THE SUMMERLANDS CHUFFER

One thing I found - when returning to 16mm - was that although we are incredibly lucky in having the range of commercial locos available to us, most, if not all of them, were too quiet. There was no chuff! So one of the first things I did was to add simple chuff pipes made to a Tag Gorton recipe from K&S brass tube - one for Accucraft and two for Roundhouse - and that was it. I took some video and it generated quite a bit of interest on the garden railway e-groups - but I had no plans to go further.

One e-group member, Zoë Topper, in the US, decided that she wanted to have just one chuff pipe in the chimney of her Roundhouse loco and started thinking about an adapter to fit the twin exhaust pipes. We both started working on the problem and I had the advantage of a 50 year old lathe to play with. Within a few days, I had carried out a whole series of tests to find out just what did create and amplify a chuff and how to make a reliable adapter. Group members sent me links to work on resonator whistles etc. too, but in the end it was good old trial and error.

Before long, the Summerlands Chuffer design idea was ready and in action. It was very well received on Youtube and I continued to refine it over the following months. I then tried to find someone who would make and market it - and I failed miserably! So it was by the purist chance that I ended up working with Nigel to assemble a portable 7 1/4" gauge track at a local school fete. We got talking - and - as they say - the rest is history!