MooseMan
Progress, progress....
Wilesco D45
Now called the D455, I think. This is where all the trouble started- my
dad bought me this one for my tenth birthday in 1978, as he'd promised he'd do ever since I turned 5 or so. It was love at first sight. I think I was a perfectly normal kid in most respects, and I trashed quite a few toys, but this one I've always looked after - it even still has its original (slightly oil-stained and battered) box. I also was given quite a little selections of the Wilesco driving models, and I still have all of them, minus their boxes unfortunately.
This is a slide valve engine, and unusual in that it has a large upright boiler. The engine is fitted with a slip eccentric, so that it can run in two directions, and run it does! Without a load this engine cranks up some serious revs.
It's pretty to look at - the boiler and flywheel are nickel plated and have a mirror finish. Under full steam it generates some very satisfying clouds of steam, but it is a tidy engine to run - the little condensate tray is a thoughtful addition.
Unlike on modern versions where for some reason the steam throttle and whistle tap are plastic(!), this engine's all metal. The fact that it has survived for nearly thirty years without so much as a ding or a spot of rust is testament to the build quality.
I know this engine's nothing special and it is still in production, but for sentimental reasons I'm obviously very fond of it. It's in near-mint condition. I quite like the bigger Wilescos - I think they're probably the closest thing to the sophisticated Nuremberg engines from the turn of the century. Their small slide valve engines are quite effective if not exactly powerful, and the slightly gaudy design appeals to the big child.
Old Upright Engine, Unknown Manufacturer
This
engine's fairly typical of the cheapest engines that were produced in
great numbers by all the big names around the turn of the last century.
It's a simple boiler with an oscillating cylinder. The driveshaft runs
right through the boiler. Burner is a single wick pan type.Comparitive research leads me to believe that this engine is probably German and possily by Carette, but as there is no maker's mark of any kind I can't be sure. Any information would be appreciated!
It runs really well, and remarkably effectively. The boiler is fairly large, so it will happily chuff away for about an hour. Doesn't develop any torque to speak off, but makes a lovely noise - a sort of quiet puffing noise with an occasional hiss as a drop of condensate runs down the boiler. It's a fairly slow runner, about 200rpm, and it has a typical "wobble". The whole thing while running is strangely hypnotic, and very relaxing. When I get this engine out, my wife knows I've had a bad day......
This engine has the best sounding whistle I've heard on a small engine. Here's an MP3 of the engine running, plus a blast (well...) on the whistle.
.
EPD Engine
Probably one of my most intriguing engines, and virtually unknown outside Germany. I saw this one in pieces on an eBay auction, and as it is an unknown, and no-one in their right mind can call this engine pretty, I got it for a song. It is a very heavy engine, the base is some sort of cast alloy, the boiler is thick plated steel, the burner is enormous - the thing is literally built like a tank. Note the details like the small handwheel valves that operate the steam flow and the whistle.
I bought this engine because something about it looked Jensen-ish, so I started to a little research, and fairly quickly established that this was probably an engine made in the former DDR - Socialist East Germany, for those of you who weren't around in the before the wall came down. The only DDR engines I know of were made by a company called "VEB Merbelsrod", so I started casting about for information about this firm. This led me to the "wanted" section of the German eBay, where there was a chap looking for anything made by this firm - an email was swiftly dispatched.
Within hours I had a reply from a gentleman by the name of Thomas Hesse, who, quite helpfully, turned out to be an English teacher - not only is his English a lot better than my school German, it's also better than my English! He turned out to be a very nice guy indeed, and an absolute fount of knowledge on engines from both East and West Germany. His first reaction was, paraphrasing: "are you seriously telling me you found this engine in London??"
Turns out that this engine was made in Dresden, by a firm called EPD, which stands for "Eberhard Pässler, Dresden"....they made some toys, household appliances, and two steam engines. This one, probably called the "D01" is the smaller one....Thomas showed me a picture of the bigger one, and it's a beast!. EPD ceased production of steam engines in 1963, not sure when they started, so this engine is hard to date - early sixties would be an educated guess. EPD continued on to 1990 making domestic appliances.
As I said earlier, this is not a "pretty" engine - it is grey and drab, and hugely over-engineered, which is precisely what I find so appealing about it. It is also a very satisfying runner, fast and quiet....here is some video, see for yourself:
I bought this engine because something about it looked Jensen-ish, so I started to a little research, and fairly quickly established that this was probably an engine made in the former DDR - Socialist East Germany, for those of you who weren't around in the before the wall came down. The only DDR engines I know of were made by a company called "VEB Merbelsrod", so I started casting about for information about this firm. This led me to the "wanted" section of the German eBay, where there was a chap looking for anything made by this firm - an email was swiftly dispatched.
Within hours I had a reply from a gentleman by the name of Thomas Hesse, who, quite helpfully, turned out to be an English teacher - not only is his English a lot better than my school German, it's also better than my English! He turned out to be a very nice guy indeed, and an absolute fount of knowledge on engines from both East and West Germany. His first reaction was, paraphrasing: "are you seriously telling me you found this engine in London??"
Turns out that this engine was made in Dresden, by a firm called EPD, which stands for "Eberhard Pässler, Dresden"....they made some toys, household appliances, and two steam engines. This one, probably called the "D01" is the smaller one....Thomas showed me a picture of the bigger one, and it's a beast!. EPD ceased production of steam engines in 1963, not sure when they started, so this engine is hard to date - early sixties would be an educated guess. EPD continued on to 1990 making domestic appliances.
As I said earlier, this is not a "pretty" engine - it is grey and drab, and hugely over-engineered, which is precisely what I find so appealing about it. It is also a very satisfying runner, fast and quiet....here is some video, see for yourself:
Märklin 4097
A sizeable slide valve engine, with extensive boiler fittings including pressure gauge, dead weight safety valve and whistle. The ornamental chimney is what attracted me to this engine. This particular variation was made between 1931-1940 in Göppingen, Germany.
I spotted this engine on the Dutch eBay and won it very cheaply...the seller did say it was a fixer-upper and oh boy, it was in a sorry state when it got to me. To hide the fact that the boiler once had a water sight glass, it had been turned around and a scrap of brass had been roughly soldered over the end cap. The hole for the filler cap had lost its bush, and had had a bolt inserted instead. The flywheel was a roughly made cast iron affair, far too heavy. The base has been roughly repainted
I disassembled the boiler and unsoldered the endcaps, and to my delight found the missing bushes inside. Meantime, my German friend Thomas Hesse had cast his expert eye over the engine, identified it, and very kindly supplied me with a number of original parts, including a pressure gauge, a filler cap and best of all, a much more appropriate flywheel. My Swedish friend Anders Andersson, who is a master blacksmith, made me a weight for thesafety valve in his forge in North Sweden - he also sent me some borosilicate glass and special packing so that I can make a sight glass - I haven't done this yet. Instead, the holes for the sightglass have been cleaned up and have been carefully blanked in a way that is undoable in a matter of minutes.
What I'd do normally with an engine like this is go for broke and try to restore it to factory condition, but I find something very appealing about the somewhat rough looks of this engine....it looks like it has a hard life but has now found a good home, so I've decided to preserve that look. This also means that I can run it to my hearts content, and run it does! It has a fair bit of wear and tear so maybe not the most powerful engine, but it is still capable of real work - see for yourself:
I spotted this engine on the Dutch eBay and won it very cheaply...the seller did say it was a fixer-upper and oh boy, it was in a sorry state when it got to me. To hide the fact that the boiler once had a water sight glass, it had been turned around and a scrap of brass had been roughly soldered over the end cap. The hole for the filler cap had lost its bush, and had had a bolt inserted instead. The flywheel was a roughly made cast iron affair, far too heavy. The base has been roughly repainted
I disassembled the boiler and unsoldered the endcaps, and to my delight found the missing bushes inside. Meantime, my German friend Thomas Hesse had cast his expert eye over the engine, identified it, and very kindly supplied me with a number of original parts, including a pressure gauge, a filler cap and best of all, a much more appropriate flywheel. My Swedish friend Anders Andersson, who is a master blacksmith, made me a weight for thesafety valve in his forge in North Sweden - he also sent me some borosilicate glass and special packing so that I can make a sight glass - I haven't done this yet. Instead, the holes for the sightglass have been cleaned up and have been carefully blanked in a way that is undoable in a matter of minutes.
What I'd do normally with an engine like this is go for broke and try to restore it to factory condition, but I find something very appealing about the somewhat rough looks of this engine....it looks like it has a hard life but has now found a good home, so I've decided to preserve that look. This also means that I can run it to my hearts content, and run it does! It has a fair bit of wear and tear so maybe not the most powerful engine, but it is still capable of real work - see for yourself:
Falk 144
When it comes to older German engines, I know nothing.......but I know what I like. And when my very esteemed friend Thomas aka Yussufhippo waved this engine under my nose, I almost immediately fell in love and started working on a plan to get it away from him......a deal was eventually struck, with Thomas getting a steam boat and me getting this marvel and the Wilesco D52 described below.
This engine is labelled BW-JF, which is "Bing Werke- Josef Falk". So, is it a Bing or a Falk? Well, both really, but mainly Falk. By 1930 Bing was no more, having foundered in the economic crisis, but Josef Falk had bought tooling and materials from Bing and carried on producing these "double badged" engines until 1935, until he was forced to cease trading as he was "non-Arian"....apparently he managed to escape Germany just on time. This engine was of course made in Nuremberg (or "Nürnberg", to give the city its correct name). This is a very fine example, with just a little paint damage (some of it caused by myself when I overfilled the spirit burner).....it has a functional pressure gauge and runs very nicely indeed. This is the Model 144, size 2 1/2, and I like it very much indeed......so elegant with that tall chimney!
This engine is labelled BW-JF, which is "Bing Werke- Josef Falk". So, is it a Bing or a Falk? Well, both really, but mainly Falk. By 1930 Bing was no more, having foundered in the economic crisis, but Josef Falk had bought tooling and materials from Bing and carried on producing these "double badged" engines until 1935, until he was forced to cease trading as he was "non-Arian"....apparently he managed to escape Germany just on time. This engine was of course made in Nuremberg (or "Nürnberg", to give the city its correct name). This is a very fine example, with just a little paint damage (some of it caused by myself when I overfilled the spirit burner).....it has a functional pressure gauge and runs very nicely indeed. This is the Model 144, size 2 1/2, and I like it very much indeed......so elegant with that tall chimney!
Bing 451
A lovely little Bing, from the first decade of the 20th century, snapped up in the last few minutes of STiA 2009. I love the lithographed base and chimney, and the embossed boiler endcap is just wonderful. Totally original, untouched condition....it lacks the original burner, but runs very well - it even has a reverser (effectively swapping over the exhaust ports, a method made popular in Mamod engines much later). Possibly my oldest engine.
Wilesco D20
This is what I affectionately call my "rustbucket". I saw this engine on eBay, where the seller freely confessed that it had spent the last 10 years in a leaking shed. I bought it on a whim and for a song, thinking that it would probably be a good parts donor, but when I got it I decided to try it out and to my amazement it just sprang to life! It is, in fact, a very, very good and strong runner, it runs like new, and as a nice older type Wilesco (this one's from the seventies) it is very well made and can do some pretty serious work. It is of course missing many parts, but none that are essential to to running of the engine. Maybe one day I'll restore it, but I actually quite like the way it looks now!
1953 Wilesco D16
This fine D16 came to me via the one and only Dampfzauberer, who purchased it from a 66 year old gent who had owned it from new since his tenth birthday, which makes it a very early Wilesco from about 1953. It has the grey base, blue cylinder cover and a rare black handwheel. It is 100% complete and original, although in the picture it has a replacement chimney because the original had lost its chrome ring. It is a beautiful little runner, very quiet and smooth, and for such a small engine quite astonishingly powerful - it is capable of powering a large generator with ease, as shown in the video.
Wilesco D52
This Wilesco D52 marine engine came to me as a part exchange with my German friend Thomas. It had never been used, and still retained all its accessories (propshaft, universal coupling etc), and its colourful cardboard box. The number of spokes on the flywheel (5) apparently sets it apart as an early one.
I did fire up this engine, and it ran well, although the little boier is somewhat underpowered for the engine, and I didn't want to fire it too hot as the cosmetic condition is so nice! However, when I coupled the engine to my Stuart 500 boiler and gave it about 15psi of steam it roared into life!
I did fire up this engine, and it ran well, although the little boier is somewhat underpowered for the engine, and I didn't want to fire it too hot as the cosmetic condition is so nice! However, when I coupled the engine to my Stuart 500 boiler and gave it about 15psi of steam it roared into life!
"Avon 555" Pop Pop Boat
Yes, this most definitely is a steam engine! I picked this up as an afterthought at Steam Toys in Action 2006, for the grand sum of £3.50, making it the second cheapest toy in my collection (that honour goes to the Latimer L4). I had absolutely no idea how much fun these things are! A bucket of water, half a teaspoon of vegetable oil and off it goes, at a fair old lick, making the characteristic sound from which it gets its name.
The "engine" really is a basic impulse jet! Two ends of a pipe stick into the water. The pipe either is coiled or passes into a very small boiler, which is heated by a small flame. The system is primed with water, which readily turns to steam, jets out both ends of the pipes, immediately condenses in the cold water and in doing so contracts in volume and sucks in fresh water. Apparently the science of this is hideously complicated, and it still hasn't quite been worked out what the perfect size for this type of engine is - apparently large ones are impossible to make. Parts of the theory behind this type of engine was used in WWII by the Nazis to build the V-1 which wreaked such terrible damage on London, Coventry, Exeter and many other British cities. Nice to see these toys still going then, long after the V-1 has just become a nasty memory.
I think any self-respecting steam buff should have one of these - see the museum of power website.
Driving Models
All
the driving models pictured here are the ones that were given to me by
various relatives on the 27th of December 1978 (my tenth birthday), to
accompany the D45 - privileged little boy or what! Certainly felt like
it at the time. They've withstood the last 26 years rather well, a
credit to their build quality. Unfortunately the original boxes have
been lost along the way. All are Wilesco, all still in production I
think.The obvious exception is the rather nice Doll & Cie lineshaft which I found a couple of years ago (came from the same source as the old upright engine).
