Garden Railway Forum

I'm still on my live steam learning curve, but I ordered a Summerlands Chuffer for my Lady Anne which I fitted this afternoon. After fitting it though, the loco was really hard to light and kept blowing back and going out.

Is it possible that I've disturbed something whilst fitting the chuffer? As instructed I only removed the smokebox and nothing else. The only thing I can think off is that in order to cut the exhaust pipes accurately I stood it on its end (bunker down).

If you turned it upside down dirt might have blocked the gas jet. The Roundhouse site will tell you how to remove and clear this (don't poke anything in the hole of the jet, use air or carb cleaner).

Are you able to light the loco easily if you try a match or gas lighter underneath the smokebox?

tom_tom_go:121650 wrote:Are you able to light the loco easily if you try a match or gas lighter underneath the smokebox?

Someone else just said the same thing on one of the FB groups, so i'll try it. It's always been a doddle to light from the chimney, but then it's never had a huge chuffer taking up most of the chimney diameter before so that makes sense.

I did get a little wisp of what appeared to be oil smoke too, so I'm thinking some stray steam oil has run somewhere it shouldn't have whilst it was standing on end.

The chuffer you ordered, is it a standard one or does it have the FX control as well?

If so, you might need an air control ring:

http://www.summerlands-chuffer.co.uk/ro ... 4585452337

I did not need one for my Silver Lady, however, it has a different smokebox to the Lady Anne.

It's just a standard one without FX.

You'll find it's a bit different to light with the chuffer. It ought to light well by putting a match under the smokebox. When I light mine from the chimney, I get a flame in the chimney and have to gently blow on it to get it to "pop" back into the flue.

I consider it to be highly unlikely you disrupted anything. They are very basic machines, There's nothing in there that could really be damaged or shifted.

You will get steam oil in the smokebox that will occasionally burn off while the engine is running. The exhaust is quite oily, and the oil condenses in the smokebox before the steam does. Especially with a chuffer.

I was annoyed by the chuffer at first but now I really like it. I even like the odd puff of oil smoke. Steam locomotives are generally smelly things. It's part of the charm.

My Silver Lady wont light from the top of the chimney at all since I installed the chuffer. However it lights fine from underneath.

I don't really think it has made much appreciable difference to lighting mine. It lights from over the chimney, or from under the smokebox.

Ian