The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum

SillyBilly · Guest

I thought they sold a 45mm William?

The Tenmille choppers stick out a long way because they're based on L&B couplings, they certainly look nicer in the same shape as the worlds most wonderful railway uses!

Personally I prefer the Accucraft choppers, a lot easier to use.

tmuir · Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:21 am Post subject:

Titan · Full member Joined: 19 Jul 2006 Posts: 715 Location: Derby

SillyBilly · Guest

The L&B ones just have a square head, it's practically the same size head. They stick out way to far on the L&B, not a big fan of the HUGE springs either. On 'LYD' it has just got and FfR chopper with a square head.

bessytractor · Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:04 pm Post subject:

http://mr.photos.gb.com/p46702809.html

dome maybe Titan?

Titan · Full member Joined: 19 Jul 2006 Posts: 715 Location: Derby

SillyBilly · Guest

Why not? You can easily drill a hole in the dome, have the saftey valve pin sticking out, it'd be great.

MTA · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:49 pm Post subject:

You'd be following Drummond practice if you mounted the dome over the safety valve

Although on the full size they are mounted on top of the dome...

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SillyBilly · Guest

Farlies have them in the dome, so do Isle of Man engines. best place for them, being at the highest place. Another reason for an I.P regulator, all this nonsense about them causing priming is a load of bulls**t!

Titan · Full member Joined: 19 Jul 2006 Posts: 715 Location: Derby

Or maybe I could do something GWR Style?

Anyway, at long last I have managed to find time to do a test run to check out the modifications.

The first run was a bit of a disaster. I managed to fill the boiler too full, and it primed a bit which carried some muck into the throttle valve ensuring that it did not go. So run was aborted and when cool the valve was dismantled and the boiler was connected to an air compressor, which blew whatever was stuck out at about 80 psi

Anyway, the loco was reassembled and all consumables topped up, putting slightly less water in the boiler - I just cannot read the gauge glass without a reflector in it, it is as good as useless. I just fill it up to overflowing, and then suck out about 40 cc with a syringe which seems to be about right.

Now for the purposes of this trial I am raising steam starting with cold water - the gas tank has more than enough capacity and on at least one occasion I have run out of water before running out of gas.

After steam was raised the loco was pushed forward and back a little until the water cleared from the cylinders, two coaches hooked up, the stopwatch started and off we went. Well the first five minutes were spent tinkering with the gas and throttle settings to try and get it to run at the right speed without wasting steam by blowing off, and after that it settled down to a steady speed if still slightly on the fast side.

So then I just sat back and let it run. It managed a virtually constant speed for the next ten minutes, but then it started to slow a little. Being conscious of the fact that the water can run out before the gas, and that the burner did not seem to have died down I decided not to take any chances and shut off the gas.

Total Elapsed time from when it first started hauling the train 16 mins.

When the loco had cooled, inspection showed that a) it still had water, b) it still had gas, and c) it still had oil !!

So the results look quite promising - I am hoping that it should be able to exceed 20 mins run time as it is, which I think is quite respectable.

I also checked the piston valve and piston rod for signs of oil, basically to make sure that the lubricator was doing its job. The piston valves had a good film of oil on them, but the piston rods were a little on the dry side, although there was some oil getting to them. This might just be that the position that they are in tends to mean they do not pick up as much oil from the steam as the valves do.

Now one thing I am thinking of - the sight glass appears to be held in by screws rather than riveted, and I do have a spare reflector from an SL1. Maybe, just maybe it will fit, and I might actually get to see how much water is in the thing !!
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tmuir · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:17 am Post subject:

16 minutes is not a bad run, glad its all coming together.
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A nice example of an Australian made Scorpion Donkey Engine

bessytractor · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:40 am Post subject:

wow its all going swimmingly then

The modern Titan is on its way. Now you need a way to RC it!

Mamodman123 · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:18 pm Post subject:

Wow thats a decent run! Must be the extra boiler capacity? Either way its a nice run considering there was still water and gas left for more

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Graham-Jilly · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:39 pm Post subject:

wish i could get a 16 min run out of mine

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