1-Cylinder Wonder

Might be a silly question but who did your Father insure Dane with?

This is a video of mine I took ticking over in the drive at home. I've had lost of old bits and bobs over the years and of all of them I was most upset about letting this go and still bitterly regret it now. They are pretty fast on the road too. MtB? Sorry I don't follow you are going to have to explain. John

I had a Lanz Bulldog tractor. They have a 10.8 litre single hot bulb in them. If you want loud then they pretty much beat anything. To help silence them they had a plate half way through the exhaust which was slightly domed and full of holes like a sieve. This had the effect of dramatically silencing the engine. I ran it a few times without it and it was almost unbearable to be around. You can add additional layers of these plates spaced out through the exhaust to silence it further. They would easy to fabricate to fit your exhaust box. Always be mindful though that with a 2 stroke any back pressure in the exhaust can cause havock with the running of the engine. Keep the bore of the exhaust as it was when it comes from the exhaust box if possible and if it has more than one elbow you will need to increase the diameter to compensate. Otherwise the engine will just coke up. John

Mike, Did you get sorted out? The Zundfix things and the Field Marshall starters will not work on your engine as the compression will be too low. They are designed for full diesel engines not surface ignition engines like yours. My pettrer S used to have fireworks. They are ok but I only ever used them in an emergency. The unburnt cartridge can clog the exhaust ports. I hate to say that the lamp is always the best option and preferably parafin as it is quicker and despite what most say a lot safer than propane. Electric plugs do work and I Know of a reliable source for them but you would probly have to machine an adapter for the fitting in your cylinder head. Hope this might help and message me if you want any more detail. John

I think the additional cost of maintenance is what puts people off. What it costs me to keep my engines going makes running a boat seem pretty cheap. I rather imagine that once an issue comes along where serious work is required to repair the boiler the whole steam plant is often removed and replaced with an "ordinary" engine. I remember a boat called, I think, the Swan as a child that we used to pass when out on Summer holidays possibly in the 70's/80's. It was moored on the T&M I think. John

Marine Boilers and locomotive boilers are of different design and the exhaust blast is not used to create draught for the fire hence no chuff. Compounding does make some difference but if an engine is working hard it is not that noticeable to the ear. Non-compunding (single cylinder) engines usually work at lower pressure so the exhaust blast pressure is not that disimilar to a compound that will run at a higher pressure to facilitate the benefits of compounding. It is the venturi effect of the exhaust being routed through the chimney that creates the draught and the sound created is the chuff. Its very nice to see such enthusiasm for steam on canals again after it seemed to have wained a few years ago. I sold my boat and bought a steam roller and now own a traction engine onced owned by G. Garside of Leighton Buzzard who also had their own fleet of boats. The engine was used to take sand from the pits down to the railway and to the wharf for onward shipment. I think it is the only engine left with a direct canal connection. FMC did own a number of Foden Steam Waggons but I think none survived. Sorry for going a bit off topic. John

Run on high compression always. On canals in a pleasure boat you will never load the engine up enough to merit running on low. Running on low will encourage carbon build up round the valves (inlet/outlet not just high low) and can cause damage long term. Running on high doesn't reduce your boating or vintage prowess. John

The 9hp Petter S that they fitted to these boats was woefully inadequate. They are nothing like as powerful as a bolinder pup. Also because they had a reversing gearbox fitted which gave a slight reduction in reverse the boatmen were instructed to reverse the engine by hand before setting off down the river with the current so they would put the gearbox in forwards to obtain reverse at full 1:1 to have the best chance of arresting their speed. "Wouldn't pull a greasy man out of bed" is the expression I believe! John

I did know of a rusty barrell. I wonder if it is the same one? John

Tim, I looked at doing this to a Petter S to rectify a worn bore once. I luckily managed to find an oversize piston from a donor engine. The big problem is that you will get differential expansion around the air intake ports and exhaust ports. You might have to leave the the bore a little bit sloppy than you might like to stop the piston from pinching in the bore when the engine gets hot. The area around the exhaust port can grow a lot. As others have said a good press fit held in with loctite will keep it there. John

No I don't. I have seen them come up for sale in holland before though. I think some enquiries through some of the museums/associations there would turn one up pretty quickly. There are quote a few M1 engines for sale. A call to the seller might find that a spare sprayer body and nozzle might be available as a separate transaction. Just a case of looking around. I know a firm in Germany that specialises in the refurb of hot bulb jets. John

The silencers on marine engines are water jacketed to reduce the risk of fire. Simple as that. A silencer without a jacket would not have got Lloyd's approval for use on board ship. I know this engine well. I imported it from Holland. Part of the problem is that the installation of the plumbing in the cooling system encourages a lot of pressure. This should not be the case and is a fault of the fitters not the engine! The easiest way to repair this would be to braze it. If done buy a skilled individual it can look brilliant and does not rely as much on the integrity of the original material as welding. I had a brazed frost repair on the side of the exhaust box on my Petter S that looked wonderful. John

I have been in Tringford and seen the pumps running. Whilst it is easy to think of "electric" pumps as something small and whizzy these are large, old and rather beautiful electric motors. I think open frame if I remember correctly. Tringford was previously powered by Mirlees Blast Injection diesel engines. I don't know if this was the case for the other Northern Engines as Mirlees were not small so for some sites may have been too big. Of course before that steam. I also have a feeling that some of the pump houses are not the original buildings. Some being rebuilt after the steam plant was disposed of but I might be wrong on this. There are pictures of the engines around. I can't remember where though. A quick call to Gloucester would probably yield good results. Museums enjoy being given a research job. It's makes a change from school parties and supervising volunteers! John

Tom Foxon wrote a book on the Station Boats. It is largely a research document with extracts from registers and the lists of boats. I have a copy from when I owned ex. LMS Finch. Not sure where it is now though but you should seek out a copy. John

Bolinder produced many things. Here is a link to professionally produced video by Volvo outlining the history. John