# Mt Washington Cog RR build



## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Here is a photo and video of this awesome engine.














Because it is so small we decided to do it in G3 at 22.5:1
To use the LGB rack and its holders, I tried these brass bridges that worked but we would need 200 of them so we are looking for alternatives.









Because the elevation varies by 8 degrees, I decided to make the crown sheet as low as possible thus increasing the water capacity









I then roughed out the chassis to determine the clearances and get some cad drawings of the parts to be CNC milled 









And started on the cylinders.









This is a point to point RR which will require RC. Because piston valve are required for the cylinder valves , I decided to kitbash some Ruby parts. Using them, I should be able to have only one reversing valve for four cylinders.
The Ruby cylinders and valves need to be cut down to scale length. I picked up a pair of Ruby valves from Acucraft.
The first step is to cut off the steam tubes as I will need to mount it in the four jaw chuck for machining







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I could mount the valve in the independent four jaw but one jaw would mar the port side and doing four valves a lot of adjusting would me necessary. Instead, I used two 1/8" strips which were reduced by .002 each on the belt sander. and mounted the assembly in the self centering four jaw.
I had to reduce the body of the valve to .850" but I left the valve part the full length to be able to use the Ruby piston.









Since the valve and piston were cut, I lost the front mounting holes. New holes were drilled out on the mill.


















The engines are different on the prototypes but I found one that had covers or cylinders with vertical grooves so I made some in my valves with s 1/8" ball end end mill.









So, here is the cylinder for now.


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Another one of a kind, I love it. I never tire of watching your genius at work. I'm a little surprised that you didn't go up to 1/20.3.


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Thanks
Yea
bigger would have been easier but the 22.5 will give it the correct stance with the 2-1/2" gauge.
It actually works out to 22.6 but who is splitting hairs


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## ddrum31 (Aug 30, 2017)

Ohhh nice!


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

Bill, it’s off to a good start. Looking forward to seeing more. 

If you really want to get down to it, the railway was built to a gauge of 4’-8”, so 1:22.4 would be correct. Somehow, I don’t think anyone will notice.


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## Steve Ciambrone (Feb 25, 2014)

Very interesting build, i had a chance to ride on the railway 20 years ago, very fun. The cars rattle like crazy since they are so light weight. At least you only have to build one car.

Steve


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

I tried to ride that in 1996 but got got lost and ran out of time. I noticed that on the downhill run that there is a lot of water coming out of the drain cocks. Is water used to help with braking when going down?


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

The cylinders are used for compression on
the way down. Water is admitted to help keep them cool. The friction brakes are only used for stopping.


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

bille, thank you for a great video. The strain on that loco must be tremendous. LiG


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

You may have noticed that there is only one eccentric and no reversing mechanism as it coasted all of the way down. Our version will have reverse as weight does not scale down and we need reverse.
Roger's layout will vary between 2 and 10.5 degrees


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## Steve Ciambrone (Feb 25, 2014)

For the trip down the railway, the brake man is stationed in the coach and is actively using the brake to control the decent of the locomotive and coach.

Steve


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

The locomotive and coach are braked entirely independently of each other. There is no coupling between the two, only a roller on the locomotive that pushes against a bumper block on the coach.

The locomotive sets the pace and uses the compression of the cylinders to control the speed. As Steve said, the coach is braked by the brakeman on board, using friction brakes. The modern coaches have a foot peddle for the brakeman that lets him feel how hard the coach is pushing on the locomotive. The idea is to have the two barely touching, except on some flatter areas where a little push from the coach is helpful to maintain speed. It's not uncommon for the coach to be separated from the locomotive by a few inches as grades and speeds change.

Roger


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## amich35 (Jul 2, 2010)

*Train-Li Cog holders*

Look for the Train-Li cog railway holders. They should work great for your application because they slip onto the LGB rack rail but then screw into each tie with two screws so it doesn't matter the gauge of the rails. They are a lot harder to use because you need to put two screws in for each holder and, as always, a holder about every six inches on straights. But on curves where you may be placing a holder every 2-3 inches, it becomes a lot more work than popping in the LGB rack holders. On the other hand, the Train Li holders look more realistic. I bought a bunch of them on ebay one time when someone probably got rid of them after learning how much easier LGB are!

Here's the link to what you need:

https://www.trainli.com/cog-rail-62/tr15-082-p-73

Nice work!

Mike


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Thanks Mike
That may be an option


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## Dan Pantages (Jan 2, 2008)

Bill, I see a 3D printer in your future.


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Mike
Do the holders slip into the groove in the rack on the male end or is there some cutting that needs to be done.
Dan 
My Friend Dennis has one and I use Shapeways for SS and high res plastic pieces


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## livesteam5629 (Jan 2, 2008)

Bill
In Steam in the Garden issue # 151, Sept/Oct 2017, Mrk Horovitz converts a Accucraft Dora to a 
cog RailwayLocomotive Check it out


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Thanks Noel
I speak with Mark on a regular basis. I'll reread the article and pick his brain on our next conversation.


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## amich35 (Jul 2, 2010)

*Train-Li Cog holders*

Dan,

The Train Li Cog holders slip right onto the end of the rack rails with no cuts and then you can slide as many as will fit where you need to in order to screw them into the ties. The link at Train-Li shows them on the rack rail https://www.trainli.com/cog-rail-62/tr15-082-p-73 though that piece of rack rail has been cut which is not necessary.


Of course, once you add another rack rail onto the end, you've blocked egress for the holders unless you disconnect the rack rails. That's one of the difficulties about them. With the LGB holders, you can simply lift off the whole line of rack rail from the holders without having to separate individual lengths of rack rail. To do the same with the Train-Li holders, you'd have to unscrew them all first. So, I'd only put them in if you know exactly the track configuration you want OR if you're using a wider gauge as suggested here because they attach to the ties between the rails, not to the rails themselves. 

By the way, they come with a couple little yellow plastic gauges that temporarily clip between the g-scale rails to assure proper alignment while you're screwing them in. Using six of these at a time holds the track in place as you are moving along installing them. 
For a wider gauge, you'd have to eye ball it or create your own out of plastic or wood just to hold it in while your screwing it down. 

The three pix show how they sit on the rack rails, how they slip on, and the gauge holders that come with them. 

Hope this helps

Mike


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

Mike, this is good information, thanks. These may be just the answer to what we were looking for. 

I am having plywood centering jigs made per Bill’s design. 

Roger


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Roger designed and had these tender wheels printed by Shapeways and I cleaned them up a bit and drilled the axle hole out to 1/8"









I got the reduction gears from Stock Drive Products. The large gear has a 1/4" bore and the small one has a 1/8" and no hub. I start by drilling it out to1/4"



















I then turn a 1/8" hub









And solder them together










And check the fit









Dennis cut the frame and axle boxes out on the CNC mill
You can see the very small axle boxes on the right.










I then drill out the frame for the axle box caps.









There are four eccentrics which I cut out of 303 stainless and turn on the four jaw in the lathe. I am doing all four in one application.


















Here is where I am so far. We haven't profiled the wheels yet as the final diameter is dependent on the rack sprocket size. the gap between the frame and wheels is where the eccentric rod will go.


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## s-4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Awesome work! Love those 3d printed wheels, they are spot on! When I was going to college in Manchester, NH, I used to park right near the Manchester Locomotive Works mill building where Waumbek was built in 1908! I had a friend around that time who was "cogger"...you can't believe how much coal dust he would accumulate on himself after a few runs of firing those engines! At the time, it was still 100% steam and even ran into the winter to provide ski lift service to Bretton Woods guests.


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

The steam piping is going to be a bit tricky.
One Ruby reversing valve will control all four cylinders and each one needs two pipes.
To make this work, the piping will need several elbows and T's
Because it is all in brass, there will be little room for error
The elbows and T's are silver soldered together
The T's are made by soldering the two pieces of tubing together and then drilling through the short piece and into the long one.
Because of this , a joint needs to be made between it and the elbow
I am using 1/8" tubing and 5/32" joiners.









Once the pieces are made and trimmed to length, They are set in place in the chassis and the joiners are soldered on with StayBrite










The assembly is painted and set in place to check the fit.


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

The Ruby reversing valve will be RC. A Spectrum 5 gram metal gear servo is mounted as close to the valve and far from the firebox as possible. I had to add a hole closer to the servo to limit the travel to 4 mm to match the valve.









The small boiler is made similar to prior projects. The smokebox receives a brass wrap with embossed rivets and a fancy front cover. I want the door to be hinged so it can be opened. One screw holds it in place and the plan is to light the burner through the stack.
The door has these fancy dogs which I milled out on a long strip and then cut to length on the slitting blade in the mill









Here is the boiler to date


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Bill, I just want to comment again, while I can turn on a lathe without cutting my fingers, clearly I cannot do what you do, and I don't do live steam, but I enjoy your build details and how you solve design and fabrication tremendously!


Regards, Greg Elmassian


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Thanks Greg
It is rewarding when I get compliments like that and it encourages me to continue posting.


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

well, I guess they have changed the format again. it looks like they have added a lot of ad space and made it harder to move around so this may be my last post here
The stack has a conical top which I cut out of .032 sheet using my cone formula









OK maybe it is not so bad after all as you can now drop photos in from your hard drive

The pieces are annealed and silver soldered together


















The stack is affixed with a round knurled nut which I drill 3/32" holes in to tighten and loosen it.


















The boiler mounts were tricky because of the 8 degree angle. the rear was easy as the boiler rests on the frame here but the front where the boiler is suspended was a bit more difficult matching the smokebox curve and the frame. I didn't want to silver solder the bracket to the frame so I used 1/8" square stock as an intermediary 



















So here it is so far with the boiler mounted and the stack and cab attached.


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Great work so far Bill and the angle of boiler done very well. Are you going to build a steep test track for it when finished?
Russell


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Thanks Russell
I am thinking of just testing it in place at the proper angle similar to testing a regular engine on rollers.
I am afraid of it going off the far end while testing on a short track as there a lot of things to watch for


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

Bill,

As with all of your projects, your speed at building is impressive. 

It is looking really good. You made that difficult smokebox mount look easy as well as the stack with the screen. You are really fitting a lot into a tight space with the crosshead guides, crossheads, rocker arms, etc. I can't wait to see the whole mechanism come together.

Roger


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Are you going to make it fit the cog "track" from LGB?


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Yes


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## ddrum31 (Aug 30, 2017)

Very cool!

Jason


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg Elmassian said:


> Are you going to make it fit the cog "track" from LGB?


Greg, there's a whole discussion of the track on page 1.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Ooops, sorry, missed the first page of the topic somehow....


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

The dome is made from three sections a flat plate on the bottom and a piece of brass pipe which is formed on the bottom and soldered on with a aluminum dome top which is inserted into the brass pipe









The working dome supports the decorative one which is held in place with the 0-rings









Dennis cut some of the chassis parts out on the CNC mill









Some paint work was done this morning. The cab is just primed as I have some piping to attach and don't want to scratch the paint.


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## fsts2k (Jan 13, 2009)

Really enjoying this build. Could you share what lathe and mill you use? I am starting to investigate going down the path of purchasing some machines primarily for live steam and model use?


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

The lathe is a MicroMark 7 x 14 which is ok for most operations but if you have the room and cash, the bigger the better on lathes, as the bigger heavier ones are more rigid.
The Mill is the 7 x 28 one shown here
Weiss Mills
They are all made in China so there are other brands with the same specs The pricing is in limbo because of the trade problems


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## fsts2k (Jan 13, 2009)

Thanks Bill! I have been considering the Precision Matthews machines, helps to know the size you are using. Trying not to go too large but would like to make sure I don't go too small (e.g. Sherline).


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Those look like high quality machines. Pretty large for a small shop but if you have the room go for it.


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

I got the decals and painted the cab and added the steam generator and decorative piping. The generator and the vertical pipe next to it will emit steam


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

WOW, beautiful as always! Great job!

Pardon my ignorance but what is the other pipe next to the dynamo output?

Greg


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

Bill,

It's really looking good. 

Greg,

Not an ignorant question at all. I'm pretty sure these are the only locomotives around that have this set up.

That pipe is called a side stack. These locomotives have fixed valve gear so there is no way to reduce the cutoff. When steaming hard, the exhaust creates too much back pressure and too strong of a draft. The engineer has a valve that can vent some of the exhaust steam out the side stack, bypassing the exhaust nozzle.

Roger


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

THANKS GREG
ROGER CAN PROBABLY EXPLAIN IT BETTER BUT IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH RELEASING STEAM PRESSURE WHILE GOING UP OR DOWN THE GRADE. THERE IS ALSO ONE COMING OUT THE CAB ROOF. ONE FOR UPHILL AND ONE FOR DOWN I THINK???


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks guys, very interesting. Will we get to eventually see a video? Not complaining at all, just something more to look forwards to!

Greg


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

The track layout is not completed yet but I am sure Roger will video it. It just may take a while


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

I will probably not be able to get the layout built before winter but I do plan to build at least a temporary track to have something to run on. Video will be posted for sure.


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

I finished up the engine today
The stack was changed to the new version and the cab roof and boiler fittings were finished. 
I just remembered that I haven't made the safety yet so I will do it tomorrow.


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for posting this beautiful and unusual build. Great pipe work detail. Will it be RC'ed?


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Thanks Winn
It will run on a 50 foot point to point track just like the real one so it will need RC to reverse it at the top.
I am using a Ruby reverser which can easily reverse the four cylinders and also be used to control speed.


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

I'll look forward to seeing it in operation.


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

I finished the tender this week
The frame is brass with the wheel legs made from steel and CNC cut. They have a ridge around them like the prototype. the wheels are Shapways.


















The hardest part of the tender is the upper fairing which tilts out on the side and rear. Looking at a photo of the prototype, I see that it is made in several pieces. I start by cutting card stock for the side and rear profiles and then make the transition piece by cutting out a cone section and trimming it to size. Then using the card stock as a pattern, I cut out the pieces in brass, bend the transition piece to make the cone section and solver solder the pieces together.









The deck is 1/16" flat stock. I have been using .032" sheet stock for my cabs and tenders lately as once it is annealed, it bends easily and the thicker material has less chance of oil-canning when it is heated up. the main body is made of four sections. the rear piece is rivet embossed on the ends and bent to shape around a steel dowel. The sides are rivet embossed on the top and the water legs are bent on a larger dowel. A bulkhead is then made to fit across the fron. Everything is soldered with StayBrite to make it water tight as the fuel tank will be in a water bath here.









I painted it yesterday and decaled it this morning. I am waiting for a battery box for the RC and will install the fuel tank after I mount it.


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

Dupe post.


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

Bill,

All I can say is wow, it looks great. The tender is the icing on the cake. The flare top came out better than I could have imagined. 

I cannot wait to see it in action.

Roger


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Thanks
Sorry about the duplicate images. I am still trying to get used to the new format. I tried to delete the dups under edit but I couldn't find anything there


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

That looks wonderful, Bill. Great Job...


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Thanks Stan
Your decals really came out great


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks, Bill. It's always a pleasure working with you. 😊😊😊👍👍👍👍


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## Naptowneng (Jun 14, 2010)

Bill- been a great pleasure following along with your latest build, and fascinating choice of locomotive. Thanks for entertaining and educating us,

Jerry


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## bonzo1953 (Dec 27, 2007)

Here is some 2007 video from Mt. Washington RR.





Great project! I look forward to seeing operation videos.

Keep 'em Steamin'
John


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

After a less than gentle shipment by the USPS, a 4 plus month wait for them to settle the claim and a trip back to Bill's shop for repair, the locomotive is home and climbing.

While I need still need to make some small adjustments, it works as it is supposed to. I have to thank Bill for taking on this unique project. His innovating thinking really shows through here.

I also have to thank Mike (amich35) for the suggestion for the rack holders. They simplified that aspect greatly.

The coach was drawn in CAD based on plans of the original. I had the multiple thicknesses of plywood laser cut. Handwork was kept to a minimum and tabs and slots were used to keep alignment as much as possible.
















Video will follow.

Roger


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

Here's a short test run. The dancing tender is due to me not realizing that the drawbar was detached and was being pulled by the gas hose. Fortunately it didn't part, otherwise things could have gotten exciting.


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Looks good Roger
The coach turned out great
It looks like the safety is going off a lot so maybe you will want to turn the gas down on future runs


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

Thanks Bill.

Yes, I definitely was making too much steam. The last few runs I've gotten the burner to where the safety only pops off occasionally.


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

That's magnificent, Bill has done a great job that seems to work well even down hill which is where I thought a problem would occur. What will the gradient be on your track that the loco will push it's coach up and down on and how long a run do get out of it ? 
A fascinating prototype and model, ideal train for a small line to display steam power at a show or similar.
Russell


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## Belpaire (Feb 15, 2008)

Russell,

The maximum gradient is about 18.5%. So far I have been keeping the run time pretty short as I am still getting a feel for it and making sure everything is working as it should. Water condensing in the cylinders is the cause for jackrabbit start on the downhill runs. Once it's moving it is very controllable.


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