Florence Locomotive Works

I quite agree

Evening awl, The Oscillator finally arrived today. I took the cylinder cover and gland off, and thankfully it has newish gaskets. So all I have to do is replace the spring holding the cylinder to the port face, which I’ve already done, and fit a new flywheel. Said flywheel and a regulator valve are still somewhere between Tulsa and the Isle of Guernsey. The cylinder cladding could also do with a repaint, but it will suffice for now. Sometime this week I’ll update my thread on this on the Model Engineering Forum. It’s been very windy again today, but nothing like last time. Discovered another good song, this one about the scuttling if the German Fleet at Scapa Flow (Scapa Flow 1919 by Chris Drever). I actually read some of my book by D.K. Clarke, the section on marine engines of course. Unfortunately I still can’t quite make sense a steam expansion indicator diagram, but that’s not too terribly important. stay healthy and best wishes to Baz and Chris. Douglas

Looks a bit tedious, but should be nice when fitted on the engine though.

OOHHHH THAT. Yes I’ve seen him, however I didn’t think it was that big on the BBC so didn’t connect the dots, I’ve only seen the episode where he “cleans” the car.

Who’s Perry?

Found this randomly on Spotify yesterday. ‘Tis sung by a Scotsman from the perspective of a German sailor at Scapa. https://youtu.be/WRiJITAE0Hw

“Praestat, oculus Tigris et pugni flos. Et amicum certatur adoremur.” Last year for a class project we had to sing Eye of the Tiger in Latin, the most I ever learned in that class.

Salve, est Northroader est parum hycintho? mihi ridet in villa e postum. My Latin teacher was a bit rubbish, more focused on “Being one with the Earth” than teaching Latin, so that’s my excuse if that was unintelligible.

My apologies sir. The book has a large section on the Jones Goods, which got me confused between them and GNSR, which to my slightly below average American mind are closely related, only by geography mind you. It’s also been about 9 months since I did any research on D.K. Clark. I rest my case.

And they probably got their pay docked if the wheel failed, which given the standards of the day might not have been uncommon, depending a lot on the quality of there cast iron.

Goodnight all, from Greencountry. Douglas

Excellent work sir. Looks rather reminiscent of this . . .

Excellent work as always Mike. With regard to fiddly bits, will you be fitting the rectangular grab rail that runs all around the loco, or will you leave it off for ease of handling?

We had a steam leak in its gaseous form at one of the refineries on the river a few months ago. There was just a white cloud sitting above the refinery, tapering down towards it. You couldn’t actually see where it came from, because the steam was transparent, I would hate to imagine what would have happened had someone walked into it.

Indeed they are sir, and I have had my fair share of such encounters (with wet steam). Everything you see in the pictures above is completely temporary, and will be fully steam tight as soon the new regulator valve arrives. I’ve heard about those burns, apparently when working on a new or recently recommissioned marine engine it is best to walk with a broom held in front of you. This will go flying out of your hand when you hit a leak, and then you mark the offending area with something. Learned that from a book I have by Daniel Kinnear Clark, I believe he was with the Highland Railway for much of the 1870s. The book is called “A Treatise on the Steam Engine” (Blackie & Son Ltd 1893) I have volume four, I believe there are six. It has many large drawings of engines and descriptions. Ranging from diminutive fair ground vertical engines, to Midland Rly Johnson 4-4-0’s to triple expansion engines for the S.S. Coot, and even has a large fold out illustrated page of the boiler arrangement for HMS Renown. below is the engine for the SS Coot and a Johnson 4-4-0.

Will be big ends have the wedge adjustment system? Or did Stephenson engines have a different system.

Evening awl, Just had something a bit startling happen during a steam test on my Q1 (not the Southern engine). The pictures are of the setup I talk about. Catastrophic Pipe Failure, was the name of the game. Essentially the silicone tube from the engine to maine steam feed got lazy and decided it didn’t want to carry steam any more, so took a vacation. This caused steam to go whooshing out all over my desk and half my room, but it did clear out all the crud inside the boiler. Luckily neither me nor the boiler is hurt. I got a new high-tensile steel wire in my mouth today, only the top one had to be replaced. The pain hasn’t set in yet, but will arrive in force over night, or might not, you never no with braces. Been listening to a great Irish folk band called The Gloaming, would highly recommend it. The oscillator is still in NYC, so nothing new there, beginning to the nerve to call them. Just learned my 8th grade graduation has been cancelled which is disappointing, but it’s for the greater good so I won’t complain. stay healthy and best wishes to Baz, Douglas

Post No. 2 Been performing tests on the boiler the past couple o’ days. These have consisted of trying to get it to run my MSM Avon engine, which it almost does, but sadly can’t get enough steam through the displacement lubricator, and without the lubricator, there’s no seal on the pistons. I might try and get it to run my Microcosm Q1, but I’m not entirely sure if the timing is correct on that and have no way of figuring out of it is, my home compressor is useless. The Stuart is still currently held up in Customs, so no news there. I’ve drawn up a design for the condenser, and really must get around to ordering the materials for it. I have decided on mounting the engine and boiler to a pice of wood, and something else will also be mounted there. I’ve found a suitably ancient looking dynamo which will be powered by the S.T. Hopefully I’ll buy a Lionel street lamp which can be powered by this arrangement.

It’s an old Airfix GWR Toad brakevan.

1/4 of a mile down the road, and we have engineering facilities on sight.

I have the same worries, but live at the bottom of the hill. So my yard becomes a basin, and a duck motel.

About to go get my braces in my mouth tightened, so goodbye to real food for 36 hours. Wish me luck.

Pies were disappointing, but here we are. Goodnight all, from Greencountry. Douglas

Evening all, Hot and green here in Greencountry. The Oscillator is still held up in USPS/ US Government customs red tape, nothing new. Cats spent the day sleeping. Performed another steam test today in the boiler, not entirely successful. I piped it using silicone to the twin cylinder engine I have, because it already has lubricator fitted. Unfortunately most of the steam condensed in the tube before reaching the engine, or simply couldn’t make its way through the Oiler after the temperature drop. I did all this on my second desk, (this one runs at 150 psi) which used to have my now redundant Sena Sugar Estates layout on it, until about 4 hours ago. Amazing how much space was created when it went to the dungeon. As of now, I’m about to start cooking the pies I mentioned yesterday. Wish me luck. stay healthy and best wishes to Baz, Douglas

Want a hint?