John Morgan
Steam Traction
Hi all,
Well its like waiting for a bus. You wait for ages and two come along at the same time.
This post is about a Coal Fired Roundhouse Fowler I bought from Simon at Anything Narrow Gauge at the Bressingham Show in the summer of 2013. It was bought in bits as a project. I took photos of the purchase but they have been lost in cyberspace somewhere. As bought the loco was black. It had an British type cab with a front spectacle plate. The tender seems to be home made but under the tender treadplate scribed by hand is the word Roundhouse. There was little wear in the motion. The original cab, if there was one was missing but the original Fowler roof was in the box. The original smokebox front had been used. The smokebox surround seems to have been sweated onto the boiler.
I got the loco home and panicked a bit. I was worried about the state of the boiler. It seems to be made of heavy gauge copper but when I filled it with water to check for gravity leaks no water level showed in the boiler glass. Off with the gauge glass fittings and a good two days soaking in de scaler seemed to do the trick and cleared all the lime scale away.
A hydraulic test was next. Water squirted out of the pressure gauge syphon. It had broken off at some time and been soft soldered back in place but not well. A new syphon and gauge was sourced. The pressure valve was set at 60 psi and water squirted into the boiler. No leaks! Wooppee. It held its pressure well so I looked at the possibility of coal firing for a boiler steam test. Panic. When I checked the steam blower pipe in the smokebox it had also broken part way though and had been soft soldered. It would have been almost impossible for me to mend this blower pipe as it has snapped about 8mm from the front tube plate. The situation was saved by the fact a copper pipe would tight push fit in the original blower pipe. This saved re routing a blower pipe down the outside of the boiler. The next concern was the smokebox door. It is the original Fowler design. The fixing is by a push and twist and then securing with a 6ba bolt. Would it be OK as a tight enough fit not to allow cold air in the smokebox. I blanked off the hole at the bottom of the smokebox placed the boiler in a cradle and fired it up. All was well. No leaks, drop in pressure and the blower worked a treat. The boiler was a prolific steam maker, so on with the rebuild.
The tender was water tight, no leaks at all. I made a new smokebox support plate and cab plate. The others were a bit flimsy. A new almost original, well as original as I can get it, Fowler type cab was made. The eagle eyed will see that the front cab sheet has the pipes exiting from the right hand side instead of the left. I got confused when I was drilling the holes. New piping was also bent up to fit.
The chassis was stripped down. New axles bushes cranks were used. new pipework for the water feed and by pass were made up.
I put everything back together for a steam up. You can see the photos attached. I was feeling really pleased with myself. It didnt last.
The loco made steam like it was going out of fashion. That was not the problem. Getting the timing right was. I have built and timed up Roundhouse loco now for many years so what was I doing wrong? Not having an air compressor does not help and scalding hot locos can be a pain. I checked and re checked and in the end I had to put it away for a couple of days. Putting the loco into mid gear I moved it along the track. The valve spindles did not move at all. The valves were set right. Steamed up, lumpy running. It wanted to go put was hesitant. The following day put it in mid gear pushed it along the track the valve spindles on the right hand side was moving. To cut a long and frustrating story short I had not pinched up the grub screw on the lifting arm causing the valve spindle to do its own thing. Sorted it out, steamed up and a slight fiddle with the valve spindles to fine tune and all was well.
I took it to bits degreased and painted. I did at first put finials on the sanding gear domes etc. They were off and old cuckoo clock but I have since removed them. I am pleased with the final result.
Can anybody identify this loco at all from what I have said about its origins. Who sold it to Simon at ANG.
John.
Well its like waiting for a bus. You wait for ages and two come along at the same time.
This post is about a Coal Fired Roundhouse Fowler I bought from Simon at Anything Narrow Gauge at the Bressingham Show in the summer of 2013. It was bought in bits as a project. I took photos of the purchase but they have been lost in cyberspace somewhere. As bought the loco was black. It had an British type cab with a front spectacle plate. The tender seems to be home made but under the tender treadplate scribed by hand is the word Roundhouse. There was little wear in the motion. The original cab, if there was one was missing but the original Fowler roof was in the box. The original smokebox front had been used. The smokebox surround seems to have been sweated onto the boiler.
I got the loco home and panicked a bit. I was worried about the state of the boiler. It seems to be made of heavy gauge copper but when I filled it with water to check for gravity leaks no water level showed in the boiler glass. Off with the gauge glass fittings and a good two days soaking in de scaler seemed to do the trick and cleared all the lime scale away.
A hydraulic test was next. Water squirted out of the pressure gauge syphon. It had broken off at some time and been soft soldered back in place but not well. A new syphon and gauge was sourced. The pressure valve was set at 60 psi and water squirted into the boiler. No leaks! Wooppee. It held its pressure well so I looked at the possibility of coal firing for a boiler steam test. Panic. When I checked the steam blower pipe in the smokebox it had also broken part way though and had been soft soldered. It would have been almost impossible for me to mend this blower pipe as it has snapped about 8mm from the front tube plate. The situation was saved by the fact a copper pipe would tight push fit in the original blower pipe. This saved re routing a blower pipe down the outside of the boiler. The next concern was the smokebox door. It is the original Fowler design. The fixing is by a push and twist and then securing with a 6ba bolt. Would it be OK as a tight enough fit not to allow cold air in the smokebox. I blanked off the hole at the bottom of the smokebox placed the boiler in a cradle and fired it up. All was well. No leaks, drop in pressure and the blower worked a treat. The boiler was a prolific steam maker, so on with the rebuild.
The tender was water tight, no leaks at all. I made a new smokebox support plate and cab plate. The others were a bit flimsy. A new almost original, well as original as I can get it, Fowler type cab was made. The eagle eyed will see that the front cab sheet has the pipes exiting from the right hand side instead of the left. I got confused when I was drilling the holes. New piping was also bent up to fit.
The chassis was stripped down. New axles bushes cranks were used. new pipework for the water feed and by pass were made up.
I put everything back together for a steam up. You can see the photos attached. I was feeling really pleased with myself. It didnt last.
The loco made steam like it was going out of fashion. That was not the problem. Getting the timing right was. I have built and timed up Roundhouse loco now for many years so what was I doing wrong? Not having an air compressor does not help and scalding hot locos can be a pain. I checked and re checked and in the end I had to put it away for a couple of days. Putting the loco into mid gear I moved it along the track. The valve spindles did not move at all. The valves were set right. Steamed up, lumpy running. It wanted to go put was hesitant. The following day put it in mid gear pushed it along the track the valve spindles on the right hand side was moving. To cut a long and frustrating story short I had not pinched up the grub screw on the lifting arm causing the valve spindle to do its own thing. Sorted it out, steamed up and a slight fiddle with the valve spindles to fine tune and all was well.
I took it to bits degreased and painted. I did at first put finials on the sanding gear domes etc. They were off and old cuckoo clock but I have since removed them. I am pleased with the final result.
Can anybody identify this loco at all from what I have said about its origins. Who sold it to Simon at ANG.
John.
