Garden Railway Forum

As some of you might have picked up, I'm currently training for a new job in Aberdeen. This has meant that my visits to my steam shed in Glasgow have been very limited recently, and if you've read my other postings, the steam shed does not really have a proper working live steam loco in attendance at present.

So an arrival from Royal Mail today, plus watching video of an SL1 in action on another Forum has changed this situation, and I have just had my steam fix.

I have been looking to fit a pressure to my IP Jane, and finally confirmed the right thread size for the bolt on top of the sight glass tube (different from the later boilers fitted, which are now available from Dream Steam). Although I could make up a siphon tube, making a banjo bolt is beyond my workshop capabilities at present. I've also been looking for a 1/2" pressure gauge with a small scale, but 0 - 80 PSI is all that is currently available.

So when I saw a siphon already made up on ebay I bought one of these. Here is a similar one for sale - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Live-steam-siphon ... 911.c0.m14 It comes with the banjo bolt, 2 crush washers, and a threaded boiler insert. I have a 1/2" pressure gauge which awaits fitting to a stalled Cheddar Models project, so decided to use this on my IP Jane. It will be used on the IPS Janet as well when I can get a suitable banjo bolt & siphon from PPS.

Here is a visitor to my railway admiring the new gauge.



Sadly as you can see he is a bit out of gauge (too many beers!) so was not allowed to drive the loco by H&S.



And here is the IP Jane in action, pulling some Mamod open wagons with the AnDel Models coal loads fitted (just need to trim up the last one to be fitted soon).



And for those who prefer YouTube - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1-6LSYsy254

Thanks for reading this posting.

Chris Cairns.

Thats looking good, but are you going to move it somewhere else as the gauge sticks out a bit? Glad to see Freds come up from Cornwall for a bit!

The siphon tube came as a straight U bend, and is too long for this cab fitting. I've bent the tube so that it will fit better, but do not think I can get the gauge much lower. The nipples for these 1/2" gauges are difficult to get, hence my buying a made up siphon tube.

Running very well, it's not untill you see a 1/2" pressure gauge on a mamod that you realise it looks so big. Prior to reading the text I was convinced it was 3/4".

If you're looking for more steam fittings, may I recommend, www.steamfittings.co.uk superb service.

Yes, thank you William, I've got them on my dealers listing but they do not do the banjo bolts. I was considering drilling a boiler blanking plug and soldering a pipe into the top.

Following a request on another Forum for the pulling power of this IP Jane, I guessed at 8 wagons giving that I'm using an old oval of Mamod track which is water & oil soaked, plus using Mamod rolling stock with those draggy axles.

So I was surprised that it actually handled 8 wagons with ease.

So here is the IP Jane with the following: -

3 x RW2 Lumber Wagons.
1 x RW1 Open Wagon.
2 x RW1 Open Wagons with coal load.
1 x RW3 Guards Van.
1 x kit bashed Mamod wagon. Probably an RW2 chassis with a body & coal load. Fitted with centre buffers, hence on the back of the train.

The following video was done after warming up the loco, and it actually started from a standing start with less wheel slip than previous attempts. The butane gas burner does not keep up with this steam demand so loco slows down after about 6 laps of the oval. Probably work better being butane/propane mix fired, but I do not wish to use different gas mixes just now.



And for those who prefer YouTube - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=B-QsIE5iNu4

Thanks for looking. Not sure when I'll next get enough time to try more wagons, as I off to finish my new job's training shortly.

Chris Cairns.

Now thats convinced me that they are not bad locos at all!

great loco Chris