I was wondering if the Roundhouse Silver Lady is a good locomotive for a beginner, it's extra features are appealing.
Is the Roundhouse Silver Lady a good engine for a beginner?
Rambling Railfan
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I was wondering if the Roundhouse Silver Lady is a good locomotive for a beginner, it's extra features are appealing.
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Almost any Roundhouse is a good engine for a beginner. Easy to fire, reliable with support from manufacturer and availability of parts are key elements for starting into live steam.
Sam
Sam
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I've only recently got into this scale - starting with RC/Battery conversions of Bachmann Products (Shay & Mallet) and then a Roundhouse Davenport with Fosworks RC.
The latter runs beautifully as delivered - unlike the 7/8" Accucraft Decauville that followed (look at the 32 pages of faults and fixes for the latter on the 7/8" Forum).
Colleague has just taken delivery of a Roundhouse Darjeeling B Class which also ran without a hitch as has his Katie - club members' advice is Roundhouse if you don't want to have to troubleshoot.
Detail is not as good as Accucraft or Bowande but Roundhouse's cylinder configuration gives them a lot of power:
![Image]()
This train had been running behind the Bachmann Mallet and the owner of the track didn't think the Roundhouse Davenport could handle it - which it clearly did, even on the grade up to his yard.
This was the best the 7/8" Decauville could handle:
![Image]()
Cheers,
The latter runs beautifully as delivered - unlike the 7/8" Accucraft Decauville that followed (look at the 32 pages of faults and fixes for the latter on the 7/8" Forum).
Colleague has just taken delivery of a Roundhouse Darjeeling B Class which also ran without a hitch as has his Katie - club members' advice is Roundhouse if you don't want to have to troubleshoot.
Detail is not as good as Accucraft or Bowande but Roundhouse's cylinder configuration gives them a lot of power:
This train had been running behind the Bachmann Mallet and the owner of the track didn't think the Roundhouse Davenport could handle it - which it clearly did, even on the grade up to his yard.
This was the best the 7/8" Decauville could handle:
Cheers,
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Not surprizing; the prototype Décauville was a contractors loco used by contractors or farmers it was a very light engine made for light rail portable track system. The Davenport was already an industrial switcher. Nice layout.
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Track is a colleague's at Venus Bay in Victoria, Australia - search for Copperhead Garden Railway on YouTube (the owner has lots of videos including his latest acquisition - a Roundhouse Darjeeling B class).
More to the point here both the 7/8" Accucraft Decauville and the Roundhouse Davenport have similar size cylinders and run at the same boiler pressure but the Roundhouse loco cylinder setup and weight makes it a pretty solid performer.
More to the point here both the 7/8" Accucraft Decauville and the Roundhouse Davenport have similar size cylinders and run at the same boiler pressure but the Roundhouse loco cylinder setup and weight makes it a pretty solid performer.
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I found an old Roundhouse Lady Anne in an auction a few years ago that dated from the 1980's. Cleaned it up a bit, swapped out the 72Mhz receiver for a 2.4 GHz, and it runs like a champ! Guess there's a reason for the old saw 'runs like a Roundhouse.' So yeah, I think the next generation Silver Lady would be a good beginner's engine. Just remember that the smaller engines & cylinders have a tendency to 'jack-rabbit' -- stop and then run too fast. So keep your eye on the throttle, especially as the engine wears in.
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Roundhouse make great models. I have an "Old Colonial " by Roundhouse which is 28 years old. The locomotive runs just like new.
The problem with the Decauville is that the Chinese manufactures didn't build the model as designed originally. I have the 3rd version of the model, and it runs very well with no burning of the paint on the smokebox. I run my Decauville with 4 Accucraft tipper cars and it makes a very nice prototypical train.
Charles M
The problem with the Decauville is that the Chinese manufactures didn't build the model as designed originally. I have the 3rd version of the model, and it runs very well with no burning of the paint on the smokebox. I run my Decauville with 4 Accucraft tipper cars and it makes a very nice prototypical train.
Charles M
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Did they get the Decauville spelling correct on the builder's plate on your version? 😊
Mine now runs very well after a number of fixes that included the left hand cylinder that was 2.4mm ahead of where it should have been at top dead centre (was hitting the cylinder cover and locking up the motion), going down to a No. 3 gas jet, boring out the stack, and fitting a Summerlands chuffer as well as installing the larger gas tank to under the cab floor.
No burning of paint on the smokebox and will now light down the stack - but fitting radio control to it has been the best modification of all as I visit a number of tracks that have interesting grades.
My Davenport is at the end of this clip running downgrade on the Eltham South Electric Tramway (which has 32V overhead to run the Victorian Railways suburban Tait sets - hence the name.)
The line is that steep in sections that it requires putting a live steamer into mid-gear or reverse to control a locomotive with a load heading down the grades.........
No setting the regulator here and letting it run!
Mine now runs very well after a number of fixes that included the left hand cylinder that was 2.4mm ahead of where it should have been at top dead centre (was hitting the cylinder cover and locking up the motion), going down to a No. 3 gas jet, boring out the stack, and fitting a Summerlands chuffer as well as installing the larger gas tank to under the cab floor.
No burning of paint on the smokebox and will now light down the stack - but fitting radio control to it has been the best modification of all as I visit a number of tracks that have interesting grades.
My Davenport is at the end of this clip running downgrade on the Eltham South Electric Tramway (which has 32V overhead to run the Victorian Railways suburban Tait sets - hence the name.)
The line is that steep in sections that it requires putting a live steamer into mid-gear or reverse to control a locomotive with a load heading down the grades.........
No setting the regulator here and letting it run!
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The spelling on the builder's plate is incorrect. A member of the 7/8ths forum offered corrected builder's plates for sale. I failed to act quickly enough to acquire one and I have to live with the mistake.
Some of the aftermarket plate makers have the correct spelling, but the plate design is different from what the original locomotive had installed.
Charles M
Some of the aftermarket plate makers have the correct spelling, but the plate design is different from what the original locomotive had installed.
Charles M
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64 Posts
Hi Charles,
Contact the member on the 7/8" forum (who is here in Australia) - I got a set of plates off him a couple of months ago (I've yet to fit them) and I think he might still have a set or two left.
I bought some 3D printed 7/8"scale side dump car kits from the UK which are nicely designed but disappointing in terms of the print quality - would have been great items if they were resin prints instead like Peter Binnie's 16mm scale hoppers..........
Contact the member on the 7/8" forum (who is here in Australia) - I got a set of plates off him a couple of months ago (I've yet to fit them) and I think he might still have a set or two left.
I bought some 3D printed 7/8"scale side dump car kits from the UK which are nicely designed but disappointing in terms of the print quality - would have been great items if they were resin prints instead like Peter Binnie's 16mm scale hoppers..........
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You cannot go wrong with any Roundhouse locomotive, no matter what model or age of it. I have a Sandy River #24 from the very first production run and it still runs flawlessly with upgraded Fosworks RC system in it. But if you want a Shay or other American narrow gauge, your gonna be looking at Accucraft or hunting for the rare Catatonk Loco Works geared models that were produced. I have one of the Accucraft 13 Ton Shays, its finally starting to get run in. I see improvement on each run I give it. Still not a Roundhouse in smoothness but getting better. I have a 24 ton Shay from Catatonk on its way to me right now. I also have a Roundhouse Billy and a Regner Vincent. My friend has the Accucraft 7/8ths scale Decuville and its a crappy runner. And its had all the updates done and been run many times. Burner is still tempermental as heck, even after a couple gallons of water has been steamed thru it. The engine gets tight once hot and gets jerky. Beautiful model, but not impressed with running qualities for the $$ spent. Roundhouse are great to get your feet wet and used to running live steam. Then take on an Accucraft where one typically needs to tinker a bit to get the model to really perform nicely.
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Hi Mike,
you might be interested in the thread I have started on the 7/8" forum on my fixes for the Accucraft Decauville and its conversion to radio control: Login
After a number of fixes that were detailed in the Decauville Q&A thread along with some other problems that I had with mine it is now a very reliable runner with no burner issues:
![Image]()
Seen here at my colleague's Copperhead Garden Railway at Venus Bay, Victoria which has some reasonable grades - at this time it only had servo control of the regulator but I fitted the reverser and completed the installation tidy up last week.
It now has all the pretty bits back on it, the receiver and battery pack are concealed in the bunker and it ran beautifully last Sunday at the AMRA club track at Glen Iris:
![Image]()
(It even has the correctly spelt builder's plates on it now)
Not as good as my Roundhouse Davenport seen at the end of the Youtube video in terms of pulling power or running time:
![Image]()
And the boiler has limited water capacity - half a gauge glass is where the crown sheet would be on a real locomotive!
Having said that I'm very pleased with it now - and am moving on to tackling RC conversion of my Falk No.1............
you might be interested in the thread I have started on the 7/8" forum on my fixes for the Accucraft Decauville and its conversion to radio control: Login
After a number of fixes that were detailed in the Decauville Q&A thread along with some other problems that I had with mine it is now a very reliable runner with no burner issues:
Seen here at my colleague's Copperhead Garden Railway at Venus Bay, Victoria which has some reasonable grades - at this time it only had servo control of the regulator but I fitted the reverser and completed the installation tidy up last week.
It now has all the pretty bits back on it, the receiver and battery pack are concealed in the bunker and it ran beautifully last Sunday at the AMRA club track at Glen Iris:
(It even has the correctly spelt builder's plates on it now)
Not as good as my Roundhouse Davenport seen at the end of the Youtube video in terms of pulling power or running time:
And the boiler has limited water capacity - half a gauge glass is where the crown sheet would be on a real locomotive!
Having said that I'm very pleased with it now - and am moving on to tackling RC conversion of my Falk No.1............
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The friend with the Decauville is in ill health, most likely wont see any running till the next owner it has. I have some ideas what his needs. But no point in messing with it now.
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