Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines
The Regular Stuff: Chat, Buy, Sell, Off Topic, etc. => Wanted => Topic started by: Steamburns on February 20, 2024, 03:00:51 pm
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That looks like a nice clean one & intact. Shipping is very cheap.
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Clean Jensen workshop $100 BIN
https://www.ebay.com/itm/176264377451?itmmeta=01HQVFZMZ6AZMFW8A600DMQSRD&hash=item290a2cf46b:g:mYUAAOSwCp1l4PpC&itmprp=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwMG14KqW1JIzHpn96V%2Fb50WuGadvo%2BwPB2%2BZ9cRpWhHajNHdqB0daCFX8IQVU5Rk0fjfBOArkjCYBpKhhUt1Lw8%2BhRB2Eyc26Heg4JZqL0ZS7lUxu6lYz2gWD%2FbzWp17tRiVNf6jtR8MeM91EOlH4lZR7UO73iOPb7oxD6DD2CZyiN4PQUz2QRajFC3KNvOJH2fk7E8%2Ft4TPOgf1duu59CR%2FFgI8a%2F7sMLDMfy02iSExje45zJZAR2TSZEYRqNg5vg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_LP_u--Yw
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Seen this one Bruce just put up?
https://www.officeofsteamforum.com/classifieds-for-sale/brass-tag-jensen-35-'restored'-runs-well-needs-nothing/?topicseen
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For ease of use you might go with electrically powered engines.
I've listed the American made ones with which I have experience.
Jensens are great engines and are still being made. You can
easily find the common ones on ebay starting at under $100 for
a nice runner like a #35. As a bonus, you can buy brand new parts
to solve most all problems and Andy is there to help. Jensen
also offers 'fueled' engines, but the electric ones are the coolest.
Empires are robust and you will find most are pre-WW2. Condition
matters, but you will find they go between $50-$150. If the
heaters are burned out there are alternatives and most other problems
are solvable with a bit off toil and luck. Sometimes, you may have
to hunt for parts.
Weeden also makes electrically powered models but they are not
as durable an engine as the Jensens or Empires are. That said,
they are good runners.
There are a few others but the brands I mentioned will give you the
most pleasure and fun for the time and money spent.
Good Luck,
Wayne
Thanks for the insight.
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For ease of use you might go with electrically powered engines.
I've listed the American made ones with which I have experience.
Jensens are great engines and are still being made. You can
easily find the common ones on ebay starting at under $100 for
a nice runner like a #35. As a bonus, you can buy brand new parts
to solve most all problems and Andy is there to help. Jensen
also offers 'fueled' engines, but the electric ones are the coolest.
Empires are robust and you will find most are pre-WW2. Condition
matters, but you will find they go between $50-$150. If the
heaters are burned out there are alternatives and most other problems
are solvable with a bit off toil and luck. Sometimes, you may have
to hunt for parts.
Weeden also makes electrically powered models but they are not
as durable an engine as the Jensens or Empires are. That said,
they are good runners.
There are a few others but the brands I mentioned will give you the
most pleasure and fun for the time and money spent.
Good Luck,
Wayne
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Hey
Hope u find your engine. Tips if you use ebay and dont know if the engine works or not and you can get a good guess.
Buy it now is seemingly the best case scenario when you become an expert at identifying.
Making an offer can be good deal too. My best engines are from searching "steam engine" on ebay every waking hour of my life. Its better than instagram. Organize from newly listed and u can snipe good deals. Salvage houses take offers or sellers with 100+ items will accertain much lower offers or buy it now prices. Vheck and see what else the seller sells to determine motivatiin.
Now the most important things to see and look for.
The More Features you have the more issues you get.
A steam engine is like an antique car. It works or doesnt and if it doesnt know how to fix it and god bless your ability to make or find parts.
Heres what Ive noticed. Important to least. First 5 points or items are required for most basic engine to the bells and whistles issues. (literally)
Boiler . Is it solid. no rust. no corrosion. no holes or dents. If there are holes are they fitted or missing fittings. Those missing caps or accesories from the boiler can be costly to replace.
Heat Source ... Does it have its burner or burner tray or if electric is the pad burnt out or cord frayed needing replacement? some old burners especially vaporizors go for a small fortune.
Cylinder ... Most oscilating cylinders seem to work. Double cylinders offer more problems. I dont think I have aquired any oscilating motors that disnt get working under presure after being oiled. The doubles can be more issues. Slidevalves seem harder for me to get the timing right.
Flywheel. Is it still a wheel? Spokes broke? its important
Chimney... should be further down this list but I think wayy to many of us like them. Make sure its there its impossible or expensive to replace.
Hardware. .. do all the screws match? is there a random bolt that destroyed the original threading? Are handles to valves missing? Simple thingd like even a weeden flywheel can be expensive.
Looks... Is it a rust bucket?? Do you like it?? If u care about value make sure the boiler bluing or nickle plating or enameled base or pinstripping is still present
Sight glass.... Easily replaceable on most engines with basic skills and some tools. But if its there and brown or foggy can tell a bad tale of what happened in that boiler. Literally make sure there is not water in it still too. Got one of those once....
Manometer ... .. Pressure gauges seem to work or dont. I find if they dont rest at base or zero they prolly dont work. If they do it seems 50/50 on some of the ones over 75 years old.
Whistle... This are a nice feature but 1 more issue or boiler leak point. the weeden ones always seem cracked. These seem to always cause the most damage to shipped steam engines sometimes its wise to ask seller to gentky twist off if possible before shipping or advise extra padding. they dent and punch in boilers like Mohammed Ali when poorly shipped.
Water Pump .. .. These can be finicky but fixable. Be prepared for anoying work with these guys.
The more features the more you should be aware of what they do and or how to fix then. I say you should get a good old American made weeden or jensen as your first engine or a wilesco or mamod from avross the pond because the pasrts avail and cheaper prices.
Best of luck I wish I voukd part with one of my kids but cant.
Jason
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Regarding Jensens to add to your collection...
1940s-50s have wood base, cast iron engine base, black firebox, dark blue cast iron.
Those with riveted boilers are mostly from the 1930s and can easily go out of your price range.
Jensens have about the most robust construction of all the toy steam engine manufacturers.
If one doesn't work it can almost always be made to work.
These all can usually be bought for 200-500 USD for a nice working example.
If you are lucky enough to find a complete #20 or 20-G for under 500, jump on it before someone else does.
Happy hunting!
Gil
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No no no not a mamod .
You could try David Auld or maybe even Cranko
Are you kidding?
Look them up and let me know what you think
David Aulds are built tough
Silver solder boilers etc .
Cranko are a bit more rare and soft soldered .
Yes they may be New Zealand made but they are available if you are serious
Roller is restored Cranko
Small verticals are David Auld
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No no no not a mamod .
You could try David Auld or maybe even Cranko
Are you kidding?
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An engine that always brings a smile to my face is a twin cylinder Mamod SE-3. They are fairly common and also tend to be quite reasonable in price. I think there are a few on evilbay currently at $150 or less, and a couple of them look pretty good.
You might want to check some out .... here's one that caught my eye:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/195970877698?
Yeah I’ve been burnt badly on eBay myself on other things.. and not the biggest Mamod fan. They seem junky to me, but that’s my opinion.
I wouldn't say Mamod are my favorites. Most are pretty simple engines, not very sexy but I wouldn't say they are junk. Granted the two I have (MM2 & SR1a) dropped into my lap but I had fun getting them going again. Luckily they were for free, so buying parts wasn't to big of a deal.
From time to time you can get a deal on a Empire - it would need a little help and likely paint (if bad paint bothers you). I been pretty lucky, I guess, buying off eBay. Only one time did a engine get to me damaged. Now I always ask the seller to remove parts (throttle, whistle topper, smoke stack) and either they do or they package the engine extra good.
I think you can get deals on Jenson and Wilesco too, just have to keep looking. Setup a eBay search to have new listings emailed to you. The good thing about Jenson, Mamod, & Wilesco you can still get new parts. Though it also depends on the age of the engine (the older the less engine likely the right part is still made).
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Those are a bit tough to come by over here Dennis, unless you are offering some up for his consideration, in which case I would say... GREAT, definitely go for it!!! ;c)
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No no no not a mamod .
You could try David Auld or maybe even Cranko
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An engine that always brings a smile to my face is a twin cylinder Mamod SE-3. They are fairly common and also tend to be quite reasonable in price. I think there are a few on evilbay currently at $150 or less, and a couple of them look pretty good.
You might want to check some out .... here's one that caught my eye:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/195970877698?
Yeah I’ve been burnt badly on eBay myself on other things.. and not the biggest Mamod fan. They seem junky to me, but that’s my opinion.
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An engine that always brings a smile to my face is a twin cylinder Mamod SE-3. They are fairly common and also tend to be quite reasonable in price. I think there are a few on evilbay currently at $150 or less, and a couple of them look pretty good.
You might want to check some out .... here's one that caught my eye:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/195970877698?
It is listed as a BIN without a make offer button. But I find that if you contact the seller with a reasonable offer of maybe only 10-15% off, it is sometimes accepted!
Also, for real cheap entertainment, it is hard to go wrong with the Mamod Minor overtypes. Some of the best little table top dancers money can by, and it isn't unusual to score one well under $100.
See here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/285644792838?
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Jeepers! Just what I need - a new steamer looking for engines
in my price range.
Good Luck,
Wayne
I’m starting small. One day when I can afford a $5000 Jensen 50, I will do it!
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Marklin and Stuart, you may be hard pressed to find much within your price range, and with the Stuart, you will almost certainly be short a boiler, unless you have a fair-sized stand-alone boiler already on hand. Of course, you can always use one of your Jensen boilers as a steam source for any orphan engines you may pick up, such that then you'd only need an adaptor fitting to replace your whistle.
Steam plants with everything you need included are quite common in the toy steam world, and many are easily found within that range.
Mamod, Fleischmann, Wilesco, Bing, Falk, Weeden and many others are out there and available to varying degrees.
Here is the link to the Toy Steam Bible, which is a website that lists very many of the known makers, past and present, and shows some of their products. Always a good reference in most cases, even though far from complete, it at least may help you get a handle on something you find that you don't already know about:
http://www.toysteambible.org.uk/default.htm
Good luck and have fun with your hunt!!! ;c)
I opened my budget range a bit.
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Marklin and Stuart, you may be hard pressed to find much within your price range, and with the Stuart, you will almost certainly be short a boiler, unless you have a fair-sized stand-alone boiler already on hand. Of course, you can always use one of your Jensen boilers as a steam source for any orphan engines you may pick up, such that then you'd only need an adaptor fitting to replace your whistle.
Steam plants with everything you need included are quite common in the toy steam world, and many are easily found within that range.
Mamod, Fleischmann, Wilesco, Bing, Falk, Weeden and many others are out there and available to varying degrees.
Here is the link to the Toy Steam Bible, which is a website that lists very many of the known makers, past and present, and shows some of their products. Always a good reference in most cases, even though far from complete, it at least may help you get a handle on something you find that you don't already know about:
http://www.toysteambible.org.uk/default.htm
Good luck and have fun with your hunt!!! ;c)
Yeah, I know it's going to be a hunt. Just want another engine. Anything, that runs and is good, I'm all for.
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Jeepers! Just what I need - a new steamer looking for engines
in my price range.
Good Luck,
Wayne
What do you mean?
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Jeepers! Just what I need - a new steamer looking for engines
in my price range.
Good Luck,
Wayne
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Marklin and Stuart, you may be hard pressed to find much within your price range, and with the Stuart, you will almost certainly be short a boiler, unless you have a fair-sized stand-alone boiler already on hand. Of course, you can always use one of your Jensen boilers as a steam source for any orphan engines you may pick up, such that then you'd only need an adaptor fitting to replace your whistle.
Steam plants with everything you need included are quite common in the toy steam world, and many are easily found within that range.
Mamod, Fleischmann, Wilesco, Bing, Falk, Weeden and many others are out there and available to varying degrees.
Here is the link to the Toy Steam Bible, which is a website that lists very many of the known makers, past and present, and shows some of their products. Always a good reference in most cases, even though far from complete, it at least may help you get a handle on something you find that you don't already know about:
http://www.toysteambible.org.uk/default.htm
Good luck and have fun with your hunt!!! ;c)
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Hello All,
I am seeking more engines to my collection. I am looking to spend anywhere from $100-$500 for a used engine. I honestly prefer used as they are broken in, and tell a story.
I am a big fan of Jensen, Stuart, Doll & Co., Marklin, Empire Co. I know with a small budget like above, there isn't a whole lot of options, but there are (some) that maybe some of you are willing to part with.
If you have one in this price range willing to let go of, reply back with a Photo and price. This is a good way for some of you to share some engines you are selling, too.
;D