Who made my tich

So I got a tich at the start of the year and recently joined a club but I can not run the tich till I have a certificate which it would of come with new it's not been made buy some one it was a kit but I can't find the manufacturer here is a video of it in action if I can't find any info it's got to be striped back to the boiler and I don't have the heart to do that https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SkaqPjhh_4M

Station Road Steam may be able to help

If a kit presumably the boiler was commercially made, so should have identifiers stamped or engraved on it somewhere reasonably accessible. If manufactured commercially after 2012, I think it was, the serial number and builder's mark (probably company initials) will be accompanied by the working and test-pressures and the dreaded 'CE' mark. Or should be.

If the boiler was made by its first owner, at home, it would not need and would not have the CE mark.

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A likely place is the bottom of the back-head, at foundation-ring level; possibly visible if you bring the locomotive backwards so the footplate overhangs the display track and the edge of the table.

Another possible spot is around the top of the firebox wrapper, partly obscured by the paint and fittings; possibly under the cladding although this appears not to extend back onto the cab end of the boiler. There looks to be a thickening pad in that area: anything stamped into that?.

Less likely, is on the smoke-box tube-plate, and this loco being gas-fired does avoid that being smothered in soot.

If you can find these details it may be possible to trace the boiler's history via the MELG-affilliated federations' boiler register.

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Without reading the Good Book thoroughly I am not sure if the boiler actually would need to be unclad for testing, according to the rules; but the lack of paperwork still means it will have to be tested as if new.

thanks for reply ive looked all over some parts say NS think they mean near side and others have 1 2 3 4 on each wheel and other bits no stamps on boiler with out take in it apart as far as i can see

Station Road Steam said

Thanks for your email. Haven’t seen this one before I’m afraid – I don’t think it’s a commercial build, apparently built without castings.

Kind regards,

John Palmer

John, In which case if you can't trace it back through previous owners and you want to run it, you have no option but to follow their rules or build your own track.

BTW it looks a lovely thing.

It does look very well made.

For public running including on a club track with only members present, it will need its boiler testing, but under the current scheme laid down in the MELG booklet. "Their" rules should be that process, which is designed to cope with situations like this.

Without wishing to put too much of a dampener on your testing problem you MAY need to investigate these points

• In the pictures of the cab and underside it looks like your boiler is marine type and non standard for a Tich so some design verification may be necessary
• The water gauge is very long and so does not indicate when the firebox/centre flue is uncovered
• If the boiler is the same size outside as a small boiler Tich and of marine type it might have to be tested under vol2 of the test code - 'Boilers under 3Bar Litres' but probably not.

It looks well built and I for one would love to see a video taken when you get it running

Boiler type:

I did, but no longer have, the Tich building book but from vague memory the ashpan, such as it was, consists merely of a sloping plate above the rear axle and eccentrics. So this one might still have a loco-type boiler though with modified firehole to take the gas burner.

If a marine type the easiest form of "design verification" might by comparison with a similar one. If the plate thicknesses are the same, as seen at the joints, this one will be significantly stronger than an equivalent for 5"g. for example.

Shell strength for internal pressure does not depend on length. It does for external pressure, and can invoke 'orribly complicated sums - so for a marine-pattern boiler this means the inner firebox and flues, but a shorter and/or smaller-diameter shell will obviously be stronger than a larger one of the same wall thickness and pressure.

There are plenty of marine-pattern boilers running around on model locomotives. I think the 'Polly' range makes extensive use of them, for example; on its narrow-gauge engines. So there is no reason why this 'Tich' could not have been so equipped; and if based on scaling-down a proven design for a larger engine, no reason why it cannot be certified, all other things being equal.

Note that there are anecdotes about some club boiler examiners wittering about such "modifications" as fitting the clack-valve bushes in prototypical locations rather than where the published model plans indicate. They are wrong: what matters is that the moved bush is of the correct class of material and silver-soldered properly; not where it is, within reason.

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Water-gauge...

... yes it does extend too deeply. Thank-you Nick, for pointing this out.

Easiest solutions:

- a), a new nut but with an integral sleeve that hides the lower part of the glass below minimum water level. The sleeve should be a loose fit on the glass so it does not contact the tube when screwed on.

- b) a simple lantern-type protector that incorporates a screen.

I'd rather see Option A as it is an integral part of the gauge, so cannot be inadvertently left off. More complicated, a complete new bottom fitting with extended glass-holder so the glass itself is entirely within the safe range.

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Pressure-gauge:

That must have a clear mark at the maximum working pressure (, i.e. that at which the safety-valves lift). I can't see one on this engine. The usual practice is a red line on the dial but as it is recognised that smaller gauges cannot be safely disassembled to allow that, in such cases a line engraved on the bezel is acceptable.

The accuracy of the gauge is not too critical, within reason. What is important, is that its WP mark, the boilers' specification and the reading on the calibrated gauge used by the boiler examiner, all match..

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Capacity:

If it does fall within the <3Bar.litres category, that's no problem. Slightly easier if anything!

NB: The litres is of the entire fluid volume with the boiler, not just of the water at working level. You can measure it accurately enough with an ordinary cookery measuring-jug - which is all a club boiler examiner is likely to use.

You may need make a suitable adaptor to allow the club's hydraulic test-kit to be connected to your loco's boiler. The examiner will advise you specifically.

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I would suggest you buy or borrow a copy of the current edition of the boiler-examination handbook, so you know what to expect and prepare the loco for.

It is not easy reading - even boiler examiners with a lot more experience than mine say that. The book and paperwork seem part of an exercise in making what had been a fundamentally simple system, as complicated as possible!

Nevertheless I would recommend any owner of live-steam miniatures to have their own copy; or at least that their societies hold a copy or two for members' use.

Edited By Nigel Graham 2 on 08/07/2022 12:33:29