{"product_id":"7-14-inch-gauge-prairie-stock-code-2126","title":"7 1\/4 inch gauge Prairie","description":"\u003cp align=\"left\"\u003eA well-engineered model of Churchward's 1906 small Praire design  for the Great Western Railway, the originals were built at the Swindon Works  between 1909 and 1929 with several having survived into preservation. Churchward  himself took over from Dean at the end of the nineteenth century and in his turn  handed over to Collett in 1921. A lifelong railwayman, he retired to a  railway-owned house in Swindon and regularly used to nip through a private gate  and across the running line to visit the works. It was during one such visit  whilst, allegedly, inspecting a loose rail joint that a combination of misty  weather and his deafness contributed to his death beneath the  Paddington-Fishguard express. Sic transit gloria mundi.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp align=\"left\"\u003eI ran this engine on Wednesday and have just got it back onto  the bench this afternoon - why on earth they call them small Prairies is  completely beyond me, it felt like about three tons.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp align=\"left\"\u003eSilver-soldered copper boiler with superheater fed by axle pump,  twin injectors and steam donkey pump in the bunker. The donkey pump exhausts  through a feed-water heater\/condenser and sounds rather lovely running at low  speed, squeezing a thimble-full of water into the boiler with every chuff.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp align=\"left\"\u003eTwin cylinder with piston valves actuated by Stephenson's valve  gear with pole reverser in cab. Cab-operated draincocks. Mechanical and  displacement lubricators. Axle box lubricators on running boards. Screwdown  mechanical brake.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp align=\"left\"\u003eNow concentrate at the back, I'm only going to go through the  backhead on this thing once. Starting in the middle there is a regulator, water  gauge to the left with blowdown. Above the water gauge is the steam feed to  donkey-pump mounted in the bunker, to the left are the steam valves for large  and small vacuum ejectors. The top valve on the left hand side of the fountain  (above the water gauge) is an ejector isolator. To the left of the water gauge  is the steam feed valve for the hydrostatic lubricator. On the left hand side of  the footplate is a level indicator for the bunker water tank and the screwdown  locomotive brake. On the right of the fountain is the blower valve, with engine  brake steam valve above and operating valves to the right, in front of the  vacuum brake lever. On the right hand side of the cab is the pressure gauge and  brake vacuum gauge. If you've ever flown a large commercial airliner or  Concorde, you'll have no problem with this.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp align=\"left\"\u003eThe paintwork is in fairly good condition but the actual colour  scheme is a bit of a mystery. GWR Brunswick Green above the running boards is  ok, the the Indian Red frames and wheels seems to hark back to an earlier era on  the GWR. I won't make a definitive judgement on it as there were engines  (notably 3440 \"City of Truro\", which is still with us) painted just so in 1903,  only three years before the first of these Prairies appeared. I will leave it to  a greater GWR authority than I to make a definitive ruling. What I can say is  that the engine runs very well and feels like it could pull a house down!\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp align=\"left\"\u003eLength 56 inches\u003cbr\u003e  Weight 500 pounds\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp align=\"center\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Station Road Steam","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54009559023957,"sku":"2126","price":8750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1023\/0094\/2677\/files\/2126-1.webp?v=1779898223","url":"https:\/\/stationroadsteam.com\/products\/7-14-inch-gauge-prairie-stock-code-2126","provider":"Station Road Steam","version":"1.0","type":"link"}