I was off the list for a number of months, so what I'm writing may have been
covered already. If so, sorry for the repetition.
Everybody remarks on how strong a steamer the Aster Mikado is. I decided
that's certainly true after having run it all winter at temperatures from
about 25 to 55 degrees and having it blow the safety constantly even with
the blower valve cracked open. After running the Mike just once at about 85
degrees this spring, however, I decided it wasn't just a strong steamer. It
(or at least mine) is way over-fired when assembled according to Aster's
instructions.
I wasn't surprised to come to this conclusion since Bob Paule at Sulpher
Springs (where I bought the kit) told me when I bought it that all the Mikes
he had seen run were blowing the safety valves almost constantly.
There's an easy fix for this. It makes running the locomotive more enjoyable
and saves large amounts of water and alcohol.
You just take the burner out and mount adjusting sleeves on the middle and
rear wickholders. The sleeve I put on the middle holder can be raised to the
top of the wick and the one on the rear holder can be raised half way up the
wick. I haven't had to use the rear sleeve at all, only the one on the
middle wick holder.
The first time I ran the loco at about 85 degrees I got steam up, raised the
middle sleeve to the top of the wick, closed the blower, and started the
train off. There was just the tiniest wisp of steam at the safety, meaning
it was all set to blow. But it never did.
I got so enthralled watching the train work entirely on its own without
constant monitoring that I forgot to refill the tender. The train started to
slow down and I blew out the fire immediately. Of course, the boiler was
almost dry.
I had started with a full water tank in the tender and with a boiler about
70% full. That much water lasted almost an hour while pulling 7 cars, one of
them an Aristocraft gondola with a scrap metal load modelled in resin. The
alcohol consumption was just under 1/2 the tender tank.
The first thing I did after that run was add a water level indicator to the
tender tank, so that I don't need to stop the train to know when to refill
the tender.
As nice as these changes will be for cool weather operation (I won't have to
take my hands out of my pockets so often), I've found them essential for
warm weather running.
The locomotive has gone from needing constant inspection to needing none.
Just dump in some water when the indicator says to and add alcohol about
every third or fourth water stop.
Victor Lacy
