Thought I would share my experience, this is the first time firing a Traction Engine for me in 40 years!
The New D405/1 came with only 2 Esbit tablets, I have ordered a TE BIX burner for it today...BUT...I need to hear her Chuff!
I now have 4 bottles of Wilesco oil on hand and one bottle of Shell 460 steam oil, one member commented his Wilesco's run quieter running all day at steam shows on thicker oil. I have never played with the thicker oils so I put 2 drops Wilesco oil in bottom of new engine oiler and topped off with about 6 drops of 460 oil. (Mixed drink cocktail) Oiled all external pivot points with 3 in 1 oil was all I had on hand. Heated distilled water in microwave till very hot and filled boiler.
The current Esbit seems a bit different formula from 40 years ago, I remember bright white and hard/Crunchy, this new stuff is off white and a bit wax feel. I cut 1 tablet in half the long way to see if the engine would run on just one tablet total cut in half, to my surprise it Roared to life in under 2 minutes of heat time.
This engine runs MUCH more quiet and smooth than my brothers Old Smokey, I will have to bring him some 460 oil to see if that is the ticket. There is a slight clanging sound coming from the drive gears and I have heard Wilesco TE's are known for this, think I saw some threads on how to improve this but need to go look.
When the steam ran down I pulled the fire tray and this time I added only a single Esbit cut in half and she came back to life in 30 seconds as the boiler water still hot. I did add a couple drops of steam oil during fire tending chores. She runs just fine just above idle speed on a Single 1/2 tablet.
I finished out the run with the last 1/2 tablet and got nearly 40 minutes of run time total with the brief stops (fire chores) included. The boiler water was still OVER 1/3 up the sight Glass so I think it may be possible to get close to 1 hour out of it (running at idle)
I am thrilled it Runs so well, was a bit concerned about the cheaper steam valves (may upgrade) but they worked well enough, they are a bit sticky at operating temps so it's hard to get tiny speed adjustments but a couple trys gets you close to what you want.
So much fun to have live steam right on the kitchen table...and I get to Operate in my pajamas and bunny slippers to boot....whats not to love about that?
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