While I have mentioned Lempor exhaust systems in other threads because two of my locomotives have such systems courtesy of Michael Guy who has enthusiastically pursued and researched these systems. Lempor exhaust systems were developed by the famous engineer J. D. Porta near the endof the steam era.
Michael first built such a system for the 7 1/4" Romulus 0-4-0 which he then owned and which I now almost own as I am purchasing the engine from him. The improvements in performance were dramatic and Michael even measured the performance.
We then decided to try a Lempor out on my 4 /34" BNR 9F 2-10-0 which had not steamed at all well in her first trials. With the Lempor she steamed very well in her second trials with a significant (but unmeasured) improvement in performance.
I decided to post this thread as a number of full sized 1:1 scale steam locomotives are being fitted with Lempor exhaust systems today.
Here are a number of links to web pages which speak to this system:
http://www.trainweb.org/tusp/sergio/teresa_christina.htmlMichael's R&D into this system is described briefly here:
http://www.livesteaming.com/Lempor.htmMichael's work on the Romulus is described here:
http://home.ca.inter.net/~mguy/A%20Lempor%20Exhaust.htmAs mentioned in one of the sites above, the Grand Canyon Railway (
http://www.thetrain.com/ and the Mount Washignton Cog Railway (
http://www.thecog.com/) were the first tourist railways to use this system in the USA.
It now appears that the Union Pacific's Challenger 4-6-6-4 #3985 (
http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/excurs/up3985.shtml) has also been fitted with one of these systems. Michael just sent me the photo below looking into the firebox of this engine. Here is what Michael said in his e-mail:
"The attached photo taken July 21st this year shows the smokebox interior of Union Pacific Challenger #3985. Quite apparent is the forward-most one of two new Lempor Ejector nozzle arrays under a new petticoat pipe.
The design of the nozzle array is typical of those produced by Nigel Day, so he must have moved on from "The Cog" and be working in Wyoming.
It is good to see that the operator of this loco has chosen to bring the front-end design into line with current thinking on the subject of steam locomotive exhaust systems. The results of testing should be very interesting."
I certainly would recommend fitting any coal-fired miniature steam locomotive with a Lempor system based on our experiences.
Russ in Oakville. Ontario, Canada
