Technical

Good afternoon all!

After watching all of the great OOLS YouTube video's I decided to try to get my Malard running.

Prior to servicing it I tried to run it and took a few notes as the pressure increased.

After giving it a good clean and some fresh water I noted the following items:

At 1.1 bar the whistle interface leaked

At 1.2 bar the steam chest leaked

At 1.4 the steam chest/piston casing leaked

At 1.6 bar the pressure valve blew off and the pressure dropped back to 1.4 bar.

Opening the regulator the pressure drops to 1.2 bar with no ability to create forward motion.

Closing the regulator and using the "Superheat" it would make 1.6 bar and the superheater gasket leaks.

So based on that I assumed it was quite a leak locomotive and so undertook a good strip down and clean.

After replacing the steam chest + gasket (With the OOLS ones), rebuilding the pistons with new seals, new steam pipe hose + gaskets, new rotary valve + pusher and a general clean / lube up I gave it another go. Note I am awaiting a new superheater gasket but as that's easy to replace I thought I would give it a bash.

Now I can make 1.8 / 1.9 bar with no leaks, the wheels turn "freely" IE with the expected amount of friction. I get the red light, whistle going between forwards and reverse and when the regulator is open stream flows through the chimney stack and the green light comes on, yet no forwards motion. Pressure does drop to about 1.4 bar as it seems to just be blowing off steam. I no longer have steam leaks at the chest, pistons etc but I still can't get it running.

I do spin the wheels with the cocktail stick while it's in this state but it does not seem to pick up and steam seems to keep flowing through the funnel.

I have made a little video just to demo, it was one-handed so it does not show all the detail but you can see there is pressure, no excessive leaks and does not run.

photos.app.goo.gl

Anyone got any idea on what to check next while I await the new superheater gasket? Kind regards

Paul