Evenin’, All - for those of you who have one of these locos, and have yet to do what I did, and for those of you who don’t but are interested anyhow, this is a little story about keeping this great little loco going well.
As most know, this loco has an enviable record of reliablity in service, especially on my track where it can be plonked down, GOW’d, fired up and haulin’ away within about ten or twelve minutes of the fire being lit.
Until sunday afternoon last, that is.
Wouldn’t let gas through the jet…so I carefully undid the feed pipe and removed the gas-burner unit, to find the jet blocked. Freed it using the gas-blast. So far so good. Then noticed that the sight-glass was looking decidedly murky after running the loco the previous weekend with a pal’s snow-melt water supply.
Hmmmm. Something stronger was needed to clear THAT out. I looked around for kettle descaler, and found none - so I thought that I’d try ordinary [NOT balsamic] vinegar with 6% acidity. Pulled the cap off the sight-glass and the Goodall valve off the boiler, and poured in about a boiler full of the stuff, and left it over night to cook. The following morning I syringed out the most gucky-looking black soup from inside that poor boiler, rinsed it out four times with real genuine distilled water, and then fired up as usual. This time I tried a different steam oil too.
First run was 56 minutes wit htwelve log cars and a bobber van.
The second run, half an hour later, was 58 minutes.
Should point out that I have the David Bailey replacement extra-size gas tank, and his fine feed lubricator, too.
Me and the boys were VERY happy with the result.
Be aware that YOUR results MAY differ.
tac
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