Have I damaged the boiler of my "Lady Anne"?

beancounter

beancounter

Registered
Country flag
I've just run the new (to me) Lady Anne for the first time, and it was rather a stressful exercise. She lit and came up to pressure OK, but I really struggled with the 2 channel control (the first time I've controlled regulator and reverser). The safety valve was blowing off all the time, even when I turned the gas down (probably not enough).
To cap it all, I stopped the train on a gradient while I grabbed a camera, then she wouldn't restart. I fiddled with the gas and the R/C, gave it a push, but no joy. Then I began to smell something singeing, so I turned the gas off. Shortly afterwards I opened the water filler and peered in and I think I may have run out of water with the gas still burning away. The run had not been very long - probably not much more than 15 minutes, maybe 20 max.
I reckon it was about a couple of minutes between me bringing the train to a halt (when it still had steam) and turning the gas off.

Signed

Stressed of Cambridge

IMG_2174.jpg
 
Sounds familiar.
Unlikley to have dones any harm, but best not make a habit of it.
With a Roundhouse loco, move the reverser fully in the required direction, then drive on the regulator (throtttle).
 
coupla minutes-could be
its unlikely the boiler was completely dry but if so,
you may have indeed damaged it
but roundhouses are pretty resilient, but not indestructable

one way to tell if you might have had too much heat is look for bubbling in the paintwork-this is an indicator that the boiler went dry and has a lot of heat being disapated- no bubbling and id guess youre likely fine and good to go

i guess you start again-lube, steam oil, water filled in boiler , less 30CC , fill the gas
, gently tighten each and every screw if needed ,

SKIP the camera and other distractions and try to light er up and watch for problems
fwiw 15-20 minutes is about run time
as mentioned pick a direction and then use the throttle-i only let off the direction to stop completley
also check the trim pots (little mini sliders next to the joy stick) to be sure the one for the tr4hottle is down (otherwise the throttle is alwasy slightly open even when tth joy stick is off, and centered for the direction (less of an issue)

try to run without blow off, and

a good rule of thumb is never take your eyes off the loco-you have to be engaged when it is burning
mishaps occur and you need to be able to recognize them and react


also gently lower the burner once it is about up to pressure and see how little gas you can use and try to minimze blow off -this is simply wasting water as well as fuel
to do so will lengthen your run time

if you dont have a sight glass, turn off the gas at the first sign of loss of steam pressure -immediately-sight glasses arent always reliable due to water getting stuck inside sometimes-
last bit of unsolitcited advice, never try to fill the gas tank when the burner is lighted-know this first hand and it is more than excting shoould the heavy butane overflow light up-very exciting indeed

good luck
let us know how the second steam up goes-ive got my fingers crossed for you
 
I agree, you're unlikely to have damaged it if you turned the gas off straight away. Its a bit strange that the water ran out before the gas. Removing 30-50 ml of water from a full boiler should give ample water to run the gas out. Try running on a rolling road or up on blocks to get the hang of things. As Rob says, hold the r/c in full forward or reverse and drive on the regulator.
 
Thanks for that, guys. I'll probably have another go tomorrow.

John
 
Boring as it is I'd probably run on blocks or rollers (if you have them) at least once when you get a new loco to be able check everything is well and get a feel for it before letting it loose on a track.

Maybe a little different for me but I finally fired up my Bertie a few weeks back (bought 2009!) because although I have many years of live steam running experience I have very little experience of gas-firing.
I have now run him a number of times on the bench not just as a learning curve for me but also to do some running in without risk to paintwork etc. in the case of a runaway and/or derailment.

I have still yet to run my Lady Anne (RC like yours and also bought 2009) but may leave that until 2013 unless we have a fine spell later in the month or early October.

Good Luck with your next run.
 
unlikely to have damaged her, hold the reverser in direction of travel all the time and control speed with regulator. you should get 40mins run time from a lady anne, turn gas down at 25psi, if you end up short turn gas up a little but the lady anne will run on 30psi, at 40 your just wasting it as it goes out the safety valve. take out 20 - 30ml on filling water, 50ml imho is too much.
 
Thanks guys.

I had taken 30ml out of the boiler, but I guess the gas was just too high. I was probably conditioned by the Accucraft Caradoc, where the burner is noisy, which led me to have the Lady Anne at too much of a roar.

Hopefully I'll get another try later today.
 
unfortunate, John
It happens from time to time, and as long as you realise in time no harm seems to be done
when it happens to me its usually because too much steam has been blowing through the safety valves, either with gas too high or too much stationary time
I think you're right about the quieter RH burners, and getting used to hardly hearing them being the right gas flow
20-30mls about right to withdraw
prob just getting used to different steam up to the accucraft
have you tried it again yet?
 
Elmtree Line said:
... hold the reverser in direction of travel all the time...
Click to expand...
To relieve "Roundhouse Thumb" you can mod the RC by fitting a ratchet which will allow the stick to stay in position.
You do, of coure, lose the "emergency stop" function.
 
The most important thing is never fill a hot boiler if it runs dry,let it cool.
 
Thanks again for all the help and encouragement, chaps.

I've had another, more successful run today. I kept the gas pressure down, and she only blew off steam hard once. There was a continuous "feather" of steam from the valve; indeed, I may have kept the pressure too low, as every time I looked at the pressure gauge (which I hadn't monitored yesterday) it was only showing about 20-ish psi. The run was longer, about 20-25 minutes; at this point she stalled on a gradient and I turned the gas off. She was still a little skittish on the R/C, but more controllable.
On checking, though the boiler was empty again. After the burner was lit, and she was coming up to pressure, I noticed drops of water weeping from the safety valve. I'm wondering if this is this normal, or is perhaps the safety valve a little "slack", hence causing too much steam to leak away?
Another factor, I suppose, is that my line has gradients which I guess will shorten the run-time.

A more encouraging day. :)
 
Good to hear John. I should check that the saftey valve is indeed tight enough, or that the seal isn't 'in bother'. If you were losing pressure this way (or any other) it could account for rapid water usage.
 
glad to hear it John
mine seem to work fine at lower pressures, even on my silly gradients
they do seem to leak a bit from the safety valves
I don't know if this is a common feature
I invested in a top-up valve for my Russell which has a tendency to be a higher water user, probably because the 2-6-2 bogies are temperamental and it spends a bit of time stationary being re-railed
 
It doesn't sound right that the boiler was empty. There should be plenty of water left after the gas runs out. Was the water flowing out of the safety valve or was it just a few drops? If you're running with light loads then I find Roundhouse engines run best at 15-20psi or even less.
 
owlpool said:
hope the Caradoc is behaving itself
Click to expand...
Now resplendent in trimline lining and nameplates, Paul. I'll post a picture when I can.
 
ZingyOrange said:
Was the water flowing out of the safety valve or was it just a few drops?
Click to expand...
Dave, a few drops formed, I mopped them up, and then some more appeared. After the second "dabbing" with a cloth to dry them, I didn't look again (trying to marshal a train for the loco) until steam was appearing. I was definitely not "flowing", though.
 
btw,
John
being the rather dim bulb that i am
it just dawned on me...
have you inspected the blow down valve for leakage, or full closure
if not fully tight they will leak a good deal -mine has a rather short travel between tightly closed and open-like barely anything at all


and this might not be readily visible running

as well as the lubricator-both filler cap and drain cap and seals

obvious perhaps, but i never check for leaks until something's amiss
noticed that after a blow down , and not snugging it tightly, i had a lot of drops and wouldnt have seen them without being rather close
 
@zingyorange - with Roundhouse (at least with my Russell) I find that the safety valves blow off however much I turn the gas down, and even after a fairly lengthy run; I can't see any obvious way of stopping this. Maybe others know better?

GH
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top