2 inch scale Fowler A7 agricultural engine

An exceptionally well-built 2 inch scale Fowler A7 agricultural engine, built to the MJ Engineering design by a retired gunsmith, a man who, after serving his apprenticeship, spent the rest of his career in London, working on high class sporting guns for customers worldwide.

The engine has come to us from the late builder's family - we'd put it at better than 95% complete, with pretty much everything included to finish the build.

The builder had run it on air to check the valves and steamed it once. The boiler has had hydraulic and steam tests in the workshop here, with new certification issued. The engine steams freely and run beautifully in both directions, it will tick over quietly down to low speed - there's some video of it on our YouTube channel here.

Fit and finish, as one might expect from a man of his background, is excellent. We like the attention to detail - always nice to see every valve chest stud the same length, all showing one thread beyond the nut; bearing caps are punched up with numbers to ensure correct assembly. The man was nothing if not fastidious.

Complete with a box of loose parts as shown, along with a nice pair of sprung headlamps, firing shovel, spare regulator block with fitting for running on air, jigs and fixtures used for the build, electric steam-raising blower and a copy of the construction manual.