Beam Engine Advice Please

Hello,

My 88 year old father in law passed away last year and left us with his beam engine that he built many years ago. He was a toolmaker at Rolls Royce and built this during the working day (pace of life was so much more relaxed in those days). I am guessing this was built around 1970's.

For reference purposes the base is 55cm long.

He was always of the opinion that it had some value. Sadly we are struggling for space and I am looking to sell this.

I wondered if anyone would be happy to advise me if

• Does it have a value and if so what sort of price should I be looking to sell for?
• Should I try to restore it before selling or sell 'as is'
• Does it have a name or type? I believe he built it from some plans he bought.
• I assume my best option would be eBay but would appreciate any other suggestions. I have considered a local antiques auction.

Forgive me if this type of question is inappropriate for this forum, I'm just not sure where to get any feedback from.

Kind regards

Dean

Steam Engines are not really ‘my thing’ Dean … but, to my innocent eye, that looks a fine example.

You might do well to list it in the ‘Classifieds’ on this site

MichaelG.

.

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/classifieds/view_ads.asp?at=1&c=89

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 03/03/2022 18:22:09

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To give you some idea of value, A Model Engineer (ME) Beam Engine, with surface rust and part-completed sold on ebay about six weeks ago for £700. Another ME Beam Engine, part completed sold at auction just a couple of days ago for £450 plus 25% buyer's premium. Your example is obviously far better than either of those.

There is currently a similar albeit significantly smaller beam engine for sale at Station Road Steam for £875 (plus carriage).  Whilst superficially more 'glittery and shiny' It is not such a nice example of the general type as your father's build, nor as detailed..

Should you decide to sell by auction rather than personal ad's then personally I would recommend ebay over an auction-house and suggest that you provide shipping within UK if required to maximise your potential market. You can always list on ebay and in personal advert's concurrently of course.

Best of luck whatever you decide,

Phil

Edited By Weary on 03/03/2022 19:36:43

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Hello br,

Better price and return to the vendor, Dean, in this case.. Many of the engines sold at the Dreweatts auction a couple of days ago are already on ebay starting at around twice the realised hammer price. If you do a careful ebay search comparing with the Dreweatts catalogue then you will spot them

Just my opinion as to which is probable to realise more for the vendor.- others will have different ideas. As we 'model engineers' all know, there is no set price for these sorts of items which are actually only worth what someone is prepared to pay 'on the day', and that can be highly variable.

The vendor may not wish the hassle of advertising, answering questions, dealing with (prospective) purchasers, shipping, etc., but merely wish to realise capital, in which case selling to a dealer (ie Station Road Steam - there are others!) or passing the selling to an auction house is a painless and relatively quick solution, even if it may realise less 'cash' at the end of the process.

Personally, like others, I would keep the model, especially as it has a family link (and I know how many hours construction it has likely taken!), but that's for the vendor to decide.

Regards,

Phil

Edited By Weary on 03/03/2022 19:55:46

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Whatever you do, don't try to "restore" it unless you are an experienced toolmaker or model engineer. You will almost certainly end up lessening the value of it if inexperienced hands start prying into it. Wipe the dust off it carefully with a clean cloth and leave it at that.

And do write Dad's name, town and the approximate year it was made on the bottom of the base or some similar out of sight place. Shame all his good work should go unknown and unremembered in the future. The provenance of being an original old time piece of "folk art" might even add value to it. Writing on there that he was a toolmaker at Rolls Royce would be very cool too. A real piece of history. And certainly something to mention in your sales promotion material.

If you look on Ebay for ME Model Engineer Beam Engine, the results are rather mind boggling.

Edited By Hopper on 04/03/2022 08:37:47

If your not skint, PLEASE KEEP IT, it is part of the family and your father will have got great pleasure from making it and in due course you may derive pleasure from knowing that. Coneccted to a small silent run air compressor it could be made to rotate, this would fascinate both children and adults alike ! Compressor hidden in the base and a switch on the front ! May be the woodwork might benefit from a coat of stain. Good luck, Noel.

Thank you for everyone's comments. I appreciate you all taking the time and effort to reply.

After receiving the comments above I have decided to keep it. The money was never an issue it is just space. I already have 6 model boats he built sitting on newly built shelving in the loft!

I will definitely write his details on the underside of the base, that was a very nice suggestion.

Can I ask one further question about how to store it? It's currently in the garage but I fear it will get damaged in there. If I put it in the loft should I wipe the metal elements with a light oil or is there a suggested way to prevent it from rusting?

Again thank you to all who have been kind enough to offer advice.

Regards

Dean

That's great. Something for the grandkids.

Yes a bit of light oil wiped over it would be good. And should be done every once in a while to keep rust at bay.

Suggest that you get a generous squirt of oil into the cylinder every so often as well and gently turn the mechanism over a few times - the cylinder on this model is cast iron.

Pleased to read that you have decided to keep the engine.

Phil

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Once again, thank you for all the friendly advice.

Dean