Victoria BC: Regner Lumber Jack - Tip to easily light fire & my mods, including whistle (see blurb)

I have not had my live steam Regner Lumber Jack very long but am already quite in love with it. I love geared engines and this is my second geared locomotive after my Mamod Brunel.

The Lumber Jack is gauge adjustable so I can run it on either my 32 mm gauge or 45 mm gauge track. So it will run on the elevated line on my deck or on my smaller garden railway planter.

I, like others, found this engine finicky to light. I light my Accucraft engines more easily through their hinged smokebox doors. The solution was obvious and right in front of me. The smokebox front is easy to remove and put back on. So I take it off to light the fire. I also choke the burner air by about half.

I modified my engine by adding cladding made with coffee stir sticks and pipe lagging made with string and white Tamiya paint, and also made working cab doors out of stir sticks. I gussied up the loco by painting red accents where appropriate. A reshaped spare Accucraft coupler slides easily into the existing buffer slot. Easy cheesy.

Two mods I asked Graham Austin to add at the time of purchase from him (great service by the way) was a water refill system and an installed Summerlands Chuffer.

In the video I pull my old, but improved, Bachmann passenger cars. The loco and these cars make a nice train. The cafe and yellow house are inexpensive bird houses and the station is an older one by Aristo-Craft.

Happy live steam and model railroading!

Terry