I intend to build a Gauge 3 live steam model of a Southern 0-6-0. I want it to be piston valved and with a Southern valve gear (if possible). I'm not a "rivet counter" but I would like to get fairly close to a prototypical appearance. I would, therefore, need photos and line drawings. Is this information available in any form? I would be willing to work hard to get it! I just need to know which way to turn.

-- Ray Redmond (redray6@bellsouth.net), June 15, 1998

Answers

Ray, As far as I know (always careful to make that qualification when speaking about Southern steam!), all Southern 0-6-0's, classes A through A9, were saturated steam engines with slide valves. Pis- ton valves are a rarity on saturated engines (although BC&G 4, dis- guised as Southern 604, up at Spencer is a saturated engine with piston valves)--all the Southern 0-6-0's were built with slide valves and I don't know of any that were changed over to superheated or fitted with piston valves. All of Southern's 0-8-0 switchers (classes As10 and As11) were superheated, and they had piston valves. Slide valves do not work well with superheated steam. I think most of Southern's 0-6-0's had Stephenson valve gear--an As10 or As11 0-8-0 with Southern valve gear would be more prototypically correct. Lamar

-- Lamar Wadsworth (LW.Sou.Ry.steam@juno.com), June 17, 1998.

Southern valve gear is one of the most simpilest gears i can think of that goes along the line of the prototype, "Baker Valvegear." You are correct, superheated steam don't work well with slide valves. If you ever noticed, railroads transformed some of their locomotives with piston valves and re-routed the steams lines to make it work like a slide valve. All you have to do is connect the drypipe to the the exhaust ports, and connect the exhaust to the old dry line port. These proved to work better than piston valves. On example is on the GeorgeTown Loop R.R. . Number 40 has on of these types of slide valves. I'm 15 from the Iniana Transportation Museum, and we run a 2-8-2, ex-nickel plate Loco. Good luck on your loco. Right back.

Jmann

-- NKP587 (Jmann_Jmann@yahoo.com), February 02, 2002.