Sold October 2017 Back to Archive

A new, unsteamed 3 inch scale Foster. More usually seen in 4 inch scale, it produces a big 3 inch scale engine - nearly a foot longer than the ubiquitous 3 inch scale Burrell.

Somewhat of a curates egg this one, we suspect the work of more than one builder. The engine has a CE-marked boiler from John Rex complete with manufacturer's original hydraulic test certificate. Most of the machining is good, although motion is tight - it appears mainly due to a poorly cut thread on the piston rod not entering the crosshead square. This is one of those places where screwcutting the thread is required, a die in a dieholder just doesn't do the job. Piston is in steel which is an interesting choice of material - whilst making a new piston rod it would worth turning up an iron piston at the same time. Steering is fairly tight, chains are slack. Paintwork looks like two coats of black aerosol and is horrid.

Lots of potential in this one, there's the opportunity to produce a decent engine with little expenditure other than time in the workshop.

Length 54 inches