Category:Meccano steam engines

The original Meccano Vertical Steam Engine, probably made for Meccano Ltd. by Bing. This picture is from an undated Meccano catalogue with a date thought to be circa ~1920. Note the M.L.L. legend to the bottom left of the illustration (signifying "Meccano Limited, Liverpool") [image info]

"How to use the Meccano Steam Engine", front cover [image info]

Steam-powered engines for Meccano models came in three distinct generations:

• The original Meccano-branded steam engines were simply stationary upright engines made by Bing, and were not especially suited for embedding in a Meccano model. There were no real fixings other than the four holes in the base, and one would be expected to screw the engine to a custom base and then somehow attach one's Meccano device.
• The next generation of engines were apparently made by Meccano themselves, and featured a more lightweight construction than the Bing casting-centric design. These new engines had a blue punched base with punched side-plates, and allowed Meccano parts to simply be bolted on. The boiler was still upright, but Meccano Ltd. produced a number of rather alarming designs in which the engine was mounted on a large crane or dredger, and could swing around with the rest of the superstructure.
• The final generation of Meccano steam engines were produced in the 1970s, and had a horizontal boiler. These were Meccano-branded, but were manufactured by Mamod, who were specialists in making small steam engines for the model/hobbyist market.