BOILER

I'm still waiting for the boiler having been promised delivery for July! Much of the problem is to do with the new certification rules. I'm told that a representative from the insurance company covering the certificate, is present when a batch of boilers is tested. For this service there is a charge of Ł850 per day! Naturally, the boiler maker wants to get as many done in a day as possible.

I haven't exactly been idle these last few weeks. Some years ago, when I had one granddaughter, I made her a doll's house. I now have four more granddaughters, all of whom want a doll's house. Since I can't be seen to favour one and not the others, I have had to make four similar doll's houses.!! I am glad to say I have now finished and delighted to have my workshop back. The main problem being everything has a coating of fine sawdust which makes a change from cast iron dust I suppose. So now I'll make a start with something else for the Romulant.

7 September 2003
The rolling chassis was on display at the Thornbury exhibition and when I got back home I found the draincocks damaged. I have always thought that they were very close to the track bed and one derailment would break them off. I haven't liked all the lever work for the existing design so I will have to come up with something to replace the present valve system.
In the meanwhile I've taken a chance and made the smokebox saddle. As I haven't changed the vertical dimensions, it should be the same as the Romulus. The one for the Romulus is very small and short, back to front; so I've made mine quite a bit bigger. The original sits on a plate supported at the ends by angle inside the water tank. As this is rather thin and takes the weight of the front end of the boiler, I've made it the exact width of the frames. The original is an open casting with a thin vertical support in the centre.

I'm sure it does the trick, but I fabricated mine and made it a box section. The hardest part was getting the curve of the saddle to fit an 8" diameter barrel. Although the sides and base are 6mm thick the curved part is only 1/8". I couldn't bend it in my little rolls so it was a case of holding it in the vise, heating it to red, and bending with grips. Then cooling and offering up to an 8" diameter arc. It's surprising how accurately this can be done. I used a piece which was well over length and concentrated on the curve in the centre. By localising the heat, it's not hard to bend the steel in the correct place. When I was satisfied with the curve, I cut off the excess at both ends.

I finally mig welded all the bits together, ground off the excess, welded on a 1/8" plate to the front and finished with an open box. The second picture shows it with primer as it came straight from the pickle and would start rusting immediately. I always use a lavatory cleaner as pickle for steel. This is spirits of salt with hydrochloric acid base. It does an excellent job, even removes that black protective covering that some sheet steel has. The back doesn't look quite so elegant as it has to be open to get at the bolts attaching it to the smokebox. However, when it's sprayed black and the boiler is in situ, this view won't show.

I had a call from my boiler maker saying he was starting to make the boilers and that I was welcome to go and take any photos I liked. When I got there, I found that he now had orders for nine Romulus boilers. He'd never had so many for one type before. Every one had the steam dome in a different place! Only two others were going to be fitted with the larger tubes. The old design gave a ratio of 7% of the grate area which I didn't feel was enough. He agreed, and the other two were a repeat order from somebody who'd experienced the smaller tubes. The ratio is now something like 17% I believe. It's a while since I did the calculations. Anyway,here are a few pics which I took.

A mixture with several 'Tinkerbells'.

The next five are all 'Romulus'. In the last but one picture, the long tube on the right is for 5 'Romulus' boilers.

The good news is that the next test will be for 5 'Romulus' boilers, one of which will be mine. The bad news is that that will be in about six weeks' time which probably means ten. One thing I didn't know was that he has to keep the records for all the boilers he makes for a period of ten years!

15 September 2003

Here are a few more pics showing the next stage in construction. After tacking in place, he TIG welds, then follows with 2 more runs with a stick weld and then caps with another TIG weld. Anybody going to the Donnington exhibition will be able to see my boiler on show on his stand. (Bell Boilers).

29 September 2003

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