Odd Ideas

When messing about with secondhand toy steam engines, you come across some very bizarre restorations and modifications done through their life. Many are well meaning but crude bodges to keep the engines running, but some I just do not understand. This engine was given to me as a Christmas present after having been picked up secondhand, it's an SEL Junior with half of a Mamod hammer. Signalling Equipment Limited - SEL made an interesting range of very small engines just after the Second World War. Many of their engines used Bakelite in their construction, the Junior having a Bakelite engine frame.

Sometime in the past, the owner has remove the safety valve and respective bush and araldited on a lovely turned brass locomotive chimney. This has just been glued over the hole, meaning the boiler will no longer hold pressure. After doing this, the owner has then gone to the trouble of making a very long plug to fit in the water level plug hole, even though the boiler can no longer be used.

Maybe he had an idea for the engine - I will never know, I'll leave it to you readers to speculate!

The long filler plug!

The Engineer.