2½" gauge 4-8-4 "Minotaur" with the number 284 on the cabsides, smokebox and on a plate on the tender. This is a 3 cylinder model built by Fred Hardstone with a diamond shaped builders plate on each side of the smokebox inscribed "F. Hardstone, Tooting SW, 1938".
The model is totally unpainted and finished in steel and brass - the boiler cladding is blue steel. This model was a championship cup winner in the Model Engineering Exhibition of 1938 or 1939.
The model does not appear to have been steamed other than for initial testing.
There are some distinguishing marks caused through rough handling when the model was stolen - the Left Hand Front buffer is missing, the footstep below the cab on the Left Hand Side is broken, the top feed cover/safety valve cover is missing. The tender is unusual being fitted with two bogies that have slots that allow them to travel laterally without return springs.
Minotaur was described in an article in Model Engineer in the November 17th 1938 issue. You can download this article (beware it is 2.7MB BIG) and view it using Adobe's (free) Acrobat reader.
The article, written by the builder is a short account of the construction of Minotaur from the making of the original drawings to the construction of a testing stand for the first steaming. We are grateful to Model Engineer for permission to make this article available, and in particular Mike Chrisp who recovered the article for us from the SMEE archives.
(more pictures below)
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