Steam at last !!!

I Finally took the plunge this afternoon and put some fire in the box and water in the boiler.
It took about 45 mins to get steam up, only some tiny leaks at the packing glands at 40psi.
I started to get the machinery rotating, and found that both ends of the exhaust pipe need a gasket to stop a leak on either end flanges..
After about 15 mins and 60 psi (I kept the pressure low on purpose) I tried the water pump, water water everywhere !!!! it was spurting out from the top and bottom of the pipe ends, the end connectors had only been silver soldered over about 60% of the fittings !!!, I then tried to get some water into the boler with the injector, the pressure was a bit low for the injector really, but I managed to keep enough water going into the boiler so that the level never dropped below a third of the gauge level.
The machine was running sweetly for about half an hour when I just had to sit on and go for a little spin... The engine ran beautifully.
As soon as the heat started to go out of the fire, I let it die down and called it a day..
I am well pleased with the result, roll on the next steam up .. pitty it got a bit mucky tho LOL


Malcolm.