The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

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big-ted
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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Tue Feb 09, 2021 5:51 pm

Another minor update.

New cylinder gaskets cut from a non-glossy Christmas card. I wonder how my friends and family would take a request that all future cards be on non-glossy paper to allow for easier 'recycling?!'
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Having disassembled and realigned everything several times I've gotten a lot of the stiffness out... And it runs!



In the video, it would run for a few minutes before pressure dropped and I would have to close the regulator and allow pressure to come back up. Since this video, I've put in the new cylinder gaskets, and gotten even more of the stiffness out. Each tweak has it running even easier on air so I'm hopeful we're on the home straight. I may also still have some tweaking of the wicks to do to help generate more steam.

Other than that, I'm playing with ideas for mounting the micro servo in the standard location, whilst providing a bit of space for a Deltang receiver. I thought about 3D printing something, but the idea of putting plastic in the cab of a spirit-fired loco seems.....unwise. The idea is that this would be cut from sheet metal using the laser cutter. There's a few problems to fix. The top tab needs to bend from behind the servo instead of the front as the front corner is very thin in the current design.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by Jimmyb » Wed Feb 10, 2021 8:20 am

Christmas cards, interesting choice for a gasket. during my apprenticeship one of the tasks was to make gaskets, and brown paper was what we used, and a ball peen hammer to "tap" them out, no cutting implements allowed.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:04 pm

OK, brace yourselves for the next saga in the roller-coaster ride that is my Dylan build...

Over the last couple of weeks, the chassis has been disassembled, rebuilt and steam-tested several times trying to work some of the stiffness out of it. Each time the paintwork was touched up to keep it tidy. It will now run constantly at < 20psi for what seems like a reasonable run time. One of the main culprits making things stiff is the right hand valve end connection to the rocker arm. For whatever reason, the ball-end is a very tight fit in the valve end. I used a Q-tip and metal polish in a drill to remove any burrs and break things in a bit, but I'm being cautious, since I've also read that these parts wear over time, and spares are no longer available. I figure best to leave as much material on there as I can! The other thing I realise wasn't helping is that I was testing outside at about -1 ceslius. Once I took advantage of the wife being out for the evening and steamed it on the kitchen counter things went a lot smoother...

OK, so I'm reasonably happy with how it runs. I wanted to have a go at lining. I used an old-fashioned bow-ben with humbrol enamel for the red and Testors for the brown. As someone raised on Humbrol, it pains me to say it, but I much prefer Testors. It's also much easier to buy here in Canada. After lining, I sealed everything with SprayMax 2K clear glamor. I know mixing paint brands, let alone chemistries was always a big gamble. However, I used the SprayMax 2K product on my Lady Anne, and it's simply amazing how hard and durable it is. The clear coat ALMOST worked perfectly. There's one small spot on the saddle tank where it ran, and took the lining with it. In time I might try and repair it, but for now, I've got bigger problems...

It's not perfect up close, but I'm damn pleased with the result:
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Looks good, right?

(Anyone of a nervous disposition is advised to stop reading now...)

Unfortunately, whilst bending the pipework to fit the body, this happened:
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That's the steam line to the pressure gauge. I was sensible enough to remove the gauge before bending the pipe, as I know the gauges are fragile, but obviously I was expecting the pipe to be more robust.

I've no idea how to go about fixing this. Best idea I can come up with is breaking it off completely, cleaning it up, then fitting a sleeve over the break and silver soldering the whole lot? Would this work, or is it better to cut the pipe short and somehow create a new fitting? Or remove the pipe and replace it at the connection to the boiler? (No idea how I would do that).

Devastated to have fallen this hard at almost the final hurdle doesn't even begin to describe it...
Last edited by big-ted on Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by philipy » Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:22 pm

big-ted wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:04 pm
It's not perfect up close, but I'm damn pleased with the result:



Looks good, right?
It certainly does look very good. Welldone.
As for your fractured pipe problem, I'm not qualified to answer but I'm sure somebody will know the best course of action.
Philip

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by Garethh » Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:42 am

Lovely looking loco! As for the pipe, why not just cut it off and solder a new nipple on? Pressure gauge will sit a little lower but not a big deal? Otherwise you could fit a new nipple and a union to a bit of pipe with a nipple each end?

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Mon Feb 22, 2021 6:20 am

Yep. A few folks have already pointed that option out to me. Makes the most sense. Just need to learn how to silver solder. & Procure the necessary supplies...

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by Old Man Aaron » Fri Feb 26, 2021 8:44 am

I know how you feel, getting a loco to that stage, then being hit with a setback like that. Silver soldering is a nice, easy job - when you've proper cadmium-baring solder to hand, anyway..

Must agree, it looks great. That livery really compliments the simple elegance of the loco.
Regards,
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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by Andrew » Fri Feb 26, 2021 9:15 am

Old Man Aaron wrote: Fri Feb 26, 2021 8:44 am Must agree, it looks great. That livery really compliments the simple elegance of the loco.
Absolutely! Am I spotting a Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway influence?

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Fri Feb 26, 2021 3:44 pm

Andrew wrote: Fri Feb 26, 2021 9:15 am
Old Man Aaron wrote: Fri Feb 26, 2021 8:44 am Must agree, it looks great. That livery really compliments the simple elegance of the loco.
Absolutely! Am I spotting a Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway influence?
Sure! Let's go with that! In truth, it was based on the early Penrhyn livery, with the admission that I wasn't going to try doing the different width lines & fancy corners just yet!

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:54 am

Finally got the gauge connection repaired with silver solder:
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Passed the steam test with no concerns:
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It still runs smoothly on air, with one slightly sticky point where, if it stops, it can require slightly > 10psi to get back going again. However, on steam it seems to really struggle, and needs the throttle wide open just to turn over:



I think, for the time being I'm going to put it to one side until the local track opens up and I can get a feel for how it runs on rails.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Sun Oct 10, 2021 5:13 am

Been a while since I shared an update on here. This afternoon I found myself with the club portable layout all to myself. It would have been rude not to take advantage!



Dylan still runs a bit stiff, but it gets better every time I run it. Lady Anne is running a bit fast for my tastes in the video, but it's tough filming & managing two steam locos at the same time!

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by ge_rik » Sun Oct 10, 2021 8:37 am

Looks like a good sheltered spot. Is that the hiss of steam or rain I can hear in the background?

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big-ted
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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Sun Oct 10, 2021 3:05 pm

ge_rik wrote: Sun Oct 10, 2021 8:37 am Looks like a good sheltered spot. Is that the hiss of steam or rain I can hear in the background?

Rik
Definitely rain! Two of our club members were generous enough to allow the portable layout to be setup in their barn over the Summer, since covid meant the usual events were cancelled. While this Summer was very hot & dry, we've returned to more typical Vancouver weather now so the roof was very much appreciated!

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