Hi everyone. Today, a freshly polished "Achilles" made a return to RPMR metals for one of the monthly Members Steam-Up days. As this particular steam up was a 'late afternoon' one, "Achilles" arrived at about 3:30pm and was in steam within an hour. Throughout the afternoon myself and Ben pottered around the track with the engine, giving rides to a few invited guests as well. The engine was definitely running well, though her steaming capability today left a fair bit to be desired...
Ben Trying To Look Like He Knows What He's Doing!
Though the engine wasn't steaming brilliantly, she did keep going, and ran for about 2 hours in the end before we disposed...
On one of the final laps prior to disposal...
Upon disposal it was found that the fire was completely clinkered across the entire grate, with some parts being about 1/2" thick - no wonder she wasn't steaming properly! I can only put it down to poorly soaked wooden sticks used for today's lighting up. Due to having a time-strapped week I didn't put the wood in to soak until last night...a sometimes fatal error! Ahh well, at least I know why she wasn't going as well as last week...
Blowing Down
With the engine disposed she was loaded back into the Saxo and we headed off for home. The engine will now be cleaned and polished ready for her public appearance at RPMR on September 22nd, where she will *hopefully* be hauling some more fare paying passengers. She does however have a leaking steam chest gasket (again!) and so this will be rectified prior to the 22nd too. Thanks for reading guys. Cheers, Sam...
No comments:
Post a Comment