A 7 1/4" gauge porter

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 8:17 pm

Last weekend I fulfilled a life-long ambition, and became the new owner of "ride on" sized steam loco:

It is a "Marie Estelle" designed by Don Young.
The loco is about 3' long at heavy!

The cab is a bit more complicated than my G scale live steamer!

tom_tom_go · Post by **tom_tom_go** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 8:35 pm

So when do we get a video of it round your line?

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 8:35 pm

Just buying a loco like this is more complicated.

The deal involved having fresh boiler hydraulic and steam tests.
Fortunatley the owner of a nearby miniature railway is also a boiler inspector, so after joining hus model engineering club I was able to arrange the tests.

To do the hydraulic, the safety valves are replaced by blank plugs, all valves closed, the boiler filled right up with water, and a special hand pump used to pressurise. The inspector then checks all visible parts of the boiler and firebox for distortion or weeping while it holds the water pressure.

The working pressure is 90psi, so the hydraulic re-test is to 135psi (original hydraulic was 180psi

).

The loco passed with no issues

This means that the next hydraulic will be needed in November 2020.

The steam test is a bit more complicated;

The water level is reduced to a normal level, the safety valves replaced, a fire lit, and steam raised. Once a good strong fire is up, the blower is put on hard and pressure left to build......

The pressure at which the safety valves start to lift is recorded, and the blower kept wide open, eventually both safeties lift fully (and very noisily as they are pop valves on this loco) and a close watch kept on the pressure gauge.

To pass, pressure must stop rising before 110% of the working pressure.

All good (phew!), which means the paperwork can all be signed and the boiler is all clear for another 12 months:

Peter Butler · Post by **Peter Butler** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 8:35 pm

Congratulations on achieving your 'lifelong ambition'..... I sincerely hope the is much more life left to enjoy it!

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 8:40 pm

I had some time running the loco at the kensey valley railway after it passed its tests, and will hopefully steam it at home this weekend....

It came with a full set of 1:1 scale drawings, this is one of 6 very big and complicated sheets:

And a build book for the boiler which lists all of the materials and threads, as well as drawings and photos from during assembly:

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:01 pm

The seller (a friend of mine), also made sure that I had the following accessories so that I had everything I needed to run the engine:
- steam oil
- bearing oil
- oil can
- flue brush
- spark deflector
- shovel
- electric blower fan

And few parts that need some fettling before re-fitting:
- pony truck
- cow catcher
- bell

The engine obviously needs some attention to the paint, but it runs really well. It's quite powerfull (and fast!) with a loud "bark".

I have already solved one issue; there was not enough "swing" on the coupling bar between the loco and tender which forced the loco to derail on my very sharp curves. Re-mounting the bar on top of the coupling points has given it the extra it needed.

Another little problem is that the hose between the hand pump (in the tender) and the loco tends to pop off when working against boiler pressure. I have bought some small pipe clamps from eBay that will hopefully take care of that.

Last weekend we lit up the loco using paraffin soaked wood, then gradually switched to coal. This was pretty tricky in such a small firebox; next time I will start with paraffin soaked charcoal then switch to coal (anthracite) slowly.

LNR · Post by **LNR** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 10:29 pm

Have found I've turned a little green, very envious.
Notice the fire door is fairly low in the firebox, does this indicate a thin fire is required? There's nothing like driving and firing a loco that you are actually riding on.
Grant.

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Fri Dec 02, 2016 10:37 am

The fire is fairly thin, but that is compared to the 1/3 scale hunslet that I am more used to driving.

You can fill the firebox up to the door and then leave it for several minutes to burn down. Firing at speed is something I have not yet mastered....

I managed to do two laps of the track at kensey without opening the firebox door at all, and that is quite a long and demanding circuit. I expect that i will only fire when stationary on my home track.

DLRdan · Post by **DLRdan** » Fri Dec 02, 2016 3:03 pm

Nice little loco you have there. Couple of tips if I may. Start on charcoal soaked in METHS not paraffin, the paraffin leaves an oily residue in the tubes making the soot stick. As for pipe connectors have a look for the quick release fittings used in pneumatics or 16mm scale water top up valves, they let go very easily when you want the pipe out but will hang on way past the 90psi that you need. Also be aware of bits of slate in the coal, the last lot of mine had some in and gave me a few issues.

tom_tom_go · Post by **tom_tom_go** » Fri Dec 02, 2016 5:48 pm

I use 100% coconut charcoal soaked in lamp oil to get started then a mix of anthracite and house coal (the stuff that smokes not the smokeless stuff as I like the clag).

Never had issues with the tubes getting oily though so give it a try if you like...

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Sat Dec 03, 2016 7:38 pm

First steam up at home today; some issues but I did manage to do a couple of laps of the track (although it was dark by the time I had steam up).

I (luckily) spotted the first issue before lighting up. One of the end nipples on the left hand water feed pipe from the injector to the boiler had come adrift. A quick trip to dads workshop & we had it soldered back on (fiddly to remove and replace the pipe though....)

Charcoal worked fine to start on, but I have learned that it needs to be broken up pretty small to cover the grate without massive air gaps.

A fresh battery for the blower helps too!

First attempt was aborted when we realised that the constant dribble from one of the injector overflows wasn't the water tap passing, but a stuck boiler clack. Had to drop the fire to allow the clack to be dismantled and cleaned....

At least I now know I can drop the grate with the loco on its wheels, which is handy.

Second attempt, got a really good even bed of charcoal in before lighting up. This (combined with an already warm engine) meant steam came up fairly quickly - very quickly once the steam blower could be used!

Did a couple of laps (in the pitch black) before stopping for servicing.

Couldn't get either injector to pick up (despite working fine last weekend), so decided to call it quits and drop the fire again.

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Sat Dec 03, 2016 7:40 pm

I think the problem is with a restricted water supply from the tender to the loco. Water only dribbles half-heartedly from the overflow when turned on full...

Additionally the hose from the hand pump is not up to the job, it bulges noticably as you pump, meaning not much goes into the boiler.

I will go through and service / inprove the water feeds before trying again.

Dr. Bond of the DVLR · Post by **Dr. Bond of the DVLR** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 10:32 pm

Make sure no air can get into the water feed for the injector - that will knock it off straight away.

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Sun Dec 18, 2016 5:29 pm

Much more successful run today, I had the loco in steam for about 2 hours (and must have made 20 laps of the garden!). Both injectors and the hand pump worked perfectly

Thanks for the tip on using meths for lighting. Worked fine with none of the smell or smoke of paraffin.

I have made some cosmetic changes (repainted the smokebox and domes) as well as re-fitting the cowplough and a front coupling:

Ready for the off:

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Sun Dec 18, 2016 5:31 pm

https://youtu.be/6eH-Ige4Je4

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Sun Dec 18, 2016 5:39 pm

A couple of improvements I am thinking about.....

- steam raising to 30psi using the electric blower took ages (over an hour!). Looking more closely at it the motor is rated at 24v, where I have been running it on 12. Double batteries next time....

- this steaming used welsh steam coal; whilst this smells lovely and makes very little smoke it seemed to be less "forgiving" than the anthracite. A bright hot fire can drop to black all over in less than a minute if not managed carefully. Next time I might try a mixture of the two fuels.

- the garden was very wet this morning, and I (not surprisingly) had some issues with traction. What was surprising was that this got worse as I was running. I think that the automatic drain cocks were dropping oil and water onto the rails. Hopefully I will be able to re-aim them to point outwards.

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Thu Jan 12, 2017 12:00 pm

An update;

- The blower works much better on 24v, able to raise steam to 30psi (where the steam blower can take over) in about 15 minutes,
- Drain cock issues all sorted (just needed cleaning out & re-fitting),
- Still having some traction issues, but working on it.

I took the loco back to the kensey valley railway on new year's day for some extended running. All went pretty well, but I learned that I should fill the firebox much higher than I had been (right up to blocking the firehole door!).

Got a camparison picture with "molly"; half a tonne of tinkerbell:

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Thu Jan 12, 2017 12:05 pm

Had one mishap....

I had refitted the cowcatcher (see below) before taking the engine over:

Unfortunatley it was too low, and snagged on a raised bolt on a set of points (which bent it down further). Later on the lower edge of the cowcatcher "caught" a bad rail joint and stopped dead - the momentum of the loco (and driver!) sheared the 8 small bolts attaching the front buffer beam to the chassis.

The loco was otherwise undamaged so I carried on running without it.

Due to rain / mud we also had to carry the engine a fair distance from my camper van to the track: it only weighs 60kg, but even with two people you don't want to carry it far.....

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Thu Jan 12, 2017 12:13 pm

So, time to do some repairs / inprovements:

Transport issues solved:

I decided to cut back the frame a little (as I will not be refitting the pony truck that the loco was built with). Achieved quite easily with a 1mm cutting disc in the "death wheel" (angle grinder):

I am trying to add extra ballast weight where I can, so a piece of 50x25mm solid steel bar has been welded in ahead of the cylinder casting, and another hung below it:

The new buffer beam is bolted on (also 25x50mm solid):

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Thu Jan 12, 2017 12:16 pm

That little lot has added 10kg to the front end.

I am also making a new steel cab, which should add the same to the rear.

It is both taller and wider than the old one. I am "upscaling" the loco from 2.5 inch scale to 3 inch (1/4 full size). Changing it from a small 36" gauge loco to a tiny 30" gauge one!

More updates soon (hopefully)

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A 7 1/4" gauge porter

A 7 1/4" gauge porter

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