Märklin 55001 Br 89 "Malvine"

[ol_hogger]

Found a new baby.



She may look funny half tank, half tender locomotive.

Indeed the prototype worked the lines in the former bog lands of the Oder river's left bank. Bog water is no good for boilers, therefore they took along a tender full of better water, chemically treated as duly indicated by warning labels on the sides, in order to avoid the neccessity of topping up at intermediate stations.

There is a novel by Theodor Fontane which unrolls in that very region. - I will name her 'Malvine' after the character of a moody and snappy housemaid.

Sold by the son of the late owner she had not run for years. I was told that while he used to run a large indoor layout, he was not a dedicated life steamer.



This is a Regner in a skin, therefore I could borrow spares from my other engines.

First came the top-up valve which made the cold water boiler test a straightforward operation: Fill to the brim, plug the safety valve flange, and pump your bottle.

Next I decided to replace the old spring and ball safety valve with the current, (and known) article.

The gas filler valve was stiff. I took it out, moistened the O-rings with a drop of steam oil, worked it a couple of times and reassembled. Filling now worked. (I hold no grunge against this valve, although there may be better solutions.)

The gas control valve needed its packing retightened, and the nozzle wanted to be back-flushed.



I put the kettle on, and meanwhile did the oiling round. Having emptied out the boiler so as to flush out possible lime, I refilled it with the proper amount of freshly boiled water.

Safety and filler valve installed (the latter neatly fits onto the water gauge and underneath the cab roof), I put her on blocks, then tried the gas valve, and after the sputtering had ended put a light to the chimney. A long flame resulted, and I quickly reduced gas until the flame plopped back and the hiss became a sonorous roar.

When pressure had come up I opened the regulator, gave the wheels a series of flips until she would run on her own - which she did !

All in all quite the usual routine after the winter break.

(I should mention that I unhooked the rod from the RC-servo to be in full manual mode for simplicity.)

These are the items I changed or added:

- top up valve
- current safety valve
- front wheels without adhesion bandages
- bell

Next steps will be:

- repacking of oiler valve
- checking and adjusting valve timing
- further cosmetic embellishments
- trying RC (my first)

Happy steaming !

 

[dunnyrail]

Nice interesting beastie, not sure getting things going with pre boiled water the best for fittings. Better to let things warm through gradually, the real thing with a few minor exceptions does this. Also is your home water soft or hard with lots of lime? Again best to use another source of water if it is hard, I use water from my dehumidifier best if you have one but some here filter rain water which if done properly is ok. Beware of so called ‘ionised’ water as its method can sometimes involve some nasty chemicals again not good for your boiler and fittings.

 

[ol_hogger]

Water discussions are vain and endless. I did comment at various occasions, e.g. : What water do you use?

Let's better drop it !

In Germany, sometimes preheated water from a stationary boiler was used to speed up the process.

 

[Paul M]

Water discussions are vain and endless. I did comment at various occasions. Let's better drop it !

In Germany, sometimes preheated water from a stationary boiler was used to speed up the process.

Just be careful! Filtered rain water is my choice. Mind you the water here is so hard we use axes to cut it as it comes out of the taps
Yes the stationary boiler trick was used here too at large depots. Joe Brown (of Joe Brown and his Bruvvers fame, an English skiffle band from the 50's) describes working out of one of the London depots in his autobiography. Worth reading for that one chapter!