Iconic Aircraft Aviation Forum

Posted: **Mon May 20, 2013 8:59 pm**

I have always been interested in all things steam right from being a small child looking under a blanket at one of my great grandfather's live steam loco's and now 42 years after it was built (two years before me!!) I have been given it, so I thought I would photo and report my progress as I know there are a few people here that have similar interest.
The loco as it is has had no maintenance or use for 30+years

First job is going to be a monster cleanup job

really looking forward to this.

Posted: **Mon May 20, 2013 9:16 pm**

I am really impressed. What a fantastic piece of engineering. I hope that you can eventually get it back into 'full working order'; be great to have it working again. Please keep us up to date with your progress.
Thank you for sharing this with us.

PW

Posted: **Mon May 20, 2013 10:44 pm**

Wow

looks great, keep us posted!

Posted: **Tue May 21, 2013 7:13 pm**

Model engineering at its best...... A task and a half there please keep us updated.

Posted: **Tue May 21, 2013 8:01 pm**

I have given it a good clean before I started to strip it down. It will look great when its all cleaned up.

Right on to the interesting stuff
First off is the cab roof and the back wall of the bunker exposing the hand waterpump

Next came the cab back wall and the front wall

I thought I would oil everything up and put some air on before I disconnected any of the pipes after a shaky start it started to turn over, tried the regulator and the forward and reverse all working well

The corrosion is quite widespread in the cab the only way to clean it up is to remove everything and rebuild it
Bit of a pipe jumble, I hate this sort of thing (can't remove the pipe until I have removed another pipe)

All the pipes removed showing pretty obviously the stainless steel parts ( the only non corroded parts)
I am very tempted to remake parts in stainless

Next came the injector this is the only part I have found that is not bolted up to the frame rails and to be honest the pipe work looks 'a bit rushed' compared to the rest of the model, I have to think this was an addition that was left in a test phase.

The cab totally striped out and water tube cleaned up and regulator Handle de corroded

One job that needs doing the fire grate catches on the bottom of the fire box I will have to see to this next

To be continued

Posted: **Tue May 21, 2013 8:30 pm**

Marvellous project. Please keep us up to date.

Posted: **Tue May 21, 2013 9:03 pm**

That looks like the Martin Evans designed 'Simplex', built by model engineers all over the world over the last 40 odd years. My father built a Simplex before moving back to 5" GWR models once he had finished Simplex.

There is a brilliant website written by real enthusiasts that should provide you with any help or advice you need with your inherited Simplex engine: http://freespace.virgin.net/simplex.steam/

Posted: **Tue May 21, 2013 10:18 pm**

Thanks for the link lots and lots of cool stuff there. The model is called "Butch" it's very similar looking to the simplex but the boiler is way more complex. My great grandfather completed 2 loco's the first was a 3.5" guage "Maisie" this one came next and only got used once, he then went on to start a third, a 5" guage "Speedie" which only has frames and wheels so prob. About 1/3 complete. Requires a boiler etc. my grandad still has this in his workshop. I plan to finish it one day but we decided it would be wise to start with this refurb first, as I have only ever built a stationary engine before this.

Posted: **Thu May 23, 2013 7:13 pm**

Keep the updates coming please this is really interesting.

Posted: **Thu May 23, 2013 10:13 pm**

Ok I had I choice to make remove the boiler or not. My grandfather told me that it was an awful job ~x(

and I know I would need to take it off to get it tested at some point in the future, so with keeping the boiler on the frames in mind I continued with the strip down
First off the side tanks had to come off to remove the dust and check for corrosion

Lots and lots of dust and debris

Cleaned up pretty well

Most of the corrosion is concentrated in the cab area here I have made a start on the reversing lever

Lots of dirt under the boiler on the double acting waterpump on the right and the mechanical lubricator on the left which is an absolute gem of engineering it has two tiny pistons working from an little ratchet system

Ok onto the boiler issue I tried to put air on again to circulate some more oil so I loaded all the lube points up and noticed the rear horn blocks (axel) was not getting any oil so decision made the boiler was coming off, and wow it was soooo easy, my grandfather has clearly never had to work on the machines I work on every day, it was done in five mins.

Cleaned out the smoke box and modified the door a little to give better access later on

Cleaned up all the link bars and pumps having had a good look at the fire grate it looks ok and I am going to leave it as is for now

The last two shots show before and after shots of the rails I have straitened the boiler feed pump pipe

To be continued (rebuild and test)

Posted: **Sat May 25, 2013 7:19 am**

While the boiler was off I decided to pump it up to test pressure (water test) to check for leaks unsurprisingly I didn't find any. I also got the last boiler test cert from 1980 it never ran after that any way so it's not had a hard life.
My lad popped in to see the progress nice to see him leave his Xbox for five mins lol

I removed the pipe work from the double acting axel pump as this wild be the last pipework I would not be able to get to once boiler was back on.
Dropped the boiler back on the frames and fitted the right side tank this was tricky as it had a union right in the middle next to the boiler I had to use a plastic shim to hold the nut in place while I tightened up the joint

On to the left side this was much easier as It just dropped on

With the left hand tank fitted and the spectacle plate fitted it was starting to look very nice how ever there is still a lot of work to do

TBC
Next up water pipes and pump testing

Posted: **Sat May 25, 2013 2:26 pm**

All I can say is "WOW!".....

You have been handed what amounts to a
sacred trust, haven't you, Dougs????

I can TELL, though, you are more than up
to the task :ymapplause:

Two Questions:::::

1) Are there any screws, bolts or other fittings,
no matter how tiny, which require "Torquing"
to a certain tolerance, and if so, how do you
accomplish this on such a small scale?

Or is it all just by feel?

2) I see she's all mounted on a stand which
allows stationary running, but is there any
location where this loco could be run on some
sort of a circuit and actually "Locomote"?

Or would the inability to lay your hands/fingers
on the controls make this impossible????

Last of all, I've just GOT to say: I'M IMPRESSED!!!

Danf.

Posted: **Sat May 25, 2013 8:50 pm**

thanks for the update.

Posted: **Sat May 25, 2013 10:20 pm**

Dan4th wrote:All I can say is "WOW!".....

You have been handed what amounts to a
sacred trust, haven't you, Dougs????
oh yes definitely at least that's the way I feel about it I am very proud that it is a family heirloom

I can TELL, though, you are more than up
to the task

Two Questions:::::

1) Are there any screws, bolts or other fittings,
no matter how tiny, which require "Torquing"
to a certain tolerance, and if so, how do you
accomplish this on such a small scale?

Or is it all just by feel?
its all built on fit and feel I have to say the concept is a bit odd for me to grasp as I am used to working with aerospace tolerances however for me the only thing I will not compromise on is safety this model is potentially lethal if it were to go horribly wrong

2) I see she's all mounted on a stand which
allows stationary running, but is there any
location where this loco could be run on some
sort of a circuit and actually "Locomote"?

Or would the inability to lay your hands/fingers
on the controls make this impossible????
oh no it's very runnable there are many clubs with proper track and rolling stock I hope to get joined up and certificated and insured to run once the refurb is complete and I am happy with it. It should pull around 4-6 people without trouble.
For me though the fun is in the engineering way more than the actual using

Last of all, I've just GOT to say: I'M IMPRESSED!!!
thanks Dan4th
Danf.

Posted: **Sat May 25, 2013 11:51 pm**

It should pull around 4-6 people without trouble.

YEOUCH!!!!

That's getting on to almost 1/2 a TON :-o

Ah, but how many Gazzes will she pull

?

I love the fact, too, that this a story
which is in the process of unfolding B-)

BTW, do you have a decent link to one
of those clubs?

I'm sure they're world-wide, but I've never
been aware of this hobby.....

Don't let me keep you from your mission,
though

Danf.

Posted: **Sun May 26, 2013 6:59 am**

Dan4th wrote:
It should pull around 4-6 people without trouble.

YEOUCH!!!!

That's getting on to almost 1/2 a TON

Ah, but how many Gazzes will she pull ? not too sure cos he is a big fella it might manage one if he is hollow

I love the fact, too, that this a story
which is in the process of unfolding

BTW, do you have a decent link to one
of those clubs?
http://www.nwlsme.co.uk/
This is my local club about 2 miles away

I'm sure they're world-wide, but I've never
been aware of this hobby.....
there are quite a few in the states although your loco's are different

Don't let me keep you from your mission,
though
no it's all good anyway today is all about Cold War Jets quite looking forward to having by ears perforated lol

Danf.

Posted: **Sun May 26, 2013 11:24 am**

An absolutely fascinating 'Restoration' (how nice not having to need a Crane to lift off the Boiler, etc, as is the case for the 'full size' versions!!). Keep the 'Updates' coming. Thank you for sharing all of this with us.

PW

Posted: **Tue May 28, 2013 1:09 pm**

Thanks PW it is alot easier to handle than your 'playthings'

right on to the latest update
all the water pipes refitted, cleaned and straight·end out

and my little bug bear sorted out so the pipes wont get trapped

the brakes refitted and the floor put back in

the hand waterpump refitted and the cab back wall put back on

all the pipes looking much neater now

There are three diferent ways of getting water out of the tanks into the boiler first one is the hand pump this is on the back wall and had a small leak on one of the pipes so i had to remove it and solder the joint the secound method is the double acting pump on one of the axels this will obviously only work while underway, i tested this by putting compressed air on the boiler to run the train and the pumps work very well indeed. The third and final way to feed water is to use a steam injector this is a fasinating bit of kit and i will cover it later as i need to test this with steam. the water circuit is very complicated as the boiler water has to be managed by the driver this is done by a bypass valve (shown center of last photo) that allows any un needed pumped water to return to the tank, otherwise the boiler would be overfilled resulting in hydraulicly locking the pistons (very not good) anyway I am happy that the two water pumps I have been able to check work very well, so next I will finish off the cab pipework and put some fire on to test the fire grate (which i have 'trimed' to fit better) and the draw on the boiler (which uses a bit of steam to 'pull the fire')
TBC.

Posted: **Tue May 28, 2013 6:23 pm**

Nice update Dougs the photo record makes it all the nicer :ymapplause:

Posted: **Wed May 29, 2013 12:49 pm**

Finishing off the cab pipework

quite a diferance from when i started

next came the job of fitting the steam water injector this had some pretty iffy pipework blocking the fire grate

and the injector itself

next came time to test it all to make sure the boiler was functioning properly and the injector was working

filled and lit the boiler and waited for pressure

i had a couple of very small leaks but they soon went away when the temp came up

this test was unfortunately a failure as i was unable to get the pressure above 50PSI however it did point out a couple of areas i need to look at;
1 the boiler draws way too much air through it so i will need to reduce the chimney area a little to slow it down a tad or i will end up loosing steam pressure too quickly.
2 i am now more convinced than ever that the timing is not right in that the pistons were locking up when i tried to get it moving.
and i have put a video of it running on air on too

TBC

Posted: **Wed May 29, 2013 5:55 pm**

Amazing! Just great to see her 'come alive' again (even if it is compressed air at the moment and not live steam). You've really achieved a lot and I'm sure that you will be able to iron out the problem areas that you mention, in due course. Well done!!

PW

Posted: **Thu May 30, 2013 12:18 pm**

LOCOMOTION!

(...sort of...)

Great stuff, Dougs, and thanks
for the vid :ymapplause:

!

Danf.

Posted: **Thu May 30, 2013 6:18 pm**

Nice video...it's looking good...

Posted: **Thu May 30, 2013 6:31 pm**

Thanks guys I am making good progress and hope to get it running soon I have some interesting repairs to post in the near future too

Posted: **Fri May 31, 2013 7:36 pm**

From the steam up I wanted to fix the small leaks and fix the starting problem
First off the sight glass and tap

I replaced the old worn out seals with orings

Next the non return valve for the water injector

Had to reseat the valve
Next the starting problem this I thought was a timing issue well after some close inspection I found a leak on the valve steam chest on the left hand cylinder

I found the gasket was split

I made a new gasket

Unfortunately there is another leak further down so I am going to have to remove the piston which is a really big job
TBC

Iconic Aircraft Aviation Forum

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