Sold February 2009 Back to Archive

A well-made Stanier Mogul in 3 1/2 inch gauge to LBSC's "Princess Marina" design. Fit and finish of the motionwork is exceptionally good, it runs beautifully on air (there's a clip of it running on the bench this afternoon here).

Silver-soldered copper boiler, 80 psi working pressure, feed by twin axle pumps with auxiliary hand pump in tender. Gunmetal cylinders with slide valves actuated by Walschaert's valve gear with screw reverser in cab. Mechanical lubricator beneath smokebox.

The engine has never been steamed, it was bought from the builder on completion by a gentleman who painted pretty much everything he owned the same shade of maroon (in this case it was almost appropriate, but the same shade also went on Burrells, Allchins, a 7 1/4 inch gauge "Holmside"... have a look through the archive, you'll see where the rest of the pot of paint went). It has to be said that the paintjob is a) incomplete and b) pretty horrible - the polished brass and red livery seem to have been inspired by something from Thomas the Tank engine. That aside, mechanically the engine is in new, unused condition and, with a repaint (see the last "Princess Marina" I had in the archive - another well-made engine that ran very well - for how they should look) would make a super engine.

There is a small amount of work remaining to complete the engine, including provision of an ashpan and operating linkage for the draincocks. The tarnishing to the motionwork is oil which has dried out - it comes off with some solvent and a cloth to reveal the bright steel (I was about to type "some petrol and a cloth" which is what I use, but some fool would probably incinerate themselves in a shed following my advice, so "safe, ozone-friendly, organic, hypo-allegenic solvent" is all I can recommend).