A 5 inch gauge "Britannia"; built thirty years ago it's spent its entire life in a glass case in the builder's living room. It's been nicely built, quality of machining is good; the superheated combustion chamber boiler has been nicely made with neat flanging and good solder penetration.
Scaled up from LBSC's 3 1/2 inch gauge design, it has some interesting features including vacuum brakes for train and locomotive, with a substantial brake cylinder and reservoir neatly hidden away behind the centre frame stretcher - vacuum is piped to both ends of the locomotive and tender as per full-size practice.
The boiler has been ultrasonic checked for plate thickness, followed by a twice working pressure hydraulic test maintained for 30 minutes and is warrantied as sound.
There will be a variety of jobs required to commission for steaming: given the engine has never been steamed in the past, we'd expect packing of glands, replacement of water gauge seals, servicing pumps etc.
The engine runs on air, the offside coupling rod boss just touching the lower guide bar which needs a minor amount of relieving to clear. Regulator leaks when closed and will need servicing before use; the reverser gearbox needs attention, it slips on the actuating rod.
