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

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

@Nick and @Parellelmotion: these are great finds, thank you SO MUCH for looking this up and for sharing! This means a lot to me. This is a successful identification: my engine is indeed absolutely identical to the images you posted of the 642/1 type!

Your posts also made me search for ‘1911 Carette catalog reprint’ and I found a couple of references to a 1979 book “The Great Toys of Georges Carette” by Allen Levy. Is that the book that you are referring to? Must be a rare book as copies are offered at pretty high prices (range of US$100-300). The images suggest that all parts of my 642/1 are original (or at least as shown in the images), with the exception of the burner. My burner has a longer handle, which is straight instead of curved. I guess it makes sense that a burner has a shorter lifetime than the other parts so it would have been replaced at some point during the past 100+ years.

While researching online I had already found the YouTube video that @Parellelmotion posted. Those engines are real beauties and obviously strongly related to my 642/1! Are those the original colors? Is anyone aware of any forum members that may own an actual 642/1 like mine? It would be so much fun to see photos of other 642/1s.

In my first post I mentioned some tin toys that can be powered by the 642/1. Below I added a photo of these items. Does anyone recognize these? I didn’t research them yet but it would be great to learn more about these as well. One thing I find a bit puzzling now is that they are in a much more worn (and damaged) state than the engine. Clearly, the engine was cared for better than these items, which is a bit strange if they all always belonged to my (great)grandfather. I am going to check with my mother if she knows why this might be so. By the way, I am sure she will be as thrilled as I am about these finds! My mother always believed that my grandfather was the first owner of this engine (I don’t recall if my grandfather told me anything about this). However, given what we know now about the George Carette company, this 1911 catalog and the fact that my grandfather was born in 1911, it seems unlikely that my grandfather was the first owner.

Now we have positive identification, do you have any advice on how to make sure this antique engine stays in good condition? At present I am primarily concerned about the smokestack. It is made of sheet metal with a dark blue color coating. I see some corrosion that appears to be damaging the blue coating. Does this sound familiar for these old machines? Is there a way to prevent it from getting worse?

I am going to collect and write down what I have learned so far (including the family history) and print it as an information package that will be stored with the engine.

This has turned out to be a very interesting fact finding journey. It has already made me look for other George Carette and Bing steam engines that are offered for sale in The Netherlands. Should I be worried I am infected with a new hobby-bug? 😊