Maxitrak 3 1/4" Aveling & Porter Road Tractor
Thomas Aveling was born at Elm in Cambridgeshire in 1824. In 1858 along with Richard Porter he founded Aveling & Porter at Rochester in Kent for the manufacture of steam engines and ancillary equipment. Aveling and Porter were at the forefront of agricultural steam engine design and were the first to introduce the hornplate traction engine which has been the hallmark of British traction engine design from the 1870's onward. Over the years a great variety of engines were produced including portable engines, agricultujral engines, steam lorries, ploughing engines, road haulage engines, tram and small industrial rail engines although the company is perhaps best remembered for steam rollers of which considerable numbers survive in preservation. The 1920's were the heyday of the great road steam manufacturers, but they suffered a rapid decline in the 1930's with the introduction into heavy haulage and agricultural use of the more economical diesel engine. In 1933 Aveling & Porter moved to Grantham and merged with Barford Perkins to form Aveling Barford and continued for many years producing heavy earth moving equipment. Aveling Barford were responsible for the production of the last steam road rollers built as late as 1945. The model is based on the G.N.D 4hp Tractor of the 1920’s and features a 6" dia copper boiler, silver soldered throughout (complete with test certificate). Water is held in the tender and belly-tank and fed to the boiler via a crankshaft pump, with injector available as an optional extra. Steering is by worm and wheel via chain to the front axle. The full length canopy (optional) can be removed to facilitate driving. Brass top chimney and individually numbered maker's plate are standard as is the brass "Invicta" on the smoke box door. Various options are available including a differential acting on the distictive cast wheels and an injector. A speed of 6 mph is attainable and the locomotive will negotiate the roughest of terrain successfully. A four wheeled driving wagon is available for this engine.
The Tractor can be built to full Showman’s specification including working dynamo, full length canopy with coloured lights, & brass barley twist stanchions etc.
3 1/4“ (1:3.5) scale Aveling & Porter Tractor Specification
Boiler 6” dia (152mm), Copper tubes 15 x 5/8” (16mm) dia x 13” (330mm), pressure 90psi (6.2 bar), Coal fired grate area 36 sq ins (120 sq.cm), Boiler feed crankshaft pump (Injector optional)
Cylinder Cast gunmetal, Bore 2” (50mm), Stroke 21/2” (63mm), Stephensons Link valve gear
Wheels 10 3/4” (273mm) dia front, 16 1/4” (412mm) dia rear,Wheelbase 26 1/4” (666mm), prototypical screw actuated brake
Length 46 1/2” (1811mm), Width 185/8” (466mm), Height 29” (736mm), Weight 2 1/2cwt (127 kg)
rtr http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FcGFYDrssY
optional differential
optional injector
Painted kit
Unpainted kit
Injector kit
Diferential kit
3 Type C lamps
Driving wagon
Driving wagon kit
Showmans version poa
youtube clips