav of mine

from a young age, i have 4 inc limited edition) got it sec that came out, think i'll have to make a small live steam layout and get showing in the south of england, i'm all for the OO live steam club aims and objectives fingers crossed for them, i'm a member

too :D

Thanks for ya time
John
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i'm jealous :D lol very nice
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  • 2 weeks later...

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