Garden Railway Forum

Some years ago I bought a second-hand Accucraft Lyn, quite a detailed and delicate model and really not suited to the rough and tumble of my line. I've always been puzzled by the way that the burner seems to be also flaming in the smokebox, as most of the paint has been burnt off and the roar of the burner doesn't sound like any of my other Accucraft models. I am surprised that the slots in the burner point downwards, is this usual?
Yesterday whilst runing the loco the front pony truck suddenly came off, initially I thought that the securing screw had come undone - if only. What has happened is the whole front end of the loco has become too hot and the solder used to hold the pony truck together had melted and it consequently collapsed. I've spent most of today dismantling the loco just to gain access to the fixing screws that secure the two frame stretchers that carry the pony truck. To access those screws, the cylinders had to come off and to do that the boiler had to come off and to do that the side tanks had to come off etc. etc.
Just wondering if anybody else here has a Lyn and suffered anything similar, or maybe any useful suggestions. I am thinking as a first try to fit one of the new bullet burners from Barley Pit Works, after obviously rebuilding the pony truck.

The flame burning in the smokebox is the cause of all of the problems you describe. If it does so for any length of time it will cause all sorts of damage. It should should "pop" back to the burner tube itself. And yes, the slots point downwards.

A BPW burner would be a good thing. The ones I have on my own locos are superb.

Good luck with the repairs.

I have the same problem with a Accucraft 'Ruby' which has a fairly primitive burner, mainly due to a poor air supply to the burner. I find that the cure is to get ease the burner slightly back in the fire tube, which allows the fire to pop back into the tube. It does take quite a bit more watching than either No. 3 (a Roundhouse Millie) or No. 4 (Roundhouse Anna - butane only) as the little beast seems to have a couple of areas of instability in addition to the burner being a bit sensitive.

Cheers,
Peter in VA

First steps on the repair/rebuild have been quite encouraging, I've resoldered the pony truck together but made new pivot bushes that the truck swivels on. Rather than them be soft soldered in I have made them slightly longer and riveted them to the frame stretchers. At least they won't be melted out if I ever have more over heating.
I then turned my attention to the burner, here I have fitted a number 5 jet which is I believe an Accucraft standard, interestingly this is very much smaller than the jet that was in the burner when I purchased the loco. In addition I have made a restrictor sleeve to reduce the amount of air drawn into the burner, my other Accucraft locos have these fitted and I have often wondered if this Lyn originally had one but had been lost by previous owners.
On test the burner ignited immediately in the boiler tube and not the smokebox, but best of all when I slide the restrictor sleeve over the air holes by about 50% the burner quietened down to a very acceptable level. That is one thing that has always annoyed me about Accucraft locos, that their burners are very noisy in comparison to other manufacturers.
So far I have only run the loco in manual mode without the body fitted but I hardly think that that will have any effect on the operation of the burner. Now to make good all the damaged paint caused by the overheating and resoldering.

Sounds encouraging, keep us updated.