It must be the tweed jacket. And Garden Rail Editor badge. It fools people into thinking I know something about steam trains.
This is probably how I found myself presented with a mystery 0-6-0 O gauge locomotive. Its owner believed it had been built in the Midlands, but otherwise knew nothing. He'd bought it for £60 a year ago, replaced the safety valve, and then was stuck.
It took a look and realised it was meths fired. Fortunately, the owner had brought along spirit and water. He'd build a nifty stand, so we decided to fire it up.
It's a long while since I lit a meths-fired loco up, and that would have been a Mamod. Since I didn't really know what I was doing, I pretended I did, and had a go. After all, how hard can it be?
The burner unclipped easily enough, so I filled this up. Then unscrewed the safety valve and topped the boiler up with water.
I lit the wicks, and clipped the burner back in place. And waited.
With slip eccentric valve gear, the wheels aren't going to spin on their own. Normally, you give it a shove along the track, but we didn't have any 32mm to hand. So, once the safety valve was burbling, I flicked the wheels with a screwdriver. A few minutes, and many flicks later, the model burst into life, running far smoother than I expected.
What a lovely little engine!
This didn't help with identification though, but a quick post on the Garden Rail Facebook page solved this quickly enough. Several people recognised it as a Burtons of Walsall Jinty. This one is missing its cab, but all the mechanical parts seem happy enough.
I hope the owner has learnt a bit, I know I have!
No comments:
Post a Comment