Steam & Excursion > Dockstader Valve Gear Animations

The recent thread on poppet valves, their operation, and their sounds prompts me to remind all that there are very interesting animations available to illustrate the operation of just about every valve gear ever used. These are a "must have" for anyone who's ever wondered what all those flailing parts connected to the drive wheels do!

42 such animations can be downloaded to your Windows computer at the following website. They are free and public domain.

http://www.billp.org/Dockstader/ValveGear.html

Screenshots of a few examples are shown below.

1. Stephenson Valve Gear, practically universal on steam engines built prior to 1910.

2. Walschaerts, introduced in 1880's and very widely used in 20th Century.

3. A. J. Stevens, used once, in 1885.

-John Stein aka Larry Doyle

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Live steam builders have been relying on Charlie's most excellent work for years.

One of the great gifts that have been provided to the railroad hobby community.

TG

Posted from Android

Charlie Dockstatder's development of his valve gear programs began in 1986 when he told me that he had just bought a new computer. I was starting to develop in earnest the 1-1/2" scale NKP Berkshire and I mentioned that wouldn't it be nice to observe and analyze the Baker inside admission valve gear on the computer. I gave Charlie the layout for the NKP Berkshire and in a couple of weeks he called me and said to come over as he had something to show me. He had done it. It took that brand new 8086 computer all night to draw the three graphs representing driver rotation vs valve position for full forward, neutral, and full reverse but there it was. Nowadays of course those graphs are done in less than the blink of an eye. I still have the copy of the original program that he gave me to check.
AS Track Guy said, it is a valuable tool for not only live steam model builders but also anyone interested in the operational characteristics of valve gears.