Bruce Beasley’s Model Engines

Our customers always impress us with the diverse projects they undertake, the communities they create, and their ingenious uses for our products. We’ve seen our steel transformed into armour, a wave energy converter, and even a coach for the royal family!

We love sharing these stories with our community, and long-time Edcon Steel customer Bruce Beasley has a story worth sharing.

We spoke to Bruce, a member of the Orange Society of Model Engineers, about his extraordinary model engines and his long-time relationship with Edcon Steel.

A lifetime of fitting and machining

A local to Orange, Bruce worked all his life as a fitter machinist toolmaker, racking up more than 50 years in the trade. After completing his apprenticeship, Bruce spent 18 years as a fitter in underground coal mines before opening his own business. His business, On the Spot Mobile Engineering, serviced the New South Wales Central West region from 1994 until his retirement.

“My business was mainly set up for agricultural repairs. You know, farm repairs,” Bruce explains.

But I got into all sorts of different areas and did a lot of design work. One of my last jobs was making all the dog kennels for the Orange City Council dog pound.

Edcon Steel supplied all steel for the project, which was a huge undertaking. When recalling the project, Bruce explained just how big it was: “We used more than 40,000 pop rivets, 32 boxes of silastic, and a whopping 90kg of welding wire by the end!”

The good thing about the trade was that it involved a huge number of different things. I’ve got a photo album here with a few jobs I’ve done over the years, and it’s very diverse.”

The Orange Society of Model Engineers

When he was still running his business, Bruce used his valuable skills to build a traction engine, a steam-powered tractor engine that pulled heavy loads behind it.

“I was in a bearing shop picking up some bits and pieces, and another bloke in there asked, Is that what I think it is?” Bruce explains.

“So we had a yarn me and said, why don’t you join the Orange Society of Model Engineers? So I joined up, and that was probably about 23 years ago.

The society is a great way for model engineers to meet a discuss their various projects, share advice, and share their love of engines.

Bruce has completed a number of impressive engines over the years, all to scale, including a traction engine, a class 59 locomotive, and his current project: a beam engine. ​​

A beam engine is a type of steam engine in which a pivoted overhead beam applies the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. Beam engines were first used to pump water out of mines or into canals, but they could also pump water to supplement the flow for a waterwheel powering a mill.

“I’m just finishing off the beam engine, which were used in the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s and 1800s,” Bruce explains.

I’ve got to make a table and then do all the plumbing for it. And I’ve got the boiler and the pender tank built for it. That’ll all get coupled up to the beam engine to make it run.”

Enjoyment for the whole community

The Orange Society of Model Engineers regularly holds events for the community to enjoy the trains and even take a ride!

“We’ve got our own track here in orange,” Bruce says.

“So, once a month, we open the space to the public, and people love to come down and see the trains and ride them. The kids absolutely love it!

While they might be called miniature trains, the engines are far from small. The 59-class locomotive engine, for example, is around 1.2m long.

“The 59-class locomotive has six carriages behind it,” Bruce explains

“I pulled it around the track with 17 adults in the carriages. I did a bit of a calculation, and it pulled a minimum of 1.6 tons!”

The track also gives the members a chance to have ‘play days’, where they meet with other club members and have a tinker on the engines.

An original Edcon Steel Orange customer

Bruce has been a valued Edcon Steel customer at our Orange store since it opened back in 2011.

“Funnily enough, when Edcon Steel first got started here in Orange, they went around to visit different places, and I was one of the people they visited,” Bruce explains.

“And they just asked me if I would use their products and what materials I needed.

At that particular time, we couldn’t get brass or a number of other products because the other steel companies here in town didn’t supply it.

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You can visit our stores to browse the range or pick up an online order. Our staff are on hand to answer any questions you have about our full range of products and services, so feel free to contact us for your steel or metal solution today.