Stick This in Your Pipe and
Smoke It...
We'll it's time to start
doing the piping for this thing. I installed the boiler for what I hope
will be the last time (at least for a few years). I started in the
smokebox and made the main steam pipes to the cylinders out of 1/2"
copper tubing. What a pain in the ass. First I tried using compression
fittings. That wouldn't work because I couldn't slip the tubing into
the connector due to the tight fit, so I changed to a flare connection.
This made it much easier to install the tubing. In order to get the
tight bends in the 1/2" copper tubing, I filled it with sand before I
bent it. After I made a half dozen or so, I finally made one that fit
and didn't have any kinks. I also installed the blower line on the
right side of the picture.
The next thing I needed to do was
the piping for the cylinder cocks. I made the manifold below. This is
the setup for the four cylinder cocks.
Here it is installed.
After the cylinder cocks were
done, the back end was next. Since this is a big boiler, I wanted to be
able to fill it with a garden hose. To do this, the left washout plug
was replaced with a "T" and extended it below the cab floor. A cutoff
valve was then installed along with a garden hose adapter (I plugged the
end just in case). You can also see the propane quick disconnect just
to the right of the garden hose connector.
This is what the back-head looks
like without the cab floor.
(the cylinder cocks valve and
whistle valve connections were re-positioned after a few runs)
Every connection to the tender has
a quick disconnect. There are 7 of them. 2 water lines for the
injectors, 1 water inlet for the axle pump, 1 return from the axle pump,
1 propane and 2 for the air brakes (1 from air comp and 1 to train
brakes).
Next steps will be to install the
cab floor with all the connections to the various controls. |