Garden Railway Forum

Newly arrived yesterday: Quite an elderly gent, still has 27meg radio!
The plan is to refinish this as the WHHR 794/590 (apparently due this year). Just have to wait for the details of the livery and the cab back.
A quick test run showed that it didn't like the cold very much (same as any locomotive). I also overfilled this, need to get experience filling it up and use food dye in water!

JMORG wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2018 5:58 pm... and use food dye in water!

Aaaaaggggghhhhhh!!!!! No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The food dye does not evaporate and, over time, forms a sticky mess in the boiler, steam pipes, valve chests and just about everywhere else. It then gently cooks, forming a coating almost impossible to remove. I've had a couple of locos here that have suffered with food dye poisoning, one of which needed a whole load of new pipework simply because I couldn't find a way of unblocking the original pipes. Acid wouldn't touch it.

Don't worry Tony, haven't used dye yet! The gauge is difficult to read so I might look at different methods to rectify it.

Lovely colour.

JMORG wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2018 7:30 pm Don't worry Tony, haven't used dye yet! The gauge is difficult to read so I might look at different methods to rectify it.

Wot Tony said, with extra emphasis..............

About the only worse thing I can think of adding to boiler water would be detergent.


If you are having problems reading the water level in a gauge glass, first try cleaning it. They can build up a white deposit that obscures the inside surface of the glass, even if only distilled water is used in the boiler.

Second is to replace the glass tube with Shellbach tube or equivalent which has a coloured line with a white background fused into one side of the tube. The line is either red, or blue.

Third, if you can't find the genuine glass in the right size, paint a thin line along clear glass with enamel paint, then paint over the line with a wider line in white enamel.

While I fit a gauge glass to every boiler I build, they don't work that well in reading actual water level. All they really indicate is that there is still water in the boiler.


Tony,

Liquid food colourings are usually a solid dye dissolved in alcohol, so solvents should be a way of cleaning it out of a boiler and steam passages. Although the cost of replacing pipework may be a salutary lesson to the owners.

Regards,
Graeme

Wow, you would struggle to loose that in a snowdrift.

I had to rub my eyes and have a good think about last night's alcohol consumption when I saw this.

Is it really that blue?

It is indeed! It won't remain this colour, hopefully 590 will be finished this year so I can decide on the new livery (I do love the 30's red/brown though).

GTB wrote: ↑Sat Jan 20, 2018 7:47 amLiquid food colourings are usually a solid dye dissolved in alcohol, so solvents should be a way of cleaning it out of a boiler and steam passages.

Thanks Graeme ... I remember using various thinners, acetone, petrol, heat and compressed air with varying degrees of success, and with vast amounts of dis- and reassembly needed.

I recently descaled my Roundhouse boiler with water gauge and that cleaned it right up, good as new.

GTB wrote: ↑Sat Jan 20, 2018 7:47 am If you are having problems reading the water level in a gauge glass, first try cleaning it. They can build up a white deposit that obscures the inside surface of the glass, even if only distilled water is used in the boiler.

So true. I always fully drain my boilers, it's the only way to keep the gauge glasses crystal clear

I have just seen this thread on a computer rather than a mobile 'phone. Is the paint job as iffy as it looks? There appears to be overspray on the roof and the smoke box.

It certainly doesn't look like it was dis-assembled for the spray job, the gauge glass seems to have a dose of overspray too, or is it reflection!
Grant.

The locomotive has been painted correctly don't worry! The the trouble is, this forum requires very small file attachments, so I had to lower the resolution by 50%...

Ahhhh.

JMORG wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2018 5:58 pm Newly arrived yesterday:

Quite an elderly gent, still has 27meg radio!

Nice looking loco.

Is this the one John Sutton was selling?

I agree with descaling the boiler. If you rotate the loco vertical (smokebox at the bottom) whilst agitating (shaking) it should clear out the sight glass tube. Also worth putting a piece of small diameter brass rod or copper wire into the sight glass tube to reduce the bubbles forming.

Chris Cairns

Chris Cairns wrote: ↑Mon Jan 22, 2018 4:35 pmAlso worth putting a piece of small diameter brass rod or copper wire into the sight glass tube to reduce the bubbles forming.

It is a brave man with a stock of the correct size glass tube and O-rings who takes a Wrightscale gauge glass apart.

What's your recommendation Tony? The glass isn't as clean as it could be and I figured I could sort this at the same time as fitting 2.4G radio.

It would be an act of last resort to muck about with the gauge glass on one of these. I'd really only tackle it if the glass was already broken. The glass is held in the end mounts by the pipes being bent correctly, so you need to bend them from their current position to get the glass out. The 10BA or 8BA (can't remember which) stud that runs from one end to the other through the glass clamps it all together, but if the pipes are not square with the end of the glass it will break. There is an O-ring at each end of the glass inside the end caps to seal it all up. Those copper pipes have been in that position for a long time and they will be rock hard now, but they were probably softly annealed when the glass went in years ago so were easier to line up. With that in mind, I'd go for a chemical solution: Vinegar, kettle descaler, dilute sulphuric acid. Leave it to soak for several days but agitate it at least once a day.

TonyW wrote: ↑Mon Jan 22, 2018 11:22 pm It would be an act of last resort to muck about with the gauge glass on one of these.

Thanks for pointing out what to do with these sight glass tubes Tony.

The only Wrightscale Baldwin I've seen in the flesh has been fitted with a replacement boiler.

Chris Cairns

Cheers Tony, I'm guessing you'll need to remove the safety valve (and dome) to do this? Is there any difficulties in getting these apart?