It has been quite some time since i last posted anything regarding Blackmore Vale. It is the Loco i really love to hate however i am pushing to get it off the workbench as im building an LBSC Childs 4F for my kids, as well as having other projects im more attached to.
The loco spent quite a bit of time upside down as i wanted as much of the underside work done as could be so that i didnt have to be turned over again. This meant finishing the 2nd water pump and making the drive for it. I then had to pipe it in to the existing water setup. I also ran new water lines to the back of the loco as the old ones were a bit odd and all different lengths. Hopefully the 2 water pumps (1/4" rams) will be able to keep up with the water use as before the single pump couldn't do this.
Also all the brake gear and drain cock linkages needed refitting. Its unlikely i will use the steam brakes on this loco and probably wont plumb them back in but they at least look ok being on there.
Once the loco was sitting back on its wheels the next big task was to check the timing and seal up the valve covers. The biggest issue i had is that the center cylinder of the loco is cast and having sat for 30+ years, the valve face was a bit pitted. I spent some time trying to get it as smooth as i could. I couldn't remove the cylinder as it would have required taking the outer cylinders off and that would have been too much effort. A large metal block with wet and dry did a good job and the loco now runs on all 3 cylinders. I think this is one of the reasons it ran so poorly last time i had it together but i had never stripped it down this far initially to see the issue.
As you can see from the above video the loco seems to run ok. The socket on the exhaust is so i could hear the chuff chuff. It will run down to almost 0 psi. I think last time it wouldnt go below about 20-30 psi so thats a big difference.
I did away with the old pipe arrangement for the cylinder steam feeds and instead made banjo unions. This allows me to do the majority of the tightening of the steam pipes from outside the smoke box as my hand doesnt fit inside it. Being that the loco has streamlining no one will see it but in terms of setup it is far easier. I also made stainless screws to hold them on as previously they were bronze and a bit small/weak.
From here i started thinking of things to make life easier and oiling the center cylinder valve gear gear was on that list. I ended up making an oil delivery system that will take oil to the crosshead slide as well as the valve rod/slide. I tested it out and it seems to dump oil where i want it so that's a good start.
I also made up small collars for the exhaust and steam feeds as the holes in the smokebox are over size and thats being very kind to the peron who drilled them. They have high temp gasket sealer to ensure a good seal. In the photo below, only the exhaust one is fitted.
About here i thought cool i'm ready to put the boiler back on, a couple more days and i'll be doing a steam test. I have learnt with this loco however that you test everything before its hard to get to and then test it another couple of times because ole Murphy may have owned this loco for a time.
I pressurized the super heater, something i hadn't done previously and found a leak however it was coming from the wet header. This leak had not been there during the boiler test. On closer inspection it was coming from just behind the super heater mating surface. This was a bit weird i thought and on closer inspection i noticed a fine line going around the whole piece. It was here that i realised the wet header was made up of 2 different pieces. What the builder had done is used 2 different thread patterns, 1/2" x 32 on the wet header bush and a 40 tpi on the steam feed pipe. This piece also looks to be made of brass so i gave it a tap and the end fell off. The thread had broken down and had caused a leak from somewhere i couldn't seal. I never liked the quality of workmanship on the wet header so i built a new one and removed the bushing off the super heater as well so everything could be made new.
Everything above is made from Bronze and i also made the thread for the 40TPI piece thicker as i think the last one had been to thin to start with.
I wanted the mounting holes to be done properly so i asked one of my local club members if he could give me a hand to mill and drill the wet header as well as help solder the super heater end as my torch is a little small for the bigger jobs.
I decided 4 screws was better than the original 3 and the flats were made to a standard size.
I have been testing the super heater and found a small pin hole leak on the new join so once that's soldered again and tested, i will assemble it, test it again and then install the boiler. All that's left after that is a little pipework, a test steam and ensure that it goes around the club track (before it jammed due to wheel spacing being to wide). I have new safety valves on their way from Polly engineering which i will need before i do my accumulation test and final fitting of the outer casing.
The casing also needs painting, as well as the tender but in my eyes, as much as i hate painting prep, it should be far more straight forward and easy compared to what i've gone through so far. My 3 month project is almost at 3 years and its really time to move on.
Above is the loco playing dress up to ensure that all the bolt holes line up. The smoke box only ever had 1 bolt holding it to the chassis and when it had all of them it was held at the wrong angle so after a bit of fettling i think this is also ok.