Tribute To Roundhouse FG burner

[Curlew]

:wave:Very cold conditions today yet it was still difficult to prevent loco blowing off.
Fantastic day for sream. No electric model can create this atmosphere. Lady Ann performed perfectly.
Pics below.

 

[Ferrysteam]

:wave:Very cold conditions today yet it was still difficult to prevent loco blowing off.
Fantastic day for sream. No electric model can create this atmosphere. Lady Ann performed perfectly.
Pics below.

Absolutely true and doesn't the maroon look well on her.

 

[hornbeam]

Agree- best burners end of. Regner seem to block and are harder to light and Accucraft's are like blow lamps.

 

[Ferrysteam]

Agree- best burners end of. Regner seem to block and are harder to light and Accucraft's are like blow lamps.

Mine don't block and me Accucrafts aren't noisy.

 

[hornbeam]

Only going of what I have found, and indeed the comments of many others highlight the same, exp about the poor accucraft burners.

 

[GHWood]

Agree- best burners end of. Regner seem to block and are harder to light and Accucraft's are like blow lamps.

Mine don't block and me Accucrafts aren't noisy.

Yes seconded here Allan, I ran my new "Lawley" straight out of the box at NHN's today, quiet as a mouse and a good 35mins on a fill of gas, very pleased. The "Wrekin", after a dodgy start is now running very quietly as well

 

[tagorton]

Has anyone used Roundhouse burners in other brands of loco?

Well yes I have. I have (many years ago) fitted a Roundhouse burner to a Pearse 'Countess' with excellent results. A friend of mine in Cornwall modifies the Accucraft burners by chopping of the slotted Accucraft 'poker' and silver soldering in a Roundhouse type with rows of holes and 'streamlined' end and this does indeed make a difference. You cannot do a straight swap unfortunately...

 

[Ferrysteam]

The secret of a quiet Accucraft burner is to turn it down as it gets warmer.Most people keep it at the same setting which makes it roar as the gas compresses and so increases the pressure with the heat of the engine.

 

[hornbeam]

Tag, was it a fairly easy swap? Didn't mean to offend anyone, just going off what i've found. Interesting about your Stanz paul, thought they had good size cylinders? Mind you the LGB version can pull a house down for its size!

 

[Ferrysteam]

That's why you see so many burned smoke box doors.

 

[tagorton]

Agree- best burners end of. Regner seem to block and are harder to light and Accucraft's are like blow lamps.

Mine don't block and me Accucrafts aren't noisy.

Yes seconded here Allan, I ran my new "Lawley" straight out of the box at NHN's today, quiet as a mouse and a good 35mins on a fill of gas, very pleased. The "Wrekin", after a dodgy start is now running very quietly as well

Indeed they do function well after running in – and the 'Countess' with its lagged boiler is particularly quiet, but there is little doubt that the Roundhouse type is more efficient. I just wish they would improve their gas regulator valve to match. The 0 ring type is difficult to adjust at low gas settings – hence the typical view of Roundhouse locos 'blowing off' whilst running. John Mann in Oz designed a superb valve that very much improved this aspect of Roundhouse running but, unfortunately, it is expensive to make. Mike Ousby of ACME would happily make you one but you would not get any change from forty squid...

The best gas firing system IMHO, is that which was fitted to Cheddar locomotives. Full gas pressure regulation (in other words you do not have to keep turning the gas down as latent heat spreads from the boiler), efficient and very quiet ceramic burner and a highly efficient boiler with radial crosstubes. I have a much modified Cheddar 'Reisa' and running quality and control is superb with shunting undertaken at a crawl, a silent burner and the ability to almost dial in the pressure required, whether light shunting or pulling a very heavy train.

Such a shame they went under. The late Johnny Woodroofe had all sorts of plans for future projects, but fatal illness and financial problems did for them...

 

[tagorton]

Tag, was it a fairly easy swap? Didn't mean to offend anyone, just going off what i've found. Interesting about your Stanz paul, thought they had good size cylinders? Mind you the LGB version can pull a house down for its size!

Well that was fairly easy certainly – If I remember I added a plate to add the holes for the threaded stubs on the boiler – which were of course in a different position. It would not be easy to fit a Roundhouse burner to an Accucraft loco however. Best start from scratch there or buy a Paul Smith conversion if he still does them.

 

[tagorton]

Tag, was it a fairly easy swap? Didn't mean to offend anyone, just going off what i've found. Interesting about your Stanz paul, thought they had good size cylinders? Mind you the LGB version can pull a house down for its size!

When it comes to haulage, the Roundhouse Billy can knock the Regner Stainz into a cocked hat !
Its twice as powerful at least..............

I have not done a comparison – but the Stainz is prettier I think

 

[Ferrysteam]

Tag,
I understand from my friend in Guernsy that Stuart are now, or are going to manufacture Cheddar again.

 

[tagorton]

The Billy's cylinders are bigger and his driving wheels are smaller..........

Which adds up to more power and greater torque.

Absolutely. The Regner *is* much prettier tho' – apart from that awful pressure gauge. A nice neat half inch jobby would be better

 

[tagorton]

Tag,
I understand from my friend in Guernsy that Stuart are now, or are going to manufacture Cheddar again.

They did that orrible ossie – but no sign yet of the new Reisa

 

[corgi]

Fu

The secret of a quiet Accucraft burner is to turn it down as it gets warmer.Most people keep it at the same setting which makes it roar as the gas compresses and so increases the pressure with the heat of the engine.

Full agreement.

 

[New Haven Neil]

It's all relative.....GHWood's new Lawley performed very well indeed today on it's very first run, and the burner is noticeably quieter than my Mortimer one, but still noisier than any of my 3 Roundhouse ones. We don't run around with safeties blowing either (unless we're taking steamy photos!) on any of our locos but we do run long heavy trains, often for some distance. It'll be interesting to see if the design of the burner has changed at all - the Baldwin that visited recently was very quiet too, yet I have seen posts from folk on other forums complaining how noisy theirs is.