Regner Max Revisited

[Chris Cairns]

I'm a bit late for the party, but as we have not had a Topic on a Regner Max for a while here’s my thoughts on a recently purchased 2nd hand Max which is being upgraded.

When these first came out I initially dismissed them as being rather small, and of limited use with a small single oscillating cylinder and no reverser. Of course it is actually closer in scale size to a De Winton compared to the larger PPS/RWM De Winton & Mamod Brunel, and the lack of a reverser is actually not a problem for the mainly continuous running that I've been carrying out recently.

Glendale Junction had one available at Peterborough 2013, but having failed in my quest for a 2nd hand Accucraft/Roundhouse loco it had been sold before I returned, and although Martin’s Models had one on display at Peterborough 2014 he was always busy talking to another customer/visitor each time I visited their stand.

So I tried bidding on a few that have appeared on eBay recently, and was very surprised that I won this one for a good price as it did have a reserve.


Photo from the eBay listing

A factory built Max in original box, with a selection of 2010 instructions, wheel B2B gauge & allen key, funnel & 5mls syringe, small quantity of gel, coupling link & pin, unused water filler valve & reverser valve, and not listed in the eBay listing a set of firing irons, white metal brake standard, a circular meths burner and a copy of the Garden Rail review.



The factory built version uses the all metal chassis as fitted to their multi gauge Easy Line wagons, to which an intermediate shaft & gears have been added. It may be possible to add a chain drive for 4 wheel drive (but then not allowing a gauge change) however I have been unable to remove the axles from the metal frame so far (the kit built version has a wood/metal constructed chassis).



The main body is stained plywood where the factory built version has the sides glued onto a u-shaped piece which is then glued onto the floor panel, whereas on the kit version those side panels are slotted straight into the floor panel. This one has the buffer beam extensions fitted with glued on wood brackets whereas other versions have screwed in brackets there. Fitted with LGB compatible couplings whereas again other versions are fitted with the multi height couplings instead.



These have a very saturated exhaust so I've given the body another coating of satin cote, and glued some cork sheeting down where the fuel tray has been heating up the floor panel.



The wooden body is fitted to the chassis using 4 small bolts plus the 2 threaded boiler mounting feet.





The boiler looks nicely engineered with extra bushings for fitting an optional pressure gauge & water sight glass.





Originally the boiler was fitted direct to the floor panel, and the development model had a taller chimney. After experiencing drafting problems the boiler has now been mounted just above the floor panel, and the chimney was shortened on the production version. The drafting problems still remain however, partly due to the 5 reheat & 2 flue cross tubes which effectively block the flue orifice, and the shortened chimney does not help either.



So when using the fuel tray with gel or solid fuel there can be quite a bit of flame creep around the outside of the boiler, and there are photos online of singed Max body's! I glued some mesh over the 2 air holes but it is now fixed in place using a piece of wire as the glue did not hold up to the direct flames. I also tried the mesh around the outside of the boiler opening for the burner pan, but it was too fine a mesh and did not work despite drilling 4 large air holes.

Having obtained a syphon tube from the new owners of Martin's Models at Peterborough 2015 to fit a pressure gauge, I've confirmed that the gel only gets it up to about 1.2 Bar, solid fuel just gets it up to 2 bar, and my Bix/PPS gas burner can hold it at 2 Bar.

One anomaly that does not seem to have been previously discussed much on the UK Forums/Groups is the quoted boiler capacity and the error between the German & English 2010 filling instructions.

The Regner catalogue still quotes the boiler capacity as 25 mls - Kesselinhalt 25 ml. I have measured it at 130 mls so presumable it should say 125 ml? The German instructions state to fill the boiler 8 x 5 mls ( Spritze 8x je 5 ccm Wasser einfüllen ), but the English instructions state to fill the boiler 4 x 5 mls ( enclosed injection 4 times 5 ccm of water ). Not sure how a German 8 translates into an English 4? Martin's Models were aware of this translation error so subsequent instructions were corrected, and the Garden Rail reviewer (Stuart Moon) of the Max also found out.

So I've been filling the boiler up to approx 85 mls (just under 70% capacity) but have just fitted a water sight glass so will now need to calibrate its range.

More to follow on this Topic shortly.

Chris Cairns

[kandnwlr]

Thanks for this. I wasn´t aware that this Regner loco had a wooden body.
P.S: For all questions Germanic, feel free to ask.

[mikewakefielduk@btinterne]

Chris, are you going to continue to use the solid fuel, the meths burner or fit a small ceramic gas burner?

[Chris Cairns]

None of the above Mike.

The solid fuel burner ends up with flames creeping around the outside of the boiler, plus the exploding tablets have already partly singed the cork sheeting. Plus if I intend running it on our Group's portable layout no doubt there will be a venue that does not allow solid fuel firing, etc.

The meths burner is too tall to go into the boiler opening and does not have a filler plug fitted thus a potential fireball. I'll take a photo shortly.

So I'll be using a Bix Mini gas tank but instead of the Bix 009 ceramic burner, I'll be using a PPS box burner, which is neither ceramic nor radiant either (as now used by RWM on their Janet). With the large boiler opening some of the heat escapes outwards so some form of metal sheeting should really be used in that opening, and I'll box the gas tank in with plywood so it does not get toasted with all that heat. Again a photo or two shortly.

Chris Cairns

[Chris Cairns]

Before running my Ragleth in the heavy rain last Sunday I made an attempt to run this Max but it failed in the end.

I was using a Bix Mini gas tank connected to a PPS Steam box burner. This burner came with the prototype PPS De Winton (a long term restoration project) but has never worked that well. I changed the No.3 jet for a No.5 jet and adjusted the jet position for the best burn pattern. Indoors I've managed to get it to run this Max OK, holding the pressure around 1.5 Bar.

On Sunday I got the burner lit but the wind was affecting the flame pattern which was drifting around and occasionally outside the boiler, but when I turned the loco round for the correct running orientation out of the steaming up siding the burner was blown out, so I gave up.

Back home I ran it on blocks indoors to use up the gas, and thought about how I could improve the drafting and some form of windshield for that large firebox opening.

Unfortunately the boiler mounting feet have a very short threaded stud so I only managed to raise the boiler by one washer under the foot on one side & two washers on the other. However the bottom of the boiler was very sooty indicating that that PPS Steam burner is still not working properly.

Being aware that other Max owners have had very good performance with Bix & Regner ceramic burners, I retrieved my Bix 005 burner, which was under the PPS De Winton's boiler (I have the correct RWM circular ceramic burner for the restoration at some point).

The transformation in performance was amazing. This Bix combination easily holds the running pressure at 2 Bar with plenty of heat available, and the radiant heat pattern from the ceramic is less affected by any wind, and I can use the 40 mesh stainless steel screen (which was badly affecting the airflow to the solid fuel, gel & PPS Steam burners.

So I'll try this combination out at our Group's next running day. The exhaust (still fitted to the side of the chimney/flue) is just too wet to safely demonstrate this loco for visitors to our Group's portable layout which is attending a Model Railway Show in just under 2 weeks time.

Chris Cairns

[Chris Cairns]

Here's a round up of my Max's burner options.



1. The standard fuel tray. This is either filled up with the appropriate gel/sterno or solid fuel tablets (I was using 1&1/2 Mamod/MSS loco tablets)

2. The PPS box burner. After my problems with this burner posted above I compared it with the Bix ceramic burner. This confirmed the primary air holes in the burner tube were much smaller so these have been opened out which has improved the burn pattern. However it is still badly affected by any draft/wind which draws the flames away from the top of the burner, so it has been consigned to my spare parts box again.

Both the above burners are affected by the poor drafting caused by the closeness of the boiler bottom, plus those reheat tubes across the bottom and through the flue. By comparison, the Midwest Heritage Steam engine uses the same size fuel tray and works well with the taller firebox & chimney combination, and a more enclosed firebox

3. This meths burner came with my Max, although was not included in the eBay listing and had no wicks. It is too tall to put into the Max's firebox opening. I put 2 wicks in and briefly ran it, but without a bung/filler plug in that large hole eventually the meths burned through there as well so I could see my Max going up in smoke if I had used it. In the spare parts box now!

4. The Bix mini gas tank & 005 burner. This will be my prefered burner option, and I just need to fashion a plywood box to surround the tank.

5. Stainless Steel 40 Mesh. To stop the flames from the fuel tray creeping out of the firebox I tried fitting this with just 1 slot for the fuel tray handle, and 2 further slots to go over the boiler mounts. However it restricted the airflow too much effectively killing the burner, so I drilled 2 air holes which made no difference, then another 2 again with little effect. I tried using it with the PPS burner (additional slot on the front) but again it affected the secondary air to that burner and as seen the flames ended up creeping out of one of the air holes. I've tried it with the Bix burner and it does not affect it, so I'll open out the slots on the front to fit over the wider Bix burner tube.

I need to prepare other locos for demonstrating at upcoming public events so Max will go back into the 'Pending' workshop queue for now.

Chris Cairns