4 inch scale Foster agricultural engine

A 4 inch scale Foster agricultural engine, in "barn find" condition - cosmetically it requires complete restoration, including replacement boiler cladding sheets and repainting.

Underneath it's a more interesting story. A well made engine, it was well coated in oil before storage - the motionwork and valve gear remain in good condition under the muck, it turned over freely with clear exhaust beats from the chimney when the flywheel was turned.

We can't find a builder's mark on the boiler, although the view of our boilermaker is it was professionally put together. Of all-welded construction with expanded copper tubes; plate thicknesses appear good, at twice working pressure on hydraulic test it was dry throughout with no evidence of distortion or deflection.

Steaming it this morning in the yard, we were surprised at just how well it went - there's some video here. It drives beautifully, the motionwork and gears all very quiet - "put together by somebody who knew what they were doing" was the consensus of those who drove it.

Something between a "project" and "running restoration", it requires a variety of jobs doing, including replacing a missing spud pan and drive pin and sorting out the water feeds - neither pump nor injector currently work, first step would be to take out the inspection cover in the bottom of the tender to check their water feeds.