A particularly well-made Fowler DCC Showmans Road Locomotive "Princess", built to the Plastow design. The work of an accomplished model engineer, it displays a high standard of workmanship throughout. Fit and finish of machined parts is excellent, platework is crisply executed.
The boiler was completed in 1976 when it had a twice working pressure shell test at the builder's club, the first steam test coming ten years later in 1986, presumably when the engine was completed.
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An imposing machine with its canopy fitted - even in two inch scale the Fowler comes in at nearly four feet long, it's a substantial two man lift.
The engine shows little evidence of serious use over the intervening thirty years: the paintwork has picked up some small chips but remains in good condition; mechanically it's in good order -
there's a clip of it running here. Bonded to the rims, the tyres are virtually unmarked.
scale |
2 inch |
length/inches |
44 |
width/inches |
16 |
height/inches |
26 |
weight/kg |
est 100 |
cylinder material |
compound block, cast iron |
valve type |
slide |
valve gear |
Stephensons |
reverser type |
pole |
governor type |
Pickering |
lubricator type |
mechanical |
injector(s) |
1 |
year built |
1976 |
boiler maker |
Alec Hadfield |
working pressure/psi |
110 |
boiler type |
locomotive |
boiler material |
copper |
boiler construction |
silver soldered |
hydraulic test valid to |
3/May/2022 |
safety valve(s) |
2 |
safety valve type |
Ramsbottom |
mechanical pump |
1 |
road speed(s) |
3 |
differential |
yes |