# Dr. Rivet's Narrow Gauge Meet report?



## seadawg (Jan 2, 2008)

Where's the usuall series of reports from last weekend's Steamup @ Jim's house??? I forgot my camera, so I only took a cuople of pictures with my iPhone. I had a good time, the maiden run of the newly converted C-16 ran flawlessly. I got a total of three runs, lasting about an hour each (No one was waiting for me to come off the main, I wasn't hogging!). 

Here's a closeup of the engine:












It pulled well and could have dragged quite a few more cars. The safety only lifted when the throttle was turned down low. I think I might be done!











The coolest thing is my oldest son asked a few weeks back if he could go along with me. I said to him, he needed to bring his grades up some. They came up! He has now assumed possesion of my Vance Bass / Ruby Forney and tried very hard to wear it out.










I had a great time, but need to work on my coal firing skillz (but that's another story).

My greatest thanks to Jim and Jo Anne


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## bottino (Feb 7, 2008)

Thanks for the great pictures. I have been hoping for more others who were there. That layout is really awe some, and the pictures are always really outstanding. Some time I wish I could go there when you have a meet. I don't even know where it is. Its probably a secret, right?


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## bottino (Feb 7, 2008)

Posted By bottino on 13 May 2010 11:56 AM 
Thanks for the great pictures. I have been hoping for more from others who were there. That layout is really awesome, and the pictures are always really outstanding. Some time I wish I could go there when you have a meet. I don't even know where it is. Its probably a secret, right?


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## Tom Bowdler (Jan 3, 2008)

Way to go Dave, 
Hooking the next generation is so important especially with motivation as a reward for school achievement! 
Was Royce there? Hhe seems to have dropped from the radar along with my invoice for recent purchases. 
Best, 
Tom


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

I forgot my camera in the living room.


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## seadawg (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Kovacjr on 13 May 2010 07:36 PM 
I forgot my camera in the living room. 

The lack of cameras is in no way reflecting upon the amount of steam generated, there was not a lot of dead track time. 

bottino, the meet is by invitation only, but not completely secret. It's located in Northern Virginia.

Tom, Royce was not there this time. Both of my sons were weaned on Thomas The Tank, that series has done a lot for this hobby, much of which is still simmering on the back burner....


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## Bob in Mich (Mar 8, 2008)

Dave,Check out My Aster "THOMAS"* watch the Slide Show*
http://picasaweb.google.com/weltyk/...ired?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ-P9_bhysXcdQ&feat=email#


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

I was a bit busy running my trains, but i did get a couple of shots.

Here's The Colonel's (livesteam5629) whimsical ex-Ruby based on Rowland Emmett's Far twittering and Oysterperch Railway:











Here's the Colonel prepping his other 7/8n2 loco, in the yard instead of the steaming bay?











My C-19 having a wonderful time (gives you some idea of the size of the layout):











And finally, a shot in the steaming bay of a few interesting engines, including the out-of-production Cheddar Philadelphia:


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## seadawg (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Bob in Mich on 14 May 2010 08:21 AM 
Dave,Check out My Aster "THOMAS"* watch the Slide Show*
http://picasaweb.google.com/weltyk/...ired?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ-P9_bhysXcdQ&feat=email# 

Bob, Awsome job on Thomas! Did you serialize the building process here? (Where'd you get those driving wheels?) 

Ooops, I mis-read. I didn't see the "Aster" in front of Thomas, what was the donor engine?


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## Bob in Mich (Mar 8, 2008)

Dave,Thomas was an Aster G.E.R.I am sorry to say that this engine was all soft sorder.Even the boiller was soft sorder.I got it at Diamondhead.It had had never been run.First time I had fired it up the Boiller Blew a Hole.Just goes to show You The Pre-Madona also Makes Mastakes.That is why I re-Built It.Now it run like a Clock.


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## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Guys 

I am amazed to see a single 40 foot D&RGW reefer in the yard - Phil's NG built by Chuck Naeser. In truth, almost every one put there cars in the "narrow gauge" yard out of habit from the days of shared SG / NG meets. Six folks ran on the 32mm almost the whole weekend, both steam and clockwork. That left the 45mm wide open for the rest of the crowd. As for steaming up in the yard, LTC's never think the rules are for them unless the SGM catches them not following them. Noel is beyond help, so I have to cut him some slack. It IS FUNNY that the only collision during three days involved trains operated by a COL and and an LTC. 

Thanks for the photos 

Jim


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

I finally had time to process my video from that weekend. (Mostly a 'Chuffer' demo as it was sounding great.)





_After about 15 mins, the chuff got very quiet, which made me wonder if it was getting clogged with steam oil. When I got home, I discovered the cause - the steam pipe that I added to extend the chuffer through the smokebox had de-soldered. That Micro-mark 'silver-bearing solder' is not the same thing as 'silver solder'. The former melts at ~400 degrees, the latter at ~1,100 degrees! I went out and bought some real silver solder from the bead shop and will be re-soldering it when I get a minute._


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## thumper (Jan 31, 2009)

Question: How do you clean an item that has been soldered? I've heard that you cannot silver solder an item if there has been an attempt to use regular solder.

Thanks,

Will


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

How do you clean an item that has been soldered? I've heard that you cannot silver solder an item if there has been an attempt to use regular solder 
I'm about to find out... 

Worst case is that I cut off the soldered part and use a fresh new tube. In fact, the 'Chuffer' is silver soldered at both ends - I briefly tried to remove their tube and insert a longer one, but their solder didn't melt. I might try again with my big torch. 

[BTW - my chuffer was for a C-21; I couldn't wait for a C-19 version, and I have a modified stack anyway.]


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## Larry Green (Jan 2, 2008)

Pete, I seem to remember that silver solder alloys with the pieces being joined and resist being melted apart. Suggest you go the make new parts route. 
I've had so much success with the high-temp (600f) JB Weld that I'm tempted to try it for applications like this. 

Larry


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Posted By thumper on 24 May 2010 06:05 AM 
Question: How do you clean an item that has been soldered? I've heard that you cannot silver solder an item if there has been an attempt to use regular solder.

Thanks,

Will
From my experience as a Silversmith (25 years and counting) I can tell you that the only safe way to resolder with higher melt solders is a complete mechanical removal. Grinding, filing, sanding, etc...

The lower temp solders will eat the base metal if left on. Even if both were the hard type solders.

Silver 'bearing' solders are stronger than regular, but not by much and were designed for house plumbing, not steam boilers.

Hard solders are 60 to 95% silver, the more alloy the less silvery the look (grey), not good for jewelry, so unless I had to add many different thicknesses I avoided the easy and extra easy silver solders and used Medium and Hard which melt near the melting point of silver. For hard, the sliver was a dull cherry red....

All my Silver soldering is/was done with an Acet/ Oxygen torch and small tips. Victor J-27 handpiece and tips #000, 01,1. The 000 is my workhorse, most used. I also have a Mini-torch that can be used to add details.

Maybe I should offer to solder up boilers for youse guys and then branch out to offer brass castings as well... I have all the equipment; burnout oven (lost wax casting) electromelt crucible and a vacuum assist casting table.... 

John


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## Shay Gear Head (Jan 3, 2008)

John,

With a name like totalwrecker I think I'll pass on your kind offer!


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

That's ok gearhead, you take care of the logs and I'll be doing the mining... in my case that would be The Total Wreck Mine....... 

John


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## seadawg (Jan 2, 2008)

Bruce, I saw you workin' that camera, where's all the pictures??? 

John, good to see you browsing these live steam pages, keep checking us out and see what things you might be able to provide with your casting equipment. (I'm thinking maybe some elbows and unions that could be soldered or brazed on to make some scale functional piping.)


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Dave, 
If it's about trains I figure there's always something to learn. 
I'm happy to share my knowledge in return. 

To pay for the electricity that would need to be a lot of elbows! Yes it can be done, but the mark up on brass isn't close to Sterling Silver so casting shops need to sell massive amounts. 
I'm trying to keep it in perspective. The process has many steps.... This below is a streamlined version, making a mold is a process, as is investing on the vacuum table. You'll see. 

First a Master must carved or fabricated. If carved (in wax) it's cast and cleaned and a vulcanised mold made. If the carving can withstand 350 degrees the a mold can be made from it, then a heated wax pot connected to an air comp and filled with wax is used to inject he mold. The mold is dusted (for air evac) then hot wax is injected. It is set aside to let cool. This process repeated until the required number of good waxes are saved. Then they are sprued and treed. Covered in investment plaster and baked for 6-8 hours (ramped up to 1350 degres F and then back down to around 900, I don't know the brass properties yet). The oven holds it there until the metal is melted. Then I flip on the vacuum pump, grab the tongs and pull the steel flask from the oven and set it in the casting table. Drop those tongs and grab the crucible tongs, lift out the melt and pour into the flask. After the button solidifies, grab the flask and quench in a big bucket of water while avoiding the vapors... retrieving the tree, it is wire brushed and then further cleaned in an ultrasonic and finally pickled in an acid bath. 
Then each piece must be cut off with out distorting the small bores (for pipe fittings). [Because metal shrinks as it solidifies from the thinest to the thickest, the sprue needs to be larger than the thickest part of the item and attached to it] ***** and plier type cutters can distort, so I favor seperating discs... another expense. Finally grinding off each sprue. 

Easy Peasy lol 

One of my dreams is to make a Sterling Silver loco... the oven will hold many flasks and I have more than one crucible... mebbe I can piggy back mine on yours.... well that was before the recessecion. My paystub is barely ahead of the bills. 

John


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## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

John 

Marklin produced a locomotive in HO that was cast in platinum, so Sterling Silver would be interesting as well. I hope the mine has plently of ore in it 

JJS


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