Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

My new/olde Wilesco D20 arrived! It is in awsome shape specialy for its age, it was carefully packaged, clean and shows evidence of recent fresh oiling.
  The copper brick Firebox shows no evidence of discoloration so I think it may have been gas fired much of its life. The boiler site glass is Very clean. It's so nice I do not have the heart to fire it with Esbit and think I will wait till my BIX burner shows up for first firing.
  I DO want to public thank forum member oilfield_steam who recognized I was a newbie asking questions about obtaining a stationary steam engine and was drawn to the D20...he contacted me and said he would be willing to re-home this engine...to a good worthy home....and at reasonable...likely significant below current market price to boot!
  I am Greatful to receive this smooth well cared for engine...its So much nicer dealing with a knowledgeable forum member than sending your $ off to ebay and possibly receiving a badly worn or child damaged model engine...its so Nice to get excellent value for your $ than buyers remorse!...Thanks oilfeild_steam!
Members helping the "new guy" get off to a great start is a valuable thing I think...
  I have ordered some things for my D20 to power and they are starting to trickle in...when burner gets here I will make a YouTube account so I can share some of my steam adventures.
  This is a great hobby and this will not be my last engine! Thought I would share....

PS: the photo was rushed...there will be better photos or better yet videos coming soon!

Wow Ben... such praise 

Truly, I enjoyed the transaction and the communication.  This engine spent the last few years in Texas and, before that, was the property of our good friend Jan.

Now you're officially "one of us", ie those who can't turn down a nice engine

What a terrific old engine, old school safety valve and old school metal steam/water catcher......here come a LOT of pleasurable hours of steaming

Quote from: Nick on January 28, 2021, 08:27:07 pm

Quote from: oilfield_steam on January 28, 2021, 08:24:21 pm

Now you're officially "one of us", ie those who can't turn down a nice engine

He has no idea what he’s gotten himself into now 😂 😂 😂

I may have possibly been bitten by a "steam-bug"...is it serious or even deadly???
  I am a mechanical minded guy that loves to tinker/refine/modify....Scotts vintage in molested engine is just to nice to Mod
So.....I just put in a pretty low offer on a D10...it looks decent but not a high value engine....this D10 will be my guinea pig test bed to try my wild ideas on...I will tear it down and paint custom colors, add bearings or oil-lite bushings.. Refine anything I can think of to try for as smooth a run as possible....maybe it will not get Any better....but the fun is the adventure of trying!....I will not feel any remorse if what I do hurts the value as it was not worth much as is. Hopefully some experience steamers will let me know there personal refining tricks....can Wilesco steam valve timing be adjusted?....feeling a little light headed just now....will the steam-bug bite be lethal?

Nah....you'll be fine.....Don't know about your wallet, bank account or credit card though.....they might need life support

Congratulations Ben!

It is an amazing engine, and one of the sweetest runners i´ve known

Well, strictly speaking i was referring to Wilescos, and of those just ones that i have owned myself

That said, i have owned quite a few...to say the least 

Welcome to the Forum, from Brooklyn...

  Nice looking engine for your first.  You are in trouble now.
They seem to multiply, especially in the living room and bedroom.
My wife says I'm turning the living room into a man-cave.

  I gave my brother an electrically heated D16 for Christmas 2019.
He likes the way it runs and the fact that it was very clean.  Your
experience will be even better.

  As to steaming with gas...Absolutely, wait for your gas burner as it
will be clean, adjustable, have no/little odor, and does not leave gunk
on your boiler bottom.  Very highly recommended.

  As soon as you steam it up take a video and share it with us.  It is
always fun to watch a newbie run.

Have fun steaming,
Wayne

This is my first steam engine, I was not a teen yet but close is all I recall of when.  What is memorable was "pre internet" searches were by phone calls. Well, sight unseen I found a hobby shop an hour away, man on phone explained it was ~ $66 if I recall.  I'm not sure what ticked my Dad more the money or two hour round trip.  For him to do that for me, was pretty special.

I dug it up about 10 years ago, and the wheel was badly corroded, the deck and water tray all the paint just peeling off, used what paint I had to clean it up.  Always wondered why this model has two safety valves.  They were leaking very bad, I was able to fix them.