Roundhouse Russell

 

Both Chris Haley and Iain MacLean reported back that the Russell chimney is shorter than other Roundhouse locos and that in order for the sounding slot to be well inside the chimney (for maximum sound), the Chuffer needs to be mounted with the top nearly flush with the top of the chimney. In order to achieve this, we are recommending that the pipes are cut at 66mm rather than the 72mmfor most twin exhaust locos.

 

Dave Watson was new to dismantling 16mm locos so enlisted a more experienced enthusiast to advise and it turned out to be quite simple. Dave's fitting notes are as follows:

 

"To fit the Chuffer to a Roundhouse Russell you first need to remove the two bolts that go down vertically behind the front buffer beam. (On mine the heads are painted black on these). This allows you to remove the front platform/front saddle of the smoke box.

 

Next remove the brass bolts that hold the smoke box itself in place. There are two on each side of the loco, easily visible below the dummy tanks. On each side the bolt nearest the front of the loco also holds the bodywork in place.  The smoke box and chimney can now be removed and lifted off the twin exhaust pipes without any force."

 

Roundhouse Bertie

Peter Clarke discovered the need to fit Bertie's Chuffer lowe due to the long chimney. He also wrote the following not on removing Bertie's smokebox:

 

"Simple to remove the smokebox, just undo the bolt on the front, slide out the running plate, slacken the boiler band that grips the smokebox lugs, and then simply slide the smokebox off the boiler and over the top of the exhaust pipes. " Here is a video I made which shows the process in detail:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roundhouse Darjeeling B

Dave Mees was the first to tackle fitting a Chuffer to his Darj and using his method, owner Ralph Pitcher and I fitted a Chuffer to his loco. I have added to Dave's notes in the light of our experience. If in doubt please check out our Chuffer Fitter's services!

 

The smoke-box on the darj is in the form of a wrapper which is clamped together underneath by two 8 BA screws and bolts. This clamps it to the boiler and to the smoke-box front. The awkward bit is that the dummy steam pipes straddle the real one, meaning that the boiler must be lifted at the front to clear this.

 

Right then - put the loco on something soft and have something to store the bits in safely - and here goes!

 

1) Remove front sandbox by undoing the single screw inside.  

2) Remove Saddletank by undoing the two srews holding it to the frame.

3) Undo the two 8BA clamping screws/nuts beneath smokebox and remove and store.

4) Using a pair of long nosed pliers, ease the unclamped wrapper apart and remove the smoke-box front.

5) You now need to be able to lift the front of the boiler. Undo and remove the front brass boiler band which clamps the boiler to a spur on the frame spacer.

6) Undo and remove the single brass screw and nut inside the front of the coal bunker.

7) Loosen but do not remove the single screw holding the burner to the footplate - this is central under the cab in a slotted hole.

8) Now remove smokebox /chimney assembly by springing it apart and wriggling the dummy steam pipes past the live steam feeds to the valve chests. Two pairs of hands are useful here!

9) Cut and fettle both exhausts as per the instructions - approx 82mm from top of chimney. (note that this is a lower cut than others (except Bertie) as the Darj has a longer chimney and the adapter must be at least 4mm clear of the bottom of the chimney to allow clear passage for the gas - check this and check again befor cutting!)

10) Fit Chuffer. We had to ease the pipes apart and tap it gently into position.

11) Reverse 1 to 8 - making sure that the boiler is pushed firmly up against the smokebox before tightening the burner screw under the cab. And before fitting the smoke-box front, check that the Chuffer slot is well away from the chimney wall. If necessary, bend the copper tube a little.