Showcasing engineering history

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Ian Fyfe and Paul Gray tinker with a three-horsepower Hornsby stationary engine during an open...
Ian Fyfe and Paul Gray tinker with a three-horsepower Hornsby stationary engine during an open day at the Plains Vintage Railway and Historical Museum.
Ian Fyfe and Paul Gray enjoy tinkering with engines.

They both have an interest in engineering and, as members of the Plains Vintage Railway and Historical Museum, they get to explore the workings of the many engines on site at the Tinwald facility and learn about their history.

They also get to showcase them to the public, which they were doing last weekend as they worked with some of the stationary, or fixed, engines; among them a couple of Hornsby’s engines, an Anderson Foundry engine and a Fowler engine.

The Hornsby (pictured front) is around 100 years old. It was made in England and converted from gas to petrol.

The three-horsepower engine was used to pump water before electricity arrived.

The Anderson engine, a quiet running engine, was used in Mid Canterbury dairy sheds. It too is three horsepower and runs on petrol.

However the bigger Fowler, an eight-horsepower model, was used on Mid Canterbury’s irrigation motor pumps and runs on diesel.

Tinkering with engines is a hobby both men have been able to do in their professional lives as truck drivers, although Mr Fyfe is since retired.

 

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