Jon Baddeley
Specialist Consultant Collectors, Science & Marine
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Lot 95TP
AN IMPORTANT 8 1/4-inch GAUGE MODEL OF ROBERT STEPHENSON'S 2-2-2 ENGINE AND HORSESHOE TENDER,
25 September 2019, 13:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £43,812.50 inc. premium
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Claire Tole-Moir
Head of Department
AN IMPORTANT 8 1/4-inch GAUGE MODEL OF ROBERT STEPHENSON'S 2-2-2 ENGINE AND HORSESHOE TENDER,
the wrought iron riveted boiler is fitted with fire-hole door, the remains of gauge glass and regulator and gold leafed steam dome, with whistle fragments and safety valves. There are also clack and blowdown valves, a filler funnel and brass band retained the cladding. The firebox and smokebox carry bearing brackets which would have held a draincock reach-rod, connected to the cylinders via a rod passing through the front footplate. Chassis fittings include finely fletched wrought iron frames with riveted axle keeps, incorporating the underslung springs and braced by faceted stay-bars. The cylinders have overtype valve chests in the base of the smokebox and the spindles are operated via rocking levers actuated by the twin-eccentric link motion. Feed pumps are mounted horizontally and driven by the "Stephenson" crossheads. The front and rear buffer beams are missing, and the footplate is furnished with finely turned and scrolled railings with brass corner and end finials. The 4-wheeled horseshoe tender is fitted with finely adjustable water controls and the rear buffer beam carries examples of the buffer construction both front and rear. The frame is wooden and, as with the engine, the axle carriers are stayed and contain the leaf springs within. The locomotive still has its original painting and lining which was a deep blue-green with polished fletched frames and splashers. Stephenson-red wheels with black lining and gold leafed steam dome. The lining and arms on the tender are those of Chile, but the colours, as designed by the English artist Charles Wood Taylor in 1834, have mistakenly been reversed from top to bottom, 21in (53cm) high, 48in (122cm) long
Footnotes
Jonathan Minns suggested that the model was sent to Chile as a demonstration sales model in the middle of the 1840's, where it was near worn out through running and clearly suffered several severe collisions. It is particularly important in that the boiler, fletched and wrought iron frames and Stephenson spokes are identical to his standard 2-2-2 locomotive of 1835. The significant difference however, is that whilst the original was fitted with typical gab valve gear, this locomotive has the earliest known example of so-called Stephenson link motion which was actually invented by his foreman, Mr Howe, in 1843 and sadly for all concerned, was never patented.
Provenance:
Property of The British Engineerium, Hove.