ruston proctor

Hi everyone.

I'm building a 2inch scale ruston proctor traction engine, drawings are good except for the plumbing arrangement.

I'd like to understand this better, and possibly do away with the water tanks either side of the boiler, has anyone done this or have any info on the book that came with this kit in 1987.

I'm still cleaning every part of the engine, so I'm in no rush yet.

Can I plumb in a simple hand water pump to keep the pipework simple for now?

Thanks

Can you post some pictures as this model does not usually have a belly tank. Is it actually from a kit or built to Hainings design which started publication in 1987?

Talk to your boiler inspector as its more than likely they will require two means of filling the boiler, this is usually by pump off the crankshaft and injector though a hand pump may be possible to replace the injector.

J

I will post some pictures, once back from Lyme regis.

Thanks very much

Hi Derek,

Which Ruston Proctor are you building ?

I am building a 6" Ruston Proctor SD which has a water tank in the tender. Some engines also had auxiliary tanks on either side of the boiler. It should not matter where you get your water from but should have 2 independent methods of getting water into the boiler. (injectors, mechanical pump, hand pump, etc)

Paul.

Thanks Paul.

I'm building a 2 inch scale version which shows two water tanks either side of the boiler, I'm looking at using just the tank in the tender and doing away with these tanks the main reason is to keep the plumbing simple at first as this is my first engine, I'm not exactly sure how all the piping is done from the drawings view, I wondered if there was a build book with this engine in the past, the drawings say 1987.

Derek

Assuming it is Hainings SD rather than Linconshire Lad then there was no book as such but the series of build articles in ME starting April 1987 would be as good as.

Hi Derek,

I have the ME magazines with the John Haining build series, see PM

Graeme

The additional tanks on a Ruston Proctor SD are aranged either side of the boiler in this fashion.

Piping layout for 6" RP SD.

Note that this has a steam operated pump and uses lifting type injectors. I have made the pump according to LSM drawings but am not sure if it will work and I am not going to use positive feed type injectors instead of the lifting type,

Paul

Thanks Paul.

I will come back to the plumbing once I have restored the rest of the engine, I will post some pictures to ask what goes where piping wide.

Thanks

really struggling understanding the plumbing on the 2 inch ruston..i am new to traction engines so im sure i will get it soon.

its the fact there are different size fitting, but they say to use the same size pipe work thats confusing me.

it says to use 5/32 size pipe on ALL fittings, but i have water lifter bushing with a 5/16x32tpi fitting..do i use the 5/32 pipe still and order a fitting with a 5/16x32 thread and a 5/32 size nipple and union fitting?

I wasnt sure if the water lifter pipe should be of a bigger size..

To me it says 5/32" or 3/16" pipe.

Its quite usual to have say 3/16 water feed to water pump with a 5/32 from that to the clack or back into the tender via the bypass. Being anything after the pump is being pushed it does not need such a large dia.

Water lifter steam feed could be 1/8" or 5/32" you are unlikely to use it anyway unless you have a liking for filling the engine from puddles. I would use a standard 5/16 x 32 nut and make a nipple with a smaller hole to take the smaller pipe or just solder on a sleeve to step it upto a larger nipple.

Injector I'd say 5/32" steam feed to it then 3/16" for water feed to it and the same from injector to clack

If its just gravity from the pannier tanks to teh tender than 3/16"

Thanks very much, its starting to make abit more sense now

so what you are saying is that its better to use the larger pipe 3/16" on the injector side and into the check valve on the right hand side of the boiler, but with the left hand side use the 5/32" from the pump into that check valve?

on the drawings it shows two water level glass's one either side from the steam manifold down to the bottom of the boiler, do any pipe fittings go to the bottom of these water levels? do i need to attach a pipe to each one to drain the boiler say?

Thanks for your patience

The water gauges usually don't go anywhere near the bottom of the boiler, they only need go just below the top of teh firebox crown which is where the bush(S) should be located on the back of the boiler. Its usual to run a small pipe , 1/8" would do from the cock on the watergauge down to teh bottom of the engine so that when you blow steam/water through the glass to clear it that goes out to waste between the tender and back of the boiler. Can you post a picture of this drawing, I don't think two gauges are really needed on a small engine and not all large ones had two.

EDIT Looks like the full size did have two glasses, this is the layout on a 4" engine, you can see the two small pipes to waste

Edited By JasonB on 14/10/2014 16:32:24

Edited By JasonB on 14/10/2014 16:32:44

here you can see the manifold holes on the front to take the top of the water level and the two brass fittings lower down to take the bottom of the levels

It's usual to have some fairly small pipes leading from the bottom of each gauge glass to "blow through" the glass to clear scum or debris, and to check that the water level restores to its original position. There's usually a blowdown valve mounted low down on the firebox for the purpose of draining the boiler. Having it low down enables all the accumulated pooh to be blown away with the water/steam when the boiler is drained at the end of a run.

Ah i see, thank you...i'm starting to learn for sure

on the above piping diagram, you will see the steam to water lifter pipe and the steam to injector pipe..

both with a globe valve fitted? i want to make sure i order the correct fittings..Thanks alot