Martin Shaw
Western Thunderer
Looking out the RH side showing tank wider than cab.
Front with piano lid open showing cylinder front covers with valve chest cover in between them.
Smokebox and lum, note blower valve control on smokebox side and vacuum train pipe attached to footplate valance.
Blower monstrosity with vacuum ejector exhaust above.
The brass collar is attached to a rod inside the handrail which is operated from the cab control. So doing rotates the slotted lever, opening or closing the valve in the smokebox itself. It is a bloody awful thing with absolutely no finesse at all, shut or fully open. It proves beyond doubt that St Rollox possessed no-one with the whit, intellect or ability to design something even moderately better and is to my mind an particularly glaring example that still besets British endeavour "We've always done it like that".
RH tank front
LH tank front. The last two were a poor attempt to show how the cladding over the boiler works. Basically it just stops at the tank fronts but better pics to follow.
Martin