Steve Purves

What a rollercoaster of a week! I had planned to take the loco to the track last weekend to try it out before the event and still give me a week to fettle anything arising from the test but sadly it wasn’t to be. I had to wait until last Friday to get it to the track and hope everything went well! Another item of note I had 'Midland Loco Works' make me a new pair of nameplates which I had fitted on the Wednesday in readiness for the first outing... 20190529_203614 by Steve Purves, on Flickr Friday: Arrived at the track around 2pm, unloaded and got the loco in to place on the steaming bay for our boiler inspectors to conduct a 2x working pressure (180psi) hydraulic test to ensure the boiler was safe to operate at its normal 90psi. This test was passed with flying colours. Now it was time to light a fire… This was the bit I was most nervous about, as from the test steaming on my drive I noted that the safety valves fitted were a bit naff but ran out of time to get them replaced. Part of the steam test is called the accumulation test. This involves having a good hot fire with the blower hard on to make as much steam as possible, the safety valves must lift and not allow pressure to rise over 10% more than the working pressure (99psi in my case). We stood back and watched the needle climb and climb up past 100, on to 110 and still going. This was no good! We allowed the boiler to cool and reduced the pressure back below the red mark. Test Failed. There was no way that the safety valves as fitted were fit for the job, they just couldn’t clear steam fast enough – certainly not as fast as the Bagnall boiler could make it. Time for a rethink. The valves operating pressure was backed off to 75psi, this meant that when they opened at 75psi and kept climbing they would stop climbing under the magic 99psi (WP + 10%) Again test failed, this time though it climbed to about 105psi. There was just time for a third retest, this time the valves would lift at 65psi. Success! 20190531_161600 by Steve Purves, on Flickr Time allowed for half an hour of track time before retiring for the night. This quick ‘road test’ went extremely well and highlighted no concerns for the following morning. The loco was to live in the carriage shed for the weekend so the fire was raked through, injector put on to fill the boiler and left to cool overnight… 20190601_164209 by Steve Purves, on Flickr Saturday: The show opened at 10am which meant I should be ready to light the fire for about 9am to give me time to raise steam nice and slowly, oil round, polish, get the coaches out and be sat in the platform at ‘go’ time. The full boiler the night before had settled to around a quarter of a glass by the time it cooled so no top up required before lighting up. Everything went well, I pulled the empty stock in to the platform for 10:01 which was more luck than judgement! Saturday was a hot day, it was a busy show and no sooner had my passengers disembarked than the next load had jumped on. Each ride was 2 laps of our circuit so about 3 to 4 minutes in total, I shared the passenger hauling with a nice Royal Scot and we had one passenger car each (about 4 adults). Because the loading was light I didn’t need to run the engine above around 50psi all weekend. I did notice that the right cylinder was running warm and was a little dry of oil so I made a note to keep an eye on this, it did settle down over the course of the day. IMG-20190601-WA0003 by Steve Purves, on Flickr I finally retired at 17:00 after running the engine continuously for 7 hours… I even forgot to stop for lunch! Not bad for its first run in about 16 years! The engine was given a quick polish, and the process repeated for the second night before it was bedded down in the carriage shed again. Sunday: The weather forecast was not so great for Sunday and also less than 5 miles away we had the ‘Rutland Show’ to compete with. Again I was on the track at 10am ready to start the day. Today I ran the first hour alone before I was joined by a nice Quarry Hunslet. It got quieter after lunchtime and we suffered a couple of showers. The hunslet came off about 14:00 whilst I carried on until 15:30 when a Class 25 took my place for the last hour. 20190602_144001 by Steve Purves, on Flickr This time the fire was dropped on the steaming bays as the loco had to be loaded back in to my trailer to come home with me. The same procedure was followed with the fire coming out and the injector filling the boiler right up. The loco was loaded and put back in the garage until next time. 20190602_152540 by Steve Purves, on Flickr In summary, What a weekend! I couldn’t have asked for more of the engine. It ran all weekend on just a whisp of steam and performed faultlessly. There is a gallery of images from the show here : https://flic.kr/s/aHsmDZhcTx

After sitting dormant in a shed for 17 years, a 2 month fast-track overhaul and a bucket full of midnight oil, Late afternoon on Wednesday this happened... 20190522_172901 by 47845, on Flickr Shortly followed by this.... It held steam and was dry at all the joints, so I slowly raised the pressure up to full working pressure (90psi) to set the safety valves. The are fine if a little slow at reducing the pressure, I shall put some new ones on the 'snag list' for now... 20190522_183241 by 47845, on Flickr With a good head of steam and about 15 foot of track extending out of the garage I couldn't resist seeing what it sounded like! It was priming quite badly but this will settle after a few washouts, this is due to residue in the boiler following the overhaul and finally cooling down after a successful trial... 20190522_185209 by 47845, on Flickr

its getting close... Well the new tubes turned up on time on Thursday. A quick count and measure to make sure all was well meant that work could begin on the big job! 20190517_181349 by 47845, on Flickr The first task was to anneal the tube ends. This heating (to a dull red) and (slow) cooling cycle changes the structure of the steel and allows it to be 'expanded' in to the tube plates easier. 20190517_182814 by 47845, on Flickr With all the ends treated it was time to start fitting the tubes. Each tube was placed in its respective holes and expanded, starting from the outside working in a spiral fashion. The process was slow to start with but once I got in the rhythm its wasn't as bad as I had expected. All tubes were in by late afternoon Saturday. 20190518_145153 by 47845, on Flickr One to go! 20190518_153840 by 47845, on Flickr I had a bit of spare time at the end of the day so filled the boiler up with water, fitted the test blanks and had a go at putting some pressure on it. 50psi at first and few tubes were weeping at the firebox end. The problem areas were fettled and tried again, 100psi this time and both tube plates were dry. A bit more pressure, 150psi but the clack valves and water gauges started leaking a little - no problem, the tubes were holding at least - 180psi and the same, tubes were fine but due to other 'weeps' the pressure was not holding. 20190518_175901 by 47845, on Flickr Sunday evening I decided to put the boiler back in the frames. the small niggly weeps will be sorted as the rebuild progresses. The smokebox was refitted and sealed and the cylinders had new gaskets cut and refitted which allowed me to rebuild the valve gear 20190519_192419 by 47845, on Flickr Starting to look like an engine again. Tonight's job is to get the tank back on and the plumbing back together. The cab will only be loosely fitted at this time until I have put a fire in and tested the loco under steam. Fingers crossed nothing else raises its head!

The boiler tubes are now ordered and will be delivered on Thursday from TSS in South Wales. Luckily there are plenty of other jobs to be cracking on with. I spent Saturday PM refitting the regulator and main steam pipe as can be seen in the attached two photos, both open and closed. 20190511_191728 by 47845, on Flickr 20190511_191732 by 47845, on Flickr I also took this opportunity to refit the gauge g lass fittings (no glass fitted yet so I don't damage it) and washout plugs (the latter at least until the tubes are fitted and it has a final wash out ) 20190512_150722 by 47845, on Flickr

Well after a modest battle over a week I have managed to get all of the tubes out. Image below shows the inside of the boiler barrel water space with just a couple of tubes left to come out. it can be seen how much 'loose scale' is in the bottom of the barrel. this has all come of the outside of the tubes and been scraped off the surface as the tubes were withdrawn from the boiler. 20190504_190014 by 47845, on Flickr The tubes are expanded in which means they are fatter at each end to make the seal with the tubeplate. when hammering out a tube its difficult to break the initial seal but when you get to the standard with dube you are only battling against the scale. what is difficult however is getting the tube out past the other 'fat bit' on the other end. the way around this is to draw the tube out by a certain distance, hacksaw off the 'fat bit' and push the tube back in to the boiler thus dropping between the tube plates at each end. the dropped tube can then be withdrawn through the larger diameter washout hole on the end. the various lengths of removed tubes are seen below as a result of this exercise 20190505_165624 by 47845, on Flickr With all the tubes out my boiler inspector is happy to pass the boiler to be retubed although due to its age he has granted me a ticket on a shorter inspection cycle of every year instead of every 2 years. with this in mind I have now ordered the tubes and will commence the retube as soon as they are delivered. 20190505_165807 by 47845, on Flickr Whilst I was cleaning up other areas of the loco I noticed what looked like a flake of paint behind the cylinder end cap. closer inspection revealed this to actually be the gasket from said cylinder that had blown clean out. Time for unexpected job number 2. I spent the evening stripping down the valve gear on both sides to gain access to the cylinders so I could replace the gaskets for both front and back caps both sides. better to do all at once than have to revisit it at a later date. I took this opportunity to withdraw the piston completely from the bore for inspection. Once I have some suitable gasket paper this will be put back together. 2019-05-10_02-54-55 by 47845, on Flickr The club open day and the locos potential first steaming are now 3 weeks away. nothing like a deadline to focus the mind! Steve

The overhaul is progressing slowly at the moment. 20190421_120840 by 47845, on Flickr I took the boiler to see my inspectors on Sunday and they said they would like to see it 'acid dipped' to remove all trace of rust and scale from the plates inside. This could potentially delay things and first I have to get the 32 old tubes out (not a simple task I must add) and find a reputable pace to 'dip' the boiler shell. This is so the inspectors can fully assess the levels of pitting in the crown of the firebox. The inspectors are currently unsure how thick the plates are due to the build up on them as such they couldn't advise if its either a scrap boiler or whether I can squeeze one last ticket out of it. The crown (the bit directly above the fire) is one of the most susceptible parts of the boiler to corrosion due to being exposed to the most heat. mine currently looks like this.... 20190421_185445 by 47845, on Flickr As the boiler is being worked on separately my attention has turned to other parts of the loco so that it is ready to accept the boiler back when its done. this will speed up the re-assembly considerably as everything *should* fit straight back on where it came off and will be cleaned and steam tight. One of the clack valves can be seen below, this is a simple non-return valve for water to be fed in to the boiler. the feed passes up, lifting the ball off its seat which is then re-seated by boiler pressure when the flow stops. This will now be stored 'clean' ready to go back on the loco when the time comes. 20190415_193012 by 47845, on Flickr More to follow if and when things progress! Steve

I have acquired a large scale Bagnall Sipat. When I say large scale I mean 7.25 inch gauge, 5 inch to the foot scale, live steam and approximately a quarter of a ton. 20190330_155714 by 47845, on Flickr The loco was built in 1989 to a design by MJ Engineering and serialised in Engineering in miniature. I believe this was one of the first to be completed to this design and the loco sees very little deviation from the drawings. The engine was run around the north west of England for about 10 years until 2000 when its boiler was retubed (more of this later). it was used until (officially) 2003 when its most recent boiler ticket expired, whether it has been steamed in the meantime is pure speculation as the previous owner was not around to ask. For an engine with 15 years of storage under its belt I felt it was in incredibly good condition, nothing more than a light surface rust on some of the motion, nothing was seized and it made all the right noises when being hand shunted about meaning the steam circuit was still tight. I bought the engine with my eyes open. obviously storing a loco for so long in unknown conditions could take its toll, and there was the case of the last retube to consider. In 2000 the then owner felt it appropriate to install stainless steel tubes in place of the more standard steel or copper. The loco was inspected and passed consecutive years after this with apparently stainless steel tubes fitted even though it was always my understanding that stainless was a no-go in live steam. 'How could his club have certified it?' I wondered... 'It must be a mistake'. Speaking to my boiler inspector we concluded that everyone would be happiest if, prior to recertification, the boiler could be examined 'naked' and out of the frames. This would also give me chance to go over all the hard to reach places and investigate the stainless tubes better. work started immediately 20190409_194710 by 47845, on Flickr I was working in a bit of a mess since I collected the loco as the garage had been accumulating all manner of wares to do a car boot sale (the fall out from re-decorating the house), The car boot came and went on Sunday giving me opportunity to clear some sort of work space. Just need to sell the bogie coach now as it too is in the way! The locos you can see in the picture below are obviously the Sipat taking centre stage. The small 5 inch gauge yellow diesel is in fact a Maxitrack battery electric 'Planet' sat on top of its driving truck and the loco on the bench is my 7.25 gauge Jessie which is awaiting its new owner coming to collect it. As you can see the boiler has now parted company with the frames. the steam raising blower can bee seen on top of the chimney also. 20190415_080017 by 47845, on Flickr The chassis has been cleaned a bit to get some of the 15 year old oil off. the brightwork will be cleaned up next and any paint touching up will happen soon so I can re-oil and protect everything on the bottom end. So far no shockers, everything adds up to show a very well made engine in the first place. 20190415_080029 by 47845, on Flickr The boiler took a little more persuasion to get off. The inside is a bit nasty but that was to be expected. I have cycled some descaler through the boiler a couple of times to break up some of the crap and flushed it clear. on Saturday I took it to the local garage to pressure wash it from every angle and in every opening. It now runs clear. I have my concerns about the inner firebox but I am having it ultrasonically tested for plate thickness on Sunday. This will determine its fate as to whether a new one is required or not. 20190415_080034 by 47845, on Flickr Back to the saga of the tubes, it turns out they re in fact stainless. I have heard conflicting reports about their suitability ranging from 'they are fine, leave them be' to 'take them out it is illegal' and most things in between. I will not be making any rash decisions until the thickness test is complete but currently the options are: Thickness test fails - new boiler required Thickness test fails on firebox - possibly new firebox or boiler Thickness test passes - replace tubes for steel or copper Thickness test passes - test code rewritten and stainless tubes are accepted! 20190412_131432 by 47845, on Flickr Its a seemingly long wait until Sunday now! Steve

I would love a 91 to modern standards especially in 2mm but I fear I might not be able to buy one if I don't plump up the readies all in one go on some unspecified date for a project that i haven't even decided on only for that model to gather dust on the shelf until I'm ready for it. Good luck guys. I will watch with interest but I worry for the way the models I want are heading MM

The Melton Mowbray and District Model Engineers are pleased to be attending over the weekend. You can come and find out about the 'large' side of the hobby! Our website is on https://mmdmes.wixsite.com/home There will be a selection of items of interest on our stand - Come and find out about our exciting extension plans too!

Glad you enjoyed it Ian. I was there that morning on my little green saddle tank (the one that wasn't Singapore). Do come over again. Our next running is the 17th of Feb. Steve

Today we launch our new website. This will be fully populated with more images and information over the coming weeks. Now featured online is our calendar for the first half of the year along with membership details. All feedback welcome https://mmdmes.wixsite.com/home

Just a brief update on this little known society. We are looking to raise our profile slightly and a couple of members have been having extra working parties to improve the track site ready for next years running days. we generally run on the Third Sunday of each month and visitors are welcome either with or without an engine. usual rules apply! We have just created a Facebook page which is visible even to those that aren't users on Facebook, This will be updated with news and events from the club. If you are on facebook give the page a like to keep abreast of the news! www.facebook.com/mmdmes/

https://goo.gl/maps/6kVYkbwvJ4z

Any pictures of the CAD stage models?

Surely Hattons are no longer a retailer with commissions but a manufacturer in their own right now?

I'm pretty certain I read somewhere the renumbering was organised by LTM themselves and not via Bachmann. I'd be very surprised if the Barwell team got involved with renumbering old stock with all the hassle of sending it all back to China!

If you want an Indian Baldwin be aware that those that went to India went through bagnalls works before being sold. They had the extended cab which is the same as that on 590 and Hummy. They wouldn't have had vacuum braking which both models are fitted with so that would need removing. Most Indian locos had further modifications such as extended tanks or modified safety valves too

I'm curious as to what is particularly wrong with the Bachmann shed? I have always found it to be a decent enough model. I certainly haven't a problem with owning a few myself! CoK

Seems odd having the discussion on a different page to the main threads! I must remember to kee0 checking it

Page one of Andy's list. It was missed off the original update I think! 4 versions listed along with ashover coaches and slate wagons!

Posting this as I can't see any discussion about these yet. Fantastic announcement, I will definitely be having one or four! Apparently already at the design stage so not too long to wait hopefully!

All cranes are detailed on the Bachmann website news story from a few weeks ago http://www.Bachmann.co.uk/details_archive.php?id=493

Where to start!? Several years ago I had quite a collection of live steam and electrics in 3.5" and 5" gauge. I sold up to return to smaller scale modelling which I have been doing for a number of years now. The modelling has become my day job and my mojo had disappeared so have returned to big stuff. First of all my main toy, A modified sweet pea. Brand new and unsteamed. A couple of niggles to sort before comissioning. New 5" gauge project by 47845, on Flickr Started making up some track panels for a run down the garden when the loco is finished! New 5" gauge project by 47845, on Flickr Finally an overall view of the business end of the garage... plenty still to do! New 5" gauge project by 47845, on Flickr

I think you need to be in contact with a guy called David Moore if you aren't already. I don't know your background but a project like this is undoubtedly more complicated than an equivalent steam loco, and is a lot more complicated than sticking a generating set in a class 47 shaped body. A lot of smaller gauge engineers get around this by simply having a gen-set in a body charging batteries which are used for traction current. If you want to take traction current direct from the power unit then you have to consider miniaturisation of key components like load regulators, electrical control cubicles and air systems. Dave has built his 10.25g class 60 over the last 20 years or so and is a proper diesel electric and as far as I am concerned is the final word in miniature diesel locomotives. https://flic.kr/p/ohZkGj https://flic.kr/p/oi1Fw7 https://flic.kr/p/HRdNpC https://flic.kr/p/HRea4y https://flic.kr/p/x1mY3S Regards Steve

Any ideas on the deadline yet?