Starting To Refurbish The 6″ Scale Little Samson Traction Engine (Showman’s Version)
Engine History
It’s long overdue but I’ve just started to rejuvenate and refurbish my half sized Little Samson Steam Traction Engine.
The engine’s first steam run was on 7 October, 2021 – almost three years ago and the last (steam run 10) was on 26 Jan 2024.
Rejuvenation Works
The works involve a stripdown and rebuild of the engine. Showman’s Canopy, Seats, Back Wheels, 2nd Shaft & Gears some motion parts (TBD) off.
Without going into detail over what’s planned for the rejuvenation works, here is a short summary:-
- Cleaning, de-rusting & painting
- Including swapping rusty nuts for (home made and to-scale) stainless steel ones
- Painting some motion parts with anti-rust silver paint
- Fixing a few things resulting mostly from running on very rough roads on steel straked wheels
- Finalising the Showman’s Conversion – Dynamic Testing of the dynamo and adding some electrical meters
- Proving the injector
- Hopefully rubberising the wheels. (I’ve tried to do this 13 times, but never been able to get the rubber)
How long will it take? I don’t know – anything between one month and six months – much depends upon what I find and how long my enthusiasm can last!
Worksite
This is a photo of the working area. It’s completely covered and has a steel workbench and painting area.
Little Samson Traction Engine Refurbishment Workplace
