Did i buy the wrong coal?

[Chris Cairns]

Did no-one video Tag Gorton's session at Peterborough?

I video'd Sean Cullen's Weathering & Barry Vaughan's Build a Roundhouse sessions, but the supplied 'theatres' need a lot more thought - Sean commented that he was not told there would be no camera this year, so you had to wait till the end to view his models, and we were being blasted out by the louder Professional demonstration on 3D printing on the other side of the dividing board which did not stop sound travelling.

Kenneth has not said what loco he is trying to fire, but I assume it is the 16mm coal fired locomotive that was previously discussed here - http://gardenrails.myfreeforum.org/ftop ... -asc-0.php

Chris Cairns.

edited - wrong name applied to comment.

[DLRdan]

This topic is crying out for a step-by-step "How To" style video - there's plenty of coal firing vid's on Youtube, but none that approach it from an instructional point of view for the novice.

(Yes, that IS a hint for anyone with a camera and coal fired loco - your chance to star! )

If you don't mind the road wheels there may be a video tomorow


Possibly



Some time before Christmas

[MDLR]

Sean commented that he was not told there would be no camera this year, so you had to wait till the end to view his models..............

As I'm going to be running Help & Advice next year, I'm interested to hear this.

I'm currently thinking about having alternating demonstrations, rather than concurrent ones, with one theatre being a "talky" one, with a big screen and laptop for Powerpoint and the like, and the other one being the "practical" one, with a video camera pointing to a fixed display area and TWO screens - one with a laptop for pictures etc and one for the camera - trying to put both on he same screen was too much of a headache last year!

[Chris Cairns]

Presumably they will be using the same hall for the Help And Advice 'theatres' next year.

I cannot see a problem with putting some more space between the 2 'theatres' to reduce the sound transfer problem. After all 'Theatre 2' was effectively dismantled to provide more seating for the AGM and we then had to re-arrange the seating to listen to Barry's session.

Any problem with one 'theatre' using the set up for the AGM, which was redundant for the rest of the day?

Alternating demonstrations would solve the sound transfer problem, but would effectively cut the content by half. Were all sessions attended well this year (Both Sean [with the adjacent 3D Printing] & Barry's sessions had a good crowd)?

Chris Cairns.

[benchmark]

Update:

I seem to be getting better in my miniature coal firing skills, i even got the Anthracite to burn red hot today and had some laps with the loco. I took your advice to take my time and not be in a rush, i must confess that coal firing is much more cumbersome than a good old gas flue burner but it is fun to do

I will be posting a short video clip made on the spur of the moment with a mobile phone since that is all i had at hand at the time.

I need to practice more

[GardenRail]

Update:

I seem to be getting better in my miniature coal firing skills, i even got the Anthracite to burn red hot today and had some laps with the loco. I took your advice to take my time and not be in a rush, i must confess that coal firing is much more cumbersome than a good old gas flue burner but it is fun to do  :lol:

I will be posting a short video clip made on the spur of the moment with a mobile phone since that is all i had at hand at the time.

I need to practice more  :)

The anthracite supplied by ELR is used by professional loco builder John Campbell. He has some from the current batch and tells me it is absolutely fine – as indeed I was sure it was. If the loco itself was produced by any of the locomotive builders in the UK certainly, then you need to get in touch with them. All the professional builders have very good logistical back up and will talk you through a run. All experienced professional builders that I am aware of provide excellent product that works well. Indeed my DJB loco used for the demo was fired by someone that was used to gas firing and not coal. He fired it up no prob at all – as the people that watched the demo will attest.

[benchmark]

I am glad to hear that the Anthracite is not at fault as i initially feared, i guess it was probably due to my own error and lack of experience since i could not get it to light in my coal fired 1½ inch scale Marshal traction engine either which has a larger and presumably forgiving firebox.

I contacted the suppliers of the loco yesterday and there is some progress, i even got the Anthracite to light same evening with some progress.

See here: http://gardenrails.myfreeforum.org/about7052.html

[GardenRail]

I am glad to hear that the Anthracite is not at fault as i initially feared, i guess it was probably due to my own error and lack of experience since i could not get it to light in my coal fired 1½ inch scale Marshal traction engine either which has a larger and presumably forgiving firebox.

I contacted the suppliers of the loco yesterday and there is some progress, i even got  the Anthracite to light same evening with some progress.

See here: http://gardenrails.myfreeforum.org/about7052.html

Good luck with that. I would be interested to know how low in the boiler the top firetube is. I note there is no onboard water so it will need to be be pretty far down.

[benchmark]

Good luck with that. I would be interested to know how low in the boiler the top firetube is. I note there is no onboard water so it will need to be be pretty far down.

Boiler is 53mm in diameter, it has 4 fire tubes , the top of the highest fire tube is 25mm from the boiler wall.

[400parker]

This topic is crying out for a step-by-step "How To" style video - there's plenty of coal firing vid's on Youtube, but none that approach it from an instructional point of view for the novice.

Chris Bird made a quite nice video of lighting up a coal fired Edrig http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5KZ0GM2HeA but you can't beat hands on experience. If anyone would like to come and give coal firing a try please get in touch. I'm in North Dorset.
Steve

[benchmark]

Thank you for the video, i had never seen that before. Thanks.

I did notice he said in the beginning that he started firing with half a boiler full, any reason why he did not fill it 3/4 full?

[400parker]

It takes longer to boil 3/4 boiler full than 1/2 full. The sooner you get steam up the sooner you can use the steam blower. But more importantly water gauges are notoriously inaccurate at this scale and if you fill the boiler 3/4 full there's a good chance you'll have overfilled the boiler once you get steam up.
Steve

[GardenRail]

Good luck with that. I would be interested to know how low in the boiler the top firetube is. I note there is no onboard water so it will need to be be pretty far down.

Boiler is 53mm in diameter, it has 4 fire tubes , the top of  the highest fire tube is 25mm from the boiler wall.

Thanks. I read your notes on this loco. I would say that the generic minimum test for a coal fired locomotive is a) that it is comparatively easy to keep in steam for an hour and b) it should be able to run for a minimum of ten minutes between stopping for topping up with water and coal. My DJB and Shawe locomotives go a long way beyond this – but then in common with many other loco builders they have been in the business for in excess of 20 years and know well what they are doing.