Member postings for julian atkins

Hi Reg,

Phil (weary) has very kindly prompted me on this, and I have now read your subsequent PM.

Can I suggest you post the contents of your PM on here or on the other forum with some of the drawings?

I am very busy in work until the 25th December and I am not even sure if I have the drawings to which you refer and I have no spare time to check until after Christmas.

Cheers,

Julian

Hi Noel,

You might be right, but personally I have my doubts. Very happy to be proved wrong. I am pretty familiar with LBSC's 'Brit' design in 3.5"g.

As I said, it seems very odd.

Hi Noel,

You might be right, but personally I have my doubts. Very happy to be proved wrong. I am pretty familiar with LBSC's 'Brit' design in 3.5"g.

As I said, it seems very odd.

Hi Noel,

You might be right, but personally I have my doubts. Very happy to be proved wrong. I am pretty familiar with LBSC's 'Brit' design in 3.5"g.

As I said, it seems very odd.

Am I the only one to consider this all a bit odd? Hydraulic test of the boiler for what? To run the loco again, but where? A club track that it's boiler inspector will carry out the test? Yet no club is mentioned.

I could comment on other details provided that also seem odd. You wouldn't need to touch the chassis for a boiler test. All seems very odd to me.

Cheers,

Julian

Looks like a Don Young Railmotor No.3, based upon the S14 class, but with alterations, and the boiler barrel diameter should be 4 3/4" not 4 3/8".

As presumably one of the persons quoted on the other forum mentioned, you cannot make a LBSC injector to work except by luck.

There are lots and lots of issues with all of the LBSC designs. He doesn't specify in print how to get the correct annular gap between the steam cone nozzle and start of the combining cone.

You would be better off copying one of DAG Brown's injectors from his book. He includes a table/graph for the annular gap.

Cheers,

Julian Atkins

Have none of you heard of Goss, Young, or Sam Ell, or Jos Koopmans?

Happily bemused by all this!

I suppose ignorance is bliss.

Apply the Greenly 1:3 and 1:6 tapers if you will. That was first published in 1904. And will only probably work within certain parameters.

Why Greenly should be still quoted on here after the work of Sam Ell and Jos Koopmans especially is quite beyond my comprehension.

Cheers,

Julian

Hi William,

The late Percy Wood won IMLEC with a Joy valve gear inside cylinder MOK.

If the Don Young Stephensons valve gear version is improved it ought to be equal if not superior to the Joy valve gear version.

I had drives many times of the outside cylinder version and personally I disliked it. Tricky to drive and fire with the sloping grate and leaning over a long tender. But others with different examples had different experiences.

Cheers,

Julian

Hello William,

MOK. Where to start!

For the SR L1 (inside cylinders version) you have a choice of Joy valve gear or Stephensons valve gear.

The Joy valve gear version is regarded as very good, but not prototypical.

The Stephensons gear as designed by LBSC in the late 1940s is awful.

Hence, K N Harris, and later Don Young redid it. The K N Harris version is more of a complete rebuild, and has a peculiarity from memory.

The Don Young version is less radical and I would suggest be considered. See ME 7th and 21st November 1969.

The Don Young version could do with amending in some minor details as there is no suspension offset, and the lifting arm length may be wrong on the weighshaft, and I am far from convinced that the rocker arm bearing is in the optimum position.

As for Joy gear being not to prototype, there are lots of things about MOK that are not accurate, and to start with it doesn't have piston valves, so personally I wouldn't be too bothered about this.

The driving wheels are BIG!

Cheers,

Julian

Yes, the regulator rod should slide out of the green bit on it's square.

You don't have to undo the red screws at this stage.The valve and linkage will drop down and be retrieved by the wire I specified you must add to stop these bits falling down into the boiler.

Don't remove your '1' and '2'. Don't disturb this assembly please!

Cheers,

Julian

Hello Bogus,

If you only need to deal with slack in the linkage of the regulator valve to the square on the regulator rod, then I would leave the regulator body and the steam pipe and tubeplate flange well alone.

You can remove the regulator rod and valve and linkage by removing the regulator handle and the gland for the packing. The regulator rod cannot be withdrawn at this stage because of the collar fixed to it as shown in John's drawing. Therefore you need to remove the flange that screws into the backhead bush.

Be very careful here if the backhead bush is screwed into the backhead as per the drawing (and not additionally silver soldered. Even if this is caulked with 'soft solder' the soft solder can shear.

You can then withdraw the regulator rod but before you do so put some wire around the linkage to stop the regulator valve and linkage falling into the boiler.

The wire can then be used to drop the valve down and be lifted out with the linkage and arm attached.

Cheers,

Julian

Hello Ian,

Yes, the detail is missing from Don Young's 'Newport', as it is from all his designs except one...

You need to get the copies of LLAS where 'George' is described and the drawings provided.

Another useful source is Roy Amesbury's 'President' design in ME.

Ignore the Cottam/Evans design as per 'Torquay Manor' as this is pointlessly complicated and also has a jet in the sight glass that is far too big IMHO.

If you PM me I might be able to help out.

Cheers,

Julian

Hello Peter,

Sorry for the delay in replying.

I personally would never use roll pins on the motion, and especially the crosshead to piston rod. Why? Because I've had to remove them for an overhaul, and with great difficulty - with the battering ram effect of piston rod betwixt crosshead distorting them.

A solid fixing is preferable, via a taper pin IMHO.

Cheers,

Julian

Thank you Nick for that information about the 'wayback machine' and Don Ashton's website.

Cheers,

Julian

For those who would like to know how much Don Ashton helped us all please see

https://modeleng.proboards.com/thread/13547/vale-don-ashton

(I hope the above link works)

Cheers,

Julian

Edited By julian atkins on 17/04/2020 01:32:47

Thank you Dave, and Hopper.

To be quite frank, I am surprised that more have not commented on Don Ashton's death. He did so much for our hobby, and was a beacon of light in the darkness of the understanding of miniature locomotive valve gears for the past 45 plus years, and was such a great friend to many of us.

Cheers,

Julian

It is with much personal sadness that I have to report the death of Don Ashton of miniature loco valve gear fame, and much else besides.

Cheers,

Julian

Edited By julian atkins on 11/03/2020 22:32:58

duplicate post

Edited By julian atkins on 11/03/2020 22:51:56