News archive - February 2004
It feels like Spring here in Berkshire (well it does out of the wind anyway). The sun is shining, snowdrops are coming through my newly-laid turf and the nights are getting a little bit lighter. Time to crack on with all the projects which have been languishing over Winter.
An on-going little job over the last couple of weeks has been trying to get friend Bob's Tangye steam engine running properly. It's a nice horizontal engine, about 4x6 bore and stroke, probably built around 1900. It's been lobbed in his back yard for some years but he's recently got it up together and built a stand for it. However, connected up to the big Cornish boiler in his back yard, it did nothing but whoosh steam out of the exhaust pipe - it would just about run with 60 pounds on the clock.
First thought was the slide valve. We looked at it but it seemed ok - a bit pitted but nothing very much. Next thought was the rather narrow bore plumbing which connected the boiler to the steam chest. We hatched a theory that there was insufficient volume of steam getting into the valve chest to bang the valve down onto the port face. I brought the valve and rod down home and rigged up a spring, pocketed into the valve which pushed aginst the valve rod - this worked beautifully on the bench, keeping the valve in contact with the port face even upside down. With great hopes we tried again, with absolutely no improvement! Pulled it all apart again, took a quick skim off the valve and put the block up on my biggest angle plate and took a cut across the port face, which showed several hollows. In the end I took just over 30 thou off to clean it up - the Tangye now runs very sweetly on 15 psi.
With the house move coming up, I decided to have a bit of a rationalise of some of the projects (particularly big heavy ones!). I have a 1925 steam roller which has been in bits for too long, awaiting heavy boiler repairs. As the boys grow apace, it was starting to look like I'd get it all back together just as they were leaving home. After much deliberation, the Clayton & Shuttleworth is moving on to a new home and the Aveling boiler is going off to the boilermaker next week. With a little luck, by the time it comes back, I will have got most of the motionwork finished.
Having had a good day down the yard last Sunday digging out the Aveling boiler and boring a big flywheel to fit a friend's stationary engine, I got home to a phone call from a chap who lives locally. He has lots of interesting toys, a nice 5 inch gauge track round the garden with a couple of Maxitrak engines to run on it, old stationary engines, vintage tractors - my sort of workshop! He has a good 10 ton Aveling compound roller, same family as mine (which is a single cylinder 8 tonner) but built a few months later. Time had come to move it on so, forgetting completely about moving house and not bringing any more bigs lumps of machinery home, Tuesday saw me up at the yard crawling all over a very cold engine. The engine changed hands over a warming cup of tea back in the house, so I'm back up there tomorrow steaming the new acquisition. With luck there will be time to do a couple of the local rallies before we head off to pastures new. I must find a good time to let Mrs P know about it before then...
More on Aveling & Porter 11583 - latest addition to the fleet!
Feb 2004
Mike@StationRoadSteam.com
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