[Eric M.]

Proving once again that you can take the boy out of the Midwest, but you can't take the Midwest out of the boy, I fired up my Traction Engine on Saturday for a little agricultural fun.  The engine in question is a modified D.R. Mercer. It has been Americanized, painted, weathered and I installed a radiant ceramic burner.

I cannot speak highly enough about the burner.  It is dead silent. It resulted in a massive performance increase from the stock alcohol burner. 

As I mentioned in a previous thread, I am dumber than a bag of hammers when it comes to alcohol firing./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif  My first attempt firing this engine resulted in a full meltdown of one of the rear wheels/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crying.gif  "Oh that was soft soldered?!!!"

I won't bore you with the details of the tractors miraculous recovery, but as you can see, I re-built her,  better, faster, stronger!   She had absolutely no trouble pulling my custom Case threshing machine.



Here are a few vital stats on the tractor.

Base machine: Type 1 D.R. Mercer Traction engine, manufactured in England, factory assembled, unpainted.
Scale: 5/8" = 1' (very close to 1:20 scale)
Powerplant: One, double-acting cylinder, full Stephenson valve gear, fully notchable reverser in cab.
Boiler and fittings: Pot boiler, in cab throttle control, single safety valve.

Mods:  Custom "lip" on smoke stack, sheet metal re-done on cab, Brass fuel bunkers added behind rear wheels, full disassembly and paint, insulated firebox, radiant ceramic burner, butane tank from Accucraft Ruby installed in fuel bunker, 8 ball shifter, fuzzy dice--  (just kidding about the last two)

Thanks for looking!

Regards,

Eric

 

[Bruce]

Very nice traction engine. It came along way remembering the pictures in your first post. It looks like she gives you some good exercise too.

Bruce

 

[artgibson]

Must be nice to be so young and able to bend over that way to run the tractor. Some day you'll get as old as the rest of us./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/wow.gif

 

[Eric M.]

Wow, that's the second time in one week that I have been accused of being young.  I guess it's all relative, I am rather young for a live steam enthusiast.  I am often also accused of being an old man in a thirty-something body./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blink.gif

Don't blame me for being one of the smart "kids" who figured out that spending my hard earned money on steam engines instead of cars, women and rock & roll was more fun./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/w00t.gif

At least this way I have ample time to install Radio control in my steam engines before I am a crotchety old man.

Regards,

Eric