I & G Steam Lubrication products
In support of the garden railway enthusiast, I & G Steam supply a range of oils, lubricants and fuels for the hobbyist. Steam cylinder oils are supplied in convenient quantities for the hobbyist. It should be noted that the normal light lubricants available, for say cycle lubrication, are useless for steam cylinder lubrication. These need to be specially blended oils which will emulsify with the steam and get carried through to the cylinder.
Failure to provide for proper lubrication of the steam cylinder will increase the wear rate and seals will be permanently damaged in very short amounts of time. I & G Steam supply two grades of steam cylinder oil blended by Morrisons of Shrewsbury who have been in the business for well in excess of a century.
The lighter of the two grades is known as 460 compound steam cylinder oil which can be used on a wide range of models from the tinplate "toy" of the Mamod type through to sophisticated 16mm/ 7/8" scale models and beyond.
Where a very large model say of 7 1/4" gauge, (or an already badly worn model) is brought into steam. The heavier grade known as 680T compound steam cylinder oil may well be more suitable. This latter contains tallow in solution giving much better wear quality to the larger model.
It should be noted that a word of caution should be heeded in that none of these compounded steam cylinder oils are suitable for any model which has a significant amount of superheat capability added to the steam. Most of the models under consideration in the garden scales do not have major superheat capability. These two grades of oil are available on 150ml containers and 1 litre containers. Carried alongside these is a 220 viscosity straight bearing oil for use on those heavily loaded bearings of the passenger carrying railway or traction engine. Also available in 150ml and 1 litre quantities.
For lightly loaded bearings away from direct steam contact, the famous "3-in-1" oil is kept in small spouted, branded tins.
I & G Steam sell 30ml quantities of a very light blended lubricating oil which contains no volatile petroleum distillates hence making it eminently suitable for use where plastics form part of the bearing surfaces or where plastics are in direct contact with the lubricant. This is branded by ourselves as "Little Train Lube".
During the season, we stock some competitively priced canisters of butane and butane/propane mix LPG to service the fuel requirements of most of the miniature locomotives under consideration here.