The secrets of Tmuir

tmuir · The secrets of Tmuir

Well no secrets really just thought I would put my bio up as it seems to be the in thing to do at the moment and I couldn't think as a better title.

I live in Perth, Western Australia and I'm the Field Operations Manager for a National Telecommunications carrier which basically means 'keep everything working in the buildings and below ground from Perth to the WA border' for the company.

I am 33, married with a 2 year old son and another baby on the way.
I first fell in love with toy steam engines 20 years ago when visiting my grandfather in Sydney and saw a Mamod SA1 roadster in a shop.
It of course was way too expensive but my grandfather gave me a small verticle steam engine he had as a boy. I still have it but it needs major boiler repairs.

I finally got myself a roadster on my visit to UK in the first quater this year along with a Te1a, se1a, Me1,early german accessory, mamod grinder and a luton bowman.

I've since aquired a lot more, much to my wifes disgust.

With the highlights being.
A converted to 45mm and upgraded SL2
Early SR1
An Australia Scorpion verticle engine
I am also building a Roundhouse Lady Anne

Besides steam I also dabble in jewellery making, mainly silver but occasionally in 9K gold and rarely 18k gold, woodworking and growing native terrestrial orchids.
I'm hoping to build myself a workshop within the next year, as I have all the workshop machines excluding a lathe but nowhere to set them up.

Knowsnothin

It amazes me the talent which is on this forum
And your right up there Tony
I cant wait to see your Lady Anne when its finished
Iv'e been keeping a eye on progress on your website
Infact 3/4 of the hits to your website
Are from me .....................

oldstuff

Hi Tony,

I'm not even sure we're supposed to be replying to these. Feels like a Toast and Roast affair. All we have to go by in these forums is what another has written, but if we're curious and thoughtful we can get a feel for a fellow's personality in what he writes. But, Tmuir, in your case what springs to my mind is how reassuring to me your presence is in this forum. You, and your compatriot, Wallace, make a good case for Oz as being the place for me. Through chatting with you I feel most of the people there are not just friendly, but warm too. In the back of my mind will always be planted a notion that I must aquire a Scorpion Steam Engine for myself. I'm sorry but I cannot yet bring myself to call it a donkey. Are we going to see a video of it running, please? While we're at it, how about a pic and some info on your grandfather's engine? Thank-you for graciously sharing the Meccano plans over in the Meccano section...that was a treat! All the best to you, tmuir, and please take care of Grandad's steam engine.

tmuir

Thanks oldstuff.

Here is a link to a previous post of my with a vid of the scorpion running before I cleaned it up. Haven't ran it since as I need to make a burner for it and just haven't got around to it yet.
Runs very well with a deep tone.

http://modelsteam.myfreeforum.org/ftopic915.php

Here is my grandads engine.
When I was a young teenager I ran it dry and holed the boiler.
Need to fabricate a new boiler tube for it, but as this is a big job I want to practice my techniques on other engines that dont hold as much value to me before I risk damaging this engine further.

Notice the absence of a safety valve. It should have one but it 'lost' it at some point during its life.

Sandman

Aw , you left out the Scottish connection. I was kinda proud of that.

Mamodman123

Getting engines like that Scorpion is easily done when you are a kid. That's a minter compared to what I did to my SE3

tmuir

Sandman

oldstuff

God, that Scorpion sounded terrific! It sounds like the chuffing of an old steam locomotive from the cowboy days.

And Grandpa's engine...it looks quite the cousin to your Scorpion, that base is similar to the Scorpion's. I do like them alot...they're scarce and geographical, as well. A desirable combination, in my view. It seems odd to me that many older engines had boilers with seams, must've rolled them somehow...why didn't they use a tube? It seems to have a cap on top...maybe you could pop that off and put a sleeve in and retain it's original look. Thanks for posting it!

tmuir

All I can guess is as they where toys brass sheet would of been cheaper than brass tubes or tube not readily available.
But is common amongst most old Australian engines.

They are hard to get though, only ever seen one Scorpion on ebay which was missing parts and one other engine similar to my granfathers in an antique shop for near $200 which had the boiler badly melted the crankshaft bent and other minor damages to it.