Sold July 2022 Back to Archive

A 5 inch gauge 0-4-0ST to Dick Simmonds' "Ajax" design. It's come to us recently as part of a larger collection of locomotives as the owner, now in his nineties, has decided to call it a day building engines to concentrate on smaller, more manageable models.

Boiler has had recent hydraulic test with certification issued for same. The chassis runs in forward gear - if slightly choppy - but not in reverse.

The inner dome needs a new gasket and the blowdown valve needs refitting with a drop of threadlock - it has a tendency to unscrew when opening the valve, which would be fairly exciting should it come out.

Reverser stand is loose on the footplate and requires re-anchoring.

All that said, underneath is quite a well made engine - the work required will involve time rather than additional expenditure. Done over winter - possibly in conjunction with a repaint - it could be turned into a decent example of this attractive design.