Sold March 2009 Back to Archive

A Marshall traction engine in three inch scale, built by a highly capable engineer with a 3 inch scale Simplicity already to his credit when he finished this one in 2003 - he's now onto building a 4 inch scale Yorkshire wagon in tandem with a 5 inch gauge Shay locomotive.

The engine has all sorts of nice touches, from the driver's truck with water tank, attached to the engine with a quick detach coupling on the tender through to the hard rubber blocks knocked in between the strakes, with the same material over the front iron tyres - they detract nothing from the look of the engine, whilst being removeable if ever required in the future. Running down the road is an eerily quiet experience.

Silver-soldered copper boiler, 90psi working pressure, twin Ramsbottom safety valves. Feed by pump and injector. Cast iron cylinder, the piston is fitted with Clupet rings which are superb (and make the engine virtually lock up with compression in mid-gear). Mechanical lubricator.

Two speed transmission with differential, winch behind nearside rear wheel.

A large engine compared to the ubiquitous Burrell in this scale, I found it comfortable to drive. I like the design - it's a strongly put together machine with details such as large oil reservoirs cast into the eccentric straps and felt pads fitted to all the oiling points contributing to an engine that will evidently run all day long on the rally field.

There's a video of Geoff terrorising the natives with the machine here.

Length 53 inches
Width 22 inches
Height 34 inches
Weight 465 pounds ready to run

Trailer 28 inches long, 23 inches wide