Foster 4″ traction engine.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

I have this morning received the sad news of the death of a dear friend from his daughter. Apart from his workshop there is the foster Traction engine. He built it and it was often at the midland show. 5 years ago it suffered tube failure and it was his intention to retube it with my help. The distance between us complicated things. To the best of my knowledge it has all the paperwork for the boiler so that re certification should not be a problem following re tubing.

Can anyone give me any idea as to it’s value as it stands ? His daughter would like to see it in steam again and I may well take it on but I DO NOT want to offend with an unrealistic offer. I need guidance !  Noel.

[Chris GunnParticipant @chrisgunn36534]

Neil, all I can do is work backwards. I have a 4″ Garrett, drawn up by the same guy that did the 4″ Foster, and the boilers are virtually the same. I retubed my Garrett for the first time in 2010, and how i did it was written up and published in the ME. I had to retube it again in 2022, and did it in a different way, which I again wrote up for the ME, but this is unpublished at the time of writing. In 2022 it took me 25 hours to remove the old tubes and retube the Garrett. The tubes cost around £250. It took about 20 hours to make some small mods, prepare the engine for its testing, and to test it.

If the Foster is in otherwise good condition, I would estimate it could sell retubed and tested, for around £14,000.

I am aware that it is possible to get an engine retubed professionally for around £1,200, this was a year or so ago. this does not include any testing other than to check the tubes are seated OK.

How much to offer for it? 45 hours at £30 an hour, £1,350, plus tubes, now say £350, total £1,700? allowing a fair bit of wriggle room, maybe £8,000?. I would however imagine that the lady in question may well have difficulty in getting an offer as much as this in the open market. Hope this helps,

Chris Gunn

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

A quick google revealed a 4 in engine at £20k. Allowing dealer markup of ? 4k and the retubing on 2k and a generally tired paintwork perhaps still puts it at a potential £12k.

[Paul KempParticipant @paulkemp46892]

Noel,

For the single cylinder 4” Foster in reasonable to good nick and ready to go I would say £14-15k.  For the compound closer to £20k.  The single is a good engine, popular and there are quite a few around.  The compounds are much less common either as road loco or showman’s form so tend to command a higher price.  Point to watch is the lower gauge glass fitting certainly on the single cylinder boilers I have seen are often in the wrong place – too low so if the water is in the bottom fitting the crown is well exposed.  Those that have been identified thus usually have a sleeve over the lower part of the glass or an extended shroud on the lower nut.

For one that needs a re tube and re inspection (probably best to have the cladding off too to start at a good point) if everything else is good then probably between £9k and £10k would be about right.  Worth noting though that stuff doesn’t seem to be selling well at the moment and dealers seem to have stock for a while and even drop the price to sell.  Probably due to their being less money around for hobbies!  Agree with previous comment though that a dealer unless selling on commission would almost certainly offer less than that.

All the best,

Paul.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Gentlemen, many thanks to those who have made comment. The figures mentioned are in the ball park I had in mind. I will now wait a respectable period  before doing anything more. Noel.

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