PAPER CAPTION---Dust from London Brighton entrant covers bus.And people are actually paid to get this information
He must have his foot on the "simpling" valve, isn't that steam supposed to be going into the condenser to get turned back into liquid water?
Or he's blowing a whistle, seems more likely, you only need the simpling valve to get underway--did Whites have compound engines?
I'll bet you're right, David, he's probably blowing his whistle.
Yes, I believe that Whites did have compound engines, I remember on Jay Leno's old website he had a video where he showed the parts of one of his White engines in which the piston rings of the high pressure piston had collapsed due to the heat.
Fascinating technology!
Here is a great Jay Leno video talking about the White steam car, in it he talks about the compound engine and the function of the "simpling" valve:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf8miprLH60
The first time I rode the Delta Queen, the new engine crew didn't know what a Simpling Valve was, although she has one! (DQ has a compound engine too, the starboard side is low pressure (if my memory serves me righ-er, correctly).