Garden Railway Forum

Seeing as I have the house to myself today I thought it would be a good time to fit the water gauge and water top up to my Roundhouse Bertie. It came with the bits required when I bought it on ebay.

I read the instructions and really felt that although they were well written they could do with some pictures, so here is my effort at adding some further help to people wishing to add these parts to a Bertie. I'm not sure if this is the right place to post, and there are rather a lot of photos, so if a mod wishes then please feel free to move this post. This is meant to supplement the instructions from Roundhouse and should not be used without reference to those instructions.

I didn't find this quite as difficult as I first thought, but was surprised to the extent you have to take the loco to bits. Anyway - here goes.

Remove the steam dome and undo the nut just in front of it



Disconnect the gas pipe and remove the jet holder from the burner (see main instructions, you need to slacken the screw in the slide slightly), then remove the small nut just in front of the rear coupling



The body can then be removed. This too me time to achieve as it got stuck and it took me a while to realise it was on the lubricator, so don't pull too hard, but gently ease it past the pipework in the cab. Note that I have the pressure gauge fitted, yours might not have this.



Use the box spanner provided and undo the plug through the bottom of the footplate (note the additional hole in the footplate, the bottom of the water gauge goes there.



Find two of the copper washers, the bango bolt and the bottom water gauge fitting. One washer goes between the bush and the fitting, and the other washer goes between the fitting and the bolt. I used a small screwdriver to help hold the bits in place.



And here it is, note that you can see the fitting through the additional hole in the base plate. Tighten it up with the box spanner and check it is upright using the brass alignment rod that is included (no, it isn't the handle for the box spanner!)



Now remove the pressure gauge and disconnect the steam pipe from the steam regulator using the box spanner.





Then remove the regulator from the old turret, roundhouse warn this may be a little tight. Mine wasn't, it was very tight!



Using the new fibre washers fit the regulator to the thread of the new steam turret (with the top up valve). Roundhouse provide two different washers of different thicknesses so that you can choose the best one such that when the parts are tight they face in the right direction. I needed the thicker washer.



Top up valve in place with steam regulator attached. Note that I have also removed the blanking plug to the side of the steam regulator ready to fit the top water gauge fitting.


Fit the top water gauge fitting, again using two copper washers.


Now an important bit, make sure that the top and bottom water gauge fitting are in line and vertical. To do this you remove the small brass plug from the top fitting and slide in the brass alignment rod. It is fairly easy to bend the fittings to line up using the brass rod.



Find the water gauge glass with its four o-rings (I have two glasses with mine, not sure if new sets come with more or less than that).



Roundhouse then use several words to tell you what order nuts and o-rings go where a diagram would help. But you need to get it into the arrangement shown below. This is just to show you, unfortunately you need to take the nuts and o-rings back off to get it into place. Note that there are two o-rings at each end, and the threads of the nuts are facing towards the o-rings such that they screw up over them when you tighten the nuts in place.



Putting the gauge in, I've very slightly tightened the top nut to keep it in place for the photo.


Then I have placed on the bottom nut and the other two o-rings.


Slide the glass down into the bottom fitting and tighten the bottom nut so that it is sealed by the o-rings (don't go too made with the strength). Then tighten the top one and put the blanking bolt back in the top.



Pressure gauge back on and gas back in.


All done! (except for putting the body back on).



It took me about an hour and a half to do, which continual reference to the instructions and taking the odd breather. I ran the loco on blocks after fitting the bits and found I had a steam leak at the top of the boiler when the top turret goes, and at the bottom of the boiler when there bottom water gauge fitting goes. I nipped them up with the box spanner, ran it again and now all seems reasonably well. Only thing is that the water top up seems to leak steam where you put the hose from the water bottle, I will see if that settles with time.

Great Stuff, I've moved it to the reference library as it's the sort of thing that is often useful.

I've found it's fairly common for the top up valve to leak unless you don't use it, which allows it to settle down and seal better.

SillyBilly wrote:Great Stuff, I've moved it to the reference library as it's the sort of thing that is often useful.

I've found it's fairly common for the top up valve to leak unless you don't use it, which allows it to settle down and seal better.

Cheers Billy, I will run it a few times without using it and see if that helps.

great information Chris. I like this kind of thread

You should do one about making that lubricator then Graham .

Very useful idea, well done

Something I've found to be useful with the water gauge I fitted to my Millie: if (sorry, when) the gauge glass gets blocked, the easiest way to clear it quickly is to take out the top plug (the one you inserted the gauge glass through) and squirt water down the gauge glass, using your filler bottle. This will dislodge any gunge or crud in that l-o-n-g pipe back to the boiler. Just make sure you've got a good stock of the red fibre washers that seal the plug in place!

MDLR wrote:Something I've found to be useful with the water gauge I fitted to my Millie: if (sorry, when) the gauge glass gets blocked, the easiest way to clear it quickly is to take out the top plug (the one you inserted the gauge glass through) and squirt water down the gauge glass, using your filler bottle. This will dislodge any gunge or crud in that l-o-n-g pipe back to the boiler. Just make sure you've got a good stock of the red fibre washers that seal the plug in place!

Thanks for the additional info. Mine came with an o-ring rather than a fibre washer there.

I ran it today without filling through the filler valve and it seems to have stopped leaking, or is at least leaking less.

Chris wrote:I ran it today without filling through the filler valve and it seems to have stopped leaking, or is at least leaking less.

Those valves NEVER stop leaking! I got Steve Acton to make me an Enots style one, which doesn't leak AT ALL!

SillyBilly wrote:
I've found it's fairly common for the top up valve to leak unless you don't use it, which allows it to settle down and seal better.

I've been put off fitting one of these Roundhouse clacks because I've heard of people getting slightly scalded when the clack ball goes AWOL! At the very least the engine is Kaput.

But last weekend I saw a Roundhouse Atlantic fitted with a Goodall Valve fitted into the top of the hexagonal turret banjo, rather than sticking out of the side of it. It seems to replace the Banjo bolt.
You work it by inserting the squeezy bottle pipe downwards, or you can use a syringe.
The owner said you can buy them, but was vague about where from.
   Any clues please folks?

Or what would one have to do to make one that acts as a banjo bolt ? Could the Roundhouse bolt be adapted somehow please?

Thanks,

David Halfpenny (1/2d)
Derby, England

Oh gave a fantastic information.
Thank you.

Nice and clear, Ta.