rare stuart turner boiler number 50 and engine

Hi, i have recently purchased a stuart turner steam plant the boiler is a babcock 50 and stamped 50 on the rear end it also has a small mill engine by stuart turner that i have been trying to look up but not had any luck finding it the other item is a stuart all brass dynamo stamped stuart,,would love to know what i am restoring here...have photos but dont know how to load them on this site thank you ...alan

HI Alan,

You need to use the 'my photos' link at top left to create an album, then upload the pictures.

Only than can you use the camera icon in the 'post a reply' box to select the pictures and insert them.

The picture icon to the left of the camera can be used to insert a link to pictures on the net, but if you do this always set the width to 300 pixels to avoid format problems.

Neil

Thanks Neil, i have uploaded more photos today monday....alan

Hi Alan

From what I can see, you have an early No. 10H. The early Stuart engines (up to the 1920's) had single sided crossheads as per the current No. 1 engine. I have seen examples of single sided crosshead No.10Vs, No. 10Hs and I myself own a single sided crosshead No 7. In the late twenties / eary thirties the No. 10Vs and No. 10Hs changed to trunk guide crossheads as per the present versions. What was originally called the No 7 changed to the trunk guide crosshead 7a; I guess they didn't change the No 10 series to 'a' versions as these already had a letter suffix.

With regards to your boiler, I have never seen a No.50 before. The end plates of this boiler have been hacked about a bit; the hinged door replaces two dummy doors that were cast into the endplate, you can see the remains of the cast doors at either side of the new one. If you look at the end of either a 500, 501 or 504 boiler you will see what I mean. I am guessing the boiler has three tubes underneath. I think that this might be a 500 Babcock boiler and someone has possible filed away the last zero. Why they have done this I would not like to surmise. The back head of the boiler has bee bodged about quite a lot as well, the solder is much messier than would have been original. The good news is that all four mounting lugs are intact, these were somewhat fragile and frequently snapped off at the slightest hint of over tightening.

The dynamo is a genuine Stuart item, no longer made and quite expensive to buy, if you can find one. These regularly make £100+ on ebay. Unfortunately, all the original Start green paint has been removed and it has been polished. Unfortunately this over enthusuastic 'restoration' will have reduced it's value considerably.

Hope this information helps, regards

NickM

Edited By Nick Moody on 10/09/2013 14:59:41

Hi Nick, thanks for the info .If you go to the MAMOD and other steam site you will see the setup listed with many repies and 2 other people say that they have a babcock number 50 boilerthe dynamo has been stripped of the old paintwork as it was in poor condition and will be repainted in the correct green. then it will be put up for sale [probably] as i am hoping to purchase a 2" scale clayton lorry to restore as a winter project [stuart turners are a bit to small for my eyesight ] you may be right about the front door although i have put it under a very powerfull magnifying lense and cannot even find a scratch, the burner is one that runs from house-hold gas ...