Beschreibung:

A finely executed, near contempory mid-19th Century 1/8 scale engineer-built working live steam model of the outside cylinder 2-2-2 well tank locomotive 'Fairey Queen', the model being almost certainly intended to represent a type used on the Glasgow Paisley and Greenock Railway from 1851 onwards. SPECIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL Overall length 30½in. Height to top of chimney 20in. Width over frames/footplate 7in. Width over cylinders 11¼in. Buffer centres 5.5/8in. Buffer height 4.3/8in. Wheelbase (equally divided) 16½in. Driving wheels (17 spokes) 7½in. Leading/trailing wheels 5in. Boiler diameter (outside) 5¾in. Firetubes 7 x ½in.; 2 x .3/8in. The model is fitted with working Stephenson Valve Gear together with axle-driven feed pump delivering to a boiler side clack with air bleed valve. The valve gear itself has unusual and unsupported connections to the valve crossheads and exceptionally long eccentric rods, the nature of which hints at a 'modeller's interpretation' (see also Supplementary Note below). The model has working single leaf springs, axleboxes being retained in correct pattern horn blocks (guides?) located in genuine plate frames (ie not cast). Wheels are cast in brass and there is a Salter spring balance to a working safety valve on the dome. The opening smokebox door is fitted with a crossbar and outside latch but the smokebox floor is missing. Within the cab, there is a flange mounted Bourdon Pressure Gauge reading to 3 Atmospheres, along with a correct pattern firehole door, two water level try-cocks and a regulator fitted to the firebox back plate. A well tank is located under the footplate at the rear of the engine. Supplementary Note : The boiler proportions, not least its possible over-scale diameter (see PROTOTYPE DETAILS - below) and the small number of firetubes, suggest that the unknown builder fully understood the 'model' requirements for a working live steam representation. The Bourdon patent for the pressure gauge dates from 1849 but the most likely date for commercial production of the actual gauge fitted is the mid-1860's. Unfortunately, there is no evidence on the model to determine whether the pressure gauge was fitted at the time of building or is a later modification. However, the general characteristics of the workmanship support a mid-19th Century building date for the model itself, while the choice of prototype strongly hints at Scottish origin.