Monday, March 2, 2009

First fire-up!


My good pal Phil Reader was in town on Thursday last week, and I decided it was high time to light a fire in the shay as it was close enough to being ready. I set up a small 2 gallon tank of diesel and lit her off.



The burner which came from the 2-spot at Billy Jones came to life and within seconds I had a nice fire going.



In about 30 minutes the needle was off the peg, and steam was building.



Another 30 minutes has passed. During this time about 1 gallon of fuel had been used and I had to top off the tank as I was loosing head pressure. I started using my home-brewed bio diesel.




The first safety is lifting at 125# psi. Everything looks good! I am working on my punch list and so far only 5 minor items to deal with.



Two of the three trucks are reconditioned and ready to re-install under the locomotive.

Here are a couple of videos of the first steam up. Thanks to Phil Reader for his help, encouragement and for having a camera ready!