Ruston Proctor

"George" 1911 Ruston Proctor SC 4HP Class SP #43135

History "George" left the Ruston Proctor works in Lincoln England on was imported into Australia by the Melbourne agents H.V. Mackay, but spent his entire working life pumping irrigation water on a farm "Fernlie" at Woodstock near Townsville Queensland. His original owner and operator was the farmer George Cook, from whom he takes his name. He was spotted in a derelict condition still on the river bank, by a local Doctor, Pat Flecker, in 1967. The smoke box had rusted through and the cladding was rusting away but the engine appeared complete. The owner had not used the engine for 30 years but would not contemplate parting with it, so it remained where it was for several more years. When Pat called back for another look in 1976 a sapling tree had grown through the remaining cladding and more rust had appeared BUT the old farmer had died and the new one was only too happy to part with the engine.

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Ruston Proctor

On the river bank Pat found a complete set of spuds and even a number of the original frost plugs that were delivered with the engine. Hardly items of great use in tropical Townsville! George had had very little use. The wheel strakes still showed all the machining marks. All the original fittings were still in place down to the lids on all the oilers. The only thing missing was the whistle. Over the next three years Pat cleaned out the boiler, which the inspector considered in fine condition and gave the original pressure of 140 psi. He replaced the ash pan and wood baskets and repaired the water tank and smoke box but the pump and motion were in good condition except for a bit of pitting of the rods. By 1979 he was back steaming. The boiler was re-tubed in the mid eighties with the exception of the stay tubes. By the 1998 the stay tubes had come to the end of their life. The expertise was not available in Townsville and Pat decided the time had come to find George new owners and we were lucky enough to get the job! One Thing Leads to Another.

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Ruston Proctor

Back in Melbourne the task of replacing the stay tubes began but a closer inspection of the engine showed a number of other small problems that also needed rectifying and before long George was in pieces again. A new chimney was made, with the tubes removed a bit of pad welding was done on the tube plates. Fitting the stay tubes was a lengthy process and taught us a few do's and don'ts. They had to be expanded before being threaded so that the threads at each end synchronised to allow them to be screwed into the tube plates. The holes in the tubeplate are bigger at the smokebox end to allow the tube to fit through. Some of the holes at the firebox end were under the nominal 2" even for the normal tubes so these tubes had to be swaged down to fit. When Pat had replaced the lagging he had used fibreglass Batts to give extra insulation. This proved a mistake as they had absorbed and held moisture resulting in the cladding rusting through again and surface corrosion to the barrel. It was decided to sandblast the barrel which meant pulling everything apart again! George lives at the Melbourne Steam Traction Engine Club in Scoresby and a great rush was on to have him operational for the 1999 rally. Paint was applied the week before and he made it to the rally albeit without any cladding. He ran beautifully. He is now clad but still requires a number of small jobs tidying up to be completely restored. The water lifter plumbing needs refitting, a new ash pan has been made but needs fitting. The spark arrestor is being rebuilt.
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Ruston Proctor

He can be seen in steam at the club on the last Sunday of most months. He is seen here operating our stone crusher.

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New Page 2

Stacked away in the back of the shed are two Marshall "S" class 10 ton rollers waiting there turn for restoration.

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Buffalo Pitts Traction

Buffalo Pitts Twin Cylinder 18 HP Single Speed

History This engine last worked in the 40's on the farm of the Tomamichel family of Ultima. It was purchased by the late T. K. Brown restorer and collector of a great many steam engines. T.K. Brown had completed some restoration work on the engine including new tube plates and tubes, a patch on the bottom of the boiler new big end bearings and plate below ash pan. It is currently sandblasted and primed and sitting in secure dry storage waiting its turn for restoration. <Previous Next>

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Our Portable

This cute little Buffalo Pitts portable only needed a few small repairs to get it going but somehow they never got done. That cute little kid is now a 22 year old!

It has a lot of interesting features that are typical of American manufactured engines but not common on British engines. The big steam dome is never seen on British engines and the tiny flywheel likewise. The mounting of the cylinder on the side of the boiler is unusual, too, but makes it more accessible. The engine exhaust passes through a feed water heater, A less desirable feature of the boiler is the "wet" firebox. Where as British boilers were open under the firebars, in this boiler the water space wraps right around the firebox enclosing the area under the firebars. This means that you cannot knock out the firebars and get at the firebox from under the engine. The only access is through the firebox door. It also means that when housekeeping practises were not good the fireboxes soon rusted through on the bottom. This engine had some very "agricultural" repairs to the boiler in this area which are finally being rectified. The seat at the front of the boiler puts the machine into historical perspective. It is clearly from pre tractor days. This the drivers seat from where he controlled the horses. A foot assisted handbrake helped keep the engine from over running the horses coming down the hills. The boiler is in good condition apart from the ashpan area and thinning around where the fusible plug has leaked. Repairs are finally underway.

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Our Portable

View of the under neath of the ashpan showing how the farmer had repaired the boiler by putting a patch with a gasket on the fireside of the ashpan and bolting it right through the water space.

The patch. The entire area has been removed on both the inner and outer wrapper and will be patched rivetted and stayed.

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Our Portable

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Fowler Roller

Fowler Roller #16936 in unrestored condition

This Engine was originally owned by the City of Essendon <Previous

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Marshall Road Loco

"Blackbutt" 1911 Marshall 8HP DCC Road Loco #55388

Three Speed 8HP DCC Traction Engine "Blackbutt" was built in 1911 and spent its working life in Queensland working variously in forestry, sawmilling and irrigation. We purchased this engine from Alan Robert in Queensland in 1996. Although the engine had under gone a substantial restoration at Bundaberg Tafe over 10 years and was in sound condition it was very VERY NOISY! So Noisy that even the spectators needed hearing protection. We decided that to get full enjoyment of this engine something would have to be done! It is very hard to tell the origin of gear noise but that the wear in the square section of the second shaft where the gears slide seemed one likely area. You could hear four distinct thuds per
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Marshall Road Loco

revolution. The hex slide for the third gear was also worn though to a lesser degree. The Tafe restoration had included building up worn gears with weld but the resulting profile was less than perfect. We built up the square section on the shaft and sleeved and slotted the square section on the first and second gears to match. We had new third gears cut as this was the simplest way of eliminating the slop in the hex slide. Almost all the wear had been in the gear as the hex section on which it slide was cast steel being part of the flywheel. It has definitely reduced the noise problems. In third gear the noise is obviously predominantly from the third shaft however the speed in third gear is too fast for the rally ground so more gear work was required. Another anomaly with this engine was that the eccentrics had been reversed at some stage and you had to pull the reversing lever back to go forward. All very confusing. New sets of gears have now been made, machine cut and fitted and the difference to the engine is amazing. Virtually all the noise has been eliminated. <Previous Next>

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Marshall traction

"Ironbark" 1911 Marshall 8HP DCC #58389

Since buying this engine at auction in 1996 we have retubed it, built up the diff gears and replaced the rear axle bearings. It is currently out of service awaiting attention to a bearing on the third shaft which was producing little piles of brass sawdust the last time the engine ran. Next>

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