Garden Railway Forum

OK so now I've had about a dozen tries at getting this in steam, for a while I couldn't get more than 25psi on the clock and suspected the safety valve had a leak so I've changed that and it seems better.
According to the instructions once a decent amount of steam is created the steam blower should take over but I'm finding that all that happens is the fire gently goes out once all the steam is used up?! On real engines it helps to keep the fire going...
I now suspect that maybe the anthracite I'm using is perhaps not suitable the stuff never seems to get really going? I've seen the coal fired locos at the national show and their fires are like your Grandmothers living room fire!
Any tips would be useful thanks.
John

Hi John,

What are you using to start the fire?

I find charcoal soaked in lamp oil works well first before adding coal. Make you use 100% charcoal products and not BBQ stuff which is a mix of things that will just coke up your tubes...

The anthracite you have, where is it stored?

Ah there you have me it is the barbeque stuff! The anthracite is still in its poly bag fresh from ELR I think, it looks good though. So if it is a problem with the charcoal my tubes will be bunged up? I'll check later. Thanks

You should be cleaning the tubes after every run, do you have a flue brush?

Charcoal wise I use coconut charcoal, available online from most places...

Thanks for that, yes I've got all the original tools it came with and will try that charcoal online. P.S I was on the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Sunday. My favourite line.
John

Let us know how you get on, pics and video would be nice

I had a similar problem recently with my ELR Fowler, couldn't get above 25psi.

Tried a thorough clean of firebox, tubes and chimney, also using charcoal and coal sieved to remove initially the fines and then lumps too big for a 10mm square sieve.

Also found the blower was blocked, cleared with a bit of wire poked down the end of the blower tube in the smokebox.

Works fine now.

If the fire goes out slowly you may have an air leak in the smokebox. Make sure the area around the door is clean and that the steam/ exhaust pipes are sealed in. It might also be worth checking that there is a nozzle on the end of the blower pipe.

Anthracite needs a good, red charcoal fire and a decent draught to get it going as its quite a hard coal. Softer coal will light easier but makes a lot of smoke and clogs the tubes quick

You could also check that the blower is actually pointing up the funnel. With such a small smoke box it can sometimes be moved out of place by vigorous tube cleaning etc., depending on the mounting type of course.
Grant.

Thanks guys for your useful comments, I gave the tubes a good clean and had another go ( not with the right charcoal but just to give it a go) it was a lot better and I actually managed to keep the fire going with the steam blower at one point, the anthracite never really got going properly and thinking about it I'm wondering if the battery blower is sucking enough as I looked at a guy on youtubes blower and it seemed as a strong as a vacuum cleaner. I've had a look for a new one online and there's not much about but I think he was using one from Bruce engineering.

Grant's suggestion is worth investigating.

TonyW gave me a great idea to check your blower by filling the boiler right up with water and then if I remember rightly pump air into the boiler with blower open. You should get a jet of water firing out the chimney, if not then it needs adjusting so it does.

tom_tom_go:119985 wrote:TonyW gave me a great idea to check your blower by filling the boiler right up with water and then if I remember rightly pump air into the boiler with blower open.  You should get a jet of water firing out the chimney, if not then it needs adjusting so it does.

Something like that! No air needed, just use the handpump/whatever to pressurise the boiler with water up to 40psi-ish. Then open the blower valve. The water jet should come perfectly out of the chimney without hitting anything (other than perhaps the ceiling above your bench). If it doesn't it needs adjusting so it does.

Also, there is little point in putting coal on the fire when using the battery blower. You need to get at least 10psi using charcoal only, then open the steam blower and start adding coal. Only the steam blower will create enough draught to get the coal burning.

I have had a chance to give my 'Jack' a few firing ups after work and the Coconut Charcoal soaked in meths works an absolute treat with a bit of anthracite in as well and I am getting full steam up in ten minutes consistently.
Unfortunately the loco has developed a fault where it will not turn a single wheel... the steam is coming out of the blast pipe so it must be just running through the valve chest and straight out and I'm not feeling much resistance from the pistons when I try and revolve the wheels.
I'm about to strip the loco down to find out why, the only thing I can think of is the 'O' rings in the cylinders have gone but I'm pretty sure It shouldn't have any or maybe a piston valve has come disconnected internally, I don't think It's the valve timing because there would be some sort of wheel locking going on?
Any suggestions would be most welcome.

John

The best coal for these little beasts is Welsh Steam Coal. Usually available from one of the better small scale live steam suppliers. We have just one here in the States that stocks it sometimes. Guys over here have tried the coal your using a its common for coal fired heating stoves in parts of the USA, and most find it isnt suitable for these very small coal burners. Mike

If its a slide valve engine then the valves may have fallen off the valve face and got stuck, its usually a simple fix by taking the covers off and pushing them back on tha face with some fresh oil. The other cause as you have said could be the o rings in the pistons.

Thanks Dan,
Just stripped it all out yesterday and individually tried each piston with its valve and off the engine they function perfectly with compressed air, So I thought it must be the valve settings which did not seem to match the valve events on my other Archangel Slip eccentric loco but I've had no luck at all, It would be good to have some sort of diagram where It should all be geometrically as its not easy to see in motion.

John

OK I have stripped it all down and found nothing amiss so have put back together and tweaked the settings of the slip eccentric and have finally found a setting that works the only snag in reverse only... I think I'll live with that.

John