Technical

Just tried steaming up an old Mallard that I bought some time ago....

No pressure build up at the loco pressure relief valve, but the Tender Pressure Relief was starting to let pressure out..

So, power off and investigate..

The cause was a build up of crud in the Banjo fittings for the flexible steam pipe between the Tender and Loco...

Above shows the 'White' deposits in one of the fittings.

Below shows what came out after using a tiny drill bit to fetch it out.... !

it's quite possible that the steam pipes throughout the loco could be similarly affected.... we shall see how we get on on the next steaming...

Joe