Fascinating machine! No power steering, right? But how do you drive it? Looks like you’re using a small crank to control the steam, but is there no "gas pedal"? :)
Correct, no power steering so the slower you go the heavier it gets, not helped by this waggon being an 8 wheeler so there are two axles/four wheels at the front being manually turned. That becomes a problem where there's a very sharp corner because it also doesn't have a very tight turning circle either! It's a hand operated regulator/throttle, which is the small cranked handle to the left of the steering wheel. To the right of the driver is a lever for the hand brake, a lever that slides the cam shaft of the engine back and forth to align different sets of cams which changes the timing (can be changed whilst moving), and a lever that selects either 'high' or 'low' gear (only to be operated when stationary). On the floor is a steam operated foot brake pedal. To the left of the driver alongside their seat is a handle that operates the engine driven water pump to feed water into the boiler, and to the right of the driver are controls to operate the steam injector which also feeds water into the boiler. Sat on the left is the stoker who "just" has to feed the fire and keep the pressure up (which can be easier said than done, especially when looking down the firing shoot only lets you see a small portion of the fire grate).
@@IACooper Impressive! Do the brake pedal somehow disengage the drive? Stalling a steam engine must be a tad difficult... How many cylinders does it have?
@@cieludbjrg4706 No, there's no interlocking with the brake - the driver just has to close the regulator again if they want the brakes to work well! This one has two cylinders, but they're double-acting so it gives four power strokes per revolution. There's then a heavy duty chain drive to the rear axle. The other waggon that you can see infront is a later model, I think those do have a pedal operated regulator rather than hand operated, and those engines are four cylinder single acting - so still four power strokes per revolution. Those have shaft drive to the back axle. When one of those is buzzing along at 50mph they sound more like a diesel engined lorry! The top speed of the waggon the camera's travelling on is nearer 25-30mph.
Fascinating machine! No power steering, right? But how do you drive it? Looks like you’re using a small crank to control the steam, but is there no "gas pedal"? :)
Correct, no power steering so the slower you go the heavier it gets, not helped by this waggon being an 8 wheeler so there are two axles/four wheels at the front being manually turned. That becomes a problem where there's a very sharp corner because it also doesn't have a very tight turning circle either!
It's a hand operated regulator/throttle, which is the small cranked handle to the left of the steering wheel. To the right of the driver is a lever for the hand brake, a lever that slides the cam shaft of the engine back and forth to align different sets of cams which changes the timing (can be changed whilst moving), and a lever that selects either 'high' or 'low' gear (only to be operated when stationary). On the floor is a steam operated foot brake pedal.
To the left of the driver alongside their seat is a handle that operates the engine driven water pump to feed water into the boiler, and to the right of the driver are controls to operate the steam injector which also feeds water into the boiler. Sat on the left is the stoker who "just" has to feed the fire and keep the pressure up (which can be easier said than done, especially when looking down the firing shoot only lets you see a small portion of the fire grate).
@@IACooper Impressive! Do the brake pedal somehow disengage the drive? Stalling a steam engine must be a tad difficult... How many cylinders does it have?
@@cieludbjrg4706 No, there's no interlocking with the brake - the driver just has to close the regulator again if they want the brakes to work well! This one has two cylinders, but they're double-acting so it gives four power strokes per revolution. There's then a heavy duty chain drive to the rear axle.
The other waggon that you can see infront is a later model, I think those do have a pedal operated regulator rather than hand operated, and those engines are four cylinder single acting - so still four power strokes per revolution. Those have shaft drive to the back axle. When one of those is buzzing along at 50mph they sound more like a diesel engined lorry! The top speed of the waggon the camera's travelling on is nearer 25-30mph.
Well done Ian cracking video
Thank you for an enjoyable night out :o)