Found why my Mayflower was running roughly under steam

[artfull dodger]

I have been fighting a rough running issue whilest under steam on my old Merlin Mayflower. Seemed like a bind, there was none, so a timing issue was suggested by others. I set the timing twice, first time with no real benefit and I tried adjusted a bit from there with no effect till it make things way worse. So I set it back to where it should be. I disconnected the RH cylinder and it would run smooth as glass while up on blocks. Hook the RH cylinder back up to the rods and it would act like it had a bind/timing issue. I got upset with it and walked away, very important for anyone frustrated but more so for someone who is autistic. For I will take out the frustration on the object if I let it get out of hand. I did some more reading and seen where there were little O rings between the valve chests and the cylinder body. I have the early design cylinders according to Simon from Anything Narrow Gauge, but that they were a good design. The problem was a pinched O ring on the forward port, the hole in the center was nearly closed off when the O ring was cold. I did not have any of these little buggers so I just left the offending one out, relaying on the machined surface to seal. On test steam up, no steam leakage and she runs smooth! Here is a pic of the LH cylinder apart, I checked both sides. I have new O rings coming from Simon, along with my second Merlin, a red late model Major that Simon went thru, correct some issues, fixed the whistle and put 2.4ghz RC in for me. Mike

[artfull dodger]

thought I would take a new pic of her fresh out of the engine house and ready for duty. Mike