Member postings for steelaxlebox

I visited on the Friday which was the first day and was glad that I went. It was well worth the effort, the expense of the train ticket (I only wanted a seat not seemingly to buy the whole train!) and my thought was that the crowd of old boys was the same as the crowd of young boys pushing and shoving at the Seymour Hall back in the nineteen-sixties. Perhaps there was more to see back then; personally I'm sure that there was. I enjoyed the club stands most of all and the chance to talk to some of the members of them. I think that without the effort made by the various societies the show would be a no-no. Some of the trade stands had little relevance to 'our' hobby but I collected some things pre-ordered to collect from the stands that were and almost tore my shoulder out (an exaggeration) carrying a bag of metal back on the train home. Times have obviously changed as the aisles were very wide this time; an indication that many stands from previous years had stayed away. The exhibition that has been the most entertaining (for me) was The Bristol Society one at Thornbury; a real show for model engineers by model engineers. I gather that it is unlikely to restart which is a real pity. I've seen reference to the Doncaster show as excellent (I've never been). Could the NFed and the SFed organise a show reachable from all points of the compass along the lines of the Bristol one? Just a thought.

Does anyone know what has happened to the modeleng.org website please? It has been offline for 'maintenance' for more than a year now. It was full of useful points of contact for the various ME suppliers and the like.

Thank you for your thoughts Luigi and Julian. I cleaned both injectors carefully before the run last Sunday and following Julian's suggestion re-checked the inlet pipework/valves but found nothing untoward. I have Gordon's injectors fitted to my other locos built over the last many years and have, I suppose, been 'feather-bedded' inasmuch as they have all just operated excellently and I haven't had to give a lot of thought about boiler feeding. The pair in question are possibly amongst the last made by Gordon. I have always dealt with him directly and have had many interesting chats with him about what you can and shouldn't do. I did call to ask him about the problem I had but he said that his failing health had caused him to abandon his business. It's the fact that they operate like all my other ones between 50 to 80 psi - they snap on and off and the overflow is dry - but at 90 (I've re-checked the gauge) a very wet overflow and a smidgeon into the boiler.

I have a 16oz injector which feeds perfectly at about 10psi below boiler pressure and downwards but won't pick up at boiler pressure (90psi) and just sends water through the overflow. At the last day out on Sunday some advice was to move the steam cone outwards and from others to move it inwards. Quite a conflict! Is it to do with the steam cone or something more deep seated? It's a Gordon Chiverton (sadly late) one. Thanks.

Is there someone scientifically minded who can explain the advantage of an axlepump over injectors (or vice - versa) for locomotive boiler water feed? I'm thinking in terms of whether a pump or injector requires more energy from the boiler/cylinders than the other.

Other matters like ease of use I'm ignoring; it can be very fiddlesome getting an unhappy injector to play whilst on the move but obviously an injector will feed when you are standing still.

I'm asking the question because advancing years are making my leaning and stretching feel uncomfortable. A pump equipped 3.1/2" King (H P Jackson) I built decades ago seemed so simple to drive but I accept that time has rose-tinted my specs! 5" gauge tender locos and age are returning me to the debate.

Hello,

A friend with no internet or PC is building a Wilson Bulldog. He has reached the valve setting stage but the ports aren't completely uncovered in full forwards when adjustment is made for reverse. His workmanship is good and to the published drawings. I gather from talking to the gent with the magnificent Bulldog chassis at the 2013 Bristol Exhibition (sorry name forgotten) that one can't expect wonderful things as the valve gear design leaves something to be desired. Has anyone out there information that might help. The friend has a 'phone and would be pleased to talk to other builders.

Hello and thank you to everyone for your advice. I'll try a hot wash in the dishwasher - the bits should fit with the top tray removed and then I'll coat the affected areas with 'Galvafroid'. Hopefully the zinc will come into contact with the steel to 'complete the circuit'.

Hello,

Is there a chemist out there who can tell me if Bakers fluid will cease to cause corrossion after a period of time? I've soldered together some mild steel tender parts and despite washing thoroughly in running water and brushing over with soap (calcium stearate - alkali?) a fine line of rust at the joints continues to appear. Wire brushing over the last few weeks removes the 'brown' line only for it to return. As far as I recall the flux is zinc chloride and I have a faint hope that there will be nothing left to react at some point - am I correct? Another question is whether there is something I could apply to neutralise the acid but I don't want to get to the opposite situation of suffering an alkali reaction!

I need to make my taper turning attachment operational. Can another 254 owner/user please help. There is nothing in the lathe manual about disconnecting the feed-screw to enable the cross-slide to be driven by the taper turning slide. I can see the components that comprise the feed-screw/nut/slide assembly in the book. Does all of this have to be removed? It was much simpler on my S7!

I recently took my 5" pannier for a run and filled the boiler to working level with softened water from my domestic ion exchange softener. From distant memory this adds an extra Na to the Na H Co3. The water tanks were topped up thereafter with 'local' water which can be rather chalky. The engine ran well for a couple of hours but the water gauge blowdown then ceased to function and the glass looked scummy. I topped up the boiler and the glass suddenly indicated 'past the top nut'. I took the loco off, blew the boiler down to empty and after it cooled set off for home. A shed day the next day revealed that the blowdown valve was choked with white sludge and the lower connection to the water gauge was partially choked. I popped the inner dome off and the internals looked a bright white. A washout removed it as it was soft. My question is (at last you are saying!); does a mixture of softened water and 'local' water increase the possibility of scale deposition? Could it just be the local water? Is ion exchange softened water appropriate for copper loco boilers? This is the first time such an event has occurred in seven years of operation and I'm in a bit of a panic. As a final note, the deterioration in boiler conditions seemed to happen quite rapidly but I might have just woken from my reverie after an enjoyable time on the track.