Sisson 8"+16"x 8"

[Dave AC]

Hello from New Zealand.

I'm a volunteer helping to restore a 1910 steam ferry (65') that was built by Chas Bailey Jnr for passenger services on the Waitemata harbour, Auckland. A bunch of us have been working on "The Minerva" since she was given to the KeriKeri Steam Trust in 2008. We have been making steady progress over this time with limited funds and have recently been given a government grant to complete her. We are now at the point of talking to boiler makers and looking for machinery.

We have been successful in finding one engine which I'm sure the readership of this site will be familiar with, Oceanid's Sisson. Her engine seemed a good choice to us as there were several made for WW2 HSL duties and we felt there would be a good chance of finding another one. The Sisson is a bit big for the job but we plan to run at reduced r.p.m. and the engine room is reasonably spacious. We considered finding a pair of engines (L&R) would be a real challenge.

So our request to you guys is, do you know of another that we could purchase?

We're also looking for a seawater pump and condenser. A tall order I know!

We will be grateful to hear from anyone interested in our project.

Kind Regards,
Dave

ps Check us out on Facebook, "KeriKeri Steam Trust"

[cyberbadger]

Dave,

You may already know of it, but I thought I'd mention Preston Services in the UK.

Currently they have almost 70 engines available in all different sizes
https://prestonservices.co.uk/category/ ... e-engines/

You mentioned SISSONS and Preston Services seem to have a similar Sisson engine that might be of interest...
SISSONS Quadruple Expansion Marine Engine
6” + 8½” +12″ + 16½” x 12” stroke
https://prestonservices.co.uk/item/sissons-quadruple/

-CB

[TahoeSteam]

I recall the Windermere Steamboat Museum (now Windermere Jetty) had an entre HSL plant for sale... This was in 2004. It may not have traveled far though. They wanted comparatively little for it all.. unfortunately for us, shipping was to be too much.

Funny, we got our engine for 'Persistance' after a cold call to a 15year old ad in a steam publication. Several more contacts later and we were in touch with the guy who owned and just happened to want to get rid of it. You may want to drop them a line.

You never know what you may turn up. We're a global community, but a couple of phonecalls can probably get you info about anyone you'd like.

[Dave AC]

Thanks fellas for the advice, the Preston engine looks to be in excellent shape but would be too big for us unfortunately.

I've written to Windermere Jetty and had a response from their admin so we'll see what that brings, great idea by the way.



I'll keep you posted on developments.

[Dave AC]

We've had feed back from the Windermere Museum and the word is there is nobody around from those days anymore so nothing has come to light.