36k model on ebay

[Lance]

Ran across this on Ebay. Nice work but 36k??
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1910-HORNSB...803980824?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item4609507e18

 

[Herbiev]

Just thinking. $36,000 buys one model.
The same money can buy a lot of nice workshop machinery (cnc stuff) and I can make two. If I sell one and keep one i have a tractor and a decent workshop for free

 

[mu38&Bg#]

36k Probably doesn't cover the time involved at minimum wage.

 

[RManley]

Or materials. Very few have ever made this hobby pay. It is a stunning piece of modelling and like many other examples, probably undervalued.

I hope there is someone out there who understands the time and effort put into this and if they cant make it themselvs they should pay for it at a decent rate. Afterall, how much do BMW charge per hour for someone to plug a computer in and tell you your oil level is OK and we just accept that as an acceptable cost of someones time.

Rob.

 

[ChooChooMike]

That's one helluva steam tractor and excellent model !

Here's the text and a few pix from the eBay ad so you can read it after the eBay auction is gone:

I have decided to sell a portion of my scale model collection as it seems like the time to downsize. If it doesn't fit in my house then it must find a new home. I really do have too many things although I enjoy all of them. This live steam model is certainly one of the finest pieces in the collection and one of many pieces I am selling. Have a look at my other auctions to see what else I'm parting with.

You'll enjoy reading about the Hornsby crawler if you continue to read. Hornsby Tractor Model A unique and accurately detailed exhibition standard 2 in. scale model of the Hornsby Chain Track Double Crank Compound four speed five shaft Tractor originally built for the Arctic Light and Coal Co. Alaska 1910 by R. Hornsby’s & Son Grantham and modeled from original drawings and much research by D. Bingham – 45 x 30 x 19 in. With silver soldered copper boiler built by Castle Boilers, 1991 hydraulic tested to 180 psi for a working pressure of 90 psi with 16 x ½ in. tubes and fittings including water and pressure gauges, safety, blower, water lift, simpling, steam pump and blow-down valves. Engine details include cylinders 1-1/8 in and 1-7/8 in. bores x 2 in. stoke, studded stuffing boxes, footplate controlled draincocks and pipework, trunk type crosshead guides, ratchet operated lubricator, Stephenson’s link reverse, belt driven Pickering governor and valve, counterbalanced crankshaft, eccentric driven feedpump and by-pass, four road speeds mounted inside and outside the hornplates and built up disc flywheel and flywheel clutch. Chassis details include wood lagged belly and tender tanks with balance pipe, tender mounted donkey pump, water lift and pipe, damper, gear drive to back axle with three pinion differential unit, carried by ballbearings in the hornplates, sub-frame carrying traveling tracks with adjustable front axle and jockey pulleys, rear axle steering brakes, cable drum cable and fairleads to front and rear and sprung perch beam, adjustable skid pan under the tender and handbrake working on the front axle. Track details include twenty feet per side built up from castings with oak pads coupled by chain links, pins and rollers driven by cast iron sprockets through dog clutches on the rear half shafts, each foot capable of being fitted and spud or spike, and many other details. Finished in maroon, black and polished bright work. Wood plinth This model was awarded Gold medal and Aveling Barfor Trophy M.E.Exhibition London 1990.

Note: This unique crawler, reputed to have weighed 40 tons was built to haul 80 ton loads of coal on sleds over the 40 miles between Dawson City and Coad Creek in the Yukon for the steam navies working the goldfields. The steam engine was built by W. Foster, Lincoln, and the track mechanism by R. Hornsby, Grantham. After trials in England the machine was disassembled and shipped, via Cape Horn to Skagway and thence by rail and river to Dawson where it was re-assembled. Coal was pulled in sleds, the first containing a boiler for reducing ice/snow to water, via the tender mounted donkey pump, the tender being wood lagged and with skid under for climbing steep slopes. Performance was reputed to be 7-1/2 mph and it could work on grades up to 16-1/2% (35% when pushed and with lighter load). The machine was not successful, and was sold to a Mr. Sibley in Vancouver in 1927. On unloading at Apple Bay it became stuck in the beach gravel where it remained until 1985, the boiler being removed circa 1940. The remains are now on view at the Port Hardy B.C. Golf Club.

The machine did, however, lead to the development of the Holt crawler tractor and to the tracked tanks of the First World War. Now this is the British explanation of this incredible piece of engineering. The problem here was the concept! You see, a steam engine needs water to run and you’re in an environment where seven months of the year or more the weather is below freezing. So how do you convert the snow to water….enough water to supply the boiler. From what I have read, the “concept” was to keep the steam engine running 24/7….not a very realistic concept…..thus, failure.

But this model is off the charts as a model. It took two years just to make the tracks and it took the builder seventeen years to complete the model. The model is mint in every respect and one can sit and look at it for hours. Just brilliant craftsmanship. It comes with a display table and glass case. I have many more pictures I'll be happy to provide if you will just send me your email address. Thanks for your interest.

 

[Jasonb]

I'd save up a bit more and buy a bigger model of it

http://www.alanstepney.info/photos/D750.html

And some photos of it as it was and the sorry state it is in now

https://sites.google.com/site/hornsbysteamcrawler/

J

 

[ChooChooMike]

Looks like someone kinda rescued it and put it it's pieces somewhat under cover. No boiler though. Cool to see the running model that guy is actually driving !

 

[Entropy455]

The model contains an extra wheel on the tracks, that’s not on the original tractor. For 36-grand, the model should look like the original machine that it was modeled after. . .

Just my opinion...... .

 

[Entropy455]

Ok - looked at other pictures. Some had the extra wheel, some didn't.

Maybe it was an 1800s era dealer option for steam powered tractors. . . . . . . .

 

[Jasonb]

The pictures with 2 wheels were when trials were being carried out, the engine that was finally exported had the third wheel. Not an option as only one was made.

J