Handmade Steam Trains…Where best to sell?

[Martin-Sy]

The common miniature railway gauges in the UK are: 1.25" (approx) AKA 'O' gauge, 1.75", 2.5", 3.5", 5" and 7.25"
Gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails.
It looks like yours are 2.5" gauge.
The smaller gauges were very popular in years gone by as the materials cost & equipment needed to make them is small.

Boiler certs: Most model engineering clubs have a few nominated members with the skills to issue boiler certs.
Visual inspection (and during construction if new build), hydraulic test, steam test.
This can be difficult if the design is not one of the known published designs.

HTH.

Good luck with the sale.

 

[JMS1972]

Dont know.

My dad was under the impression that they had to be fired up?

You have to do both. Hydrostatic test at 2x operating pressure for first test to get certificate. Then steam test to prove safety valves can flow enough to maintain pressure at max steam generation.

Standard UK gauges are 2.5" and 3.5" this the space between rails.

If they are 2.5" my friend John is secretary of the 2.5" gauge society. I can pass on his details.

 

[matt1978]

Updated the Gauge sizes. To reflect measuring in-between the faces.

 

[matt1978]

You have to do both. Hydrostatic test at 2x operating pressure for first test to get certificate. Then steam test to prove safety valves can flow enough to maintain pressure at max steam generation.

Standard UK gauges are 2.5" and 3.5" this the space between rails.

If they are 2.5" my friend John is secretary of the 2.5" gauge society. I can pass on his details.

Yes, just remeasured and both the larger trains are 2.5" and the smaller one is 1.25".

That would be most appreciated. Thank you.

 

[matt1978]

Underneath of the medium Black one you can see where 2 old pennies have been soldered in as stoppers for some sort of Reservoirs

 

[JMS1972]

Yes, just remeasured and both the larger trains are 2.5" and the smaller one is 1.25".

That would be most appreciated. Thank you.

No problem I've just emailed him I'll PM you when he gets back to me.

1.25" is probably O Gauge (twice as big as Hornby OO gauge).

 

[JMS1972]

John has responded :-

Yes, you can pass on my email address to the chap. I could advertise the
2.5" gaugers on our website but would need some idea of an asking price
(difficult I know)

The Red 4-6-0 looks like an Olympiade, a three cylinder LMS 5XP by LBSC.
Nice loco. Don't know about the other two. The spirit fired 4-4-0 may
have been a commercially produced loco for scenic use. The small loco is
O gauge. That looks commercial as well. David White may know more than me.

Best regards,

John

 

[fizzy]

Don't let these go too cheap - people spend silly money on stuff like this!
Would love them myself but I would want cheap

 

[Dilkris]

They are quite beautiful - I just cannot imagine the hours that went into building these - good luck with the sale of them - I would have thought them worth serious money to someone.

 

[brightspark]

They are quite beautiful - I just cannot imagine the hours that went into building these - good luck with the sale of them - I would have thought them worth serious money to someone.

depends on the build quality and boiler cert for pricing

 

[Milkybars]

I think most points have been covered, regards certification etc.
The 2.5" society contact / website is probably your best lead. What I would say is these are not worth thousands...
But if you can persuade a track/society that has 2.5" to do the boiler tests (maybe a donation on top of what will be a small membership fee)
then the value increases, without paperwork they will be worth at least less than 50% of there value with paperwork.

There are at least two model engineering forums ..that maybe able to assist you with links. with paperwork these and Facebook groups are fertile ground for you to sell

 

[matt1978]

I think most points have been covered, regards certification etc.
The 2.5" society contact / website is probably your best lead. What I would say is these are not worth thousands...
But if you can persuade a track/society that has 2.5" to do the boiler tests (maybe a donation on top of what will be a small membership fee)
then the value increases, without paperwork they will be worth at least less than 50% of there value with paperwork.

There are at least two model engineering forums ..that maybe able to assist you with links. with paperwork these and Facebook groups are fertile ground for you to sell

He knows they are not worth £1000’s but he didn’t buy them to begin with thinking they would increase I think he bought them more purely because he liked them and appreciated all the work that went into building them. If he had the room in the new place he would be keeping them.

I’ve seen on eBay some O Gauge Trains for around £250-£350ish, but hardly anything currently for the 2.5”

Would you mind PM’ing me your conservative estimates on what you think they would be worth?

 

[The Artilleryman]

You have to do both. Hydrostatic test at 2x operating pressure for first test to get certificate. Then steam test to prove safety valves can flow enough to maintain pressure at max steam generation.

The 2x operating pressure test is done only on completion of boiler construction.

After that it's 1.5 times operating pressure hydraulic test every 2 years - Northern or Southern Federation MES - commercial (PSSR 2000) test 7 to 10 years.
Cold inspection, then in steam test, every year.

These requirements are for running on public land, IF you run it on your own land, no requirement. I'm not suggesting you do this, just stating requirements.

 

[Keith 66]

I picked a 3.5" Gauge tank engine up a few years ago at a bargain price, it turned out to have a soft soldered boiler which had failed. It sold for a hundred & twenty quid as an ornament. I made a tenner!

 

[Brad93]

Just do a hydro test then I would steam them.

You should test your safety valves too.

That all we do on 'real' boilers with a lot more pressure than these are designed for.

 

[badabec]

There is an auction of model steam locomotives soon,

Dreweatts 1759 | The Transport Sale to include The Hewell & Tardebigge Railway Collection (Part 2)

auctions.dreweatts.com

 

[mtt.tr]

My in-law might well be interested.