I am building Torquay Manor & being a Swindon purist decided on a sight feed lubricator. My difficulty is that my otherwise perfect Ellis boiler has only one hollow stay and that is needed for the blower. How then do I get the oil pipe from the cab to the smokebox?

Option 1 is (so I am led to understand) to run the pipe under the cleading. But how is this actually achieved? The pipe would have to travel seamlessly from the firebox to the boiler barrel which would involve sharp bends if the profile were followed closely. Presumably the pipe would run lower down the side of the firebox and along the bottom of the barrel? How would / could this be held in place or attached to the copper barrel if at all?

I have considered other options including – even running a narrow pipe down the centre of the blower pipe (which is itself inserted into the hollow stay). This may be feasible at the cab end and the blower pipe diameter may cope with it but the bush at the smokebox tubeplate is too small in diameter to allow this.

Other possibilities include running the pipe outside the boiler, maybe along the top of the frame or under a running board, but how necessary or desirable is it for the pipe to be kept warm before reaching the smokebox?

Any advice or wisdom gratefully received.