Model Trains with Working Steam Engines!

We meet the Bay Area Garden Railway Society, a group of model train builders who build scale steam engines that actually run on tiny pieces of burning coal! During a water break for one engine, we chat with one of the builders about what it takes to make these beautiful trains work.

Shot by Gunther Kirsch and edited by Norman Chan

Tested is:
Gunther Kirsch
Ryan Kiser
Kristen Lomasney

Thanks for watching!

[DJModelRailway]

Super to see Tested do a segment on Model Railways/Railroad. An incredible feat of engineering an actual coal fired locomotive! Also great to see Welsh Coal is still burning within the bellies of American Locomotives. Wales is where I live, so I am lucky to have it nearby! I am an avid follower of Tested, especially Mr Savage, so keep up the fantastic work!

[LindsayDaly]

Loving the tiny little shovel that he uses to place the coal in there lmao

[plukerpluck]

I just wanted to say that Norm, you are a FANTATSIC interviewer. You engage someone and ask the perfect questions without making anything cringy. I know you've been doing this for a long time, but so often people become complacent and think they're good simply because they've been in the game a long time. You ARE good, and so I just wanted to express how great I think you are during moments like this.

No matter who you're talking to, the interview flows well. It's great!

[jerryjohnsonii]

The coal powered Trains are very cool, but need a lot of maintenance.

[MrRailroadrunner]

This is a hobby you can get deep into. This is G scale live steam, which is really the scale most well known to the public. However, you can get even bigger ride on engines in increasing gauges. Alternatively, there are clubs for smaller gauges such as O and HO. Really it's a hobby that is worth getting into. A lot of the people are very friendly. It's amazing to see the machine work that goes into one of these engines.

[ichhabe]

Adam Savage should have done this segment. His enthusiasm would have set the place on fire.

[SpektOne]

I remember going to one of these guys' houses a few times as a kid — his whole yard had an elaborate railway setup, from the front yard to backyard — they even let me control a couple trains! So much fun and nice to see they are still around. I was also a member of the Peninsula Model Railroaders Association that used to be housed there at the fairgrounds.

[chuchuchip]

I belong to the Long Island Garden Railway Society & we meet once a month at a member's backyard railroad. In the cold months we have a indoor display/meeting at one of L.I.'s museums.

[ZobbyGaming]

Still got my 5inch gauge engine to build. Last guy had it for about 15 years, I've had it for about 4 and all I need is a few rods and crosshead to be rebuilt and I can get the chassis running on air.

Without the necessary preparation and tools, building them is a hassle but once they are built and adjusted, it's amazing. It really is a labour of love.

The coal thing he's so right. I'm Welsh myself, and our railway use Welsh coal always, but once we had some imported coal to use as a cost saver or something, I don't quite remember why we had it, but we used it in our 7 1/4inch engine, and it was horrible. It burnt quick and the steam was this horrible sort of brown colour and it was heavy and lingered around the ground for hours. Was horrible to breath in and you couldn't see through it.

[benjaminfinlay]

This is amazing. Just amazing. I had no idea you could make a steam engine that small.

[garygresham]

Great interview. Many model train guys are Makers of the highest order.

[harryrobinson]

“So there’s no engineer on it?”

What did you expect, a tiny driver?
Kidding, he means rc!

[jsnadrian]

this is so cool -- id love to have one of these one day

[MargaritaHansenForjan]

MARAVILLOSO. Thanks for sharing. From Chile.

[JoeXTheXJuggalo]

That's a new one for me. That is very awesome

[FabioLeone]

I was part of a train club and people there had these trains. So great!

[olliec]

That's actually pretty amazing! When I googled it I wasn't sure that I'd find a real model steam engine. I didn't even realise that you had different levels of coal, which is interesting. Massive thumbs up! 👍👍

[starlordpro]

i can only imagine how small the margin of error is on a train of that size.. real trains have a reasonable margin of error but as the parts used gets smaller and smaller the margin also shrinks... i can't even imagine the precision of the welds and all the pipes in that small boiler... eventually things gets so small so a single grain of sand could clog a pipe and cause it to malfunction.... making a small scale fully accurate working model of something requires a whole new level of engineering experience...

[markcarey]

Terrific. One way to get to know how a steam loco works - build one.

[Vincent-Vega]

For a moment, I felt like a kid again!!! Nice video!!