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The "Washington" Story
I am a model maker and not a train spotter so it was
difficult for me to choose a loco that I really wanted
to build. A holiday in California took me to a Live
Steamer Event in Griffiths Park, L.A. and I was fascinated
by the old American profile locos.
Washington is a Reeves design and the drawings were
prepared from originals by David Piddington. Very few
(if any) models have been completed and this is probably
the only one in UK.
The American 4-4-0 is very different in structure to
British profiles and is very attractive to the "experts"
i.e. the children in the park !
It took 2000 hours spread over 7 years to build.
It is my first loco and it probably would have been
better to build a well tried design first.
My model building experience was gained via Stuart stationary
engines and the Minnie traction engine.
Of course a lot of loco experience was available from
the members at Sale Area MES.
Not quite finished yet (are they ever?) with jobs like
the following to be done :-
-fitting the wheel splashers (looks a very fiddly job)
-making the cylinder cladding (spinning the brass end
covers will be a new skill to be learned)
-tool boxes for the tender
-lettering on the sides of the tender.
Washington runs very well now that I have been trained
as a driver and after a couple of design problems were
overcome.
The main ones were :-
-the valve slides were not the correct dimension for
the ports
-not enough air getting through the fire with the blower
or on blast. Fixed by drilling a row of holes along
the front of the ashpan just below the grate.
-the jet holes in the blower were enlarged
-the spark deflector was raised higher above the chimney
extension.
I haven't managed to get the whistle (two tone) working
properly yet on steam (this seems to be an art rather
than science) and I have found that the oil reservoir
runs out after about 90 minutes of continuous running
(using too much oil?)
All things considered this project has been a real challenge
but extremely satisfying.
Stuart Clayton
20/4/2005
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