Throttle / Regulator

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johnpenn74
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Throttle / Regulator

Post by johnpenn74 »

Are there any throttles on modern steam engines that actually regulate pressure to the steam line / chest? That is when the throttle is open to half way you get 40 lbs of pressure whether the engine (cylinder and motion group) moves or not.

Allow me to elaborate....

I just returned from Europe / Russia where I was student driving steam engines in Wolstzyn, Poland. The engines were of Polish design and consistent with what you might expect in the rest of Europe. This was evidenced in the way the engine was operated; with emphasis on the cutoff and a lot of adjustment to the reverser. There was a pressure gauge on the boiler and another on the steam chest/throttle line (not main cylinder).

When starting out we would start we would open the throttle regulator to 100 lb or so (it was actually BAR) in the chest gauge. This would start falling off as steam was consumed /expeled form the cylinders.

So have there ever been any advanced throttles that could be set to a specific pressure (based on throttle handle position) that would manage the pressure admitted to the chest? The idea being, throttle position of 40 lbs will only allow 40 lbs or something similar.

JP
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Fender
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Re: Throttle / Regulator

Post by Fender »

I’ve not seen that, but you get a similar result by opening the cylinder cocks when starting.
Dan Watson
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cbrew
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Re: Throttle / Regulator

Post by cbrew »

no, never seen that either. having a chest gauge and knowing how to handle the throttle, its easy enough to manually regulate the pressure. just watch the gauge and listen to the beast
If it is not live steam. its not worth it.
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NP317
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Re: Throttle / Regulator

Post by NP317 »

I've never seen such a pressure regulating throttle on the 5 steam locomotives i have operated, even the true Mallet 2-6-6-2.
And it never seemed needed, given cylinder cocks to regulate cylinder pressures, and the throttle itself.
The skilled engineer could regulate steam as needed.
RussN
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