Sir Ding Dong.
by John
Not much happening in the workshop. Visited by my middle daughter and family this weekend.
The boys are now 3, and responsive enough to not touch hot or moving parts and to watch out for wriggly pets. I have seen 3 so far this season.
So we decided to give the boys some exposure to live steam. They were intrigued by lighting the fire in the boiler, then adding wood and coal, and building up steam. Nervously then enthusiastically operating the whistle.
Then the fun bit.
Sir Ding Dong is a 3″ scale 2 cylinder compound steam traction engine. It will tow this load easily.
We have had virtually no autumn rain yet, and the ground cover is very dry. But it was a sunny and windless day, so it seemed safe enough to operate the steam engine. No problems. The kids, aged 3 to 69, loved it.
Oh, and by the way, the Trevithick dredger engine boiler passed its final inspection! WooHoo!
johnsmachines 
Congratulations on the Trevithic boiler inspection, as you say WooHoo.
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WooHoo again. And thanks.
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Congratulations on passing inspection. I had thoughts about your burner but before I could even share them, I noticed that you’d filled the holes that were letting in secondary air and beefed up the burner. Looks splendid!
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Thanks Richard. The burner which finally achieved the pressure to lift the safety valve and get the boiler certification, will likely not be used again. Because it looks wrong for the Trevithick era. I am still considering the slitted tube type, which will fit behind the very nice fire box door which took so much effort. I really need to achieve only 25-30psi to make it run well for demos. John
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I am always amazed by the pulling power of seemingly small steam engines.
I bet the kids loved it!
Looking forward to meeting you at the York steam museum in a few short weeks
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Had a great day. Adult kids too! Yes for York!
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