Sold January 2004 Back to Archive

Don't be put off by the rather grubby looks, this is a well-made Stuart 10V with displacement lubricator, plumbed up to a home-brewed copper pot-boiler. The burner was missing, I've replaced it with a modern Wilesco item. The engine runs silky-smooth, has next to no wear in it and is one of the slowest-running ones I've had in - it will chug down to about 60rpm, which is really rather good for a little 3/4 x 3/4 engine with a few ounces of flywheel. The whole thing is mounted on a folded up aluminium base, the boiler is fitted with a filler plug, safety valve and steam take-off cock.

This was our Christmas Day entertainment this year (after the great "coal-fired Juliet-in-the-kitchen" debacle of a couple of years ago, which Mrs P still hasn't forgotten, Sam and I used an electric-fired Wilesco for last year's steamup. Going spirit-fired this year is an ongoing rehabilitation project).

By the builder of the Atom V currently in stock, this plant is something around fifty years old.