The Home Machinist!

Mike Walsh wrote:OH! I see now. Water supply line.

Have you tried throttling the water supply valve? Perhaps add a needle valve in line that can be finely adjusted for constant use?

I agree, make sure the injector is keeping up with your demand.

Mike

Been quite a hectic couple of days. My neighbor who has had open heart surgery, a stroke and now a growth on his kidney is back in the hospital so I am trying to help his wife the best that I can. Spent most of yesterday at the ER until her brother could show up to take over. meanwhile my wife was pretty sick and now my right knee has decided to flare up enough to put me back on the pain meds.

Meanwhile trying to put the engine back together and clean up some of the paint that has suffered during the injector saga. The plan is to make two new water inlet lines to the injector. One will be a piece of 1/4" OD tubing and the other will be the same size tubing with an inline valve for fine adjustment. Will try just the line first and if there is still too much water than the one with the valve will be installed. Apparently the 1/4" ball valve now being used to control the water from the tender does not have enough sensitivity to give the right amount of water to make this injector work. During the test once the injector started working it filled the boiler faster than I would have expected so once the inlet problem is worked out all should be good. And if all goes well then Saturday may see the GS back out on the track for a test run. That is my hope anyway.

It is gratifying to have the many people on this forum take the time to share their experiences and suggestions for a solution to my injector woes. I thank each and everyone of those who have responded.

Donald

Hi Donald,
Glad you finally figured it out. Now to get her back together and make some steam!

BTW, if I remember correctly Barry's injector page lists 5/16" tubing in and out and steam supply for the Economy. The Penberthy calls for 3/8" water line.

Brian

When you say "hard way" it's clearly not just the engine. Good luck with the family issues. Looking forward to video of the engine running on the tracks.

Fired the engine up in the garage this morning and found the water inlet pipe with the valve was required. Had to close the valve about 1/2 way before the injector stopped overflowing. Loaded the engine and took it out to the track. During the first lap forgot to open the water valve on the tender to the axle pump, new addition and something else to remember, and ran on just the injector which was more than adequate for keeping the boiler full with water. After recalling the closed valve, it was opened and the axle pump also performed as expected. By the way, put the valve back into the inline check valve assembly in the injector delivery line and the injector pumped against both checks with no problem.

The club was running in the reverse direction and we found 2 switches that my locomotive had no respect for. The first one was a diverging route and the engine ended up on the ground between the two tracks. Not having my reefer with the re-railing equipment with me it took some time to get the engine back on the rails. Luckily about 1/2 dozen members showed up to help. The other switch allowed the tender to diverge as the engine went straight. A rock was jammed into the space between the point and the stock rail and the engine went through normally. No obvious reason for this behavior but others have commented on this switch being finicky. Other than that the engine ran well and should be ready for the SVLS fall meet.

Don't know if any videos were taken, will have to wait for Chris to let us know.

Donald

Excellent news Donald! Congrats on getting her back on the rails!

Todd

The cooking oil experiment was deemed a failure. The oil burned OK but the fire tended to go out on its own, quite frequently I may add, until the oil was diluted with enough diesel. Still a bit of check valve woes on the axle pump side. Occasionally the valve would stick open and push hot water back into the tender through the bypass valve. A commercial inline check valve will work itself into the offending line. The derailment of 2 weeks ago ended up with one of the lead truck rockers turned on end. Once the lead truck was dropped out from the locomotive this became obvious and after the rocker was back in place the engine tracked well. Looks like the coil spring is doing the job it was installed for and the engine is a lot less slippery on curves. Still some piping to take care of and a ton of bits and pieces that still need attention. The tender is next but I would like to hold off until a trip to Pomona can be arranged so I can gaze at the tender on the SP 5021.

Saturday evening film choreographer Robert Williams, of the Silver Overnight Caboose fame, staged a night shot with his meticulously crafted dwarf signal and superb END CTC sign. Not used to this type of photography and not having a tripod that would go lower to the ground we did managed to get a couple of shots that were close to the effect he was looking for. Attached is probably the best from the 30 or 40 shots taken. Hard to focus when it is that dark.

Donald

That was you guys out there taking photos Saturday night then.

She's a BEAUTY!!!

Todd

The maiden voyage with the dwarf signal at night was educational to say the least. We learned what we were not prepared for and considered the adventure in the dark positive in the regard that next time we will be much better prepared. The dwarf signal looked wonderful even if it was not fully completed. Sometimes one has to commit to a test and find out where the problems are at.

Night photography has never been easy and with digital photography, it is still a challenge to get things right. We hope that the next photo session in the dark gives better results.

Best thing to do is light up the scene as best as possible, use your auto focus to focus on the whole scene (or items of interest), then switch the camera to manual mode to keep it at that focus, then turn off your lights and play with your time settings.

The locomotive is absolutely gorgeous. Got to see it in person this last weekend running. Great work on a beautiful loco. Me and a few friends kept joking about it being loaded in the wrong truck when it was leaving the meet.

Jason

That was you guys out there taking photos Saturday night then.

Guilty as charged.

She's a BEAUTY!!!
Todd

Thanks,comments make it all worth while.

Best thing to do is light up the scene as best as possible, use your auto focus to focus on the whole scene (or items of interest), then switch the camera to manual mode to keep it at that focus, then turn off your lights and play with your time settings.

I was totally unprepared for the night shot. Little finicky problems with the engine and then not finishing dinner until it was dark conspired to make the photo shoot chancy at best. Still we learn from our mistakes and next time may produce better results. Although I am not too unhappy with the one that was posted.

The locomotive is absolutely gorgeous. Got to see it in person this last weekend running. Great work on a beautiful loco. Me and a few friends kept joking about it being loaded in the wrong truck when it was leaving the meet.
Jason

Actually as sore as my back and knees are, loading the GS in the wrong truck may have been a blessing. I really overdid it over the weekend and now am paying the piper. Was hoping to be better by now but the sharp pains have not gotten any better and a trip to the doctors may be in order.

Anyway, thanks all for looking and for the comments.

Donald