5 inch gauge Crampton 2+2-2-0

We sold this back in 2020 to a local builder & collector of fine scale model ships. On display in his home museum since purchase, it's recently come back to us to make way for the latest nautical endeavour - it remains in the same condition shown.

A 5 inch gauge Crampton 2-2-2, this one came to us with a collection of complete and part-built engines, all unused in many years.

With no existing paperwork for the boiler we expected to strip the boiler cladding to see how it was made underneath. Eager to give it a run however, we gave it a quick hydraulic test first just to see what, if anything, leaked. It actually withstood a twice working pressure test - at 200psi - quite happily, our only concern an occasional, though persistent drip from underneath.

Stripping off the lagging, we were most impressed (if slightly surprised) by the neatly applied fibreglass tape and resin patch laid along the bottom seam of the boiler to fix a leak. If only it was a canoe we'd have been happy putting a ticket on it and letting the new owner paddle away...

Needless to say, the tape "repair" has been removed, the boiler will require further attention to the errant seam (and preferably with silver solder rather than fibreglass).

The moral of the story is (as it always has been) - don't rely on a hydraulic test alone to prove that a boiler is fit for service (and that's even more important for steel boilers). Whilst a hydraulic test can tell you that a boiler isn't fit for service it can't, on its own, tell you that it is.

Other than the copper/resin composite boiler, the rest of it is quite nicely made, if rather garishly painted.