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OMLET 2000
A report from the East Coast
Dennis kind of shanghighed me into typing up a report about Ontario Model Loco Efficiency Trials (OMLET) for those of you
not fortunate enough to attend. To refresh people's memories, I am the green streak that used to fly around the high line,
and am living in St John's, NF, for the next year.
Planning for this attempt started back in January or February, when I looked at the cost of airfare to various events I would have
liked to take part in. Due to the cost of leaving this island by air, I could only attend one event. Distance, time and other activities
suggested that going to Ontario was best, so...some phone calls were made. At the time when the enquiries were made, OMLET
was hours away from being canceled, due to lack of interest (too bad we cannot do that to rainfall :). This was the 18th running
of OMLET, with it been held at Hamilton for at least the last 10 years. Entries in both 3.5 and 4.75 gauge are now allowed
, whereas until it moved to Hamilton, it was a straight 3.5 gauge event. The event used to be held at Central Ontario Association of
Live Steamers (COALS) near Canebridge. The track there consisted of a 600' or so continuos ground level 3.5 gauge line.
On to Hamilton and this year. Hamilton track is 1236' long, with moderate grades. My quote on the track was:
"Wow!, this is the first track I have ever been on that slopes all the way from start to finish _downhill!_". The track is a welded
steel track rased off theground, with riding car outriggers. The coal was provided though Toronto Society of Model Engineers
and was supplied by Bill Smith (many thanks Bill!, at least this year there was only one complaint of trying to burn rocks...).
The rules stated that in order to qualify, one had to lap the track at least 3 times, with a large number of entrants unable
to manage this.
My run...Well...I kind of dropped a bit of a clanger, as I ended up stopping before the end of my run due
to low boiler water. I managed to boil off something greater than 1.5 Gallons of water, using 18 oz of coal to do it,
along with as much charcoal as I could stuff into the box prior to the start. I steamed up about 30 min prior to my run,
just before my dad (Dave Powell)started his run. Started off with a charcoal fire, using Varsol as the fire starter. Using the
electric blower, brought the pressure to about 20 lbs, then switched over to the steam blower. With the rules as they were,
one is allowed to fire using charcoal until either 55 psi is reached, or until the run has commenced.
(Or, at least that is how _we_ read the rules...someone else had a more creative approach!). This way of starting with
whatever fire you have was likely the undoing of at least one of the entrants, as it is hard enough to have a decent fire
when you leave the station at a exact time, let alone when you are trying not to burn the measured coal before you leave
and do work!
I kept steam to below 40 psi until it was my turn to go on, through careful use of the blower and of the hand pump. I set back, and
picked up my 2 cars, after the finish of my dad's run. Having ran on the previous Friday, I knew I could manage quite a load, since
the track is almost flat (about 1% grade). Some of the people looked at me as though I had two heads though, since I was pulling
what ended up being the heaviest load of the day-and not with the biggest loco! Sitting in the station waiting, I filled the boiler as full
as I dared to, with the hand pump. (I intended to finish with a _lot_ less water in the boiler than I started with...it takes energy to pump
it in). I had a wait of around 3 min before the start, and started shoveling in the Welsh. I put in about 8 shovelfuls, cracked the blower
and waited (but should have filled the tender!). Load on behind was 984 lbs, in contrast to the 486 lbs that I hauled in the �98 VIMLEC.
The VIMLEC 1998 results
How much longer do I have? About 30 sec? OK, blower hard on, hand pump one or two more strokes,
make sure the steam brake is off...70 lbs on the clock, full forward gear... give one more shovelful when I am standing,
the box is still packed!...away goes the horn, and I toot the loco in response, and gingerly open up the throttle, with the drains open.
Pulse the drains closed/open/closed/open for the first couple of feet, then leave them open for about 50 ft. Start winding back the
reverser, about 2 turns. Hit the traverser, and the grade. This is it, if I can make it up the first time, then I will make it the rest of the
times with the load I have on....a bit of wheelslip (gee...that's normal!) And away we go, up around the rising curve. Downhill, watch
the speed, and she starts blowing off...open the door, pump on. Come out of the 2nd curve, open up a little more, when...bang, the
back passenger truck derails...ease off the throttle, and put on the truck brake. A quick retail, and we are off again, delayed about 20
sec.
The fastest I managed according to the bike speed was 8.5 MPH with the load on. The track started getting funny at that sort of
speed, so I wasn't going to try for much more than it. For those of you with a interest in these sort of things (Hi Miles!), I managed
6.73 MPH average speed. (My VIMLEC speed was more like 7.89 MPH).
I was feeling quite good about my run, until the 8th lap or so, when I started to worry about how I was doing for water.
I had the engine blowing off almost continuously, and with the gauge glass not being in the most useful position on the brit,
I was beginning to worry about where exactly my waterlevel was. I took on more water on the run at the start of the 9th lap, adding
it to the tender and putting the pump on full, hoping to recover the waterlevel to somewhat more than where it was. I knew fire was
not a problem, because I still had a nice fire going. However, the rate of consumption of water was more than what I could put
in, and so at the middle of my 10th lap, I decided to stop and address the situation (of course, Mr Murphy had to have me stop
as far away from the end as possible!) So, I ended up hand pumping in some more water, and whist I was doing this, the horn was
sounded to end my run. So, 9 laps counted in to the score. How am I going to do against my dad? That's really the big question
, since I know that to most 1" scale locos, what I hauled is a normal load, and I expected to get beaten by one or two of the 1" scale
locos still remaining.
Off I went to eat, (free food! Who wouldn't?), and to await the score. I knew I had qualified, since I had completed the 3 laps,
but I was completely unsure of what my score would be in relation to my dad.
The gamble paid off, with me scoring just over 2x his score!
After lunch, 3 more 1" scale locos ran, with one loco being a no-show. As the official end of the day drew near, we steamed up the
2 engines (Caribou and Brit) again, waiting for the scores to be finalized
The actual scores. The score is calculated as {(load*distance)/weight of coal burned}/1000, with load in lbs, distance in feet, coal burned in Oz.
| Loco | Type | Driver | Club | Load | Distance | Coal Used | Score |
| Speedy | 0-6-0 | C. Bartlett | GHLS | 693 | 11124 | 8.2 | 940 |
| Britannia | 4.6.2 | J. Powell | VIME | 984 | 11124 | 18.2 | 601 |
| Sweet Pea | 0-4-2 | D. Bray | TLS | 795 | 9888 | 24.8 | 317 |
| Caribou | 0-8-0 | D. Powell | TSME | 420 | 11834 | 16.6 | 299 |
| CP Hudson | 4.6.4 | J. Pomeroy | GHLS | Did | Not Finish | ||
| Conway | 0-4-0 | B. Cole | TLS | Did | Not Finish | ||
| Speedy | 0-6-0 | B. Sowden | GHLS | Did | Not Finish | ||
| Doris | 4.6.0 | J. Lee | TLS | Did | Not Finish |
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