Re: starting a steam loco

In article <fed1a0$l31$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
R.C. Payne <rcp27@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Andrew Robert Breen wrote:
In article <e07189da1570c5123160b2022bb00f91@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Roger T. <rogertra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
get a steam loco to start moving if the piston is left in the top dead
centre position.

paul the pedant

No such thing as "TDC" in steam locomotive.

Catch Me Who Can?

Single vertical cylinder..

Not to mention the locomotive used at Penydarran, which had a single
horizontal cylinder and large flywheel. That said, both of these

Yerss, but surely that'd be "end dead centre"? ;) Same would go for
Hedley's "Black Billy", which actually did a year or so's work.

machines probably count as "experimental". Certainly for static

"Black Billy" is the only Trevithick-type locomotive that I can think of
which did anything other than trial runs. Unless CMWC's exhibition runs
qualify..

applications, the single cylinder seems to have generally been regarded
as reasonable.

It lasted a long time for ships, as well. _Eagle III_, a clyde passenger
steamer of around 300t, is the last substantial passenger ship that I can
think of with a single-cylinder engine, but there will certainly have been
smaller examples (EIII was scrapped in 1946 or 47, from memory). I'd not
have thought of single cylinder engines as ideal for ships which acted as
ferries between piers, but presumably steam starting engines helped a lot.

I was fascinated to visit the Kew museum, and later the Crofton pumping
station on the Kennet and Avon Cannal, both of which operate early beam
engines (in both cases they have, amongst more modern machines, Boulton
and Watt engines, converted to work on a positive pressure cycle). It
is interesting to watch the starting proceedure for these engines, as
the driver has to work the valve gear by hand until sufficient condenser
vacuum can be established for automatic running. What I could not

In atmospheric engines, iirc, the weight of the pump rods descending was
used to start the engine - that pulled the piston up, steam was let in
behind it - and then the water sprays were put on to condense the steam
and create vacuum.

--
Andy Breen ~ Not speaking on behalf of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Feng Shui: an ancient oriental art for extracting
money from the gullible (Martin Sinclair)
.

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