A particularly well-made Fowler DCC Showmans Road Locomotive "Princess", built to the Plastow design. The work of an accomplished model engineer, it displays a high standard of workmanship throughout. Fit and finish of machined parts is excellent, platework is crisply executed.
The boiler was completed in 1976 when it had a twice working pressure shell test at the builder's club, the first steam test coming ten years later in 1986, presumably when the engine was completed.
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An imposing machine with its canopy fitted - even in two inch scale the Fowler comes in at nearly four feet long, it's a substantial two man lift.
The engine shows little evidence of serious use over the intervening thirty years: the paintwork has picked up some small chips but remains in good condition; mechanically it's in good order -
there's a clip of it running here. Bonded to the rims, the tyres are virtually unmarked.
| scale |
2 inch |
| length/inches |
44 |
| width/inches |
16 |
| height/inches |
26 |
| weight/kg |
est 100 |
| cylinder material |
compound block, cast iron |
| valve type |
slide |
| valve gear |
Stephensons |
| reverser type |
pole |
| governor type |
Pickering |
| lubricator type |
mechanical |
| injector(s) |
1 |
| year built |
1976 |
| boiler maker |
Alec Hadfield |
| working pressure/psi |
110 |
| boiler type |
locomotive |
| boiler material |
copper |
| boiler construction |
silver soldered |
| hydraulic test valid to |
3/May/2022 |
| safety valve(s) |
2 |
| safety valve type |
Ramsbottom |
| mechanical pump |
1 |
| road speed(s) |
3 |
| differential |
yes |