Thanks guys for your help. After a conversation with Hans last Friday, I tried the adjustments at the Johnson bar for the irregular cylinder beats this weekend and think that solved my situation for the time being. The very first time steaming my S2 following assembly was close to perfect except for loose steam fittings at the manifold and steam guage. Once tightened down and reassembled, the subsequent have been pretty much text book. After reviewing the diagrams and errata notes, I can see how extreme valve settings at the Johnson bar and pivot arm can cause the erratic cylinder beats. In the recent Northwest Steam-up photographs, Art was kind enough to have posted pictures of my S2 screaming around our local club members layout with heavyweights in tow. The photos in this post show my S2 dragging around 32 of the Accucraft refers with no lack of power, in fact it wanted to pull more.