On line auctions are a marvelous place to find oddities.
Nearly anything you can imagine eventually comes up for bid. I watched the
auctions until an old model 25, that looked in un-repairable condition, came
up for sale and then bought it. The "parts" engine was badly hurt due to
water freezing and splitting the cylinder, but it had a salvageable boiler
and display board from the right era. The "parts" 25 may also rise again
if I can find an intact cylinder section and a boiler.
I did this restoration myself and I'm pleased to say it is undetectable from
old new stock, right down to the factory eyelet rivets in the fire box. The
lack of a reverse linkage adaptation from the factory makes it a little different
from most Jensen 25's.
There tends to be some debate surrounding the salvaging of one engine to
restore another. My vote is to save an engine if at all possible, but use
the parts elsewhere if it can't be fixed. I'm not sure if it lowered the
value of this engine, but I'm happy with the results. |
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Model #25 Motor
(Note the lack of the
Stevenson reversing linkage) |
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