Southern Maid 2

The cylinders were refitted and the eccentric rods connected up and the valve timing set. This is fairly easy to do on this loco as it has the original type of Averill steam chest with the removable cover on the bottom. With this removed you can just about see the valves and the ports and see when the ports open. The LBSC Ayesha has the Averill steamchest but it doesn't have the removeable plate on the bottom so the only way you can set the valves is by removing one cylinder at a time and peer down the steam chest to see the other cylinder's valve and ports.

Once the valves were set, the chassis could be run on air and it runs very well. I used my airbrush compressor which can only supply about 5psi at this volume but the chassis ran well on this low a pressure.

Well, it's been 2 years since I did anything on the Southern Maid! I've been so busy with other things that workshop time has been virtually zero. I've put up the new shed, moved stuff out of the workshop and into the shed and spent far too much time on the computer designing 3 locomotives in 3D CAD and producing drawings for them. Drawings for the first loco are finished but I'm still working on the drawings for the second loco and haven't even started those for the third. However, I am determined to get back to work on unfinished projects starting with Southern Maid.

I dug the Southern Maid out of storage and she is now back on the bench. The next job is to get all the boiler fittings back on the boiler ready for the 1½ times hydraulic test.

First job was to alter the fitting for the superheater header. This originally used the LBSC method where the flange screws into the boiler and also onto the steam pipe from the regulator. The superheater header then bolts to the flange with a gasket. I'm not a fan of this method and prefer to use an O Ring in the flange which seals both the steam pipe and the superheater header at the same time, avoiding the use of gaskets.

The modification was quite simple. The original threaded steam pipe was replaced with one with a plain end, the threads on the inside of the flange drilled out so the steam pipe just pushed through and a recess for the O ring cut in the face of the flange. The steam pipe was made longer so that the end protruded from the flange slightly when the flange and regulator were fitted.

On a modern boiler the flange would be silver soldered to the front tubeplate of the boiler rather than being a separate fitting that screws into the tubeplate. It would at least screw into a proper bush. The Maid boiler does have a thickening plate soldered to the tubeplate though rather than just threading the tubeplate itself so somewhere between the two.

The last few days have been spent cleaning up the boiler fittings and fitting them back onto the boiler. They all cleaned up pretty well. I purchased some small stainless steel wire brushes from Amazon for use in a Dremel type tool and they worked well. After reading some reviews of these cheap chinese brushes I wasn't expecting a lot but the ones I bought are surprisingly good and last quite a long time. I originally bought them for cleaning up the tender frames and buffer beams but they also work well on brass.

The regulator is not the disc in tube type as described on the drawings but fortunately is a nice screw down type instead. I much prefer those. The disc in tube type are dreadful and rarely seal properly, especially on a hydraulic test. I did modify the water gauge to take a piece of red stripe glass which is my preferred choice. It is slightly larger in diameter than the ordinary clear type that was originally fitted but the fittings were big enough to drill out to take the larger glass.

I've just fitted the body of the safety valve for now as I will use that as the connection for the test pump. We have got a 2½" rally at Rugby this coming Sunday so I will take the boiler to that and get it officially tested to 1½ times working pressure now that it has all the fittings on it.

I have also made a start on the tender. I have stripped it all down and stripped what little paint remained on the frames and the buffer beams. It was in a bit of a state, especially the wheels, but a good soak in rust remover will get those back to clean metal.

One thing I did not notice until now is that the end of one of the axles has sheared off in the axle box. It has obviously seaized at some point and maybe someone tried to force it to turn (not me)

The boiler passed the 1.5X test with no problems so could now be mounted back onto the chassis. Frstly though, the smokebox and saddle were painted and mounted in place. The boiler was then fitted and all the pipework fitted after a good clean up. I didn't go over the top with the pipework as I didn't want the loco to look 'brand new' and just soaked the pipes in citric acid solution and then rubbed it with steel wool.

The loco was originally fitted with a simple displacement lubricator so I have refitted that for the time being. I've no experience with simple displacement lubricators and much prefer mechanical ones but will see if this one works or not. It still had some gooey old steam oil in it so I presume it did work at one time.

The boiler now needed a new firedoor so one was knocked up from some scrap brass.

The original grate and ashpan were still in fairly good condition so were refitted after cleaning up. The grate was pretty rusty though so was soaked in rust remover for 24 hours before refitting although he rust would have probably burnt off at the first firing.

That is the loco pretty much finished now apart from painting the cab, making a roof for it and refitting it.

Time to move on to the tender. The frames were disassembled and soaked in rust remover for 24 hours. They were then cleaned up with a wire brush and some rotary stainless steel wire brushes in the Dremel tool. These are great for getting into corners and I bought two sorts from Amazon. I wasn't expecting too much of them as the reviews are pretty bad saying that they don't last five minutes before all the bristles fall out. This was true of one of the types I bought but the second lot have proved to be very good and last for ages. For anyone interested the brand of the good brushes is NIUPIKA.

While the paint was drying I decided to have a look at the damaged tender axle. As previously mentioned, one end had seized in the axlebox and sheared off. The original plan was to make a complete new axle but then I thought why not just drill the end of the existing axle and fit a new stub axle.

The axle complete with wheels was mounted in the collet chuck in the lathe and the axle supported with the fixed steady.

The damaged end was then faced off, centre drilled and drill to take a piece of 0.1875" dia, silver steel. This was Locitited in and faced off to length. Much quicker and easier than having to remove the wheels, make a new axle and then refit the wheels.

The plan was to drill out the broken stub slightly smaller than the diameter and then soak the axlebox in hot alum solution to dissolve the remains away. The axlebox was mounted in the milling machine and the irregular top surface of the broken stub milled flat with a 4mm centre cutting 2 flute endmill. The stub was then drilled with a 4mm drill. I wasn't expecting this but the stub broke loose after drilling about halfway through so that was a bonus.

The next few days were spent painting the tender frames, the tank and the wheels and then finally reassembly. It all went smoothly but I was in a rush to get it done for our rally at the club on the 29th so I didn't take any photos.

On the 27th I was ready to do a test steaming on the rolling road and that went reasonably well. There were a couple of issues I found though. The main one was that I couldn't adjust the safety valve to blow off at more than 30psi even with the adjuster screwed right down as far as it would go so it really needs a longer or stronger spring. I didn't have another spring suitable so for the time being made up a brass spacer to go between the spring and the ball shroud. I fired up the loco again and this time I managed to get the pressure up to 60psi before the safety valve blew. I did give the loco a run and it seemed to run ok maintaining a good fire and holding the 60psi. The displacement lubricator seemed to be working and oil appeared around the chimney after a short while. I wasn't happy with the handpump at all though. It worked ok but it is only 0.3125" bore and just didn't pump water into the boiler fast enough for my liking so I decided that the bore needed to be increased if possible. I also noticed that the axle pump didn't seem to work very well and just seemed to spit water out of the bypass rather than pump a steady stream. However, I ran out of time and energy to do any more that day so left further work until the next day.

I made up another thicker spacer for the safety valve but decided not to steam the loco again and instead leave it until the rally next day. I then decided to have a go at the handpump. I did have some handpump castings that I could have used to make a complete new pump but time was running out so decided to try and modify the existing one, at least for the time being. The pump had been fabricated in several brass parts all soft soldered together. The barrel was just a piece of brass tube soldered in so I unsoldered everything and made a new barrel from 0.5" dia. brass bar drilled and reamed to 0.375" bore. The base of the pump was drilled out to take the new barrel and everything soldered back together again. I also had to make a new ram. I prefer to use stainless steel for rams but didn't have any of the right size so used brass instead. It should last ok. The original ram used graphite packing in a groove on the ram but I fitted the new ram with an O ring.

The new ram should pump about 1½ times as much water as the original so should be a bit better at putting water in.

Next was the problem with the axle pump. I wondered if one of the pipes might have a blockage so blew down the inlet pipe using a length of rubber pipe. The pipes seemed clear but I noticed that if I blew hard then something suddenley blocked the flow. It sounded like one of the pump balls blocking the outlet when it lifted and investigation proved this to be the case. It turned out to be the inlet ball blocking the passage to the pump ram when it lifted above a certain height. It's usual to machine a couple of grooves in the side of the hole above the ball to stop the ball blocking the flow but this had not been done. I didn't want to remove the axle pump again so managed to make two grooves using a dental burr in the dremel. A bit crude but it worked. Hopefully, that will sort the problem with the axle pump.

Next day was the rally at the club so I loaded up the car and took the loco to the track. The loco was fired up and was very quick to get up to pressure. This time I could get the safety valve up to 80psi with no problems. The handpump was also better but I think I would still prefer it to be larger so may make a new pump eventually. The axle pump was much better and now pumped properly. We did a steam test and the loco passed with no problems.

I had fitted the cab the day before but hadn't had time to paint it yet. Just as well as it didn't fit very well now the boiler was properly mounted so I had to do some quick modifiactions to get it to fit around the boiler properly.

I did take it for a run on the track and was very pleased with it's performance. It seems quite powerful and seemed to steam ok. However, the springing needs some serious attention as the loco was bouncing about all over the place and I daren't go very fast. I came off after two laps as it felt like the loco was going to derail all the time. Back on the steaming bays we noticed that the front axleboxes were hard up at the top of the horns so the front end of the loco was solid with no springing. That would explain why it was bouncing at every bump in the track. The front springs are obviously too weak and need stronger ones fitting. I'm surprised that I didn't notice this before when the loco was on the bench.

The displacement lubricator worked fine but when I checked the oil it seemed to be about empty so it just hasn't got enough capacity for a decent run. I will probably look at fitting a mechanical one instead. At least they are easier to top up when necessary.

There are still a few jobs to do before the restoration is complete. I have the castings to make a new chimney and dome so they need machining. The cab needs painting and a roof making for it.

We've got another rally on July 14th so I want to try and at least get the springing sorted out for then.

I have been working on the loco again but didn't manage to get it ready for the Nantwich rally on July 14th so didn't take it.

The first job was to try and sort the springing out. I sort of 'guestimated' what springs might be needed and ordered a few sizes from LEE Springs. I also ordered some more springs for lubricators and oil check valves that I would need to build in the future. This brought the order up to the free postage level, otherwise they charge you a ridiculous amount for the postage. The springs I ordered turned out to be still too soft. I then ordered a couple of sizes from Kennions which were less than half the price of LEE springs but they ended up not being suitable either. This time they were too stiff! Finally, I went on AliExpress and ordered a load of different sizes from China at a fraction of the cost of LEE and Kennions. I wasn't very impressed when the springs from LEE turned out to be made in China anyway! I could have got them from there in the first place much cheaper.

Anyway, some of the springs from China turned out to be just about right and all 6 springs on the loco were replaced. Initially, I fitted the same strength springs to all three axles but the rear springs were a little too strong so I replaced those with some a bit softer. The loco now sat level and the front axle no longer bottomed out. The loco still rocks quite easily from side to side so it's not perfect. I did weigh the loco which came out at around 27 pounds (12.3Kg) and also the weight on the front and rear axles. The front is heavier and so the chassis could really do with some lead adding to the rear to move the centre of gravity further back but I decided to leave it until I had a chance to run the loco again.

The next job was a new, larger lubricator. This turned into a comedy of errors and was the reason for me not having the loco ready for July 14th!

I decided to get rid of the displacement lubricator and fit a Jim Ewins style mechanical lubricator instead. This would be driven from the axle pump eccentric or one of the valve gear eccentrics. I ordered some 1 inch square brass tube from MaccModels for the body and spent two days making a nice lubricator only to realise after that it wouldn't fit in the gap between the front buffer beam and the Averill steam chest! I hadn't checked the gap properly beforehand. I could have probably made it fit by machining a boss off the front of the steam chest but that would not have been easy unless I removed the cylinders and steam chest from the chassis. I did not want to do that. I have some other projects that can use this lubricator so the time making it was not wasted.

So, I decided to make a larger capacity displacement lubricator instead. That took a day and was similar to the original in design but much longer and had a larger bore so held a lot more oil. I machined the body from solid brass bar and silver soldered in a brass bottom cap. I came to fit that and that would not fit either! I had made it too tall above the buffer beam and now the smokebox would not fit. I had removed the boiler and smokebox again to make access to the front of the steam chest easier so I didn't notice this until I tried to fit the smokebox again. Things were not going well.

Try again. This time I made displacement lubricator mark two. This time I made the body from 22mm copper tube with brass ends silver soldered in and I made sure to keep the height of this above the buffer beam as low as possible. This meant attaching the outlet from the lubricator lower down than the original. The original fed into the steam pipe just above the top of the steamchest but instead I drilled and tapped a hole into the boss on the front of the steamchest which was lower down. This was fairly easy to do with a cordless drill but I had to remove the front buffer beam to gain access. The new lubricator would now fit in the centre of the frames rather than to one side so a suitable cut out had to be filed into the buffer beam. The old lubricator had a threaded stub on it and another threaded stub screwed into the steam pipe and the two were joined together with a threaded sleeve. The new lubricator screws directly into the steamchest so the height had to such that it could be rotated between the frames to screw it in. This did limit the height but it should still hold a lot more oil than the original. You could increase the height but this would mean fitting the lubricator to the steamchest before fitting the steamchest to the frames.

This time everything fitted but there is still only just enough clearance under the smokebox to remove the lubricator filler cap. I did have to shorten the stub on the front coupling hook, remove the spring and just lock it into place with a nut.

Last Sunday (July 28th) I took the loco to the club for another test run. This time the loco was a lot more stable and I felt happy enough to do four laps of the track. It still bobs about a little bit so is not perfect but this time I didn't have to worry about it leaping off the rails! The new lubricator seems to work ok and the loco ran very well indeed. It had no trouble tackling the bottom bend of our track which is also quite a steep gradient. It stormed up the hill when given a bit more regulator and never slipped once. The boiler steams very well and seems to maintain pressure with no problems. Other members present were very impressed and I was very pleased with the performance for such a small loco. I didn't stop on the track too long as there were other drivers with 5 inch locos wanting a run and I didn't want to get in their way. All in all a very successful run.

I did check the lubricator when I got home and it was about half full of oil. That's after four laps of our track which is about 1 mile so it should last for a couple of miles before it needs refilling.

There are now just a few more things to finish off. I made a cab roof and painted the cab and fitted it. I made a cut out in the rear of the roof to make it easier to see the pressure gauge and the water gauge. I think that looks much better than taking the whole roof off whenever you run.

I also made a plate to fit between the frames at the front to hide the cut out on the top of the buffer beams left from where the old lubricator fitted.

I have made a start on the new chimney and dome. I've just got the flanges to file to shape after machining as much of the shape as possible. This is one of my least favourate jobs.

We have another rally this Sunday (August 4th) at Sutton Coldfield MES at Little Hay so the loco will be going for another run then but probably still minus the chimney and dome.

The rally at Little Hay went very well with the Maid making two very successful runs. The loco ran really well and just blew off all the time even with the axle pump on. I bought a cheapish 'action camera' which I mounted onto the driving truck and took some video.

Unfortunately, the camera didn't record any audio for some reason. It did record later on but the audio was very poor. All you could hear was every noise from the driving truck and the rails. I have now bought an external mic to try which should hopefully improve it and just pick up the loco.

The lubricator lasted about 12 laps or so but I have an idea to extend this for the rally at Rugby next month. I think I can add an extension tank which will screw into the drain plug thread on the existing lubricator body. It may work, it may not. I was a bit hesitant to take the loco to Rugby as I thought that it may struggle to get round the extended track but it performed so well at Little Hay that I don't think it will have any problems at all.

After posting the Little Hay video someone on the MECH forum commented that the water in the gauge glass bobbed up and down a lot. I must admit that I hadn't really noticed that when driving but the video does show it quite clearly. I know the passageways in the fittings are ok as the water level snaps back instantly after blowing down the gauge. The only thing I could think of was that the threaded stub on the bottom fitting was too long and when screwed into the boiler it was too close to the firebox backplate. I have read that that could cause problems with the gauge. I took the fitting out again and checked this but it was fine. It did not protrude any further into the water space than the bush for it. I did countersink the end of the passageway incase that might make a difference and just refiited it.

I thought about the lubricator again and came up with the idea of reducing the size of the hole in the crosspipe by inserting a piece of wire into the hole. It seemed worth a try. I cut a length of 0.5mm copper wire and inserted it through the hole with it hanging from the crosspipe. I think I had drilled the hole in the crosspipe 1mm diameter so the wire would reduce the area of the hole by 25%.

I took the loco to the club on Sunday for another run to check the water gauge again and to see if putting the wire in the lubricator made any difference to the oil consumption. The water level in the gauge did seem a bit more stable but I noticed that the axle pump did not seem to be working very well this time so I need to check that. The gland on the ram may have come loose. Also, one of the clacks has started to leak where it screws into the boiler bush so that needs resealing.

The lubricator still seemed to give too much oil judging by the amount on the top of the chimney so I will try using a larger diameter wire in the hole in the crosspipe now that I know it doesn't affect the working of the lubricator. Using 0.7mm diameter wire should reduce the area of the hole by 50%. I checked the oil in the lubricator the next day and it was nearly empty. There may have been enough left for one more lap. I did 8 laps of the track in all which is about 2 miles. At that rate I should be able to manage 4 laps of the Rugby track on one filling.

28/08/2024

Not much to report but I have altered the tender handpump again. I wanted to increase the bore to 0.4375" to give a bit more capacity so removed the handpump from the tender and unsoldered the new ram barrel that I had made. Looking through my stocks of brass bar for some 0.5625" diameter I came across a length of 0.5" diameter brass tubing. I can't remember where this came from, perhaps I bought it for something, but this had a bore of 0.43". The tube was very round and smooth inside and close enough to 0.4375" diameter bore so was ideal for making a new barrel. It was also the same outside diameter as the old barrel so I did not need to enlarge the hole hrough the mounting block again. I just had to make another adapter for the valve housing to suit the larger bore of the tube and a new ram to suit. I wish I had found this tubing when I originally modified the pump as I could have used it the first time.

At the moment I am making a new rolling road with easily adjustable bearings to suit different wheel spacings. Once that is done I will give the loco another run at home to check the lubricator again after fitting the 0.7mm wire and to check that the axle pump is working ok.

I've also made a couple of wooden boxes for carrying the loco around. Before, I was using the box for the Canadian Switcher for the loco and an old wooden drawer for the tender!

07/09/2024

I ran the loco on the new rolling road the other day to check the axle pump and the lubricator. I immediately noticed that water was leaking badly from the axle pump gland so that explains why the pump was not working very well on the last run. Most of the water was leaking out rather than going into the boiler. The lubricator worked well to begin with with oil showing on the chimney but it seemed to dry up later on. Perhaps the piece of wire I had fitted in the hole in the lubricator was now too big. The new handpump worked well and put plenty of water in the boiler.

I decided to remove the ram from the axle pump and fit it with an O ring rather than rely on the gland packing so machined a groove on the end to take one. I also replaced the original graphited yarn gland packing with a PTFE ring as the packing was very hard and probably wasn't compressing when you tightened the gland nut. The ram should not leak now!

I also replaced the 0.7mm wire in the lubricator with a piece of 0.6mm. We will see how that goes. It's the rally at Rugby tomorrow so I'm hoping for a good run there. Unfortunately, the weather does not look very promising.

The weather for Sunday started off terrible and it rained a lot of the way to Rugby. However, by 10.30am it had stopped raining and the rest of the day was warm and dry with sunny periods. I had a good run with Southern Maid after an iffy first lap. The track was still wet and very slippy in places but it soon dried out.

Unfortunately, I had an accident with the external mic for the camera, hence the lack of sound. The lead got loose and caught on the track, ripping the plug out of the camera. It destroyed the plug but fortunately it did not damage the socket in the camera.

The axle pump worked well with no leaks and a couple of times I overfilled the boiler by mistake. The handpump also worked well and it was easy to get water into the boiler when necessary.

I stayed on for 5 laps but then came off as I thought that I must be getting very low on oil in the lubricator. When I checked the lubricator a couple of days later there was still a bit of oil left in the bottom, perhaps enough for another lap. What surprises me is that when I drain the lubricator after a run the amount of water that comes out is nowhere near as much as the oil that has been used. I would have expected it to be the same?

Well, that is about it for Southern Maid. It's complete now and I'm very happy with it; Time to move on.