| Archive for Freesteam For collectors and enthusiasts of all steam engines |
| Nick |
Bowman 234 TestIf you haven't seen my new Mamod loco test, check it out:http://freesteammamod.myfreeforum.org/about3623.html&highlight= I decided to try out my best running and largest capacity Bowman, the 234. I filled the boiler with room temperature water and filled the burner with meths. I also capped off 2 of the 6 wicks, so I was running on 4. I ended up with a run time of 49 minutes, before the burner was dry! (that does not count the time it took to boil the water) What was even more impressive, was the fact that there qwas 130 ml of water left in the boiler, so if I had re-filled the burner it could have gone forever. 
Now to figure out the distance and speed. I was again running on O-72 which has a circumfrence of 18.85 feet. The loco made a total of 482 laps! I was actually getting excited for the burner to go empty, because I was tired of counting the laps.
This means the loco traveled 9085.7 feet, or 1.721 miles. That's nearly 1 3/4 miles on a single filling of the burner! 
I then calculated its speed and came up with 2.106 mph, so it was running a little faster than the Mamod, but there were times when it was barely moving and times where I had to release some steam to keep it from de-railing (that's where the advantage of the gas burner on the Mamod comes in) On the other test, I calculated the common O-scale speeds. At 1:43 scale, it is moving at 90.56 mph and at 1:48 it's moving at 101.09 mph. Mamod scale is roughly 1:20.3, so at that scale it was moving at 42.75 mph. Now the question, does anyone know what scale the Bowman 234 would be close to? And finally, some videos of the run: |
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| Spokesmann |
Bowman wins. | ||
| newts |
Try running on 3 wicks, she may run at a nice sedate pace.
After watching them on the Bowman stand at the Exeter show last weekend, they weighted the top of the burners with lead strips, to try & tame their speed. Some even derailed pulling a few coaches, such was the speed. Go Bowman 
Here's an early ad from the bowman circle website, claiming a 183 miles covered by the engine during a 10 day exhibition. http://www.bowmancircle.co.uk/page010.html |
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| Nick |
Tried 3 wicks, but there were times it would only make 2 or 3 laps and then come to a stop, so I kept it at 4. Maybe I could cap the 4th and put a small hole in the top so it runs on 3 1/2.
I do believe what they say in that ad. They state 1 1/2 miles in 40 minutes, and I ran nearly 1 3/4 in 49 minutes. They also mention grooves worn into the driving wheels. Mine didn't wear on its short trip, but they did get shiny. I wonder who kept track of the miles traveled. 
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| Mamod Collector |
It just goes to show those old Bowmans can teach Mamod a few new tricks 
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| Minor1PJG |
After buying my 234 at STIA last year and sorting it out it runs at a fearsome pace. I need to cap some of my wicks
Did you make or buy the caps? They really are great runners, that's for sure!  !
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| John Chapman |
Re: Bowman 234 Test
Nick, Although the 234 and 265 are not intended to be scale models they are larger than 0 scale (7mm/ft). They are usually regarded as being around 9-10mm to the foot. A 234 certainly looks pretty good with gauge 1 (10mm/ft) rolling stock. In fact a couple of people have regauged them to 45mm and run them on gauge 1 layouts. The 300 and 410 are smaller and scale out at about 0 gauge. |
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| silverfoxsteam |
Great run - what a cracking piece of kit.
(Due you choose to play 'Free' deliberately?) |
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| Nick |
That's just what was on the radio. Sounds like Over The Hills And Far Away in the other video. |