Sold September 2007 Back to Archive

Early stage "Simplex" to Martin Evans' design, comprising a rolling chassis with quartered wheels complete with crankpins on axles running in gunmetal axleboxes and horns, pump eccentric fitted, smokebox saddle machined, three buffers machined and fitted, part-machined buffer remaining to be fitted.

Machined work comprises:

• Set of gunmetal cylinder castings.
  Blocks bored, faced, ports cut, passages to be done. One block has a small blow hole at one end in an insignificant place, shown on the closeup photograph.
  One valve chest, valve and valve rod machined, complete with cover, other to be machined.

• Axle pump complete with rod and strap

• Machined chimney and petticoat pipe

• Set of reclaimed drain cocks, used but useable

• Set of hornstays and springs

• Coupling hooks

• Completed motion bracket and some parts to fabricate the other

• Smokebox with door, locking handles, front and rear rings, machined for steam and exhaust pipes beneath, chimney on top. Rear ring rivetted, front drilled for rivetting.

Unmachined castings include:

• Outer dome

• Grate

• Coupling and connecting rods

• Handpump

There is a piece of copper tube for the barrel, cut to length and with the dome hole machined, along with a set of flanged plates.

Complete with a new, unmarked set of drawings and a fairly clean copy of Evans' book "Simplex - a simple freelance 0-6-0 locomotive" giving blow-by-blow instructions for the build.

Can't imagine there's anybody on earth who doesn't know what a Simplex looks like by now, but there's some pictures of a decent one in the archive.