# Question on N&W Y6



## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

The photo below shows the compound piping on the left side
It looks to me like the lower pipe that comes out of the bottom left of the smokebox would be the steam supply to the HP cylinder and the pipe above it is the steam from the HP to the LP cylinder.
It also looks like both pipes are insulated.
Now, what is the vertical chamber that the LP supply line is attached to
Is it a gathering tank with a water expeller of some kind or something else.


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

Billie you made me have to get out the book on that one..... but it is a BL type feedwater heater.. they were only used on the Y6 and Y6a class locomotive the Y6b's had the feedwater heater recessed below the smokebox.... later Y6's and Y6a's were refitted with the recessed type


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Wow
Thank you
Would the pipe going to it be a water pipe then?


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

Not 100% sure but i beleave it is


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

When contemplating a new build I always look for as much information as I can. Most engines have plenty of info available on the web but some like the Y6b are sketchy
I found a drawing of what looks like a Y3 which is quite a bit different from the Y6 including the absence of a BL feedwater pump

Thanks to this forum I was steered in the right direction. My friend Dennis found a whole seven pages on the BL which I would like to share with you in condensed format.

The photo above shows a Worthington BL pump with a large diameter pipe coming from the front of the smoke box. I figured it was a steam line or maybe hot fumes from the smokebox.
In actuality it is an exhaust pipe coming right from the cylinders.

Here is how it works. Exhaust steam enters the heating chamber and is sprayed with cold water from the tender. The exhaust steam then condenses to water and is expelled through the bottom of the chamber along with the now heated tender water to the boiler. There is a cold water pump and a hot water pump which keeps everything moving which are driven by a steam powered cylinder. both pumps are driven by the same shaft. Because of the condensing exhaust, there is more water going out than coming in so there are mechanisms inside to equalize the flow.

Here is a drawing of how it is hooked up









And the look









and the guts


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## du-bousquetaire (Feb 14, 2011)

Hi Bill: 
From what I observe on many compound mallets the steam pipe going from the HP cylinders to the LP ones should be in the axis of the frame and often splits out into each LP cylinder on the front platform. Let me consult my British friend who did a very fine model (electric) of a Y2 in 1/32 from an Aristo craft one. He chucked a thick walled aluminum tube in his lathe to make a new boiler and just about salvaged most of the rest from the Aristo. It is a beauty, he said that the guy who made the molds at Aristo was working for the most in 1/32 scale! Aside from that he is one of the best model engeneers I know in gauge one so he would know, he just did that as a quiky! If I could post a photo I would.


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Simon
that is the way I did the Triplex, 
the large pipe going to the Worthington pump is what threw me off thinking it may be the pipe going from the HP to LP cylinders.
I think I am set up now
Just curious, did your friend put the boiler inside the Aristo shell or make everything from metal
Was it simple or compound?


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## du-bousquetaire (Feb 14, 2011)

Bill, No as he is quite old, so he built this as a quickie and made it electric (battery power) Although he is a fabulous model engeneer! Only the boiler was metal, he salvaged just about every thing else from the Aristo model which he got a deal on. cutting down the tender to 1/32 scale etc. He told me that he though that the guy who machined the molds for Aristo had drawn things out in 1/32 scale mostly... 

When I say he is a fabulous model Engeneer, Just in gauge one he has superdetailed a Chapelon, rebuilt an BR 01 into one of the East German modernised engines, which he calls Hermann, rebuilt JVR's NORD du Bousquet 4-6-0 which has been on the cover of the G1MRA newsletter, scratch built a Golsdorf Adriatic with the valves that feed the HP steam on one side and the LP ones on the other (original Golsdorf arrangement) which is magnificent and a LD&C 4-4-0 rebuilt from the Dee class. In other scales he is one of the three who saved the real NORD Du-Bousquet 4-6-0 at the Nene railway in the seventies and who helped tremendously to bring it back into preservation in France, and he is the main engeneer who "kitbashed" a real coal board 0-6-0 into the broad guage GWR 4-2-2 for the Science Museum in London. His name is John Butler.


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

Bill.... is this thread a hint that we might be seeing a Y6 under construction soon?


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Well
I just committed myself yesterday and will order the wheels today
I have the plans drawn for the Y6a which is the one with the big Worthington heater

The N&W archives site has over 3200 drawings of the Y but I couldn't find a side elevation but Charles found it for me.
I printed it to 1/32 scale and then traced over the outline and inserted my innards, boiler, ceramic burner, frame, cylinders etc.
Picked up the brass & copper yesterday and ordered some bronze & boiler tubes from McMaster yesterday

So, the answer is yes


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

Awesome... cant wait to see the build log.


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

One more question

What is this?


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Uhhh.... too small and dark to make out? 

I think you posted the thumbnail, and not the normal size picture.

By the way, I thoroughly enjoy reading your build logs and seeing the results.

Regards, Greg 1,013


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Greg
It's not a thumbnail but just a cropping of the photo at the top of the thread
It is on the LP cylinder only and looks like a pipe that goes through the cylinder cover with maybe caps on the ends.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Ahh, I took the original picture and increased the contrast and detail.

Looks like a flange, 3 bolts with a cover over it, and on top of the short pipe a small square thing that with my limited experience, looks like a lubricator.

Could there be another piston-type thing moving back and forth in there?

Greg 1,008


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Bill;

Perhaps this is a wild guess, but could it have something to do with the simple/compound system? At least some of the Y class had the ability to start a train in "simple" mode (full pressure to all cylinders), then switch to "compound" mode once the train was moving.

My $0.02,
David Meashey


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

A valve to switch between high and low pressure sure sounds reasonable. But heck I'm a sparkie guy, my cylinders are for decoration.

Greg 1,007


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Ray Louis emailed me some info which indicates it was probably a bypass valve setup which was used to equalize the steam between the front and rear of the cylinder during downhill coasting. They needed to be serviced regularly thus the caps on the ends.


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## rbednarik (Jan 2, 2008)

As Bill said, the valve in question is indeed a bypass valve.

Bypass valve permitted complete closing of the throttle, but allowed the engine to drift without disturbing lubrication to the piston valves and cylinders. It also prevented excess backpressure (as well as vacuum) in the cylinders, while allowing for a cushion of steam at each end to help reduce the hammerblow of the reciprocating parts. 

These were largely eliminated by the end of steam and were simply blanked off with a triangular patch. The surviving A and J have patches where the bypass system once was. 

Known in other railroads parlance as drifting valves. 

Bypass valve diagram

Bypass valve section


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