The Home Machinist!

Is there power or compressed air in the steam bay?

There are plenty of power outlets and water hookups in the steaming bays. It should be easy for you to load and unload using our transfer table. Be sure to bring anything you can think of, and a few extra things too! When you go to the track, you seem to often need something that you don't have or didn't remember to get.

What Scott said... And not to dampen your hopes, but if this is the first steamup in years, you may find some issues that will prevent you from getting on the mainline.

Don't let that get you down. It's just another part of the adventure. For every hour at the track you get, 100 hours go into maintenance. But once you get all the teething issues patiently ironed out, you'll be rewarded with a wonderful running engine, I'm sure.

I’ve steamed up twice now in my driveway. The drivers are on rollers so I can turn the wheels. Pressure reached 120psi then both safeties released. I have had to change a few o rings and tighten some fittings.

If you can steam it, and your pumps work (be sure of that), and you can add water to the boiler under pressure, then that's half the battle or more. Nothing will kill your day quicker than not being able to add water to the boiler.

Look forward to meeting you.

Scott

well...there is 'not being able to make steam' that is also a day-killer.....giggle...

Both the duplex pump and axle pump are able to fill the boiler under steam pressure. I didn’t think to check if the injector worked.

I would probably take it apart and clean it if you can before you come. They are often a source of frustration when firing up, because it doesn't take a lot of scale or contaminants to make it where one won't pick up. When I fire up, I will test my injector once I get up above, say, 65 lbs or something like that, just to make sure that it will come on and add water to the boiler. If the injector is working well, then the likelihood that I'm going to have a good day of running just went waaay up. At least you can still run, even if your injector doesn't work. Since I only have 2 sources of water on my locomotive, if the injector won't work, I'm going to have to get it working before I can go run.

Is that one of the rules to be able to run? 2 ways to bring water into the boiler? Are there any other rules?

Having two ways to put water into the boiler is good practice, but I doubt whether anyone (but you) is going to verify this on your engine. Incidentally, the most common reason for an injector not to work (assuming it has worked before) is debris in the water clogging the cones inside the injector. So, if there isn’t a strainer between the tender and the injector now, suggest that you install one.

i know of several clubs that check for more than one way to put water in the boiler...especially if you are new to the track and getting a boiler inspection at the same time....

Just bring what you have, do any pre-work that you can, and we'll see what you've got when you arrive. Shouldn't be too hard to figure it all out.