A very good friend passed several years ago, he worked at Patricroft mpd, he did the Caprotti valve gear ! he once showed me drawings he had been given and he kept them in a tube at home, after his funeral his wife rang me and asked me to call and take whatever I wanted that Henry had collected, I asked about the tube with the drawings but she had disposed of the tube, she had no interest in any of her husbands collections, it's a shame everything he had relating to his job he treasured.
Am I right in saying that 71000 was actually unique and was a three cylinder engine not a two cylinder engine like 70000 Britannia ? Also how do you get the stunning paint finish on your locomotives. Do you have a professional paint shop with a paint booth to get that beautiful paint finish?
You are quite right - 71000 is a one off with three cylinders and also was unuaual in having Caprotti rotatary cam valve gear which was also fitted to a few Black 5s and 30 BR standard class5s. It was deemed a failure due to high coal consumption and poor steaming - both of these were faiirly easily rectified in preservation by redesigning the ash pan and fitting the Kylchap exhaust which was never fittied when the loco was built
I've since long been searching the entire web to get a glimpse of the Caprotti valve gear in motion. And here it is. Yeah, I really think, that British steam locomotives after WWII belongs among the most advanced ever put in service - their full potential are not even fully understood to this day.
I assume this would be possible with a plastic ring, say made of glass filled nylon or maybe the molybdenum disulphide impregnated stuff.. well, other than the part about hitting it with a torch anyway!
All still progressing well,…… but we’ve just been too busy to edit the videos together. The next 3 films are all half edited in my phone waiting for me to get time to finish them! I’ll try n get the next one out soon! 😭
I have been privileged enough to see many sights with my own eyes, things which still leave me with awe when I think back on those memories and recollections. I can comfortably say this locomotive in this video is hands down one of the coolest and most amazing works of man I have ever seen done not for "practical" purpose, but out of love and passion for a niche. The level of detail for no other reason than "the details are important to what we want to do with this" is not only admirable, but astounding. I came here from the thumbnail showing the largest model locomotive I had ever seen, but I stayed for the love and passion put into this project. My closeted autism is thoroughly pleased, and I will be promptly go from watching this video to playing Railway Empire via Steam lol. Well done old chaps.
Just binged through all 20 episodes in a couple of days and am looking forward to the next. Impressive use of the boring head and 90deg milling attachment!
Surely putting the oil feed hole and groves in the crown of the bearing will destroy the “oil wedge “ which in these type of bearing is standard mechanism of lubrication , feed by the spring loaded pads in the base ?
Just watching Michael Portillo in Australia (Great Australian railway journeys ) and he visited the Tully Sugar plantation. Slightly more modern loco being used now! How about that.
Thanks John! It certainly did. They’d obviously been missing for some time too as the axle had worn away the casting. Next episode very nearly ready to publish 😁
A very dear Late friend Henry was a fitter at Patricroft mpd, he worked there until closure and moved to Wigan Springs Branch MPD, Henry used to work on the Caprotti black 5s he used to tell me they were quite complex but once set up correctly were very efficient! he had all the drawings rolled up in a cardboard tube! I , he always said the drawings were rare, I think he was the only one at Patricroft that worked on the Caprotti loco's when Henry passed his wife rang me and asked me to call and take what I wanted of Henry's collection of books and memorabillia, when I enquired about the cardboard tube with the Caprotti drawings I was told she had put them in the refuse bin! I'm sure nowadays they would be very collectable.
Where did you get the waterjet profiles from? :) I've had a few parts done for my traction engine but wasn't happy with the finish, and they weren't even near the thickness of your parts!
Hey guys, great job. Love seeing the updates. Found this video of where the engine could have been working. Thought you might find it interesting / useful: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uZZnrxvQTzI.htmlsi=hw2K-ljW6nmXjaAJ
