Sold August 2025 Back to Archive

A change of circumstances, involving a house move, has required rationalisation of projects. With other cars and motorcycles currently in the workshop, the decision was made, reluctantly, to part with the Duchess.

A large quantity of castings, machined parts and material - in total over a third of a ton - for a 7 1/4 inch gauge LMS Duchess to the Jim Vass design, including:

• CE-marked silver soldered copper boiler by Devon Steam Boilers with manufacturer's documentation
• stainless steel superheaters
• complete tender
• main frame and rear subframe
• complete front bogie
• driving wheels, complete with balance plates, keyed for quartering. Flanges require final machining to profile
• rear bogie wheel castings
• machined inside and outside cylinder blocks with pistons and rings, piston valves and respective rods
• crossheads with drop links
• connecting and coupling rods
• valve gear components, including return cranks, expansion links, eccentric rods, combination levers and radius rods
• set of four cylinder relief valves
• set of four snifting valves
• fine scale screw reverser with locking handle
• locomotive buffers
• brake blocks
• twin petticoat pipes
• motion brackets
• set of four safety valves
• fountain
• stainless steel grate and ashpan
• laser profiled platework for cab, smoke deflectors
• steam brake cylinder assembly
• miscellaneous smaller parts including frame stretchers, steps, dummy leaf springs, brake blocks, dummy sanders etc
• quantity fine scale lost wax castings

Complete with a quantity of drawings.

Work to date is to a a good standard, with some of the more complex jobs put out for professional machining.

An ambitious project for the more experienced engineer; however, with much of the heavy machining now done, the engine could be completed with modest-sized machinery.

The size, cost and complexity of a Duchess in this gauge account for the rareness of finished models - we've had just one in the last twenty years, the magnificent "Queen Mary" which sold back in 2018.