Lynn Robinson. Showman Scenic

She runs. Very well indeed. Only problem is the fire damper. Still not got a pin for it.

Well done Lynn, I think that the smile on your face says it all.
All the best and "Lang mae yer lum reek!!)

Tom

Thanks Tom. It was a very proud moment. Quite a few of the neighbours were out to see.

Crystal is back in bed cooling down as she went "tech". The regulator was getting stiffer all the time and now is stuck. I will investigate when she has cooled and lost pressure.

All in all a good first drive.

Regulator cleared. Small bit of soot stuck to the regulator rod.

Well done Lynn,

Engine looking great and after all that work building a well deserved happy face.

Keep the vids coming they are an inspiration

Thanks

Kev

Another picture from today

Hi all.

Well Crystal behaved herself today. No major problems. The regulator went sticky but kicked a bit of grunge out the font packing and worked well ther after.

I did also find out what I forgot what to do the other night. I did think there was something else I was going to do. Well today I found it. I will give you a clue. I had the belly tank off. Well I was heading along the street after tuning and the steaming went very light. Ah I remember now. Tighten the chain adjusters. The nut had fallen off one side. I found it and put it back on and tightened everything up.

After my second trip along the street I had to go up the hill to the next junction due to a dear car driver! I was back in the street and pressure was down to 50psi. Hummmm. Crept back to outside the house. The damper had dropped closed and there was no fire left. Almost a black hole instead of yellow fire. Coal, sticks and a bit of starter fluid and she was smoking again. Blower on back upto 150 in 5 minutes.

The mechanical pump works very well. I need about 2/3 valve to over take high regulator with no cut off. Steam injector worked well. More precisely i am learning how it behaves and how to control it.

Except for the lack of fire in the first 10 minutes. She ran very well, plenty of steam. Easy enough to keep a fire going even with hitting a 1 in 6 hill every other trip along the street (dead end road). Stoking on the run is easy enough and I was getting good at the injector while running 1/2 regulator in 3rd gear. 3 hours of running at no cut off used around 20 gallon of water. This week I will get some cut off sorted on the quadrant which should improve the economy. She would do the 1 in 6 hill in 3rd gear at 170psi with a small run at it. Otherwise 2nd from standstill at the bottom. 1st will pull from dead stop on the hill with no problem. So the power is there in these beasties.

Crystal got a good HP blow down at the end of steaming, rain stopped play at 1325. Once she was down to 60psi and the fire was gone for 45mins I hosed her up and steam cleaned the garage floor. Why waste the steam

She has been rubbed down and tomorrow evening I will check her out. I am planning taking a eccentric off and a main bearing to see how they are doing. That is if there is any detectable play.

So I will leave you for the moment with a couple of pictures

Hi All

This engine and I guess all engines are camera magnets. Another friend sent me a picture from yesterdays steaming.

There is no "Photoshopping" done on the image. It is a traditional panning shot.

Blimey Lynn, your either up early or not gone to bed!!
Good posts of Crystal & valuable information for us normal mortals. Between you & Steve (Thetford Works) you're keeping the rest of us up to date on how to run & look after these lovely little beasties!!
Regards,
Tony

OMG!! It's snowing here, not settling for long round the house, but the tops of the hills are white & it's cold out there, think I'll light the stove in the workshop today!!

Just measured yesterdays running.

just over 4 miles traveled

Looking good lynn,

glad it's going well we wont need to tow you around at castle fraser next ear

wait till you get the canopy on you'll probably be driving by feel if it's like driving the other showmans I've driven.! you can see Sh*t!!

Forward looking infra-red view screen

I plan to have the 2 seat attached so I would be looking down the side. It is sad but I am looking at creating a electronics package to "look" at the water gauge and alarm when it gets low. Also a sensor in the water tanks to give me levels. This being backup to visual checking.

Keep us informed on how you do that Lynn, I was thinking of doing the same thing with the tanks on the Foden.

Mikero

Lynn

What a super feeling it must have been driving along the street for the first time, rain or shine. I wish Kev had posted a video of his road run the other week, he must be over the moon too.
Your making me jealous now as I have been unable to finsih Blackbeard due to the long drawn out house move and I still need to remove the benches from the old house this week

Does Steve know he needs to design a Lynn shaped cutout in the rear of the canopy? Interesting way to drive sat with your feet on the manstand. Last week my nephew was here with his 3 year old daughter who has suddenly taken a shine to all things steam since we took her for her first train ride on the Welshpool and Llanfair. We stood her on the manstand of Blackbeard and she looked about the right size, I will get a copy of the photo and post it on my build thread for fun.

A big congratulations to you for what is a super engine, now we are waiting for Tony, Brian, Dwain, Rick, etc. to show us there engines out on the road as they all seem very close to running.

regards

Brian

Well as most folks in the UK know we are heading to winter. Today was -2 at 0800. So with lots of thinking. I have decided that crystal needs to go into hibernation for the winter.

So it was all plugs out and worsted wool wicks inserted. Pressure gauge off and into the house. I will wrap it up in a small box on top of the water heater for the winter. Once it has been polished to within an inch of its life again. Valve covers off and block blown through. Safety's off and all blown through. Ash pan off and cleaned, will wheel engine out at the weekend and wire brush the firebox and smokebox. Water sight glass will be removed to reduce wait on the gaskets and help to stop the glass being broken during cleaning and further workings. Steam injector will be removed and stored with the pressure gauge. All pipe work will be blown through. Mechanical water pump will be opened, needs to be painted anyway. Oil wicks will be removed and discarded. New ones will be made for next year.

Once she is dry and clean in and out. She will be polished up, no dampness in her bedroom. Frost heater will go in the firebox and she will sleep and be tended to through the winter. She may be woken up for special events during winter but that is to be seen.

If she does not dry well inside I will rig up an electric hot air blower at the weekend and get her dry.

Do not worry peeps I will still be nattering on here when we get kits to play with and things get fettled on crystal. Also there will be 2 traction wagons to be built.

17th Oct 2012

Well it dropped to -9 degC during the night so I am happy that I started to hibernate Crystal.

lynnr wrote:It is sad but I am looking at creating a electronics package to "look" at the water gauge and alarm when it gets low. ......This being backup to visual checking.

I think there is a system available to the model boat fraternatiy, possible a cheddar models thing

ejparrott wrote:

lynnr wrote:It is sad but I am looking at creating a electronics package to "look" at the water gauge and alarm when it gets low. ......This being backup to visual checking.

I think there is a system available to the model boat fraternatiy, possible a cheddar models thing

Thats no fun

Just goes to show that it makes a difference where you live. We probably wont see much in the way of sub zero temperatures during the whole of the winter down south!! I couldnt cope with the idea of laying up the engine for the winter as I still have the Littlehampton Bonfire parade next Saturday night and then the Victorian Festival of Christmas at Portsmouth historic Dockyards on the 1,2 December. Then there will be the local ME club Xmas do in December and the New years steam up!! As fast as I would be drying it all out and cleaning it up I would need to put it all bck together to fill up again.

It will make it into the garage for the darker months without water in but I would still run it at least once a month just to get the "steam fix" I did read Steve Trials bedding down procedure too which made me think about taking off various covers and treating with WD40 or steam oil of the like, but as I hope to run up regularly seems a bit pointless to go to too much trouble. My mate who lives at the end of the road shores his MW batch one Burrell from September till about April!!! Would drive me mad

Hi Kevin

There be also the difference. Events!

I do not have any events until possibly May. Crystal may wake up if there is an event to attend but otherwise it is safer to dry her out and hibernate. A normal winter up her can be minus figures most nights until march with February usually dipping to -15 at night. 2008 we had from 21st dec to mid February snow on the ground and -27 recorded for over 9 days. 24/12/2011 driving down to sisters in Glasgow the car thermometer never got above -18. Last march we got 9" of snow in 4 hours and it stayed for 5 weeks.

I know what down south is like as I spent 1986 to 1990 in Portsmouth. Very warm

Hi Kevin,

You mention using WD40 as a winter prep. I would not use this for that purpose as it can adsorb water after a few weeks and cause corrosion on metal parts. The use has been banned in aviation circles because of this effect.

Ian

I use ACF 50 on my motorbike it is designed to provide a winter coating on bare metal. Bit expensive as I remember but lasts well if you spread with a cloth rather than spray wildly.

Mike

how would something like a chain lube work? Its designed to not make much of a mess but cling nicely. I use a muck-off one for the bike and it works well at keeping the chain in good condition even during all the winter months with wet and salt.