No, they do not (have any adjustment of the piston-rod length, that is). What I don't know is if they have the internal cushioning 'piston and rings' that was the Meiningen innovation (and why I spell 'Trofimov' the way I do -- because Meiningen, which 'perfected' the valve with the cushioning piston, did. (I suspect they do not, because some of the reports I have read about the Sy and QJs say that they 'jingle' in bypass, with is the piston heads banging on the stops -- the internal piston cushions this action.)

You will notice how carefully I phrased that discussion of 'adjustable head stops' for Trofimov valves as a speculation. Or at least I thought I had. It was in response to the thing about the Polish adjustable valve rod that wouldn't work for adjusting the actual symmetrical timing on a 2-cylinder quartered engine... or so I think.

It certainly wasn't my intention to boondoggle Sammy King, for whom I have the utmost respect.

Thank You Robert, Nor was it my intention to be taken too seriously. I have an original edition QJ manual, I'll see if I can determine anything from it. The second largest section in my RR library is in Chinese, but the biggest is in German. Again, I MIGHT dig something up that interests you. The Br 10, 1.5, 65, or the spectacular 18-201 would be likely candidates for adjustable cutoff, but I think that changing cutoff with any means other than jiggling a johnson bar or spinning the wheel, would have to be done during a shopping, not a water stop.

You might be interested to know that I worked for Dave way back when I got the two tenders out of Guatemala for the SYRy. We routinely exchange wise remarks off list.... I have the utmost respect for you as well, Mr. Ellsworth.

I think you mean Stossel, of the famed locomotive builders Stossel und Stange von Chelmnitz. He was, as I recall, the inventor of infinite reversing Feuerreitenbrennschluss (riding cutoff) for express locomotives, a system second only to Hagans valve gear as inscrutable to non-Teutonic engineering minds.

Kein scheisse ??

Was kann ich sagen? Heissdampf ist kein Scheissdampf! Und Dave hat Nachdampf, nicht Narrdampf, geschreiben...

Denken Sie an lokomotiven von Chelm. Seiner Maschinen sind wie wichtig als richtig!

Geez, can't a guy have some fun at work? Still, it has led me into some interesting lines of thought....... if only Reuben Goldberg was still alive to consult with.

I don't know how to answer that. Looking between boom and boost, boondogle isn't in my Larouse English/German dictionary, and my computer accuses me of misspelling it, anyhow. Fun, fun, fun...

Your computer is right -- try "boondoggle"

One of the German 'synonyms' is actually more accurate than the English: Zeitverschwendung.

Ouch. If I had any sense, I would have become a vet.... (Check your PMs, Please, Robert).