Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

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Phil Tucker
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Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2011 3:28 pm

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Phil Tucker »

Outstanding work, Mike! Those of us who remember this engine before its transformation can really appreciate what you've done. I look forward to seeing it at Bitter Creek, and hopefully doubleheading. Maybe we can pull some tree stumps out of the ground...
KidAmato
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Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by KidAmato »

Mike,
Absolutely amazing work! love the weld job on the tender. And I love the drawings you made for it too!
I just have a few questions for you...

1) What program did you use for the drawings?
2) How did you go about making the blower ring around the cylinder exhuast?
3) When you have the time of course... May you please post a cab shot? Would love to see your plumbing job! You did a nice clean job on the chloe. So I can only imagine how you did on this project.

Keep on working bud. It's looking great so far!

Best wishes,
Nico Amato
7-1/2” gauge 5” scale 2-4-4t
7-1/2” gauge Fitchburg Northern
4-3/4” gauge 1.5” scale 0-4-4t
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Harlock
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Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

KidAmato wrote:Mike,
Absolutely amazing work! love the weld job on the tender. And I love the drawings you made for it too!
I just have a few questions for you...

1) What program did you use for the drawings?
Solidworks
2) How did you go about making the blower ring around the cylinder exhuast?
Lathe for the ring, rotary table with either the table at an angle or mill head at an angle for the angled holes.
3) When you have the time of course... May you please post a cab shot? Would love to see your plumbing job! You did a nice clean job on the chloe. So I can only imagine how you did on this project.
I'll post a photo of the cab in a few weeks, there is indeed some interesting stuff in there. I neglected to take a photo during our busy first day trial.
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KidAmato
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Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by KidAmato »

Mike,
That is quite understandable. I highly doubt a Cab shot was on the priority list for that day.
As far as the drawings go. I should have know that the program was solid works... We use it in robotics all the darn time.
again, with the blower... how is it you get the steam to go inside the ring? Im still having some confusion with that... I understand the manufacturing of the main outside. But I'm just not grasping how the steam travels around the ring...

Bets wishes,
Nico Amato
7-1/2” gauge 5” scale 2-4-4t
7-1/2” gauge Fitchburg Northern
4-3/4” gauge 1.5” scale 0-4-4t
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Harlock
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Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

Here are the coal grates for the engine. Being a marine boiler, the grates can be interchanged with the propane burner in minutes by removing the current item from the rear and installing the other.

The old grates were of mild steel and only lasted for a few years. the new ones are stainless and should last decades.

The old and new grates are assembled using the all-thread + nuts and washers method. Everything is 316 except the bars themselves which are 304.

-M
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IMG_1954_resize.JPG
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Harlock
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Train Mountain Trip Report

Post by Harlock »

We're back from a very successful trip to Train Mountain and the MEG's first major outing after two test runs at Portola Valley & Alpine.

The MEG ran for three days at TM with no problems. After another adjustment of the valve gear before the trip, it runs handily in the third or fourth notch, no need to run it in the corner. One day I ran it for about 5 or 6 hours continuously, nothing came up, just a few ergonomic tweaks and some plumbing tweaks on the dome to get the safeties farther away from the whistle so they don't blow the whistle when they pop :)

I got tired of listening to the very noisy weed burner and decided to try out the coal grates with Australian Char. I am totally in love with how the engine runs on Char. It will make more steam than it needs going uphill, you can inject water under power and it's quite happy to keep pressure above 100. I never used the blower after I left the steam bay.
Going up the serpentine, it required very little firing and the draft worked really well, so it seems our front end setup following the basic rules is a success. Even with the relatively small fire grate area, it's possible to produce more steam than you need. Will have to try on soft coal and see how the firing differs.

The result of all this is that I never put the propane burner back in at TM and just ran it on coal the whole time. This means that I did not get to go out to end of track with that engine, but I'll save that for another trip.

As a large 0-4-0, it does feel every little bump and dip in the track, but it never de-rails. The old track at TM with wood ties and alumn rail is especially bad, and the new stuff feels good. There is a case for both making a proper two-truck tender to decouple the operator from the locomotive bumping around and adding a trailing truck to the MEG itself later to help it glide over problem track much like the Chloe. Also switching from rubber bumpers to adjustable coil springs as we did on the B-Class would help, that is a project for down the road.

Water: Between the tender tank and the saddle tank, there is enough water on board to run for many hours without taking on water. I was able to go a long ways with just the water in one tank. However, the saddle tank water should be used first as over time it heats up and becomes more difficult to inject. (a small amount overflows but most still goes in) This takes several hours to happen however, and only if you don't replenish it in the mean time with cold water.

The engine could quite easily be used with only the saddle tank and not have any problem getting around any railroad including train mountain. It runs very efficiently in cutoff.

Here are some photos from the trip.
Attachments
John Heald (of B-class fame) running my engine with Oskar as conductor.
John Heald (of B-class fame) running my engine with Oskar as conductor.
12-06-25_train-mountain-5163.jpg
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12-06-25_train-mountain-5157.jpg
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Harlock
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Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

And a couple more photos from TM as well as our second test at PV&A.
Attachments
12-06-25_train-mountain-5327.jpg
Oskar has a go with the engine.
Oskar has a go with the engine.
12-06-25_train-mountain-5210.jpg
Finally, a pic with me in it :)   Had to hand someone else the camera.
Finally, a pic with me in it :) Had to hand someone else the camera.
12-06-23_PV&A-5005.jpg
Last edited by Harlock on Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Harlock
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Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

Also some people have been begging for some cab shots.

Here you can see the cab with my vintage 4" Crosby steam gauge and Essex brass sight glass.

There are still some things to finish up but it's pretty close. Right now we're adding a cutout in the roof so you can see the steam gauge when running.
Attachments
12-06-23_PV&A-4954.jpg
12-06-23_PV&A-4956.jpg
12-06-23_PV&A-4957.jpg
Since this photo was taken we've wrapped the throttle insulation in white tape so it looks the part a bit better now.
Since this photo was taken we've wrapped the throttle insulation in white tape so it looks the part a bit better now.
After this photo was taken we added a fourth notch, and we may add a fifth.  The slot selector is not correct and is being re-made.  (it should move straight up and down and fit snugly into the slot, there is too much slack with this design, which is the original)
After this photo was taken we added a fourth notch, and we may add a fifth. The slot selector is not correct and is being re-made. (it should move straight up and down and fit snugly into the slot, there is too much slack with this design, which is the original)
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DJSteamer3017
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Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by DJSteamer3017 »

Yea it was awesome meeting you and seeing John at TM on Friday. Hey what happened to the steam chest lubricator?

David
The 1" Scale Junkie ... But steam of all sizes is cool with me!!
"If you can dream it, you can do it" - Walt Disney
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Harlock
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Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

DJSteamer3017 wrote:Yea it was awesome meeting you and seeing John at TM on Friday. Hey what happened to the steam chest lubricator?

David
One blew a seal so they both came off for now. We'll be re-working them at some point and putting them back on, but it's not a priority for the moment.

Good to meet you as well.
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VO4454
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Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by VO4454 »

Hello Mike, The engine looks very nice. The Crosby gauge is a nice touch in the cab. How did the Duplicolor hold up on the smokebox?

Vic
For Duty and Humanity
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Harlock
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Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

VO4454 wrote:Hello Mike, The engine looks very nice. The Crosby gauge is a nice touch in the cab. How did the Duplicolor hold up on the smokebox?

Vic
The high temp engine paint is holding up very well. No problems.
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