Garden Railway Forum

Here is a short video of my new MMS side tank.



It took me a couple of evenings to build and went together fairly well. All things considered the fit and finish was acceptable but I did have to trim the burner tray so it fitted flush to the backhead.
It suffered some priming as anticipated, but it soon cleared and the two successive steamings were much better. I will steam it each evening this week and hopefully it will improve further.
I have already been in touch with another member of the Kent 16mm group who has kindly said I can have a run on his line when time permits.
I know it's a bog standard kit built loco, but it's mt 1st and as a complete novice to live steam, I'm well chuffed, to say the least.
I'd just like to say thanks to Chris Cairns for his advice and patience.
Krusty

Looks great buddy!

Glad you are happy with it John and it will be interesting to see how it runs on my line.

Wow!, that was quick John. Well Done.

It is running well for it's first steaming so should run in OK.

I see you have the whistle bracket ( Item 48 ) mounted backwards. I assume that is because you had difficulty getting the whistle done up steam tight using a spanner. You need to use a box spanner on the whistle to get that bracket orientated correctly and steam tight.

Great to hear you have already found a nearby fellow Forum member who is happy for you to run your MSS locomotive (make sure you have a few wagons attached to tame it's speed). Look forward to seeing the video soon.

Chris Cairns.

Fantastic to see - the first steam of one's First engine is always an important and cherishable time indeed. It sounds like you had no trouble building it, and judging from the good running, it looks like you have got a good one there.

The reverser block in particular seems to be of good fettle, actally allowing for a degree of fine-tune control compared to most: not working and FULL-ON SPEED. So, another good point chap.

Run it in and run it in well and it will serve you well. When you can, I'd recommend a 3-wick meth burner, water topup and a higher pressure SV [for 1/4 x 26tpi mind] and you'll have a winner there for sure.

Any plans for mods or names?

That runs very well nice build Krusty!

Thanks for the positive replies chaps.

The whistle is facing the wrong way because even though I cut down the screws holding the cab back retaining spring, the lever still fowls on the nuts. So it just got screwed in any which way for now. I need to cut the whistle lever down and drill a new hole in it. I don't see any other way of making it fit.

I am going to Somerset next week so will try and get some video of it running on track when I get back. Tom, I will be in touch

Krusty(John)

Hi John,

I've not cut down the retaining clip screws on my MSS kit loco yet (too busy with other projects) but I think if they are flush with the bottom of the nuts then they should not depress the whistle lever enough to have it stuck open whilst running. There does appear to be quite a variation (quality control) on the height of the whistle plunger. If your whistle is stuck open with the lever resting on those nuts then try filing a bit off the top of the whistle plunger (the bit that the lever sits on top of).

Chris Cairns.

There's always one smarty pants!

Why didn't I think of that, what a wally!
I will get it done tomorrow, I have an early start in the morning.

John.