markos
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My Steamco engine is hereWell, this morning I was the proud possessor of exactly 0 steam engines. A couple of hours later and I have got both my Wilesco D9 and Steamco 
The Steamco is pretty dusty, and according to the owner been fired only once, 5 years ago. To my completely untrained eye it all looks to be in good working order. I can pull up the safety valve with my fingers so I assume that at least I'm not going to blow it up 
The flywheel moves freely, and you can see a dollop of oil on the end of the piston when it rotates.
Is there anything else I should check before firing it up?
It has an esbit burner tray, but I don't have any tablets! I did however, get a meths burner for the D9, and it looks like it fits quite neatly into the firebox of the Steamco so maybe that will be the way to go.
Now I just need to wait until I finish work before I can play.
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shaygetz
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Very nice, a beautiful engine.
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johnreid
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Those Steamcos look so nice. You done good.
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tmuir
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If the oil is 5 years old it will of probably gone a bit gummy.
Get some distilled water, remove the overflow plug and safety valve and fill up with a funnel or syringe through the safety valve hole until water just starts to drip out overflow hole, then put SV and overflow plug back in.
Get some 3 in one oil, now look at the brass sleeve the shaft that the flywheel is on goes through and you should see a small hole on the top.
Put a drop of oil on that hole and spein the flywheel to make the oil soak in.
If you have some steam oil pull the cylinder out from the engine mount against the spring and put a drop of oil between the two edges. If you don't have steam oil car oil will do and a drop of oil on the piston and then fire it up. 
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Nick
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Wow! That Steamco really is nice. Have you fired it up yet?
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Wallace
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Looks great Markos 
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Manxman
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That is very good. A lovely engine.
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markos
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Well, it's just had it's first steaming. Twice . Didn't use the burner tray with solid fuel - used a meths burner. Flames occasionally licking up the side of the boiler made my boys somewhat impressed
After it got going it kind of vibrated more than I was expecting, but then it settled down and ran very nicely indeed. The boys were also impressed with the 'smoke' coming out the chimney (they are 6 and 4).
This is going to be fun. My 6 year old already has designs on building something out of his lego for the engine to run  - he does have suitable bits for a pulley, so who knows what will happen in the coming weeks...not sure if we really have enough power to be too extravagant though.
The boys have spied the D9 as well...'When can we build that one dad?'
Mum will be happy - her 3 boys out in the garage tinkering (with me trying not to swear every time I burn myself )
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markos
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Meant to ask one more thing. When I've finished, I drain the boiler - does it matter if I do this hot or cold? And do I need to leave the SV or water plug out for a while to let the boiler dry out some? Or am I being precious?
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Wallace
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Sounds great Markos, and a nice insight to how it all went.
It really sums up about what steaming is all about. Fun
The meths burners are so much better to use.
My usual thing when emptying a boiler is to get the safety valve out first (while it's hot) making sure there is no pressure left in the boiler.
Also take out the overflow plug, tip boiler upside end up and upside down to get the water out.
I even spin the flywheel by hand, in reverse while the boiler is upside down to help get the last bit of water out.
I then leave them with the plugs out so the boiler dries out
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markos
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Cool. Thanks. I did tip out hot. Have to be careful though 'cos water comes out the chimney too. If I'm not careful I'll end up wearing that!
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tmuir
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Glad it run well.
I usually run my engines on an old towel to stop them 'walking' off the table, as a bonus the towel also catches any water and oil.
Wallace has pretty much covered how to drain the water.
Good luck with the model building for the engine.
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Les
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Congratulations, it is a fine looking engine and glad you were able to run it without any difficulty. Well done.
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Les
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But you do realise you will not be able to stop at two.
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markos
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| Les Marsh wrote: | | But you do realise you will not be able to stop at two. |
I'm quite comfortable with not being able to stop at to
I'll be eyeing off a mobile before long too I think. It will all depend on funds...
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tmuir
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Just stay away from locos unless you really want to send yourself broke.
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Graham-Jilly
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they are great engines mate we have one and it runs well.
we also use a meths burner for it.
the burner you have is a lot diferent to ours tho.
anywya enjoy mate they are great fun
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Nick
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Make sure all the pressure is out of the boiler first, than loosen anything up that goes into te boiler while it is still warm. This will save you from having to take a pliers to them after it cools. 
When I decided to get a mobile I ended up buying three in two weeks!
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James
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Looks great mate! They're really good engines!
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