A loco lifetime

[mugbuilder]

Ready for the next big heat. The weather has cooled down so this week I hope to have both boilers with the inner and outer brazed up and ready for the stays. I've done it many times before but it is always a bit traumatic.

[mugbuilder]

Both boilers are now finished prior to pressure testing.
I try wherever possible to leave the inner firebox wrapper long enough to form the ash pan sides and front. This makes it easy to fit a screw on base to complete the ash pan.

[mugbuilder]

[Oily Rag]

Jan 19, 2020 3:10:07 GMT mugbuilder said:

Both boilers are now finished prior to pressure testing.
I try wherever possible to leave the inner firebox wrapper long enough to form the ash pan sides and front. This makes it easy to fit a screw on base to complete the ash pan.

That is a good detail, I wish I had included that in my little garden steam boiler. Useful and now lodged in the cranium for later use.

[mugbuilder]

Both boilers have been pressure tested to 1400 KPA or 200 PSI.
One was totally leak free and the other had 3 small leaks that were easilly fixed.
It is always a great relief when the boiler work is finished.

[mugbuilder]

Came across this photo of another 50 class that I finished off from a collection of indifferent parts. The tender was almost finished but the engine bits needed a nlot of work. For economic reasons I fitted slip eccentric valve gear.It turned out to be quite a good engine and has given the owner many years of reliable service.

[Jim]

At first glance I thought it was a full sized 50 class loco with a S truck and a tarp covered wagon behind sitting waiting somewhere in rural NSW. It was the strap rail that gave the show away. What a superb model.

Jim

[David]

Was any real 50 class ever that tidy?

[mugbuilder]

Jan 29, 2020 10:19:52 GMT David said:

Was any real 50 class ever that tidy?

David ! How gould you ever doubt that the humble standard good engines were never kept in that condition?

I am affraid that while this engine gave the original owner many years of reliable service, the current one hasn't got a clue and it has fallen on hard times. I had it back for repairs a couple of years ago and was dissapointed with the filthy condition that it is in now.

It breaks my heart to see some of my engines maltreated and unloved but what can I do. When I see them like that I want to take them home and bring them back to new condition again.

[David]

I'm sure they were as well looked after as any other NSW loco. What condition that leaves them in is up to the reader to imagine!

[mugbuilder]

I suspect that some of our readers are wondering what an Ausie Blowfly looks like and what it actually is. It is a very basic 5" gauge 0-4-0 tank engine that I designed in the mid 1980's and published in the Australian Model Engineering Magazine.
The frame was made from 3/8" by 4" steel with welded stretchers and buffer beams. The boiler was 5" diameter non superheated for siplicity. It had a 1/2" axle pump and injector. I used the basic overall dimensions of the then new Sweet Pea design but the only common parts were the crosshead and slide bar arrangement. With a heavy and low center of gravity it makes a great club work horse and has been known to have pulled a ton up a substantial grade. It is very forgiving of indifferent workmanship and has proved popular here in Australia with at least 200 built to date. I developed and published the design totally free of charge and have never made a cent from it apart from the 14 that I have made myself. Eleven of these were basic 0-4-0's and 3 were 6 wheel versions.The 3 shown here were the last 3 that I made and were the only ones ever built in a batch as all the others were one at a time as ordered. I named the design 'Blowfly' as I thought that a lot would be built and that they would be as annoying as the insect version. I was right.

[David]

I think the nicest things about the Blowfly are the weight (even better with the sidetanks filled with sand), the displacement lubricator, and the slip eccentric valve gear. I didn't build mine but I appreciate those things. I'm sure the valve gear saves most builders a lot of time and grief. It is a rugged loco, for sure. Mine survived a trip to the floor mostly intact. The chimney broke off and the cylinder drain operating gear was broken. That was about it.

[mugbuilder]

Variations based on the Blowfly design.

[mugbuilder]

861 was the very first Blowfly built in 1986.

[David]

I like the lubricator on 861, although it looks like you've never made two the same! Pamela is weirdly attractive, despite there not being enough room for the wheels and looking like it should tip over backwards.

Do you have a photo of 873?

[mbrown]

Pamela reminds me of the Kerr Stuart "Sgt Murphy" - it is actually pretty well balanced with the firebox and the cylinders cancelling each other out, although I suspect it bounces along on its springs a bit (no worse than an 0-4-0 probably).

Malcolm

[David]

Having spoken to Barry about that loco among other things today, I learned Pamela has a 6" boiler rather than the usual Blowfly 5". I think that really adds to the chunky look of it and is an improvement.

Blowfly boilers have no cladding as a general rule so the boiler barrel diameter makes quite a difference.

I also saw one of those boilers he's just finished and it's really tidy. The fit of the backhead is impressive and the soldering is quite neat. And there were no leaks. Plus, now he's finished the weather has cooled down a bit!

[mugbuilder]

I've finished the smokebox plumbing on the 24 class 2-6-0 that I am completing for two members that have pased on.

[mugbuilder]

Most of the cladding is finished on the 24 class.There is quite a lot of detail bits to go on the outside and the backhead hasn't been touched yet.

[mbrown]

That's a very neat little turbo generator. Does it work or is it a dummy?

In due course I shall have to devise a generator for 99 3462.....

Malcolm