Information About the Steam Engine :

The Savage Centre engine modelled here is actually two steam engines sharing a common boiler. The large horizontal engine is a Savage No.6  centre engine and was used to power traditional fairground rides in the early part of the last century.

The smaller inverted vertical engine mounted above the boiler smokebox is a Savage No.4 engine. This was used to drive the musical fairground organ and ancillary equipment such as dynamo’s or generators. The engines could also, of course, be obtained independently.

The inspiration for the model came from a small publication detailing model steam engines and was shown on the front cover of the book. It was a model I just had to build!

Information regarding the model was very scarce to say the least and only very limited pictures and drawings were at hand, so most of the model design was taken from the front cover of the book. This means although the model is to scale, with reference to the illustration on the book cover, the true scale is not yet known, but I estimate it to be approximately 1:10.

The horizontal No.6 engine is a twin cylinder compound with slide valve control. The crankshaft also powers a water feed pump, driven from the eccentric at the far end of the crankshaft. A spinning centrifugal governor is located above the crosshead slides driven from a pulley system, taken off the crankshaft.

The inverted vertical No.4 engine is a single cylinder design with slide valve control. Again this has its own speed controlling governor.

The boiler is a multi-tubed coal fired boiler and has an opening coal stoking hatch and also opening firebox door, which reveals the dummy tubes and the chimney flue. The firebox is illuminated to simulate the warm glow of the burning fuel.

The boiler is shown fully piped with all steam and water pipes, at the front of the boiler the water feed guages are also modelled.

A whistle, control valve, safety valve are modelled above the cylinder steam chest and drain cocks are employed throughout.

A water tank is situated underneath the boiler, having a drain cock and stand pipe.
Both engines have independent drives, so both can be controlled separately at different speeds and directions. 

The No.4 engine, the small inverted vertical is driven by a sub-mini Maxon gearmotor hidden under the base of the engine. This motor powers the crank and also the governor.

The horizontal No.6 engine has a medium sized Maxon unit hidden inside the boiler and has a coupled drive angled out to the crankshaft just behind the flywheel. This keeps the driving arrangement neat, compact and relatively hidden for both engine units.

A water tank is also modelled and is shown underneath the engine. This reservoir is topped up with a small water stand pipe, seen behind and also has its own drain cock at the front.

A flexible rubber pipe feeds from the tank to the crank driven water pump. This pump then supplied water to the boiler via the water gauges and injectors.

The twin compound cylinders on the horizontal engine have modelled drip trays underneath to catch condensed water and oil. The centrifugal governor can be seen in between the two crosshead slides, above the control valve link. Also on the cylinder steam chest the throttle control and safety valve and whistle can be seen. Drain off pipes are inserted to each side of both cylinders. The split crank was particularly difficult to model, with alignment taking a lot of time to achieve.

To add realism I have also included an electronic steam sound generator, which can easily be disabled. The firebox has a warm illuminated glow by a mixed LED arrangement fitted within.

The engine gave me great pleasure to build and went together really well. It’s a model I had been wanting to build for a long time after first seeing the picture on the cover of the model book.

My aim was to create one of the most detailed steam engine models ever made with the Meccano system. In this model I have tried to include all the features of the prototype and also tried to match the colour scheme of the original to keep the feel of the model right.