[S.B.A.]

Hello all,

Earlier in the week I used my time off from running full sized trains to run some steam in the garden. The temperature was 20 something degrees Fahrenheit which led to some spectacular plumes of steam. I might try to get some run time in this weekend as we have a light dusting of snow now, which would make for some great scenes, but with the high being a forecasted 5 degrees Fahrenheit I’m not optimistic.

Question for everyone; what is the coldest temperature you have run your models in?

Here are a few pictures I took with my phone from the run Wednesday. Steam and cold weather are truly a match made in Heaven.

Here is No. 2 at La Boca with the morning passenger run.

Hours later we find No. 2 with a mixed freight drifting down into Mattole Jct.
Note the passenger car from earlier has been left on the wye.

Just outside the La Boca yard limits No. 2 has stopped to build steam before tackling the short but steep grade coming in to town.

After yarding her train, No. 2 takes on water and awaits her next assignment.

 

[ferroequinologist]

Nice steam plumes in your second and fifth shots. I do like the way you have canvas "curtains" on the cabs, much like the real thing. I need to do something similar for my Isle of Man engines as they also had weather curtains but usually tucked away.
Thanks for sharing and the expectant snow should look good.
Russell

 

[S.B.A.]

Thank you for the kind words, Russell. I never knew Isle of Man engines wore cab curtains, the more you know. I would love to see some

Here are a couple shots from today. I made two laps around the layout and called it quits. It was around 10 degrees Fahrenheit and the straight butane fuel just wasn’t up for the task. Not much in the way of snow, but we did get a nice dusting around noon.

The consist waiting just south of La Plata.

Building steam near the Purgatory mining district.

 

[Tdreabe]

I've run my Ruby below zero in Wisconsin. I've moved the fuel tank closer to the front of the cab, but the stock location should work too. I hold my hand on the side of the fuel tank to keep it warm until the boiler is warm enough to replace my hands heat. Then I put the cab on.

That's my process when the engine is stored in the garage cold. If I have the engine in the house and its 70 degrees, I can usually just fire it like normal.

If your fuel tank is in a trailing car, look into a heat pack, or warm water bath for the fuel tank.

Tyler

 

[Naptowneng]

Ran my Frank S in 27F at PLS a few years ago. Frank, notorious for poor performance in cool weather, was modified by Eric S with steam line in the tender water bath, Wow what a difference, now is my cold weather runner. Great engine.

Jerry

 

[steamermeister]

Seeing this thread got me thinking, it was nearly four years ago that I built my track and in all that time I'd never bothered to run in Winter. Over the past few days it had snowed nearly a foot, a rare event here in Ann Arbor so I cut a path out to the track and brushed away the snow. The next day enough ice had melted that I gave it a go. In the past I had told myself there was no point in trying; the cold would sap the heat from the boiler. Boy was I wrong! For this run it was about 25°F and 50% humidity, isobutane propane mix for fuel.

 

[steamermeister]

 

[ferroequinologist]

Great snow video with fabulous steam plumes, you don't have to worry about scale scenery with this much snow as looking from track level to the train with the snow and bare trees in the background it starts to look realistic. I don't get snow here in Melbourne Australia but we do notice that gas fired engines running on the "camping stove" butane with a little propane mix do behave better in low our temperatures.
Russell

 

[Mike Flea]

This was taken the day after Christmas in 2017:

Ice on the rail stopped it