NSW 'B' class mogul

[Jim]

Jul 26, 2023 2:55:21 GMT David said:

Thanks Jim, I've talked to Tim briefly. Les Sheppard in Vic is building one too.That's interesting David. Tim is now a member of the Illawarra Live Steamers having moved to Sussex Inlet.Cheers Jim

[David]

The B class had another run yesterday - trouble free. Everything worked all the time. So it seems I can make a loco, I just can't fix one.

Really pleased with it. As always there's a number of small jobs to be done to call it properly finished but the pressure is off now.

[Jim]

Congratulations David on building a superb model that runs as designed. You should be very proud of achieving a goal that many set out to do but never complete.

Cheers

Jim

[racinjason]

David,
It ran beautifully and really looks the goods full credit to you, don't forget you got the boiler ticket so that was a very successful day.
Cheers Jason.

[David]

Thanks!

In my usual style I've just scraped a lot of paint off the smokebox door trying to get it open. The paint melts and it won't open on its own yet so I tried to use a thin palette knife. Didn't work. Then I put a rod through a boiler tube and a tiny tap got it loose :-\

So I guess I'm repainting the smokebox door now.

[simon6200]

My smokebox door stuck the first few steaming. I used a sharpened small screwdriver between ring and door at 9 o’clock to pop it, without apparent damage.

[David]

Clearly you're better at it than me! I used a rod through a tube the first time and thought this was a better idea. I was wrong and a rod through a tube worked much better this time too. Door's off now.

[Jim]

Not sure if it's of any help but I was advised to put a smear of steam oil round the edge of the smoke box door a) to help it seal and b) to prevent it sticking as happened in your case. I've followed that advice with both the Burrell and the Britannia with out any issues.

Jim

[dhamblin]

That's a great achievement David, hopefully you'll get many years of enjoyment out of the loco.

On the smokebox door - just a thought - do you actually need paint on either side of that joint? With Britannia I locked the smokebox door and spray painted both primer and the stove black satin top coat. A little bit of the primer wicked into the joint but not had any issues with opening the door after a steaming session.

Regards,

Dan

[David]

I repainted the smokebox door today, using Caterpillar high temperature paint. It says you're meant to cure it at 149 deg C but I can't see my wife going along with sticking it in the oven so it will have to wait for the next run to bake on.

Laughably, given how the rest of the paint falls off if I so much as look at it and the ease with which I managed to scratch the door 3 times, it took hours of soaking in thinners before a wire brush would have any effect on the old paint on the door. You can't make this up.

I fitted polycarbonate panels for glazing on the spectacle plate yesterday. I wanted 1mm, but couldn't get it so used 1.5mm. Can't notice from the outside.

[David]

The smokebox door spent 2 hours in the oven this morning - the can says give it 2 hours at 150 deg C. It's back on. Not a great match with the rest of the paint but I can live with it.



The spindle I made for the gauge glass blowdown valve was too short, putting the handle behind the knee guard making it basically impossible to use. I also just had a little bit of hex on there for a handle which unscrewed rather than bringing the spindle out.

I found an old spindle handle while looking for water tap bits for Sisyphean which prompted me to make a new spindle. Compare the clunky old one with the hot new one. I thought the new one looked like it was made from a smaller dia piece of stainless but figured I was seeing things. I wasn't. I hope it still works.

[David]

Despite still not being quite finished (ie none of the outstanding jobs have been done) 2402 had its first proper run last weekend and did revenue service at the club. No problems, was easy enough to drive, and handled two coaches of passengers ok.

The injectors were a bit difficult but I am optimistically putting that down to the heat and not being able to see the overflows while driving. There wasn't much clinker when I dropped the grate and steamed well for a few hours - the joy of a new, superheated boiler.

A lot more paint came off the tender.

Very pleased with it.

[simon6200]

You engine appears briefly in a YouTube video by James S. Percy’s 38 first then yours.
youtu.be/Bc2-4fPgh6k

[Jim]

Dec 11, 2023 20:37:14 GMT simon6200 said:

You engine appears briefly in a YouTube video by James S. Percy’s 38 first then yours.
youtu.be/Bc2-4fPgh6k

Your loco is running well David you should be delighted with that performance, well done.

Have a great Christmas

 Jim

[mugbuilder]

The only engine without a cab roof David. I spent an enormous amount of time and effort drawing and supplying you with the drawings and laser-cut frames for that engine and helped you on many occasions with its construction. At least you could have finished it before starting the Blowfly rebuild as the agreement was that it would be finished properly.

[racinjason]

David,
you have 3 months to finish it for our club scale weekend.
Regards Jason.

[David]

In an effort to reach the above deadline so I can finally run at one of our scale running days, I've been addressing various things on the B class.

The underside of the cab roof was missing some dummy wooden planks and metal bands so they've been added. The tarp and it's clips at the rear are still not done.



I also made replacement curtain rods for the cab. The originals were made from 1/16 stainless TIG rods so were difficult to thread, and the threads were not quite usable so the replacements were made from 1/16 steel rods instead - much easier. Not sure how the curtains will go, going to have to learn to use a sewing machine.

The last time I ran it I struggled because I couldn't see what the injector overflows were doing so I soldered extensions onto those to bring them out to the edge of the footboards. This was tricky because the one of the right of the loco (in the centre of the photo) needs to miss the brake cross shaft and operating arm so twists and turns, the left not so bad just needing an angle and maybe some bending once I try it in place.

The next picture shows these and other bits waiting for paint. The wires are dummy oil pipes that go from the lubricators mounted at the front of the smokebox down to the steam chests. The thin cylinder is just a spacer between the side of the smokebox and the crank for the dummy cylinder drain operating links. Finally the bit that goes on top of the dome lost its paint when it had to be taken off to adjust the main safety valve when the loco was in steam, so it was a case of get it off however possible without getting too burned.

The dregs in the can of primer sputtered out just as I got enough on the last bit. Have to buy some more plus a can of topcoat after the new year.

[David]

More old slackness or ineptitude catching up on me. I couldn't figure out what was going on with the footpegs in the tender - they'd squeeze through the frames but not thread. So I tipped it over on the bench this morning to see what was going on, plus dug up the tender frame drawings.

Obviously what's supposed to happen is the footpegs go through the frames and screw into the pads inside the extensions to the well tank. But mine wouldn't. It seems I'd left the holes in the well tank extension were tapping size, as was drilled all the way through from the frames which must have then been opened up to (barely) clearance. I must never have tried putting the footpegs in until the whole thing was assembled and painted!



The only way I could think to fix it was to tap from the inside out. The tap didn't want to go through the holes in the frames and I didn't want to drill them out and I would have run out of room for the tap wrench anyway.

Sadly, tapping from the inside was hindered by some detail bits so there was some carnage making room for the operation. I could only turn the tap one point of the ring end of the spanner at a time due to the brake cross shaft and the coupling pin lugs so it took a while!

The footpegs now fit but are too short. I'll cut the heads off them and Loctite them into 1/2" sleeves to extend them.

Then I thought I'd tackle another job I had no idea how to do so have been ignoring - the dummy spring that holds the safety valve lever down. The original thing I was worried about was getting it the right length, and making the hooks on the end. The thing I didn't worry about was using my half-baked recollection of how people wind springs - that thing's not coming off the arbor! The spring was too short anyway...

[steamer5]

Hi David,
Don’t you just love it when a cunning plan falls apart & your tee shirt collection gets increased!
Bit hard to tell from the picture but a ratching ring spanner…. if you had one …. may of helped out taping the holes, either way you got it sorted!

Cheers Kerrin

[David]

More missing bits and unfinished business. The safety valve lever goes over the top of both valves, sitting on little caps. The caps were never made and the pins in the valves are too tall and will stop the lever being installed. So the pins had to be removed to be shortened, upsetting the valve settings.

The caps need a shallow slot to allow the lever to locate positively and then painting.

The spring was done again and was able to be removed from the arbor this time. It's not finished - the top hook has to be made in the right place.