Injector System Modifications
Because
I had modified the Feldbahn to take the water for both injectors from
the driving truck (and disconnected both onboard water tanks) I had to
modify the injector plumbing. Also my experience of operating
a
Stafford locomotive had shown that the single biggest improvement in
injector reliability had come from relocating the injectors away from
the chassis frames adjacent to the firebox to a cooler location.
So even though different injectors are fitted to the Feldbahn
than those on my very early specification Stafford I decided that while
modifying the injector water feed pipes I may as well relocate both
injectors to a cooler location at the same time. The photo on
the
left shows where they ended up.
The injector was originally
connected to the pipe union that can be seen at the extreme right of
the photo. If I had left the injector there I would have
fitted
an extension to the injector overflow pipe that went to the same
position as the pipe at the bottom left of the photo. This
makes
the injector overflow very visible to the driver so that he can see
exactly what the injector is doing, a very useful feature if you have
problems operating injectors.
The new overflow outlet
assembly is silver soldered together and the bright (over exposed in
the photo)
brass mounting plate is bolted through the rear buffer beam of the
Feldbahn. The injector overflow pipe is a simple loose slide
fit
in the top of this overflow assembly. The water for the
injector
now comes from the front of the water valve via 8mm copper tubing to
allow as little resistance to the flow as possible and only contracts
to the 1/4" tubing required by the injector as it reaches the injector
gland nut.
The first test run of the Feldbahn showed that
everything worked satisfactorily, but I'll never know if the injectors
really needed relocating as I never did any trials with them in the "as
supplied" position. However to me that doesn't matter
and I'm happy with the revised installation.
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