Rosebud

In ME4519 I found the article on rosebud grates very interesting. For me these grates are simple to make and having stainless steel in abundance is a bonus.

The only bit missing, as far as I can see is how deep to make the counterbore in order to allow the Venturi action to work correctly.

Any help please.

Brian

Like Brian, I'd like to know more about this as I'm nearly ready to make the grate for my little loco.

Regards,

John.

There has been a lot of interest in this article and I am please to say that there will soon be a follow up article that will, we hope, give more of the details you are looking for.
I also found the article thought-provking. I did have disussions in the past with another contributor on the same subject but, for copyright reasons, it was not possible to go ahead with the article as presented so it was 'grate' that it raised its head again.

It led me to thinking about the possibilities of a full size Rosebud grate for a Sentinel ...

Diane

That pun really grates, Diane.

At least now we know that Citizen Kane was a live steamer.

Neil

That Orson comment may go Well(s) over the heads of our younger readers Neil.

IanT

They would probably admit that it sled right over.

> That Orson comment may go Well(s) over the heads of our younger readers

Nice to know they are plural!

Neil

tHank you for the reply Diane

Brian

I seem to recall someone saying they used a slocumbe centre drill from below. havent seen the article yet.

see you at track sometime.

BK.

I was also very interested in the articles in M.E.about the Rosebud grate ,nothing is gained by going to the expense of stainless steel for its construction , either M.S. or cast iron is sufficient.I have just constructed one for my Sweet Pea ,it is 4 1/2" x 4 1/4" x 1/2" MS and have drilled 156 holes on a 8mm square ,drilling from the underside first with a BS-4 centre drill to the full depth of the cone part and then completed the drilling with a 3.4mm drill which gives 11.8% of the grate area for air.I realise that with the old grate to much air was passing through and with all this excess air it wasn't burning the coal completely resulting in to much ash /unburnt products.I have taken onboard all the remarks made about rosebud grates and just wait to see if there is much improvement when running my Sweet Pea.Referring to Peter Griffiths article in M.E. 4523 he has used the grate on his Stafford with good results and the Stafford firebox is very similar to the Sweet Pea one I have.

i have some very experienced Aussie ME friends operating miniature locos where they use 'char'.

for anyone wanting to know the ins and outs of the amount of air required to burn UK coal i would suggest reading the BR Rugby Test Reports.

cheers,

julian

Good morning all,

The so called "Rosebud" grate isn't that new; recently looking through an edition of Don Young's Locomotives large and small he describes a very similar grate for his design "George" The full sized locomotives designed for Rosebud Lignite had a vast grate area in comparison to those locomotives operating on the more normal bituminous coals, I think it was a yard foreman on the Northern Pacific commenting on Rosebud lignite reckoned it needed another million years in the ground!

Regards,

Bob