Advice - steam engine

[Some Gump]

Hi modelling lot,
My son is nearly 5 and shows great interest in both making things, and understanding how things work. I see this as the perfect excuse to buy him a model steam engine to build together.

The thing is, i know nowt about them! In my head 8-10" square little model with some sort of power take off to run a wee saw, or some kind of spinny round thing. Ideally one we.can build. Ebay goes from 25 quid to about 400, and the websites i was looking at.all start >120. I'm only really after.spending 50 quid - we might use it once and then it becomes another ornament...

Anyone got any suggestions?

[dr_gn]

But a second hand Wilesco stationary engine off EBay for <£50. Strip it, clean everything and rebuild it. Then add some other Wilesco device to be powered by it. Way cheaper and more satisfying than buying a kit.

Here’s one I bought. Cleverly listed as ‘working last time I ran it’...



And after some paint, solder and elbow grease:





To be honest total cost was actually about £150 including restoration, but I got ripped off a bit with condition. It wasn’t working, and it had been bodged. There are better ones, shabby but complete and working for under £50.

BTW 5 might be a bit young to grasp what’s really going on, although my kids at that age were fascinated by it (for about an hour).

Edited by dr_gn on Friday 10th August 22:09

[Some Gump]

That is exactly what i had in mind! Strip and rebuild would be fine.

Thanks Dr!

[Zad]

How about a stirling engine? You can get kits from £not-much to £lots.

[AlexC1981]

dr_gn said:

Here’s one I bought. Cleverly listed as ‘working last time I ran it’...

Hmm....so it worked the last time it worked then.

[dr_gn]

AlexC1981 said:

dr_gn said:

Here’s one I bought. Cleverly listed as ‘working last time I ran it’...

Hmm....so it worked the last time it worked then.

Yup

Then again getting it working again wasn’t difficult - replacing a cracked steam pipe IIRC. Plus it was a bit more satisfying than just stripping and cleaning.

After a lot of digging, I found a place in the UK that stocked pretty much every Wilesco spare part.

[Derek Smith]

You could go for something a bit bigger.

Got to: https://writewheel.uk/2018/07/19/historic-transpor...

There's a bus at the beginning but some ideas come after that.

[dhutch]

Derek Smith said:

You could go for something a bit bigger.

Got to: https://writewheel.uk/2018/07/19/historic-transpor...

There's a bus at the beginning but some ideas come after that.

Love a good stationary engine!

[Derek Smith]

dhutch said:

Derek Smith said:

You could go for something a bit bigger.

Got to: https://writewheel.uk/2018/07/19/historic-transpor...

There's a bus at the beginning but some ideas come after that.

Love a good stationary engine!

I love steam engines, including tractors and especially fairground engines. Model steam engines seem to me to be the best of all worlds.

I had uncles who were in the merchant navy and I was taken on board steam powered ones if they came into the Pool of London. The smell, the noise, the movement, even when moored, were thrilling.

Here's another video of land based ones, poor quality I'm afraid due to the camera. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkLLIwVt2Y0

It includes stationary and model engines.

[Equus]

dr_gn said:

BTW 5 might be a bit young to grasp what’s really going on, although my kids at that age were fascinated by it (for about an hour).

My father (who was a steam engineer - marine, and then power stations) bought me a 'Mamod' traction engine at about that age. Fascinated me long enough to not only figure out how it worked, but to 'tune' it for more power by doctoring the pressure release valve, to the point that it eventually fell apart at the seams from overheating.

The Mamod stuff doesn't look as nicely built as that Wilesco stationary engine, but they can be had for £20-odd, if you're lucky, and pretty good fun, none the less.