Elidir - 3 inch scale Hunslet

Hi all,

Thought I'd add some pictures of my 3 inch scale Hunslet (Reeves "Elidir" ), under construction now for over 30 years and finally nearing completion. The loco has been built using a George Adams round-bed lathe circa 1905 vintage, a pillar drill, and hand tools - no milling machine.

The pictures of the spark arrestor may be of interest to some - it's held in place with a single knurled nut at the base of the petticoat pipe and can be quickly removed for cleaning.

The injectors are essentially to the DAG Brown design but mounted in a modified body.

Best regards to all,

Steve

Edited By stephen goodbody on 08/01/2018 14:44:05

Edited By stephen goodbody on 08/01/2018 14:44:21

Very impressive!

Question: What else is happening in the smokebox, with the cast valve, and the superheaters?

John

Yes, really good. Proves that a workshop full of the latest technology isn't essential.

If I can be allowed just one question, among many that spring to mind; how did you get the bespoke vacuum gauge?

Excellent, you should be very proud of that.

stephen goodbody:

I was about to ask for pictures of your lathe but it seems it is already documented on lathes.co.uk.

Gorgeous!

John and Clive - in quick answer to your questions:

John, I configured the smokebox piping to bring the main steampipe in front of the blast pipe (the original design has it the other way around). This allowed me to install this hidden (but easily accessible) commercial ball valve for the purposes of pressure testing, avoiding the need to rely on the regulator as the primary shutoff during testing.

Clive, the duplex vacuum gauge is home-made. I used the two smallest commercial vacuum gauges I could find, stripped them down and mounted them back-to-back and offset to left and right, extended a spindle forwards from the rear gauge, and mounted the assembly in a case. The gauge face is a transparent water-slide transfer on a white-painted bronze disc.

EGA - that's correct, Tony asked me to provide pictures of the lathe a few years ago, the pictures and info are at http://lathes.co.uk/georgeadamsroundbed/

Best regards

Steve

Edited By stephen goodbody on 08/01/2018 16:40:25

Hi all,

This weekend saw the engine fully back together having spent the past ten months in painting and reassembly. Here are a few pictures before the paintwork gets dirty!

Best regards,

Steve

Looks fantastic Steve! Look forward to lots of steaming videos! Well done.

That is gorgeous!

Steve,

Lovely work, you should be rightly proud of that. Is that a combination brake set up you have there (steam on the loco and vacuum for the train)? I started a 5" gauge version a few years back but got distracted by a 4" and now a 6" scale TE! As soon as the big one is done I want to get back to the Hunslet! I love the look of these loco's ever since seeing one in Wales as a child!

well done, cracking job.

Paul.

Many thanks all.

Paul - the loco has both steam and vacuum brake cylinders on-board, with the vacuum brake system also extending to the train. I look forward to seeing pictures of your engines also!

Best regards

Steve

Steve,

Thanks for that, neat idea to have a vacuum cylinder on the loco too, saves a combination valve! Not seen anyone make one of those in small scale successfully - hence the question.

Many pictures of my engines on the other site you frequent .

Paul.

Oh my goodness, I've just put two and two together!

I've been thoroughly enjoying your 6" Savage build for a long time Paul - thanks for helping me connect the dots!

Best regards

Steve

Hi all,

I ran the engine last Friday and things went pretty well. Nothing major to fix - a leaking regulator being the most significant, but hopefully fairly straightforward to resolve.

To memorialize the event I've made a video! This is my first attempt at a video and my first attempt with YouTube, so, if you should watch it, please accept my up-front apologies for anything tedious or unclear!

The video should be viewable in high-definition, all being well.....

**LINK**

Best regards

Steve

Steve,

Very nice, all you need now is a rake of slate wagons behind! Be great to see it on the track.

All the best,

Paul.

Steve, you are more than a loco builder, you are a true craftsman. Also a masochist for not having a mill. I also modified D. Brown's injector bodies as I found them too problematic to make.

Many thanks Simon. I'm not sure about your first statement, but I definitely agree with the masochist part! However that's the challenge I set myself when I was 17 and I'm glad i saw it through.

As an update to those that may have watched the video, the niggles have been taken care of and everything's hopefully ready to run at a track next year. As suspected, a bit of boiler muck had somehow worked its way into the regulator during the pre-steaming washout and then become trapped between the disc and port-face when the regulator was first opened under steam, causing it to leak. Fortunately the seat hadn't been scored and the offending muck could be seen and removed without major disassembly. I took the opportunity to install a more powerful spring to hold the disc to the port-face when there's no boiler pressure and the regulator's now leak-free once again. Hopefully this will prevent any future recurrence of the problem.

Next step is to build a few wagons to go behind it. I'm aiming for one bogie wagon as a driving truck and two bogie vans for passenger transport, all being based on Lynton and Barnstable Railway prototypes which seem to scale nicely for the tasks in hand. Wish me luck!

Best regards

Steve

After a year in the making, the first of the three Lynton and Barnstaple-based bogie wagons is finally complete to the point where I could take the loco to the track last Saturday to try everything out.

This was not an unqualified success, the loco foamed and primed badly when under load, so the boiler needs a few more steamings and blowdowns before I will take it to the track again.

In retrospect however the day had more successes than failures and so I'm looking forward to next spring to have another go.

The rolling chassis' for the remaining two wagons are also complete, so I'm aiming to build their bodies this winter and then get everything painted and ready for next year's season.

Wish me luck!

Steve

Edited By stephen goodbody on 01/10/2021 23:02:12

That looks really good. Well done on the detailing, and that's from someone who normally does traction engines!

Brian