Garden Railway Forum

I've got a Roundhouse Atlantic, but the smokebox front is a little bit wonky. How would this be sorted out? Hopefully the attached picture shows what I mean by wonky....

Gas-fired Roundhouse locomotives usually have the smokebox door soldered on. However, I don't know if they have always done that, and it seems very unlikely they would have soldered it on like THAT. Maybe it's removeable. Have you tried getting a flat-bladed implement under it and gently prying it to see if it pops off? Maybe it's just a friction fit. Other Atlantic owners will undoubtedly chime in, but that's my suggestion. It's either soldered on or it's not. I doubt the Roundhouse lads would have allowed it to leave the factory like that.

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Managed to get the front off and now it's back in place and not sitting at an angle. Like Keith said, I had a go at prying it off gently - it's just a push fit into the smokebox (a bit like the Accucraft Ruby). Might take it back off and put a bit of PTFE tape around, as I was a bit shocked at how easily it came off, and surprised that it didn't fall off last week when the loco did a somersault off the track at a running day.

Andrew

Red Star wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 5:41 pm Managed to get the front off and now it's back in place and not sitting at an angle. Like Keith said, I had a go at prying it off gently - it's just a push fit into the smokebox (a bit like the Accucraft Ruby). Might take it back off and put a bit of PTFE tape around, as I was a bit shocked at how easily it came off, and surprised that it didn't fall off last week when the loco did a somersault off the track at a running day.

Andrew

My sympathies - locomotive acrobatics are never particularly fun events, in my experience. Maybe this incident is what caused the smokebox door to twist around a bit?

The loco was fine (maybe a slight scuff of paint at most) - only a snapped coupling on one of the wagons. The smokebox door was like that before - I just put up with it for a bit. After someone else had had a run, I gave the loco a run just to use up the remaining gas onboard (after checking there was no bent valve gear etc) - all worked fine.

Andrew

Good to see it was an easy fix. Rather nice blue you have, too!

I wouldn't wrap PTFE tape around it, teflon releases extremely toxic fumes when exposed to high temperatures, like smokeboxes. Instead, you could try brushing some paint around that door's flange, then refit the door while it's still wet. Doesn't need to be high-temperature paint, but enamel would be best as it'll hold up better than acrylic. It would function a bit like glue, while still being weak enough to pry the door off again, if and when needed.

Thanks for that Aaron - I'll avoid that then. Seemed to stay on fine when running yesterday so for the time I'll leave it as is, but if it starts to move round a bit then I'll go for the paint option

Andrew

High temp silicon sealant could be an option if you’re concerned about whether paint will handle the heat

Red Star wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 5:52 pm I've got a Roundhouse Atlantic, but the smokebox front is a little bit wonky. How would this be sorted out? Hopefully the attached picture shows what I mean by wonky....

Glad you got it sorted. My carefully considered diagnosis, based on the photo, was going to be that the smokebox door was fine. It was the loco which was wonky .....

Rik

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Glad you got it sorted. My carefully considered diagnosis, based on the photo, was going to be that the smokebox door was fine. It was the loco which was wonky .....

Rik
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Sorry for the late reply, just the cameraman taking photos from a dodgy angle (!) making it look worse than it was. At least if it starts going wonky again it's an easy enough fix.