Accucraft Ruby

I have been looking around for a few months for a good locomotive to buy for my garden railroad. I have had my eye on the LGB Forney. However, I recently discovered the Accucraft Ruby. I have been interested in getting into live steam for a while and I would like to know if this would be a good place to start. Also does anybody know where I could get a good deal on a used one? I also saw a few acticles online about people kitbashing the ruby into forneys which could give me the best of both worlds.

The Ruby is a great starter locomotive! As with buying an entry level automobile...you would be smart to buy new. You can find the locomotive in kit form to save money. It's an easy process... Plus it gets you acclimated with all the moving parts, so you won't be afraid to make tuning adjustments later on.

Unfortunately Ruby lacks in power and control. One minute it stalls, the next minute its flying at 100mph. If you want a much better engine consider a two cylinder shay. They run about $1200, but they run reliably on most layouts with grades and horseshoe curves, etc... They run slow and steady to avoid stalling.

p42thedowneaster wrote: One minute it stalls, the next minute its flying at 100mph.

IMO, and in my experience, thats more of a myth than reality..it *can* be true in rare instances, but all the Ruby's I have seen running in person (probably about 10 of them) have not had this problem..sure, Ruby isnt as "refined" as some more expensive steamers, but she is a very good basic live steamer..

The Ruby Kit is no longer available..
I doubt you can find a kit for sale anywhere..long ago sold-out..
Accucraft tried the kit as an experiment back in 2004..they only did the one "run" of kits,
they havent repeated it, and the kit is not currently being made.
I agree the kit was a nice way to build a Ruby! but its sadly no longer an option..(unless you can still find a kit for sale..which IMO is very unlikely)

Here is my Ruby experience:

http://gold.mylargescale.com/scottychao ... Angel.html

Scot

One minute it stalls, the next minute its flying at 100mph.

- If you're dealing with a garden railroad with grades, I would agree with that assessment of the Ruby (I have the 2-4-2 #11 with tender variant). My mainline has a ruling grade of 3% (unavoidable due to the fact our property is partially on a hillside); before I installed RC in my Ruby, it wrecked spectacularly several times, including a "Wreck of the Old '97" imitation where it dived with it's entire train off a curve onto the ground @ 2 feet below at something like 150 scale MPH! (Fortunately, the wreck damage was repairable). My entire railroad is elevated @ 2 feet off the ground, with about 1/2 the mainline in a "bent dogbone" track plan which precludes "walk-beside" manual control for at least 1/2 the mainline's length. I installed RC in it about a year ago, & that has at least made it controllable on the grades (although even with RC, CAREFUL throttle & reverse lever management is an absolute necessity. If your layout is totally level, then it's possible to run a Ruby without RC & keep the speed reasonable, even with manual control.

I have 2 of the Accucraft Shays (both a 3-cylinder & the 2-cylinder Mich-Cal #2); both of them also have RC installed, but can safely operate on the grades without it; the Shay's will NOT run away downgrade, even with a moderately heavy train behind them. They also work quite well pulling upgrade (as you might expect); with a full head of steam, my 3-cylinder Shay pulls about the same "tonnage" as it's "sparky" equivalent (a Bachmann 2-truck Shay); it will typically handle 6 eight-wheel 1:20.3 scale cars up the 3% grade. The 2-cylinder Mich-Cal #2 does 1 ~ 2 cars less; the Ruby will handle only 1 eight-wheel or 2 four-wheel cars, plus it's four-wheel tender, in comparison. (I've lately been running Ruby with a consist of a couple of Bachmann wood side-dump cars, which roll freely & track well for 4-wheel cars). On level track, Ruby will haul a sometimes surprisingly good load. I've occasionally set up a live-steam demo at a local train show; the Shay is so easy to manage at RC that I often hand off the RC throttle to kids watching (which is a HUGE hit at the show!) Here's a YouTube link to that, including a run of the Ruby (manually controlled at that time); note that on a level layout, Ruby can haul a decent load. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8klqyFywxg

Oh, & by the way, Scot - I love your inspection loco Ruby conversion, looks GREAT! Tom

For what it is worth, Accucraft re-issued the kit at least once since their 2004 run. And, the current run of kits (as well as all Ruby engines) feature larger cylinders, which people have said make the engine more controllable as well as giving it more power.