You can now start your locomotive by filling the boiler about three parts full of hot water, and then hooking the lamp underneath; you will soon get a good pressure of steam up.
See that all the taps are turned off; and if there is no leakage from careless workmanship, you will find, on turning the steam-tap on, the locomotive will run beautifully, and will travel at great speed either on a smooth oil-cloth or wood floor.
Fig. 19.
I will presently explain how to make a set of rails, on which she would run much quicker still; but for this engine, if you make a small tender of the shape shown at [Fig. 19], and fasten it at any angle by the set-screw on the foot-plate of the engine shown at N ([Fig. 2]), the model will run in any sized circle you may wish, without lines, according to the angle at which you fix the tender to the engine.
Wooden coal trucks, etc., you can easily make to complete the train if you wish; but of course each one is an extra load for the engine to draw, and will prevent it going as quickly as when alone.
Tin is the best material to use for the tender, as no great strength is required; indeed, it should be made as light as possible. The wheels and axles you must finish in the same manner as those on the engine; and it could be made into a tank, to hold an extra supply of spirit, by soldering a piece of tin round the inside, and covering it in with another piece cut to shape, and fitted with a screw-nut to fill by, as shown in [Fig. 18].
If you have carefully followed these simple directions, and also practically carried them out, you will be able, and no doubt anxious to try your constructive powers on a more complete model, and I will therefore endeavour to help you to do so.