< First Steaming Up >
The firebox was painted black with a stove
paint spray. With all of fittings, the boiler
was tested again with 1.5X pressure of the
working pressure.
The electric blower is of the Blackgates
Engineering. Old N-gauge power pack is connected
between the blower and automobile battery
so as to control blowing speed.
Now is the time for the first steaming up
without running. The engine will only race
between a pair of lifting bricks. For firing
I employed cassette torch instead of coal,
because it can remove the fire immediately
in case of emergency. Also I used industrial
pressure gauge to check the model pressure
gauge. It took around five minutes till the
safety valves blew up at 0.7 MPa. Then I
adjusted the pair of safety valves to let
it blow at 0.6 MPa and 0.65 MPa. It took
long time because the pressure of this little
boiler is not so stable.
Next, I opened the drain cock and cracked
the regulator, but the wheel didn't rotate
soon. Already I have experience in 1-gauge
loco, if I fully open the regulator, the
wheel will start rotating at incredible high
speed and I will fall into panic! Carefully
I rotated the driving wheels by hand, then
she started smoothly.
After half hour racing, black waste oil was
observed under the oil trap. It shows the
oil trap works well. Actually there was no
oil mist from the chimney.
During the first steam up, I found two problems.
1. The water gauge doesn't indicate proper
water level.
2. The lubricator doesn't work well.
The upper fitting of the water gauge was
lower than top of the glass pipe. Once the
water line reaches to the upper fitting,
air in the glass is captured and the water
gauge shows no more proper level. Therefore
I added a bypass between the water gauge
and the steam turret so as to prevent 'air
lock'.
The lubricator had problem in the check valve
of pump body. I made new pump body with careful
seating. New body was made from phosphor
bronze instead of brass (right hand in the
photo).
Miniature shovel for coaling is batter made
according to the fire hole dimension. My
shovel was made from a brass pipe of slightly
smaller O.D. than the fire hole. A length
of the pipe was closed with a disc with silver
soldering, divided vertically by fret saw
and cut a slant nose. Then a brass bar is
silver soldered onto the end.
The photo shows hand brake assembly of the
trolley. The system is OS made. For water
reservoir, I employed a plastic box attached
into the trolley, then connected to the loco
with a soft plastic tube.
Running test in the club layout. The boiler
was filled with soft water, charcoal soaked
in paraffin was thrown into the firebox,
then the electric blower started slowly.
As soon as I lit a fire with cassette torch,
smoke and smell came out from the chimney.
The fire door was closed and I waited for
minutes. Charcoal has so much power that
it could drive a loco, therefore you don't
have to pay much care for firing with charcoal.
Actually William's small boiler soon started
raising its pressure, before I change the
fuel to steam coal. During the steam up,
all of moving parts was lubricated. When
the fuel was fully replaced with the steam
coal, the safety valve blew up and William
was ready for running.
I cracked the regulator. In this time the
loco started very smoothly. The engine has
no problem and I drove her for a couple of
hours.
The steam coal was purchased from England
under the name of 'Welsh steam coal'. I don't
know it is true or not, however it has excellent
capacity. The loco spent fewer coal than
I expected - one inch depth from the grate
was enough for continuous running.
Iron track of the club layout is old and
rusty, so it provides great adhesion to loco.
I connected two more trolleys and tried to
haul nine adult passengers. The regulator
had to be operated carefully to prevent wheel
spinning. The blast played hard pop sound
as if the cylinders were going to be broken.
It took a minute for her to reach to the
cruising speed. In the middle of the circuit,
boiler pressure suddenly dropped, and finally
she stopped. The layout has 250 meters circuit
and she ran 150 meters. If I have good driving
skill, she would run 250 meters with ten
adult passengers. I want to try in the next
time.
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