Quote:
Originally Posted by bertie8ton
No 12470 type 'DT' of 1929. Allegedly used as a donor after returning from Australia about 2004. Only about 50% of the engine was original when I bought it in 2007. Suspicious bolt holes in the bottom of the smokebox revealed it was dispatched from Rochester in tractor format and converted to a roller using aussie-made rolls/forks/headstock etc. I've had to make both axles, turntable and all the wheels ( Andy Loader made the rims). The chimney base didn't arrive in time to be fitted but was on display. All the above to original A + P drawings. Supposedly based on standard D type roller but some dimensions defy the laws of physics. Bigger bores, stay tubes, axles. The front bracket is just so we can get it on the wagon.
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G'day mate. You certainly have done a nice job. However the engine was built as a roller and worked as a roller in Sydney.
As with many Aveling rollers sold to Australia, to avoid higher import tariffs for imported steam rollers (as there was a small roller manufacturing base in Australia that the Federal Government was trying to protect) the agent Noyes Bros imported the rollers on TE wheels, then added the locally made roller components here. Apart from the Works photo of one looking silly with the strange chimney base casting (see Michael Lane's Aveling book), I don't think there is any record of any actually staying on TE wheels once in Australia. If a customer wanted one like that, they would have bought a convertible. It's a no brainer.
So you have got yourself a wrecked roller now converted to a traction engine. No more, no less.
Cheers,
G.
2nd August 2014, 12:19 AM
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