To clarify a couple of things . . .
When I referred to the first U1 that I briefly owned, I did not mean to suggest it was S/N 001. The S/N plate was missing and so I am not able to say whether an early or late example within the 175 or 190 piece full production.
One other thing . . . a bit of a digression . . .
I showed a photo of the very dirty smoke box on the initial U1 (without a S/N plate) and suggested that it may have been a coal burner. Upon reflection, I looked to see what the inside of the firebox looked like and it was clean. I then remembered that the person I acquired it from thought that it had only burned meths.
I've never fired a Gauge 1 loco with coal, so I have no experience and therefore can only speculate.
But I offer this further consideration . . .
My understanding is that the methylated spirits sold in the UK is dirtier than what is available here in the US.
UK Meths?
"A mixture consisting mainly of
ethyl alcohol with methyl alcohol and petroleum hydrocarbons. The addition of pyridine gives it an objectionable smell, and the dye methyl violet is added to make it recognizable as unfit to drink. It is used as a solvent, cleaning fluid, and fuel."
My understanding is that it looks purple and stinks when it is burned and you never want to burn it indoors.
US Denatured Alcohol?
In the US, we have what we call denatured alcohol which is often 50% ethanol which has been adulterated (poisoned) with methanol, enough to blind you, destroy your liver and/or kill you if you drink it. But it is clear . . . and nothing has been added to it to make it look dangerous or stink.
I mention all of the above, to suggest that it is quite possible that the dirty smoke boxes we may see in locos that have spent much of their running lives in the UK actually burned dirty methylated spirits that left ugly deposits in the smoke box rather than coal?
Here in the US, we also used to have have so-called "Green Denatured Alcohol" which was generally 95% to 99% clean ethanol with a bit of water. Sometimes a small bit of isopropyl alcohol is added. I became aware a couple years ago that this product has been discontinued as a solvent sold in box stores, probably due to pressure from lobbyists such as the liquor industry. However, we still have pure ethanol available when it is described as indoor fireplace fuel or "bio-ethanol fuel.".
Years ago I participated in a discussion here and I attached the MSDS or manufacturer safety data sheets for some US products. MSDS are available online for US products.
Lighting the U1?
The instructions remaining on the other thread should be helpful for the lighting. Rather than to add more photos in this thread, I'll try and find the time to append photos to the original thread. I know some here will sleep better if I don't digress too much.
