Is anyone aware of a U.S. builder of coal fired boilers for Roundhouse Lady Anne? I am to understand that I cannot have a Riverdale boiler shipped to the U.S., something to do with insurance and meeting U.S. standards for boilers?
I am -slowly- working on procuring parts to build a Lady Anne and would sure like a coil fired boiler for her.
thanks for any insight.
Dave
Welcome to the group Dave!
Try: Triple R Services They do great work and have been know to convert many locos to coal fire.
Keep us posted on your results!
Thanks for the link I will check them out.
I will post photos when/if I get started. The plan is to build an Americanized version of the Roundhouse Lady Anne, probably either as a narrow gauge 0-6-2, 2-6-0, or 2-6-2. The final wheel arrangement to be determined once I start building the chassis.
Dave
You could also find someone in the UK to be the middle man to get the boiler to you. I am thinking its more about liablity insurance. I know TME will not supply even gas fired engines direct to the USA. Mike
Mike Toney said:
You could also find someone in the UK to be the middle man to get the boiler to you. I am thinking its more about liablity insurance. I know TME will not supply even gas fired engines direct to the USA. Mike
Correct, he said it was a liability issue. I have a friend with family in the UK, she goes there once or twice a year. I guess I just don’t understand the liability thing, and was not sure of the legality.
What does TME stand for?
Dave
guess I just don’t understand the liability thing
The small manufacturers in the UK have been told that you can get sued in a US court for product problems - e.g. you can be held liable for blinding someone if they peer into the safety valve when the thing is building up steam. I have been curious about the refusal to export for a while, so I googled it.
Here’s the UK Government PDF:
This doc starts: "Product liability is an issue that often causes great concern to British exporters to the United States. "
So of course they have great concern. Many seem to take the easy way out and refuse to ship to US.
Reading further in to the document, I found this:
In 1977 the American Law Institute (ALI) summarized the various state law developments in strict liability in
Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. Most state courts today have adopted Section 402A, which
provides in part:
One who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer is subject to
liability for physical harm thereby caused to the ultimate user or consumer, or to his property, if:
• the seller is engaged in the business of selling such a product; and the product is expected to and does reach
the user or consumer without substantial change in the condition in which it is sold.
This rule applies even though:
• the seller has exercised all possible care in the preparation and sale of his product; and
• the user or consumer has not bought the product from or entered into any contractual relation with the seller
Note that last sentence. Having a relative buy and bring the product to the USA doesn’t seem to absolve the seller from liability.
We in the U.S. seem to have become famous worldwide for our need to sue each other. What a shame that it will prevent me from importing a fine product with a good reputation.
Oh well, the gas fired boiler is $600 less and probably easier to use.
Dave
I will vouch on gas firing be much easier in this scale. I see no reason not to have someone that is wiling to be a middle man to get the coal fired boiler. I would hope you know not to peer into the safety valve! Mike
Dave Goldsmith said:
We in the U.S. seem to have become famous worldwide for our need to sue each other. What a shame that it will prevent me from importing a fine product with a good reputation.
Oh well, the gas fired boiler is $600 less and probably easier to use.
Dave
Dave,
I didn’t say you (or a relative in the UK,) shouldn’t buy the boiler and bring it to the USofA. Just be aware that the seller isn’t happy about the risks of his boiler ending up in a litigious part of the world.
I recently bought a steam engine from a UK dealer. He had heard about the liability issue and asked me for a waiver. I found him a simple one, took some of it out,. and sent it. Theoretically it would cause trouble for me if I tried to sue him, but as I don’t plan to do so, it seemed like a reasonable thing to do.
The Train Department also provide a coal boiler fabrication service. I was just watching a coal fired EMMA that they converted do it’s thing at Diamondhead and can say that it was impressive.
Mike
mocrownsteam
Hudson, Massachusetts
TME = Tolhurst Model Engineering. Chris Tolhurst is a well-known model engineer here in UK who batch-builds VERY small numbers of the most exqusite scale models you can imagine in 16mm scale for the UK market as well as Gauge 1. The TME 16mm scale Vale of Rheidol 2-6-2 and the W&L Countess were both true-scale coal-fired models with complete-to-scale backheads that needed fine-nosed pliers to operate. They were also dual-fuel capable, and could easily be converted to run on alcohol. Selling at between seven and eight thousand pounds at the time, they were very quickly snapped up.
The latest venture is a Gauge 1 UK Southern Railway 'King Arthur '4-6-0 in true 1/32nd scale, again with full-scale backhead, full braking system and yours for only £9,500. The plan was to build just 25 and see how they went. Three months after that, he started on the next twenty-five…
tac
OVGRS