2017 Le Petit Train a Vapeur de Forest, Bruxelles

The first steam outing with the new loco at PTVF

Loco as it was still under construction in 2014. 

Three years later in October 2017 we took the finished locomotive for the first steaming to the magnificent track of the Model Engineering Society of  Le Petit Train a Vapeur de Forest in Brussels.  Their last weekend of the season (end of September) is always a nice happening, with a warm welcome and a very interesting track layout, with different loops, crossings and some steep gradients. The different routes are set by numerous points and signals.

We had a great weekend and the locomotive performed very well. 

(Don't forget to see the video at the end of this page)

A set of wagons was kindly lent to us to play with this weekend. 

Out of the car and onto the track in front of the main buildings of the ME society. 

In the loco yard, preparing for the first day of driving. 

On the steaming bay the boiler and tanks were filled and the fire was lit.

Driving onto the turntable.

The main station.

A stop for the signal, waiting for other trains on the main line.

Getting to know the performance of the enige. 

Although the loco is not fully completed yet, Martin is satisfied with it.

Robert (the owner of the wagons) taking the train for a lap around the track.

Nice size of loco.............

After 8 hours nonstop in steam, the last lap of the day.

To the ash pit to drop the fire

and blowing down the boiler.

Cleaning the engine after a weekend of steaming.

 PTVF has an excellent engine shed to do this, where the loco is at a comfortable height for cleaning the moving parts and frames.

We would like to thank the PTVF for their hospitality and a great weekend! 

A short video of the locomotive in steam at PTVF

Maiden Trip Württembergische T3

On Saturday 16 september the locomotive was out of the workshop and loaded into the car, for her maiden trip at our club track at Breda  (www.stoomgroepzuid.nl) . After almost 11 years of designing and building the loco was taken to the track for the first time.

On the hydraulic lift, ready to load in the car. 

At the track the loco was prepared for steaming. 

After the boiler was filled with water, the fire was lit and the new electric blower put to work.  

The filling plug (hidden under the sand dome), makes is much more comfortable to fill the boiler. On my other 3½" and 5" gauge locomotives this is done with the hand pump, what makes it a much more labourers job.

It takes about 25 minutes to get the boiler to working pressure (90 psi or 6 bar) and then about 5,5 liter of water is heated, during this time the loco could be greased.  There are a lot of points to oil and because this is the first time the loco will run under its own steam, we used plenty of oil. 

Once the boiler pressure was reached and the safety valves started to lift, the locomotive was driven on the turning table and main track.

After a final check Martin took the loco for her first lap ever under her own steam. We had to use our 5" gauge driving trolley. The wagons for this loco have yet to be build.

Everything seemed to work as is should and it got the ok from the driver.

The first two laps the loco was a bit 'stiff'' and did not run easily.  This was due to the heavy steam oil, still in the cylinders from the last test in the garden. After that test, we flooded the cylinders with oil to prevent rust to set in. This was more than a month ago and this oil took some time to get 'fluid' again. 

After that the loco ran very smoothly and was able to run on a steam chest pressure of only a 0.5 bar.

After  a few more laps and this first initial test,  the boiler was blow down and the loco was left to cool down.

Ready for the next run, the next day at our open day at Stoomgroep Zuid.  We used a lighter oil for injecting into the cylinders after the run, to prevent corrosion.  This is done by feeding oil through the exhaust pipe and then pushing the engine over the rails. The reverser is then set in the opposite direction in which the loco is moved. This way the oil is sucked into the steam chest and cylinders. When oil, instead of water, is coming out of the cylinder draincocks you know that there is enough oil in the steam engines.   

On Sunday 17 september we had our annual open day at our model engineer society Stoomgroep Zuid (Breda the Netherlands)

I was able to borrow a real 7¼" driving truck from one of our club members for this event and the loco was put into service almost the whole day.

As Bob Symes stated in his television program "Model World" of the '70ties:  "it's nice to drive your own loco" .  How right he was!

A busy day at our track.

Martin explained the function of the boiler fittings, reverser and the general working of the locomotive.

The loco was kept in steam for the most part of the day; the lovely weather helped of course.

The boiler is easy to fire and seems (we only had a light load behind the loco) keeps up steam pressure without any problem. 

 A lap at our club track.

Making a driving truck,  the steam pump and finishing the details as lamps etc. are the next step.

First steam test

In the evening of 24th of June, we've made the first steam test.  After almost eleven years of designing and building the first fire was lit in the firebox and the locomotive came alive on the test stand.

A simple match was all that was needed to bring her to live.

With charcoal and some coal (to temper the fire, because the newly made electric blower is a bit strong) a fire was build.

For the approx 5,5 liter of water, 25 minutes was needed to get the boiler to steam.

The motion oiled and ready for the test.  The engine was jacked up on wooden blocks. 

Moving under its own steam.

A nice glow of burning coal in the firebox. 

Watching the needle of the pressure gauge, the water gauges and the fire closely.  For this test the top of the tanks, top of coal bunker and cab is not yet mounted. This way is was easy to inspect all the boiler fittings and valves.  

The whistle sounded ok. 

After a half hour in steam the fire was dropped and the boiler blown down. 

So far most things (water pump, injector, water gauges, check valves, lubricator, "Everlasting" blowdown valves) seems to work.

The regulator (some leakage) and the dropping of the fire grate (not dropping easy)  need some attention.