Hercules in 7.25 Gauge

[smallbrother]

Just wondering if anyone has experience of one of these engines in terms of passenger pulling power.

I appreciate it's very subjective but any knowledge greatly appreciated.

Pete.

[uuu]

IWMES have one - this one: Station Road Steam

Once we'd sorted out the "asthmatic" running and done a repaint, it's an easy and enjoyable thing to drive. I haven't seen it pulling to it's maximum, but it's definitely strong.

Wilf

[smallbrother]

Thanks Wilf, what sort of load has it pulled so far?

[uuu]

Alas, I don't go to the club so much on "running" days, so I've been driving and watching it during the fettling on maintenance days. And taking it apart in the Pumphouse. I'll ask around.

Wilf

[smallbrother]

Much appreciated Wilf.

One on Station Road Steam now which looks of interest.

[flyingfox]

Greeting Pete, a long time ago, I built a six wheeled version of Hercules, but longer wheelbase than Hermes, the A J Reeves offering, which did not exist at the time. this enabled me to lengthen the firebox by 2 inches as well.
The result has been an excellent passenger hauler, happy on up & down fete work, or all day continuous running on a "proper" track. A great workhorse. It has done many real miles, and now needs retyring of the wheels, and a new superheater element before starting all over again.
I am well pleased with it.
Regards
Brian B

[uuu]

I've had a chat at the club with the chap who usually drives ours. He normally pulls two bogie trolleys behind - as well as the driving trolley. And it goes with no difficulty round (and a bit of up and down) our circuit. We have a third trolley, he has no doubt of the ability of Hercules to pull that as well - he just prefers the ease of two.

He had a Sweet William of his own before - and he believes Hercules matches it.

Wilf

[smallbrother]

Thank you very much Wilf. Sounds like it will do the job I am thinking of.

I'm going to run my Bagnall on Saturday one more time and will make my mind up then.

Pete.

[uuu]

I was at the Pumphouse tonight chatting to John the Pump. He reminded me that the reason the club were attracted to Hercules was the success of the clubs 5" Ajax loco - Hercules is effectively a scaled up Ajax. Ajax had been a good passenger hauler for many years.

Wilf

[jma1009]

I don’t think I would myself describe the IWMES club loco of modified Ajax design as a successful passenger hauler.

[smallbrother]

We have a very decent 5" Ajax at the Newport club, but it isn't used for passenger duties so no idea what numbers it would pull.

Is this design based on any prototypical engine? I haven't seen one.

Pete.

[mbrown]

Ajax, and designs derived from it, were designed by Dick Simmonds (the"backyard foundry") of Erith - I think in the late 1940s or early '50s. Fred Stone, who took over the business, supplied the castings. Fred retired in about 1973 and sold the business to AJ Reeves.

I remember Fred running an Ajax on the Welling club's portable track - it ran most of the day with a reasonable load.

It is not based on any prototype. Not many small 0-4-0s have side taks and outside cylinders with Walschaerts gear however good that layout is for beginners. You could probably find an industrial prototype and could adapt the design to resemble it.

Malcolm

[johnthepump]

Hi Pete

The IWMES 5” Ajax I have known since 1973 , it has over the years pulled many passengers especially on portable track days it has worked well and hauled well loaded trains. In recent times it has been re boilered.

The Hercules was bought from Station Road Steam as requiring some attention as it sounded somewhat asthmatic. The Loco didn’t pull very well when we first tried it , it made lots of steam but struggled on out tight curves.
So it was decided to take it to the Pumphouse for investigation, the cylinders were removed and the valve face were surface ground, the transfer ports were machined from 4 drilled holes to a single slot, there were some mods made in the steam chest as it was thought by a team member the the valve might be getting stuck up allowing blow by. On further investigation it was found that the radius rods were incorrect length. By this time the country was in full lockdown and Pumphouse Wednesday evening’s were on hold, so it was left to me to make the new radius rods.

Once the lockdown was over the Loco was returned to Broadfields and tested on the track and proved itself to be as powerful as they had hoped for. The only thing that remained was the light blue colour which everyone seemed to dislike, so Dan took the task on and stripped the Loco down and repainted it . I will try and get a photo of it next time I’m at the track.

John

[smallbrother]

May 1, 2023 9:21:51 GMT johnthepump said:

Hi Pete

The IWMES 5” Ajax I have known since 1973 , it has over the years pulled many passengers especially on portable track days it has worked well and hauled well loaded trains. In recent times it has been re boilered.

The Hercules was bought from Station Road Steam as requiring some attention as it sounded somewhat asthmatic. The Loco didn’t pull very well when we first tried it , it made lots of steam but struggled on out tight curves.
So it was decided to take it to the Pumphouse for investigation, the cylinders were removed and the valve face were surface ground, the transfer ports were machined from 4 drilled holes to a single slot, there were some mods made in the steam chest as it was thought by a team member the the valve might be getting stuck up allowing blow by. On further investigation it was found that the radius rods were incorrect length. By this time the country was in full lockdown and Pumphouse Wednesday evening’s were on hold, so it was left to me to make the new radius rods.

Once the lockdown was over the Loco was returned to Broadfields and tested on the track and proved itself to be as powerful as they had hoped for. The only thing that remained was the light blue colour which everyone seemed to dislike, so Dan took the task on and stripped the Loco down and repainted it . I will try and get a photo of it next time I’m at the track.

John

Thank you for that John. Would love to see a photo. Anyone taken a video of it in action?

I've decided to keep my Bagnall rather than swap for the Hercules at SRS but am curious what they can pull and how they look on the track.

Pete.

[uuu]

Another cause of Hercules' poor performance on curves in its as-bought state was the driving truck. This would bind dreadfully on the slightest bend. So it too was stripped down and dealt with. It got shortened, too - perhaps a strange decision (not me guv!) - so it now holds the driver only.

Wilf

[steamjohn248advent]

I have I think told the story of my 60 year build, twice round the world aboard a Grey Funnel Liner 7 1/4" Hercules. Castings from Fred Stone, boiler by Swindon Boilers wheels re tired with steel, stainless radiat superheater.

Burning Foss Y Fan Dry Welsh. and, warmed up after abour about half an hour she will pull 12 adults on four eight wheel bogies which themselves weigh about 75 Lbs. Driven full gear, regulator open blower off regulator shut blower on, just like the real thing. Big cylinders and a smallish boiler, driving involves 100% attention to the job, otherwise no fire, or no water or no steam or a combination of all three.

Our Railway only runs for the public so our engines usually have to work hard, on a good day hauling around 1000 passengers. Currently we run a K 1 Garret, a highly modified Milner designed L and B R TAW, a heavilly rebuilt "Modelworks" L and BR. Baldwin. and a bog standard Romulus of unknown ancestry.

To be honest the Hercules is a bit of a shed 'Queen' as she is very demanding to drive if we are busy with full traina and most of our staff prefer to drive the bigger engines like the K 1 which can pull anything we can put on the drawbar, so no stress. Our railway runs on 1/2" by 1 1/4" steel bar with min 60 foot radius curves and is pretty level apart from a couple of 1 in 90s

John

[steamer5]

Hi John,
Would love to see any pictures of K1!
I’m currently slowly building a 5”, & have been for far too long!

Cheers Kerrin

[jma1009]

The IWMES modified ‘Ajax’ is probably not typical. But it is in essence the original design albeit with extended frames later on and 4 wheel bogie added at the rear.

The original design is indeed an old design as Malcolm has described. It does have a rather compromised Walschaerts valve gear design. The IWMES example, when I drove it, had ‘dustbin’ sized cylinders made even bigger by a reboring to a larger size in the early 1980s.

I can recall one example of an outing with it to the SMLS at it’s BeechHurst track at Haywards Heath when it was ‘failed’.