Inspiration to build it came from my little friend Max Francis. Last Christmas Max's grandpa Larry gave Max his childhood toy Weeden Steam engine. Out of his many grand kids, Larry said that Max was the "one" who would appreciate and take care of it. These are now real collector items and even I would like to have one. However the best option for me is just build it myself. Working from images of Max's engine, emailed me by his father Guy, I constructed about a 2/3rds size replica.
Shown below are a couple images showing the new model next to the old original Weeden engine.
And shown below is a video of it running on compressed air. Although it is capable of being steamed, it is much quicker, easier and cleaner running them on air.
Max got his Weeden up to steam next to Birk's Mini Weed. They look great together.