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
Bruce
Steam in the fields (slightly OT)
2
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
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
