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

Boucher offered this single cylinder marine engine in at least four different sizes between about 1920 and 1934. This one is an intermediate-sized example, here shown running on compressed air. I could not find this particular boiler in my Boucher literature but it may well have been made by the firm.

For background about Horace Boucher, here is an excerpt from my book "Voltamp And Boucher: America's Premier Electric Model Trains" published in 2014 and available on Amazon" 

"The owner of H.E. Boucher Mfg. Co., Horace Boucher, was a trained naval architect and model maker who once headed of the U.S. Naval Model Shop. In 1905 Boucher established his own naval model-making studio in Manhattan at 95 Maiden Lane, in the financial district. He started small with just two assistants, but demand for his services quickly resulted in expansion. Boucher eventually widened the scope of his business beyond making models of ships and boats into making models of buildings and structures, such as a sectional model of the great steel and concrete caissons that support the famous Woolworth Building in New York. In 1930 he made a highly detailed model in ceramics of the massive George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River and the surrounding vicinity that was superior to maps, photos, or blueprints. The model included details like traffic lanes, houses and trees. One of Boucher's famous series of naval models was a series of 175 warship models that traced the entire history of U. S. Navy vessels from the Bonhomme Richard to the latest modern battleships of his day. Boucher was also an avid yachtsman and served as an officer in at least two yacht clubs."

   Interesting to see this, as I have two Boucher engines myself (see photos here). I was not aware that this engine was made in several sizes. Mine are both the same size, with the odd bore size of 15/16th. I have seen few others, all were shown mounted on boats, and having the same metal name plate as yours. I believe that maybe only the engines sold with complete boats had the name plates, and that others were sold in some sort of kit form. One of these has the exhaust pipe attached internally (somehow), the other exhaust has a more typical threaded attachment that screws into the valve chest externally. I got these separately, as-is.


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    Thanks very much Jim, I had never seen this or any other Boucher engine catalog references. Mine are both the D81 model, having 2 inch flywheels. I measured the bore diameter precisely on one and it was 15/16ths, I guess they just rounded that up to one inch! Also, I did not know that these engines were made much past 1910, obviously whatever information I had was wrong. And this catalog page confirms that they were also made in kit form, both machined and casting kits. Great reference!