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Every Day is a School Day
Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2023 8:59 pm
by Nigel B
Things I learned today. When towing an out of gas Accucraft Leader with a pretty strong electric hamster the steam engine has to be in the opposite gear to the direction of travel. It wasn’t like this before Mike Darby worked his magic on it!! Now that it’s completely steam tight it does - why is this? Something to do with the absence of draincocks and snifting valves?
- IMG_1386.jpeg (1.58 MiB) Viewed 3971 times
Re: Every Day is a School Day
Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2023 8:09 am
by 3 minutes of fame
Effectively you have created a pump, driven by the motion of the loco. In forward gear, without any drain cocks, this pressurises the boiler, until the resistance becomes too much for the tug to move it.
By setting a low geared reverse, you are probably allowing enough bypass in the motion to prevent the pressurising and allowing the loco to move freely.
My little Mamod oscillating steamer is the same, but I just remove the safety valve to prevent the boiler from pressurising if I need to tow it out of trouble.
Re: Every Day is a School Day
Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2023 10:06 am
by Nigel B
Great tip, thank you. As I’ve got a filler valve I’ll remove that (and try again for a daft video!)
Re: Every Day is a School Day
Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2023 1:34 pm
by Old Man Aaron
If you can find a set, those DJB cylinder cocks make life with an Accucraft piston-valved engine much easier.
Re: Every Day is a School Day
Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2023 3:06 pm
by Nigel B
I didn’t even know such a thing existed, thank you! Are they automatic?
Cheers
Nigel
Re: Every Day is a School Day
Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2023 11:53 pm
by Old Man Aaron
They are indeed! Cylinders need to be removed, then drilled and tapped to an M4 thread. Bit of work, but well worth it.
Re: Every Day is a School Day
Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 8:17 am
by Nigel B
Thank you - I will investigate further.