Hello all,
I'll get right to it, I took a working power Reverser off of my 1.5" scale little engines Mogul because i just don't really like it, and would rather have a manual linkage which I'm in the middle of working on. My question is, I have a friend interested in the power Reverser but i honestly haven't the slightest clue what it's value could be. It's fully functional, though it could probably use some fresh gaskets and a clean up. The previous owner ran it on water that was feeding from the sight glass, i quickly did away with that and plumbed it directly to the turret to run steam which honestly made it work much better. I've attached some photos of it as well. I'm really not sure if it's home built or a kit and model of a prototype. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
Tim Parks
Working Steam Power Reverser Value? Need Opinions.
Re: Working Steam Power Reverser Value? Need Opinions.
Hi Tim,
From the pictures I would guess that it is "home built" by someone who knows what they are doing. Making the control valve work properly is the key to a successful unit. I don't believe it is a model of any full size power reverser because as far as I know, they all had cross heads to take the side forces from both the valve linkage and the control linkage.
I don't think it is worth a lot, but I would give it points for being a working unit. While I don't claim to be an expert, I'm making two units in 3 1/2" gauge (one of them is for Big Boy" - see "Union Pacific Big Boy in 3/4" Scale") and those will look like the real thing. I'm working from an article in one of Modeltec's old issues and the "hard" parts are already done. Changing from a hot water source to a steam source should make no difference, because the steam in the unit will condense into water anyway. Its the boiler pressure that makes it work and it needs water inside it to make it "stiff" for model operation.
Because the real ones ran in any weather, they ran on air; if they ran on water, the water would freeze in winter and you know what happens to your water pipes when they freeze!
Hope this helps.
Richard Trounce.
From the pictures I would guess that it is "home built" by someone who knows what they are doing. Making the control valve work properly is the key to a successful unit. I don't believe it is a model of any full size power reverser because as far as I know, they all had cross heads to take the side forces from both the valve linkage and the control linkage.
I don't think it is worth a lot, but I would give it points for being a working unit. While I don't claim to be an expert, I'm making two units in 3 1/2" gauge (one of them is for Big Boy" - see "Union Pacific Big Boy in 3/4" Scale") and those will look like the real thing. I'm working from an article in one of Modeltec's old issues and the "hard" parts are already done. Changing from a hot water source to a steam source should make no difference, because the steam in the unit will condense into water anyway. Its the boiler pressure that makes it work and it needs water inside it to make it "stiff" for model operation.
Because the real ones ran in any weather, they ran on air; if they ran on water, the water would freeze in winter and you know what happens to your water pipes when they freeze!
Hope this helps.
Richard Trounce.
Re: Working Steam Power Reverser Value? Need Opinions.
Looks to me like the one that appeared in Live Steam mag years ago. I made one that looks just like yours from the plans in LS. Value...whatever you can get for it.
Re: Working Steam Power Reverser Value? Need Opinions.
Thanks the replies. I'm thinking i might trade it to my friend for a flat car frame.
Re: Working Steam Power Reverser Value? Need Opinions.
When I have things that I don’t need or want.....I am happy to just give them to a friend.