Technical

Many locos I see have the paint discoloured on the top of the loco.

I use three methods of negating this:

1 I put 4 layers of aluminium kitchen foil over the whole area from chimney to just past the superheater.

2 Always run on simmer. All my locos (3 x A4 and A3) have ample power and will run at top speed for 10 minutes plus an this setting without loss of speed. Scale speeds are easily maintained. If your loco does not do this then there is steam loss, poor steam generation through poor tender contacts or poor layout design. Use multiple feeds with 1.5sq mm copper wire. Never run on superheat as this makes excessive heat under the boiler top on the loco. Same too for the normal setting this makes more heat than the simmer setting. Super heat is only used for initial heat up.

3. Let the loco cool down by operating another loco before running again. This prevents the build-up of heat over successive runs.

I believe the first two steps above are the most important. My locos will barley stay on the track on a number 4 radius even on simmer if aloud to run fully open. My Silver Link is the least powerfull but than has ample power on simmer too.