"Driving & Operating Traction Engines" by Mike Dyson covers full size and miniatures. Though I have not read it myself.

J

Sorry Rod I didn't mean to be condecending. As a club membership secretary I provide an enthusiastic and helpful welcome to all out newbies, What I wanted to do is alleviate any anxiety that it is in some way difficult as it is not a black art that only old timers with years of experience can achieve. It is easy so just have a go.

I don't know if the books actually mention the few non obvious tips that I have had from club members so here are a few:

Paraffin is better than BBQ fluid or meths on the lighting wood simply because the smokey flame is more visible.

If you don't have a good draught from your electric blower the paraffin makes loads of smoke but no flame while getting going. So that cloud of white fumes does not actually mean the fire is alight you need more volts on the blower. (there are some ex services 24v blowers around the market that really are no good on 12v)

At the end when the fire goes out and pressure is down open the blower so the condensing steam doesn't suck all the water out of the tank over filling the boiler.

Just becasue it is small doesn't mean the coal has to be dust. Lumps half the size of the firehole and up are probaly best. When it doesn't burn it is perfectly acceptable excuse for a bad day which we all have is to blame the coal but is never ever is the coal's fault.

Some valves and even regualtors are tight when cold so don't force them and they will loosen up when heat expansion gets to work.

Can't think of anything else that isn't straightforward so again appologies but what you need is just the confidence to trust in your common sense.

Is that from buying your first casting or lighting the fire?

Assuming the later then you don't want to warm up any engine too quickly, with a small blower on the chimney I would say you should be looking around 45mins

J

The damper adjusts the rate of burn by by altering the amount of air through the fire. If you are just sitting around with the engine stopped or ticking over then you won't be using a lot of steam so damper can be closed a bit. On the other hand if you are trying to ride around on grass you will likely need all the steam you can produce so will want the damper wide open.

Hi Rod

Afraid that I live far away. I live in Stavanger, Norway.

BTW. I and 3 friends are going to the the Midlands Model engineering exhibition next week (Friday and Saturday). Hope to see and learn a loot.

Thanks to JasonB for the information

Thanks

Sivtek