Road Loco - 'Blackbeard'

We ended up steaming Blackbeard on Boxing Day rather than Christmas Day as our nephew and his family were staying overnight so we had our Steam Apprentice, Logan do the honour of lighting the fire - carefully supervised by Declan who she adores.




Logan was wrapped up against the cold complete with hot water bottle




This was the first time using our double seat, the foam has not been upholstered yet so bin bags had to suffice in case of rain. The engine has also got the re-powder coated chimney on for the first time too so was looking good on a cold winter's morning as we departed, heading for Mellor to the Millstone Pub and then Grandma's.




This last picture was taken from the car going up the least steep hill to Mellor and you can see two things - the steepness of the hill and something happening to my chimney again!!!!

One other thing, I have now pulled wheelies on a Burrell road Loco, as the hill go to the steepest point we were in top, blowing off and regulator wide open when the front started to come up off the ground so I eased the regulator and tried to open it again to maintain the uphill progress to no avail. I had to do a gear change on the hill and then a hill start. It was impossible to get moving on the hill with two on the seat without the front shooting up into the air so Declan was relegated to the second truck for the remainder of the climb. He suggested we put a crane jib on the front and hang the scrap cylinder block on it for balance but I suggested an Openshaw's conversion to showman's engine    

Brian Black beard is looking very smart with the roof on. Could the extra weight of the roof at the rear be responsible for pulling wheelies? Or Declan had better loss some weight!

Ian

Excuse the sudden rush of posts, been very busy lately and not got round to getting the pictures off the cameras etc... We had our first workshop evening for a while last Friday and we have cleaned up and masked the new flywheel ready for powder coating the back red and I have finally got going doing the gear guard so hopefully in a couple of weeks time I will be able to put some more progress on here. We also need to get on with the traction wagons for the 2014 season too.
 
We had a steam up on Saturday 11th January for our friends who were coming over for dinner and they had not been over for around 10 months so had not seen Blackbeard running before. There was not much time but I had a job for Blackbeard that would get the old campervan that won't start back where it needs to be after I had moved it to chop down a 25ft conifer outside the house. The conifer was chopped down a week ago with no major issues apart from a cut to my hand when I caught it on the chainsaw while it was not running   After I had moved all the logs and branches the way was clear for the campervan so after having a few runs up and down our road with various people having a go sat on the double seat steering it was time to do some real work.
 
It was dark by this time and I picked a route across the side of the lawn where I knew it would not be to soft and drove Blackbeard into position about 40ft ahead of the campervan. I put both chocks under the back wheels and pulled out the cable, fed it through the towing eye and then back to the engine, connecting it with the main tow pin on the engine drawbar (not the seat frame). first gear was engaged and my friend was in the campervan steering. I opened the regulator and hey presto we were winching a VW campervan up the slope fo the drive towards the grass. the only issue I had was when the front wheels hit the step up to the lawn, the ground was soft enough that the chocks sank into the grass and the engine pulled itself over them. I retrieved the chocks and positioned them behind the wheels again, put some thin wood in front of the lawn edging and recruited some volunteers to give a little push to the van to make sure we did not press the chocks in again. Once up over the lawn edge we were back in business and the camper van was pulled into position using very little regulator and 170PSI.
 
Unfortunately that was not the last drama for the day, after turning Blackbeard in the corner of the lawn (not really lawn more rough ground!!) I proceeded to drive back to the driveway but unfortunately I was on a different line and hit the softer ground and Blackbeard suddenly dug in his back wheels about 4" deep. He was going nowhere even though we tried putting various things in front/under the wheels so I had to resort to Landover power and a tow rope - an undignified end to the day after all Blackbeard has managed to do so far since June 2013.
 
I had to wash all the mud off the wheels after that and got soaked in the process.
 
I had intended to film this but was to busy driving the engine and I did not want people to close to the area we were working for safety reasons with regard to cable breakage etc.... maybe next time!!!
 

 

 

 

IanL wrote:Brian Black beard is looking very smart with the roof on. Could the extra weight of the roof at the rear be responsible for pulling wheelies? Or Declan had better loss some weight!

Ian

Definitely lighter steersman required, Declan is still growing!!!

Stonkin report Brian. Wonderful. Oh I wish I could do half of the stuff you lot get up to down south.

Oh. Forgot to ask. When's the birthday steam up?

lynnr wrote:Oh. Forgot to ask. When's the birthday steam up?

Combined steam up to celebrate Danielle's 18th and my 50th is 31st May, are you planning a visit?? Chipping Steam Fair is on the weekend before - bank holiday weekend.

Great post Brian. Keep them coming. Pleased to see your putting Blackbeard to work to earn his keep. Painted roof looks great particularly the "blood red" underside.

 Thanks Shane 

I cant imagine you getting yours 4" deep in mud, to much work to clean it afterwards I suspect although I stand to be proven wrong   . Do you have mud where you are, it always looks sunny on your pictures by the beach.

Have you done your tender yet?

Brian

Hi Brian,
Hopefully no mud but the land where our model engineering club is situated gets quite puggy during the winter. Phil(kiwi connection)and I are trying to convince our model engineering club to construct a track for our engines and I will try to keep to this and other paths in the park where our club is situated. Operating an unregistered vehicle on a public road may be an issue in NZ but hopefully we can obtain some sort of dispensation by convincing the powers to be that our engines come under the exemption for agricultural vehicles and registration is not necessary. So maybe I will need to throw a bit of mud around to legitimise our application! I'm sure if we get an exemption Phil will be leading the way on Pub runs.

Yes tender all finished and if any consolation probably missed a heap of sunshine hours over my summer vacation to achieve this. Will post a report next week as this is my first week back at work and a tad busy.

I could say always sunny here but would be stretching the truth. We don't have the extremes of weather that you appear to have to "enjoy". Where Phil and I live has the most sunshine hours of any district in NZ with temps not falling below 10 degrees C in the winter or above 30 degrees C in the summer .

Cheers Shane.

Oh Brian, please tell me more about what happened to your chimney  . I felt so bad after the Leigh Arms and after the chimney was redone your first trip out and it does it again. Also the double seat looks good, I have not used my single seat since I got the double, always people happy to pop on the spare seat if I am on my own. Saying that last time I took it out James and Ben spent most of the time on it which allowed me more beer time.

This last picture was taken from the car going up the least steep hill to Mellor and you can see two things - the steepness of the hill and something happening to my chimney again!!!!

By the way the reason your front wheels lifted was not down the hills you were on    my engine has never lifted, you know what I mean......  

Dwain
 
The difference between me on your engine and me on my engine was the size of the steersman (or lady) as I had your daughter along side when I drove your engine, Declan was on mine!!!!!!!  
 
I am surprised you did not comment on the suggestion of making a conversion with a certain round weight on the front! I am actually thinking of doing it without the full size canopy though as some of the earlier conversions and new builds only had the half length canopies. It would certainly be different. Otherwise it would be a full length canopy but no brass uprights, just plain bar and only a couple of lights to enable a view of the gauges and one near the control board as they were originally fitted.
 
Now, in complete contrast to some of the recent photos uploaded here of gleaming showman's engines, this is the first view of my new flywheel on the engine with the red inside face matching the motion. As you can see the flash on the phone has picked up all sorts of crud on the engine, splashes of dirty water dried onto all surfaces, you cannot really see it just looking at it. Andy will probably faint at the sight if this!!  
 
I have cleaned up a huge amount of crud behind the left wheel as I had to take it off to change the flywheel and fit the gear guard which is almost ready for powder coating. Diff outer gear removed and all parts cleaned up and re-oiled. RH wheel will come off to for a similar clean around and check. It is almost the last thing to fit to Blackbeard apart from making some spacers to replace a couple of washer stacks used in the initial build. also the cut-out in the 3rd gear ring to do too. Oh and may just put a sleeve in the chimney to help with the longevity of the finish and include a spark arrestor in the sleeve part.
 

Right, that settles it.. I'm NEVER lighting a fire in my engine!!!   
Regards,
Tony

Tony, I think we had already suspected as much.......    

Hi Brian

Yes Blackbeard looks excellent. He would definitely not look right all lipstick and mascara. Crystal is very much excited and can not wait to get all steamy with him.

ALL the engines produced and displayed on the forum are all credits to the builders. It is very pleasing that we don't have 50 clones and the fact that the engines are all individual. Every builder should and I hope is very proud of their creation. Yes I know Steam Traction World created a kit and some people say we only assembled the kits but I say we all built these engines. Even scratch builders sub out some of the work unless you have your own foundry that can do cast iron.

Everyone has their comfort zone and limit of ability. Mine was the sign writing. I used stencil technology to get a good result. Yes people have comment that is not traditional but I can say. I did it all. I know you don't like painting but he is still your paint scheme. So please as others have said. Do not put yourself down.

  

Nearly there now, gear guard is finally done and fitted, just 5 bolt heads to paint and I can put the finished flywheel back on!! Rear wheel drive pin locking clips and pins are chemical blacked ready to fit and the rear wheel can go back on too. Need to clean the top of the engine and the man stand with paraffin/oil mixture yet, still filthy!!!!
 

I was going to pass comment but I am in shock on another front........you mentioned 'I have to paint' in your last post.......did I read that right or did you just write it wrong!!!!!!

Also got the invite for the 50th.  Looks full and a very good day but I was very interested in the barrel of beer bit    need to find a B&B or will need to come back Sunday to pick up the engine.  How long did it take you to get to the Leigh Arms last year?

cheers

Dwain

Don't us southerners get a invite or can we just gate crash   

Flasback wrote:you mentioned 'I have to paint' in your last post.......did I read that right or did you just write it wrong!!!!!!

 
Only bolt heads!!! Don't forget I did paint the cylinder you know!!!
 
 

Flasback wrote:How long did it take you to get to the Leigh Arms last year?

 
About 45 - 50 minutes, 44 miles.

the coleman wrote:Don't us southerners get a invite or can we just gate crash   

I have not got your postal addresses yet, at least I don't think I have. Can you and/or Kev PM me so I can send them out.

I was going to call you about my kettle and also ask about events on in the south in the summer if the water has receded. I do want to come down your way and time it with an event that Peter Sterne will be at with his fabulous gallopers model

Well after a bit of bolt painting the new shiny SMOOTH flywheel was put on last night and looks the part, cant wait to try it out down some steep hill s now I can use the flywheel brake it will be so much more controllable. I am thinking of taking Blackbeard on an epic run in the Derbyshire hills in May - see link below.
 
http://www.tractiontalkforum.com/showthread.php?t=29957
 

 
I finally chemical blacked the replacement drive wheel locking pins and split pins
 

 
Removed one old pin and fitted a new one, looking good so far!!
 

 
However, second one is still in the wheel and will be a bugger to get out now. I filed flats on the pins to aid getting them out but one just refused to budge - watch this space!!!!
 

I'm a little concerned mine will end up the same.

sonick45 wrote:I'm a little concerned mine will end up the same.  

And me
Ian

I used my chief flame tourch to heat the pin only, some may have read the Aruldite held it in place when fitted temporarily so they didn't get lost. Anyway once the hub started to feel quite warm it came out nicely. Didn't damage the paint at all.  At the time the wheel was waiting for final top coat, Sod's law say if it's finished it will be damaged. Watch out though as Brian found they break easily under a bit of pressure.

Okay, after filling down the pin to it's shoulder, I marked the centre but ended up drilling slightly off and re-tapping, it seemed like I was not to the bottom of the hole when measuring depth tap went it compared to length of threaded end of the pin. I put the tapping drill back in the hole and tried to drill further but the drill jammed for some reason. I switched to reverse and slow speed to unjam the drill - it snapped off in the hole, luckily only the end 6 or 7mm.
 
So now I had to cut short the threaded and run the die down to make the thread go all the way to the flange. I put it into my small vice with soft aluminium jaws and started to cut the thread - the slotted end snapped off!!!!!
 
Jump to this weekend and a new pin from STW later, I cut the thread to the shoulder first, cut threaded end shorter by half its length and then polished and blacked the new pin. Finally got the second pin in and tight.
 
Been touching up the paint on the wheel and decided to bling Blackbeard up a little. As I had knocked some paint off the wheel hub letters when filling the broken pin down I etch primered the bare metal, then some black undercoat and decided to open the tin of lining paint I bought at the beginning and painted the letters red - now the RH wheel to do. It looks good with the correct split pins in now.