First Steam 2"

Hi all, the benefits of reading on a regular basis these threads is...I'm forever learning off of you guys and thank you for it and some of it is hilarious at times. lol. keep it coming!
From Charlie's conversation with Lynn I have now learned that one can have a half day's steaming at the factory when you reach that stage in your build, provided you don't live the other side of the world that is!
Also the cardboard tube/chimney extension. Good thinking. I've got a long way to go yet , I'm on kit 11. I haven't even painted anything yet! My kits up to now were a bit sporadic so I'm waiting for the boiler really, before I make an assault on the painting. Although , there's nothing to stop me from making a start on the wheels I suppose. Must stop riding around on my Harley Softail for the summer and concentrate on the job in hand! Winter's not far off .
Thanks guys.
Steve.

I wasn't aware of the half day steaming either which may be very useful for a newbie like me. I've been looking at the Berrybrook steam day which I'll probably go on at some point over the summer.

Robfishman wrote:I've been looking at the Berrybrook steam day which I'll probably go on at some point over the summer.

My wife and I did the Berrybrook course some years back and found it great fun, not cheap but Michael (think that was the chaps name) was very good with us, we took the 6" engine (The General) from stone cold to working pressure, oiled it up, did a bit of polishing and then set off out for a run around the village, stop at the pub for lunch and then run back to the site. I think we were the first folks to do it as they had only started to offer it. For newbies its great especially if you dont really know anyone in the steam scene, which we didnt back then.
Taught me a load about running an engine, injectors, water pumps, oilers, hills, steering etc , also he was excellent showing us around the engines they had for sale and explaining what to look out for when purchasing an engine, I will point out there was NO hard sell, they had engines for sale but I never got the impression they wanted me to buy one there and then or even encouraged me to which was nice.

Chances are you could get a similar experience if you got chatting to folks at a rally. I am very chatty at rallys and always enourage folks but I know some are not and just sit quietly behind their engines but thats fine as thats what they want to do, certainly during the process of looking for an engine we struggled to engage with some which was why we ended up doing the course in the early days.

First steamed mine today. Fire went out at 50 psi because I put to much coal in to quick. Started again this time with more wood for longer.
It ran very well with no leaks to worry about. The problem I have is getting the water in the boiler quick enough. The water pump does work but it appears not to be enough volume. I cracked the pipe union into the boiler and cold water came out. May be the ball valve in the pump not seating correctly, I will have to check.

Couldn't get the injector working. I will have to work on that, it made a lot of steam.
Just got a nice fire going and had to shut it down because of the water problem but learnt a lot.

I was very pleased with the way it runs, like a sowing machine. I will have a look at the water pumps issues and can't wait to try again.

Need to try the safety valves next time.

Phil