Yet again I am after some help!! I own 2 live steam locos - a 5 year old Accucraft Mortimer and a 2 year old Roundhouse Silver Lady, both are manual. They drive totally differently, and I am wondering if this is normal, and if I can change the Roundhouse at all. The Mortimer is docile, slow, and pulls brilliantly. It never runs away or goes much over prototypical speeds whatever load you give it, even light engine. If it slows on a corner (there are two 180 degree bends on the line) it pauses and then as steam pressure builds up it pulls smoothly away. It is however a nightmare to get to light!! By the way there are no real gradients on the line. The Roundhouse will not run slowly at all. With any load or no load it will not pull at slow speeds - it only works at fast speeds. I have tried lower pressure and higher pressure with no change in its running characteristics. So my questions are - is this difference one that other people have also noticed, and how can I get the Roundhouse to slow down? Its been to Roundhouse about a year ago, and they say there is nothing wrong with it. Its a pity because it was a really expensive engine and looks stunning static, but hurtles round the track and looks frankly odd. Any advice / comments / observations / solutions gratefully received please!!
Accucraft / Roundhouse differences
- Thread starter cheshire
- Start date
Casey's mate
Registered
I own a Roundhouse Silver Lady and Russell, both Radio Controlled. Comparing both my engines, the Russell is a much nicer engine to drive. It can run at very slow speeds even with full pressure on the smallest of loads. My Silver Lady just needs to go in forwards gear before it shoots off. To control my Silver Lady a bit better I tend to run with very low pressure and with long loads of about 12 wagons! I've adjusted my trim which has helped a bit but it still likes to run away! I might look at changing the servo arm next...
Keith RhB
Registered
Hello,
The Lady Anne should be able to run at slow speed as well...maybe it needs a check on the timing. How does it run in reverse when you try running it slowly?
Was it always a manual control or was it once r/c and now is manual? The reason I ask is that the r/c regulator has a much shorter throw to full throttle to suit a servo, whereas the manual one has a longer throw and is less sensitive. Calling Roundhouse is also a good idea as they are very helpful.
Keith
The Lady Anne should be able to run at slow speed as well...maybe it needs a check on the timing. How does it run in reverse when you try running it slowly?
Was it always a manual control or was it once r/c and now is manual? The reason I ask is that the r/c regulator has a much shorter throw to full throttle to suit a servo, whereas the manual one has a longer throw and is less sensitive. Calling Roundhouse is also a good idea as they are very helpful.
Keith
cheshire said:
Well certainly can do something about the Mortimer. If it runs fine once lit, then the quick fix is to half fill the gas tank initially, light the burner (which should then light fairly easily) bring it up to pressure, turn the gas off, fill to full, then relight. Boom boom as the little fox says! The Roundhouse loco is a different proposition without seeing it. One thought is that the nuts on the rear of the cylinder end caps are a bit on the tight side, and so one is turning up the regulator too much to get it to move. Flash up your engine on blocks and once in steam, turn down the gas as much as you can, then undo the keep nuts on the piston rods a bit. If there is no steam leakage from them when running, undo them a bit more. When both are leaking steam, run as slow as you can then do the nuts up to the point when they 'just' stop leaking steam. At this point they are right. Once done have a practice on the regulator whist on blocks and see how slow you can get it to run. Give the loco a try on your line and let me know how it goes.
Don't open the regulator until the loco moves off ? or if you do ? part close it again as the loco begins to move. There is quite a long length of pipe from regulator to cylinders so it is easy to open the regulator too much. Try the above and then get back. I am sure we can sort for you...
Andy Worsfold
G Scale Railways</br>Disney</br>The Prisoner
Tag, as a new convert to live steam, why does half filling the gas tank make it easier to light? Also can you fill the gas tank whilst hot? My loco is a Regner Konrad. Sorry to hijack the thread.
It is to do with the design of the tank on this particular marque of locomotives. A little bit of liquid carryover when cold interferes with the lighting.Andy Worsfold said:
No real reason why you cannot fill whilst still warm. Some locos will fill easily whilst warm ? others won't. A quick cheat if a gas tank won't fill easily on second fill is a quick squirt of gas direct from the gas cannister. The evaporation will cool the tank rapidly.
You will find the Regner filler a bit awkward to use cos it is not self venting. A quick fix is to turn the gas on whilst filling (away from the track obviously) but ACME Engineering can easily fit a proper Ronson self vent filler to your Regner tank. This will very much improve things for you.
Doug
Live Steam, scratch building
An alternative to half filling the tank - fill as normal, then open the gas valve for a few seconds and don't light the gas. This will allow most of the liquid gas in the pipe to the burner to blow off. Allow the gas cloud to disperse, then light the burner as normal.
Andy Worsfold
G Scale Railways</br>Disney</br>The Prisoner
Thanks Tag, that makes sense. I got Martin to put a Ronson filler on when I bought it as I'd heard there were issues.
For a first time loco I'm really pleased with it.
For a first time loco I'm really pleased with it.
Tag - tried loosening them off till they practically came off the screw thread and still no steam came out. What did come out was oil / water mix, but no steam!! This was running indoors, so not that cold, so condensate shouldn't be an issue (had run it on blocks for a few minutes by that time). Is this normal?? Thanks again.
E
Elmtree Line
Guest
Might be worth visiting someone else's railway with your loco (someone that has Roundhouse loco's) they might be able to give some hands on help with this. Your more than welcome to bring it here.
