DVLR locomotive modification!!

SillyBilly · Post by **SillyBilly** » Mon May 03, 2010 9:53 pm

Sounds good Zach, not sure if it'll sound anywhere near as good on steam.

Dr. Bond of the DVLR · Post by **Dr. Bond of the DVLR** » Mon May 03, 2010 9:56 pm

We'll see I suppose, its a big experiment!

mhlr · Post by **mhlr** » Tue May 04, 2010 12:45 am

SillyBilly wrote:Sounds good Zach, not sure if it'll sound anywhere near as good on steam.

I agree, sounds more like Zach doing his trick blowing into his hands!

cjallenby · Post by **cjallenby** » Tue May 11, 2010 7:47 pm

Sounds like an owl hooting...

But yeah I like it, and wish more of my locos had whistles! (Or horns in the case of diesil locos!!)

Dr. Bond of the DVLR · Post by **Dr. Bond of the DVLR** » Fri May 14, 2010 9:18 pm

I can promise you it is not me doing the hand trick thing. And I can prove it. The valve arrived so I set it all up and had a steam test. A few tweaks needed to get the whistle working better at lower pressures but it turned out much better than I expected!
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taliesin001 · Post by **taliesin001** » Fri May 14, 2010 9:36 pm

wow sounds great. Did it work this well first time on steam. My grandad made a whistle for his genesis and it always worked great on air but on steam it sounded awful. Sounds fine now though, very loud but because it has had to be mounted further away from the boiler than yours you have to send a bit of steam through first just to warm it up and prevent the noise sounding wet.

Dr. Bond of the DVLR · Post by **Dr. Bond of the DVLR** » Fri May 14, 2010 9:41 pm

Well the first time I had a little problem with the valve but not with the whistle. What can I say... I am good at making musical pipes by now!

cjallenby · Post by **cjallenby** » Sat May 15, 2010 7:35 pm

I think it sounds better on steam than air... might have to make my own when ive got time!

Dr. Bond of the DVLR · Post by **Dr. Bond of the DVLR** » Sun May 16, 2010 9:51 am

Easy peasy, grab a piece of brass pipe from the model shop brass bits rack, pay for it and get it home. Cut the pipe off as long as you can possibly fit in the side tanks or underneath your loco. using a vice pinch one end completely flat and then run some solder into this to ensure it is steam tight. This is easier than faffing around with soldering on end caps etc.
Now go to about 2cm away from the over end and using a half round file cut out the mouth. Make the mouth quite small at this stage as you can always widen it but never put any material back. Now using a small piece of thin brass sheet (cut able with scissors) roughly cut out a disk and then file it down to be a near enough perfect fit in the pipe. Then file away the leading edge not as a flat but equally round where the steam will come out. This is known as a throat plate. Get some thin brass tube which your flexible piping will fit over and drill a hole about 7mm down from the mouth and on the opposite side of the whistle to solder the thin pipe into. Use a scrap bit of wood wedged into the mouth to support the throat plate and hole the whole thing gently in a wood vice with the mouth end of the whistle sticking up. Carefully solder the pipe into the whistle and throat plate into place above the holder. It sound odd but don't solder the throat plate too well. You will need to adjust it to get a nice voice. Now close up the other end in the same way as the first end. This will probably make the steam pipe and throat plate a tighter fit. It is important to have the mouth a suitable length up the pipe as otherwise it can become distorted. There you go, one whistle. Now blow into it and see if you get any noise at all. It may be that you have to adjust the throat plate to change the jet of steam or file the mouth wider or longer to get a nice noise. The best way to test it is to have your loco on a low heat (gas mark 1?) and carefully attach the whistle to the valve, try it, adjust it, try it, adjust it etc.
There you go!

Dr. Bond of the DVLR · Post by **Dr. Bond of the DVLR** » Tue May 18, 2010 9:30 pm

Right, remember those brass tubes I made for River Alde? They are to take the steam up through a traction engine style canopy. Well I have been busy with my favourite method of making things (the only way of stopping my head from exploding from intensive revision is to have these projects on the go!) and here are the results... It is just resting in the pics so is a little wonky!

In the last few I raised the roof up to the level of the roof of River Butley. Completely out of scale but I think it looks better. It should be painted to match the loco when finished with the letters picked out in gold. What do we think?
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George · Post by **George** » Tue May 18, 2010 9:41 pm

oo looking good, very unusual but i like!

Endless, Nameless · Post by **Endless, Nameless** » Tue May 18, 2010 9:44 pm

It looks great but as you say- needs to be that bit higher than as it is in those piccies. Possibly even so that the chimney is only just higher than the canopy (as on a traction engine).

Dr. Bond of the DVLR · Post by **Dr. Bond of the DVLR** » Tue May 18, 2010 9:50 pm

Yup. I was surprised. It draws attention to all the brass bits underneath it which is rather a pleasing effect. Should look the bis with the safety valve tubes installed!

taliesin001 · Post by **taliesin001** » Tue May 18, 2010 9:52 pm

loking very nice!

DolwyddelanLightRail · Post by **DolwyddelanLightRail** » Tue May 18, 2010 9:55 pm

WOW Thats nice!

cjallenby · Post by **cjallenby** » Tue May 18, 2010 11:01 pm

at the risk of being shot... i prefer the cab on that loco

but its still good though

also thanks for the step by step for the whistle... will steal the dimensions off the merlin i think!!

Dr. Bond of the DVLR · Post by **Dr. Bond of the DVLR** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 7:09 pm

Hmm, its been a while. I finally decided that after messing around with paint and not getting anywhere, having a go at transfers which were totally useless that I should send River Alde to Rhos Helyg loco works to be professionally done. Repaint and reline (I'll be painting in the boiler bands and spraying bits n bobs mat black)
Here she is in partially reassembled glory. Isn't she beautiful?

Also fitted were the hand rail and some lamp brackets

Thank you Tony W!

taliesin001 · Post by **taliesin001** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 7:13 pm

Very nice!

kes · Post by **kes** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 8:09 pm

very pretty, very pretty indeed

90733 · Post by **90733** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 8:25 pm

Wow, what a posh steamer

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