Whissendine 2006 Miniature Steam Rally
Saturday 3rd June - Sunday 4th June

This page contains a pictorial account of how I got on at Whissendine.  Since this page contains a lot of pictures I have immediately started another steaming page to detail improvement I am making as a result of experiences gained at the rally.  There is more text at the foot of the page.

Raising steam

We were sited next to Frank with his Garrett 7nhp Traction Engine

Conclave of ModelWorks Burrells

Roy driving his ModelWorks Burrell

Steve on his Hornsby Chain Tractor

Setting off on the road run to the village

Made it to the pub!

The scene in the pub car park

Setting off back to the rally field

Turning off for the final leg back up to the rally field

To date I have used ether smokeless or low smoke coal and was initially delighted at the chance to try some Smokey coal.  The novelty soon wore of and by the second day I had switched back to smokeless Anthracite. I was attracted to the rally by the road runs and the three runs down to the pub were the highlight of the weekend.  The engine performed well and had no difficulty pulling me back to the rally field in second gear.  I was even able to fully notch up the reverser but this was my undoing when I discovered the engines reluctance to start when notched up.  Just short of the rally field I had to stop and my efforts to restarted caused the engine to primed badly covering me in a shower of sooty water.  I estimate that the return trip to the pub of 1.5 miles used 25 liters of water (a tender full).  

The injector continued to play up and I only once managed to get it to pick up.  Roy was having similar problems with his injector but his problems were compounded by failure of the pump.  From talking to Steve I know he is committed to remedying the injector problems but to date a sure fire fix has not been found.

On the second day I noticed that the lubricator was not working and fortunately I was able to use some of Franks WD40 to wash out the thick oil from the non return clutches.  The difference it made was dramatic and from using no oil the engine use a whole pot on the run down to the pub.  It is clear that it is necessary to regularly wash out the lubricators clutches with WD40.  The oil flow is excessive and when the engine has run in a bit more I shall reduce the oil flow by reducing the thickness of the spacer between the O rings.

I had a toughly enjoyable time and wish to thank all those from the Melton Mowbray & District Model Engineering Society for organizing a brilliant rally.  A special thanks to who ever organized the weather - it was excellent.