I packed the car last evening ready for the Wessex rally at Clutton, but then something en famile came up & I was needed elsewhere this afternoon. No problem for tomorrow, but not to be entirely cheated, I whipped out there on the bike this morning - and am I pleased I did!
On the second look around the stalls, I found a nice man just getting things out of his boot. He was setting them out on a card table & as they were sort of "of a piece" I assumed at first they were a display. There were two steam engines mounted on boards, one a Stuart Turner S50 mill engine with boiler, the other a No.9. I'd actually turned to go, when something made me ask "Is this a display or are they for sale?". They were for sale, the asking price was pretty good & even better when we'd dickered a while! So I walked away with the ST No.9 (horizontal, 11" long, 1 1/2" bore & stroke). It is so well made that I suspect it is a Stuart-built product.
I have a small collection of ST model steam engines & dug out my No.4 (vertical, 10" high, same bore & stroke) and spent a satisfying couple of hours cleaning & polishing both of them. Extracting an electric air compressor from under the bench, I connected up the outlet to the No.4, then the exhaust to the inlet of the No. 9. - and blow me down, it worked! Both engines run well, the vertical at about half the speed of the No. 9. I even tried adding a No. 10H (horizontal, 6"" long .75" bore & stroke) but it was a step too far & the inlet pipe is so small, the back pressure it creates stops the other two in short order.
So, in addition to the T300 marine engine, the JAP Model3, the Continental
1.5hp and a scattering of the electronic stuff I usually exhibit, I now plan to take a modern genny & hide it, using the compressor to run the two big ST models, plus a "Sirius" twin & the 10H as static exhibits.Well, I've gotta make up for not being there today, haven't I? ;o))
Regards,
J. Kim Siddorn, Regia Anglorum
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