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 May 30, 2017 6:16 pm

We're back in business! Canada Post managed to lose the first replacement bush that Roundhouse kindly sent out, so a further replacement was sent and received last week. This allowed me to finish the valve gear and take a first stab at setting the timing. Needless to say, the first attempt was a complete failure, but a second attempt seemed far more promising. I managed to get the wheels to turn in both directions using my bike pump to deliver pressure to the superheater tube. The (terrible) video below shows it running forwards. On this occasion, it refused to run backwards but it now does, although it does have a tendency to stick. Still, I will proceed now to the point where I can steam it to bed it in properly. The video was taken during my mum's visit, who you can hear goading on the cat in the background!

I picked up top coat this morning. I went with a 2K product that one outlet was able to put into a fancy aerosol for me. There's a button on the bottom one presses to mix the hardener prior to spraying, and the vendor was very confident that this will stand up to all the oils, heating and rough handling one can throw at it, so fingers crossed!

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW33pP0zBp4[/video]

Edit: embedding videos defeats me...

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by tom_tom_go » Tue May 30, 2017 7:32 pm

Try using this link to embed (you can edit your post):

https://youtu.be/XW33pP0zBp4

This is how you embed YouTube videos:

https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=9208

Nice to this the loco running in your flat, brilliant!

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:38 pm

A bit more progress. The plan was to paint the boiler wrapper and than proceed with the build so that I can steam test the loco. However, I realised that the fancy 2K paint has a pot life of only 8 hours or so once you mix the components, so I'd be wasting a $35 can of paint just painting the wrapper. Much better to bite the bullet and solder up the body so that I can top coat everything at once.

The gaps at the front of the tanks are a little larger than I'd like, but I don't think I can get it any better as, due to the design of the body I couldn't quite bend the fronts to 90 degrees. This meant that I had to clamp it as tight as I could to hold it in place. Trying to 'fill in' the gap with solder just resulted in the joint popping off. Still, the joints are all pretty tidy, at least from the outside!
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And all etch-primed. Maybe it's a WD loco...!
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I've not decided whether to do the the cylinder covers black or the same maroon as the body yet...

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by tom_tom_go » Sun Jun 04, 2017 5:08 pm

I like the green colour!

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Sun Jun 11, 2017 7:46 pm

Ta-da!

Now all I need to do is test it and start the fettling/adjusting process. I might get the chance to run it on blocks this afternoon or one evening this week. Unfortunately I wont be able to run it on rails until at least next weekend.

Pretty pleased with it. Bending up the pipework in a way that still allowed the body work to fit over was pretty tricky. I think the copper was thoroughly work-hardened after my numerous attempts at getting everything to fit properly. I did try re-annealing it with my blow torch to soften it again, but it didn't help much. Any advice here would be appreciated?

Can't wait to run it and see it in action!
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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by LNR » Mon Jun 12, 2017 12:34 am

That is a nice looking job you've done, you should be well pleased. Hope it runs as well as it looks.
Grant.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by Soar Valley Light » Mon Jun 12, 2017 7:20 pm

Grant is right, that's quality workmanship. I LOVE the livery! :thumbup:

Andrew
"Smith! Why do you only come to work four days a week?
"'cause I can't manage on three gaffer!"

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Fri Jun 16, 2017 7:30 pm

Thanks for the comments gents. And now.... it lives!



In truth, this was the 4th attempt. On the 1st try, steam leaked poured out of the 'T' that connects the superheater to the cylinder inlet pipes. In my defense, the instructions specifically mention not to overtighten the gland nuts and, having broken the expansion link bush by overtightening it I think I can be forgiven for erring on the side of caution here! On the 2nd try, the wheels did half a turn and then locked up. Later inspection revealed one of the return cranks had slipped and the timing was way out as a result. On the 3rd try, it ran for about 15 seconds before the bolt holding the radius rod to the expansion link fell out of one side. Ahem... But, 4th try is a charm!

It's still a bit sticky, but is getting better. It moves very smoothly with no noticeable stiffness when rolling by hand in 'neutral gear', so I suspect the timing is still slightly off. Still, I'm hoping to run it on Sunday on the local club's portable layout. Hopefully it will bed in a bit more and maybe I'll tweak the timing to see if things can be improved.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by tom_tom_go » Sat Jun 17, 2017 3:29 pm

Live steam in an apartment, my hat off to you sir!

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Mon Jun 19, 2017 9:54 pm

Well, despite my showing up on Sunday armed with tools and ready to apologise to families for cussing and swearing as I irond out all the teething issues, she ran like a dream. Certainly, far better than I could have ever asked for. Lots of compliments were received and I left beaming from ear to ear, in spite of the miserable weather!

I chose not to run with my wooden carriage as I was nervous about bringing it out in such wet weather, but the tipper wagon drew almost as much praise as the loco. Scratch building on the cheap seems way less prevalent on these shores than in the UK, which is a shame.

Vide evidence:


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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by philipy » Tue Jun 20, 2017 6:48 am

A lovely job, you have every right to be pleased with yourself.
Philip

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markoteal
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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by markoteal » Tue Jun 20, 2017 2:44 pm

Well built Sir!
Where did I put that uncoupler?

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Sat Jul 08, 2017 6:05 pm

I had the chance to run on a ground level line yesterday evening, courtesy of the BC Society of Model Engineers. Their layout is somewhat temporary, as they are planning to completely rebuild it starting in a few weeks, and the current layout has some hills that made steady running very challenging. Maybe I need to install the R/C gear after all!




(Ignore the derailment at the end. Someone forgot to reset the points!)

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Mon Jul 24, 2017 4:42 pm

A very pleasant afternoon yesterday running at a local garden centre layout, which is very generously open for public running. Attempting to share via Google pics in light of changes in photobucket policy:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YHslRa9wAbkbP1052

In other news, a passenger was spotted sniffing around the station whilst the R&S LR was in service. Being prone to getting over excited and putting the horse before the cart, the director of the R&S LR has ordered that passenger capacity be greatly increased, and, as reward for generating such huge public interest, the director should have his own coach. As a result, the R&SLR rolling stock department have made great progress on the two outstanding Brandbright coach kits in the last few days.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by FWLR » Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:26 am

What a great build and brilliant videos, the photos of it running at the garden centre are brilliant too. :thumbup:

Although i was a bit worried about those people putting their hands over the steam, did they think it was artificial..

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Tue Jul 16, 2019 8:57 pm

Dusting off my old thread!

The Reading and Squamish Light Railway has grown considerably since the last update. I had originally told myself I would limit my stock collection to what would fit in two plastic totes. Needless to say, that day has come and gone and I now have to plan ahead regarding which stock to bring with me when visiting railways.

Some photos taken both on a local travelling modular layout, and on the permanent layout of the local model engineering club.
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Last edited by big-ted on Tue Jul 16, 2019 10:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by tom_tom_go » Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:20 pm

Glad to see 'the loco that was built in an apartment' is still going strong!

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by FWLR » Wed Jul 17, 2019 7:53 am

Great photos Ted.

That modular layout is HUGE....... :thumbright:

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by Keith S » Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:00 am

I built my locomotive in an apartment, too.

I'm sure I've asked you this before Ted, but where are you located again? My twice-yearly work training sessions were moved from Zurich and Milan to Abbotsford, so I'm in British Columbia now and again.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Fri Jul 19, 2019 5:58 am

FWLR wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2019 7:53 am Great photos Ted.

That modular layout is HUGE....... :thumbright:
Heh. Most of the layouts here are geared towards gauge one running of North American trains where the rule is 'bigger is better.' My little narrow gauge train looks pretty out o place a lot of the time. On the modular layout, I know that if my loco passes me with pressure on the gauge, even if the fire is out it will make it round another lap before dying completely. This is not true on the permanent track at the model engineering group, however. Several times I've had to retrieve a dead loco from the opposite side of the layout. Maybe I need to build a battery diesel for thunderbird duties next....
Keith S wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:00 am
I'm sure I've asked you this before Ted, but where are you located again? My twice-yearly work training sessions were moved from Zurich and Milan to Abbotsford, so I'm in British Columbia now and again.
I'm in Vancouver. You're more than welcome anytime you're in town. Gotta find some kind of silver lining to the change from Milan to Abbotsford!!

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