Sold August 2011 Back to Archive

A 6 inch scale steam wagon built to the popular Dyer design, scaled up three times to produce an absolute beast of a machine - the tractor weighs over a ton and comes in at about seven feet long, the trailer another quarter ton and ten feet. Completed in 2008 and only run occasionally since, it appears, in the main, to have been well-made before suffering a quick "finish off" job - detailing could be improved, certainly some nicer valves in the cab would be a very cost-effective way of making it rather more authentic.

That said, we've had this one in steam several times now, it steams freely (indeed, after running it all around the estate one afternoon with all of us on the trailer to see how it performed, it was still blowing off intermittently half an hour after the last lump of coal was put on the fire) and trundles around making all the right kind of noises - there's a short video here.

Steel boiler, 100psi working pressure, feed by mechanical pump and injector - the transmission features a dog-clutch, allowing the engine to tickover out of gear, a feature missing on the original design but very useful for pumping water into the boiler. Twin safety valves. Twin cylinder engine with slide valves, mechanical lubricator. Single speed transmission with chain drive to differential in rear axle. Bonded rubber tyres.

The wagon is road-registered with V5 document.

Lorry
Length 96 inches
Width 40 inches
Height 60 inches

Trailer
Length 96 inches
Width 36 inches