The first run was completed in late July 2013 and it seemed like success all round.

The next run was an evening run in early August 2013 when the water pump by pass valve would not close so no water was pumped into the boiler by the axle pump and the injector decided not to operate either so I had to resort to the hand pump and that was a lot of hard work.

Taking off the original injector fitted when the loco was new I found that the inlet cone had been much warn away leaving pointy spikes where a nice round end should have existed. I decided to buy a new injector and make a new by pass valve.

9th August 2013

Once both of these parts were fitted I fired up the loco and found the bypass valve worked 100% but the injector just spat water at me when the steam was applied to the cold water flow.

10th August 2013

Searching the web revealed that any entry of air into the water feed will be evidenced by spluttering from the over-flow pipe. This was exactly what I had.

Talking to two members of the club to which I belong gave me several ideas to check.

Firstly it was suggested that I carry a piece of rubber tube so that it could be placed over the overflow outlet and when water is on and steam is then applied it will blow water back into the tank and clear any blockage. Of course as the tank has a filter the filter would need to be removed first.

Secondly one can check the operation of the injector by using a piece of rubber tube directly fitted onto the water inlet of the injector and allow the injector to raise water from a bowl of cold water. If that works then you know that the injector itself is not at fault but ones plumbing is at fault and the likely cause is air into the water inlet.

Thirdly the most likely fault is the gland of the water inlet valve allowing air into the water flow due to the vacuum caused by the injector sucking water from the tank.

Having made all the checks I could do with out a fire and steam I detected that when I had the tube on the water overflow and blew into it not only could I hear air passing into the boiler proving that whilst not under pressure the clack was not stuck but I could also detect air hissing out of the outlet from the water valve.

Tightening up the nut on the pipe did not cure the problem so I detached the pipe from the injector and it just about fell away from the valve. the nipple had fractured and now had broken off.

With a new nipple silver soldered in place the blowing on the pipe now did not cause any leakage of air from the union that I could detect. So I am now ready to steam again and all being well the replacement injector will now perform well.