Tephra Train

A design I threw together for Cracked Monocle's "Tephra Train" contest. Obviously not finished... but I was looking for some feedback. Anyone do some steampunk know if it's surreal enough or should there be more?

Alright... I threw this together in a little over an hour, Obviously this is a very rough sketch, an I just felt like getting some feedback. I've never played Tephra, but would love to, and I do really like Trains, so without further ado, here it is.

As you may have noticed, I have labelled a few parts here with letters, I will give you a brief description of the parts.

A is a cutaway of the piston, showing relatively where the stroke is.

B is illustrating the Walschaerts valve gear used to reverse the engine

C is just showing the engine's Driving wheels. This is designed to be a 4-6-4 engine, (the last 4 wheels are not shown) Yes I know the wheels aren't centered... the middle wheel (Blind) is not supposed to have a flange around it, but it should have been directly in between the 2.

D is a little extra. Basically it is a small piston attached outside the engine which spins as long as there is steam. This can be used to power an electric generator, or something else... I wasn't sure if the world of Tephra had Electricity. The extra space will be explained shortly.

E You will notice how this dome is shaped like a wing, that is designed to be aero dynamic, but also to separate 2 streams of air, one goes under the dome to provide draft to fuel the fire, and the other one goes over the air foil, and helps spin a small wind catcher, which can also be used to provide motion for the water pump, which helps keep the boiler supplied with water when in motion, instead of having to use live steam to feed the boiler.

F The design painted on the boiler, "Tephra Train" Spelled out as close as I could make it. I think the next draft will have the "Tep" come closer to the "hra" Next to it is my attempt at the Cracked Monocle.

G The strange shape here, is what helps increase space, as well as makes this engine more efficient and flexible. This engine is built in my latest invention, the "Mercury Double Boiler" Essentially, since delivering the heat to the water has always been a problem instead the Firebox is designed to work with more solid fuel; coal, wood, trash, etc. And the firebox directly heats a boiler filled with Mercury (or Quick Silver if you like) Mercury liquid boils to a gas, and is then fed through tubes to the water boiler, and the heat exchange boils the water, and condenses the Mercury. The Mercury completes it's journey, liquid again, and slopes back into the first boiler. This way, ALL the hot gas is used to heat the Mercury, which then boils water.
The draw back is while the engine is more efficiently burning fuel, it can be more dangerous. You now have 2 boilers in pressure, which makes the Fireman's job of keep the engine in operational limits more difficult.

H and lastly the Chimney. This is a classic example of a Diamond Stack dome... owing to the ability of the Engine to burn any solid material, throwing out hot coals is reduced by fitting this "crown " on it. Also there are likely to be 2 smoke stacks, 1 is from the hot gas of the firebox, the other is from the steam exhaust.


Alright, now that I have thoroughly bored you, please tell me improvements I can make. And please don't spare the criticism.