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I have just acquired the TE below, I am puzzled as to its age as apart from it having no paint, the boiler is in brass and the canopy is also brass, the bodywork is in steel, all has an aged patina.
I normally pick these up to rebuild them, but is this worth more to someone else as a collection item than my chopping it up.
Be interested in anyones comments -
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Either this has simply been stripped of paint/modded by a previous owner, or is one of the many "faux" Wilesco traction engines, built by a Dutch dude quite a few years ago.
(He built them like this, from some large Wilesco parts stock, and had the short roller canopy as a "signature")
None of the above has any real effect on value, and was it mine i wouldn´t hesitate to modify to my hearts extent
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That's confirming, just rather taken by the short canopy, so might well incorporate in the rebuild.
Just out of interest what year would this date from as a guessestimate
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I have seen similar to these before on feeBay.
Someone was taking off the paint and/or starting with a brass one and making all the metal look very distressed.
Typically they would make it look like it is 100 years old and in a very aged condition. They typically would do this to inexpensive rollers and TEs from the 70's, 80's, and 90,s. It is not the sort of trickery I condone. A friend got taken for $500 on ebay for one these phony aged beasts.
That said, yours looks better than the others I have seen.
Gil -
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Either this has simply been stripped of paint/modded by a previous owner, or is one of the many "faux" Wilesco traction engines, built by a Dutch dude quite a few years ago.
(He built them like this, from some large Wilesco parts stock, and had the short roller canopy as a "signature")
None of the above has any real effect on value, and was it mine i wouldn´t hesitate to modify to my hearts extent
It has his curved burner handle as well
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Here are a couple pictures of the one my friend bought a couple years ago. I wished he had asked me to look before he shelled out all the money. I could have saved him a few hundred.
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Interesting, I set my price at what I would pay for a tired one in need of a rebuild and took my chance, was not going to pay some of the silly prices they seemed to be going for currently
All I am after in reality is the rear wheel rims, steering, boiler engine, firebox and gears - the rest is no use to me
I have a large collection of odds and ends that might be of use to someone - drop me a line and see if I can help -
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Quote from: Nick
It has his curved burner handle as well
Didn´t even notice that...
Of course you´re right, and well spotted Nick
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Well, I am not a Wilesco expert, but this looks very much like the very first "Wilesco" roller I acquired what looks like ages ago (sold long since..).
I learned later that this strange livery (meaning: brass boiler/canopy etc and other parts like body, nose etc looking as if prepared for but never actually painted + ,in some specimen, a non-standard burner...) indicates that it is a roller assembled from original Wilesco parts by the Dutch importer for Wilesco products in the late 60s/early 70s (?) and sold in the Netherlands and Germany.
The original brass versions of the Wilesco roller / TE have an all brass finish, as you will know. -
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...another indicator might be the brass-tube handle of the steam valve.
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Thanks, Thomas!
Was this business of assembling Wilesco parts in other countries the "work around" to minimize tariffs before the EU existed? -
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Wilesco usually has a ribbed shroud with a cap, around the cylinder.
These have the base for the shroud and the cap screw in the end of the cylinder. -
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From Stefan's site, Google translated...
(a little past half way down this page: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.stefans-oldsmoky.com/&prev=search&pto=aue )
D36 from someone else's hand / D36 out of others hand
For a long time there has been a question about the manufacturer of the steam roller shown on the left. This looks like a Wilesco product, but has three clear differences:
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For quite some time, there was always the question of the manufacturer of the steam tractor at left. He looks like a Wilesco product, but has three significant differences:
- there is no typical Wilesco burner guide
- there is no imprint "Made in Western Germany"
- Only the boiler and roof are made of brass, the rest is normal sheet metal
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- There is no Wilesco typical torch guidance
- There is no imprint "Made in Western Germany"
- Only boiler and roof are made of brass, the rest is normal sheet
And now there is finally an answer:
The models shown above are NOT from Wilesco or HGL. Wilesco sold a large number of individual parts to another dealer in the 1970s. He first put the parts in acid to treat / paint the surface and then made and sold complete models. However, parts typical of Wilesco such as the handle of the steam valve and the burner guide were obviously not included. Therefore, other parts were installed here.
So these are Wilesco components, but not a Wilesco product. These models have also never been subjected to a TÜV inspection.
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And now there is finally an answer:
The models shown above originate neither of Wilesco nor of HGL. I n the 1970 s Wilesco has sold a large number of individual parts to another dealer. He put all the pieces into acid to treat the surface and to remove paint, completed the models and sold them as shown above. However Wilesco-typical components such as the handle of the steam valve and the burner slide were obviously not included. Therefore other parts were used.
So these are indeed Wilesco components, but not a Wilesco product. Also, these models have never been subjected to a technical inspection like the TÜV in germany, which is typical for Wilesco-products since the early 1970s.
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...and some still remembers the debate it created 5-6 years ago, to convince him that this wasn´t "The Holy Grail"
Another one listed here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brass-Steam-Driven-Traction-Engine/293637410116 -