Mystery Roundhouse Engine

musket the dog

musket the dog

Registered
Good evening all,

Purchased my first live steam loco today. Originally I thought it was a vintage Lady Anne that had the cab cut down and twin buffers added, but on closer inspection is appears that the short cab might be original. It also has a different smoke box to the vintage Lady Anne's and a shorter chimney.

I was wondering if anyone knew what it is? I had a look on Roundhouse's museum page but couldn't find anything. It needs a bit of a spruce up so my plan was to make (or buy) a new cab and replace the buffer beams anyway. But I wanted to check I wasn't hurting something important first.

The loco is meths fired with slip eccentric valve gear, which I think dates it before 1994? It also has spoked wheels (Unusual?) and rivet detailing on the body work.

Many thanks,
Ricky

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The roundhouse plates on the side, but a fair point they may have been placed on there by someone as a makers plate.
 
musket the dog said:
Good evening all,

Purchased my first live steam loco today. Originally I thought it was a vintage Lady Anne that had the cab cut down and twin buffers added, but on closer inspection is appears that the short cab might be original. It also has a different smoke box to the vintage Lady Anne's and a shorter chimney.

I was wondering if anyone knew what it is? I had a look on Roundhouse's museum page but couldn't find anything. It needs a bit of a spruce up so my plan was to make (or buy) a new cab and replace the buffer beams anyway. But I wanted to check I wasn't hurting something important first.

The loco is meths fired with slip eccentric valve gear, which I think dates it before 1994? It also has spoked wheels (Unusual?) and rivet detailing on the body work.

Many thanks,
Ricky
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This looks like a conversion of a basic Roundhouse potboiler to an approximation of a G1 locomotive. It isn't anything special in terms of a Roundhouse model.
 
This looks very like the Peter Jones design, I think it was called Dacre. Based on Roundhouse parts with a few homemade. I have a feeling that Roundhouse may have supplied a kit of parts for this.
JonD
 
Welcome to the temperamental world of live steam, Ricky. You had it easy with the Wilesco tractor - now the fun starts ;)
As Tag mentioned its an early Roundhouse Dylan with a G1 LMSish cab and tanks. It looks like its still got its pressure gauge, which is good. These days externally fired meths fueled engines with slip-eccentric valve gear are scarce, but when this loco was built it was the norm. I don't know if you've seen it under steam or steamed it yourself yet, but there are a few things to watch out for :
- Meths spillage - avoid overfilling the tank and avoid running it indoors; it seems a shame to burn the house down before you get a decent run.
- Wicks are the secret to successful meths firing, and work best when they are trimmed (neat, and with no burnt stuff) and long enough to give you a nice blue/yellow flame, but no smoke.
- Slip eccentric valve gear - its a heavy engine and will go at a fair pace, and is perfectly capable of charging up a steep gradient, stopping, and then rolling back into reverse. You will be amazed how fast a geriatric pot-boiler can go flat out down hill.

Anyway, sorry to ramble on - have fun !
 
Dtsteam said:
You will be amazed how fast a [style="color: #993366;"]geriatric pot-boiler can go flat out down hill.
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Ermm! To whom do you refer?

:rolf::rolf::rolf:
 
Maybe its been made re-gaugeable more recently ?

Rhos Helyg Loco Works said:
Interesting that it has the older-style (second incarnation) cylinders with a proper crosshead fully supported by a round shaft but also has the later (and current) style of axles and cranks.
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Thanks for the help everyone, I shall continue to plan just what I am going to do with its then ;)

No problem David, I fired her up yesterday so they would have been my next questions anyway.

Regarding Tony's and Keith's comments, it does appear to have adjustable wheels but it would appear that the eccentrics stop the rear wheels from being moved in.
 
dunnyrail said:
This looks very like the Peter Jones design, I think it was called Dacre. Based on Roundhouse parts with a few homemade. I have a feeling that Roundhouse may have supplied a kit of parts for this.
JonD
Click to expand...

No this is not a Dacre Jon. Although Dacre was also a slip eccentric model based on Roundhouse running gear.
 
It is very nicely done, and very well put together by someone who obviously knew what they were doing. Seems a shame to undo someone's work but it's not quite G1 and it's not quite narrow gauge and it doesn't sit right with the rest of my stock.

I think I will keep the tanks as they are and look into either: Cutting off the top of the cab, leaving the bunker and have the loco completely open.

Or cutting away the spectacle plates and having a simple rolled sheet metal roof on some posts.

Or extend the current cab upwards, or buy a new one from Roundhouse, all depending on how much skill I can muster.
 
musket the dog said:
I think I will keep the tanks as they are and look into either: Cutting off the top of the cab, leaving the bunker and have the loco completely open.

Or cutting away the spectacle plates and having a simple rolled sheet metal roof on some posts.

Or extend the current cab upwards, or buy a new one from Roundhouse, all depending on how much skill I can muster.
Click to expand...
I think any of those would improve the looks of the loco.
Whilst you're working on the loco how about extending the chimney? IMHO it looks odd as it's shorter than the dome and safety valve. You may be able to reduce the dome hight but it's not a good idea to mess with the safety valve so I think a taller chimney is the way to go.
 
Hi Neil, I did have a think about the chimney as if I change the cab it will be about a 1/4 of inch shorter than the roof line as well. It appears to be cast into the smoke box, so I will either need a new one or a largish pillar drill to drill out the old one a add, or turn, a piece of pipe to fit. Hopefully keeping the brass cap from the original. Or I could get lucky and it might just be soldered in but I will need a better look at it.

I would also like to keep the buffer beams as they add a nice bit of mass and have been drilled and tapped to fit the frames perfectly. Eventually I want to loose the twin buffers but because of the quality of the piece think this might be a milling machine job rather than having a go with a hacksaw and file.

Just need to find some tools now :)
 
That's a good idea Neil, as in to hide it under the length of the barrel of the cap? That would also save me have to hide the work. I will investigate ;)
 
or order a new lady anne smokebox with normal length chimney from Roundhouse?
 
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