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Pedro843cc
11-15-2007, 10:46 AM
Hello everibody. I'm a 36 years old spanish engineer, and I like everything related with machinery, engines, steam, ships...
Since I was a child there is at home a small steam stationary engine, brass-made, but partially dismantled with several critical parts missing.
My father told me it came from his father, and it was part of a model hand-made in the shipyard where he worked, and where I work nowadays. May be it belonged from a ship model, may be from a workshop model, because it looks to be made to work horizontally.
In fact, from this machine we had got only the cylinder, the valve and the inlet & exhaust pipes, no more.
From this, we made a boiler with copper pipe, a flywheel, the supports, the connecting rod, the valve actuator... and fixed everything in a plywood frame.
It works, not really well, but it works. We put water on the boiler, put alcohol on a tray below it, and after some minutes, it starts to move. It moves fast, but suddenly it stops and starts reverse itself...

I shall do some pictures to show you this machine, so you can get a good idea of what my father and me did two decades ago.

Now I'm bidding in ebay for some items, like a Mamod SP1 stationary engine and a Mamod TE1A steam tractor, both in a very nice condition, another Mamod steam tractor partially dismantled, to restore, and a Wilesco D106stationary engine. I'll see what I get, but I would appreciate comments about the Mamod & Wilesco live steam items.

Best regards:

Pedro

pockets
11-15-2007, 01:17 PM
Welcome to the group, Pedro.

Way back in the 70s I had a Mamod steam tractor. I can't remember the model number, but I ran the wheels off it.

Greg B.

Alan Stepney
11-16-2007, 08:13 AM
I still have a Mamod engine from my childhood, and am "keeper" of one I bought for my son, and that was 30+ years ago!

They work and will keep running for, well, almost for ever.

Wilesco too have been around for a long time and has a good reputation.
Both should give you some fun.

And, when you tire of them, you can start thinking about larger models, which you will have to make, but that increases the enjoyment.

Pedro843cc
11-17-2007, 07:53 AM
Thank you for your answers, gentlemen. I'll try to take pictures from my stationary engine, and, If I'm lucky, of my new adquisitions from ebay.

Best regards from Mazarrón, Spain.