Issue with BLI PRR Mountain

[shark_jj]

During today's Open House the side rods on my Broadway M1 Mountain fell off on the one side.  It appears to be a pin which is pushed in which holds them together.  After a bit of work I was able to align the side rods and the washer and push the pin back through into the hole in the wheel.   The engine moved with a definite hitch in the movement.  Took the in back out and re-installed.  This time I am getting no movement.  I am a complete neophyte when it comes to steam engine drive trains, so clearly I am doing something wrong, I just don't know enough, to know what that is.  Can anyone shine some light on this for me.  Here is a photo of the current configuration of the side rods after a I pushed the pin back in.

[eric220]

Your drivers are out of alignment. Look at the where the leading driver is touching the rail versus the second and third driver. That will definitely cause a hitch.

[eric220]

Actually, the whole valve gear is tangled. That will definitely muck things up!

[shark_jj]

Eric, that is good to know, however, let me stress neophyte when it comes to steam.  What do you mean by tangled, and what steps do I take to correct the problem.

[eric220]

Sorry, I was looking for a photo. Compare yours to the one below:



You need to take the pin out again, align everything like the picture, and put the pin back in.

[narrowminded]

The piston rod is jacked upwards as well as the piston rod guide.  Don't know what started the sequence, the guide dislocating or a bind that caused the guide to be displaced.  I don't have one to look for likely culprits.

[Chris333]

You'll want to straighten this out first:

[shark_jj]

Chris, thankyou for that picture.  We saw that too and straightened out the "piston rod guide" and the engine ran both forwards and backwards for about 2 feet in each direction before it again bound up. 

[shark_jj]

If someone had an M1 and could take a photo exactly the same as the one I posted so that we could compare the location of everything, that would be helpful. 

[peteski]

No photo of that model, but this might be helpful.

[Paradise275]

John, read your PM. I have one and am just around the corner from you.
I'll give it to you tomorrow to look at .

Rick

[mmagliaro]

I'd like to see another photograph now that you have the valve guide straight and not jacked up in the air like that.
The drivers are not out of quarter, which is a good thing.

You probably need to just rotate that crank you are re-inserting to  a different spot in its rotation before you
put it back in.  But first...
take a photo of it the way it is now, please.

[Point353]

[chicken45]

Honestly, steam engine linkage things are quite intimidating, so don't feel bad. It took me following a step by step picture disassembly guide for me not be absolutely terrified working with them.

[shark_jj]

Max, I think you are correct and it is the crank which is in the wrong place.  We can get it running for a few feet and then it binds again and stops.  That being said, my good friend Justin who has better eyes and steadier hands than I took one more crack at getting it in the right position.  As the saying goes, "no good deed goes unpunished", somehow the tiny washer which fits between the rods went adrift on this last try.  We have been unable to locate it anywhere on the workbench and suspect it is caught up in the mechanism of the loco somewhere.  I had to go out this evening (daughters 40th), so I will try to locate the washer again in the morning when the light is better and I am more alert.  Failing success, it looks like I will be boxing it up and returning it to Broadway for service.  If I do locate it, I will try to put everything back together and post the photo you requested. 

Thanks everyone for your input, it was helpful.  This was our first attempt to service a steam locomotive and I take my hat off to those off you who do this regularly, it is a whole different beast from working on diesels.