Like Brian, I'd like to know more about this as I'm nearly ready to make the grate for my little loco.

Regards,

John.

That pun really grates, Diane.

At least now we know that Citizen Kane was a live steamer.

Neil

They would probably admit that it sled right over.

I was also very interested in the articles in M.E.about the Rosebud grate ,nothing is gained by going to the expense of stainless steel for its construction , either M.S. or cast iron is sufficient.I have just constructed one for my Sweet Pea ,it is 4 1/2" x 4 1/4" x 1/2" MS and have drilled 156 holes on a 8mm square ,drilling from the underside first with a BS-4 centre drill to the full depth of the cone part and then completed the drilling with a 3.4mm drill which gives 11.8% of the grate area for air.I realise that with the old grate to much air was passing through and with all this excess air it wasn't burning the coal completely resulting in to much ash /unburnt products.I have taken onboard all the remarks made about rosebud grates and just wait to see if there is much improvement when running my Sweet Pea.Referring to Peter Griffiths article in M.E. 4523 he has used the grate on his Stafford with good results and the Stafford firebox is very similar to the Sweet Pea one I have.

Good morning all,

The so called "Rosebud" grate isn't that new; recently looking through an edition of Don Young's Locomotives large and small he describes a very similar grate for his design "George" The full sized locomotives designed for Rosebud Lignite had a vast grate area in comparison to those locomotives operating on the more normal bituminous coals, I think it was a yard foreman on the Northern Pacific commenting on Rosebud lignite reckoned it needed another million years in the ground!

Regards,

Bob