Need help with ID

[Daluvian]

Anyone know anything about this

 

[dave1905]

Looks like its a live steam engine, that is an actual miniature steam engine.

 

[Smudge617]

Can't see a lot of it, but looks like either a 15", 2-4-0 or a 10 1/4" loco live steam, sometimes called a ride-along.

 

[skyliner]

I'm not going to be much help either, but what you have appears to be a live steam locomotive. It's a functioning miniature locomotive that would run on track laid outdoors. Steam is generated in an actual boiler, and fuel could be coal, oil, or propane. I'm going to guess coal in your case based on the picture of the tender, which doesn't appear to be equipped to hold oil or gas. The engineer would usually sit on a car with a seat coupled behind the locomotive while driving it.

It's hard to tell exactly what kind of locomotive you have based on the pictures, but it appears to be a smaller North American-style locomotive. A picture showing the wheels might help with identification if it's based on an actual real locomotive. It might be custom, home-made, or produced by a company that made live steam engines.

Of the data plates in your pictures:

The Pyle National company made headlights for full-size locomotives for over 100 years. I'm guessing that plate is on the headlight. I don't know what Moseley is, can't seem to find anything related to that online.

The other plate appears to be a boiler inspection plate, indicating that the boiler was inspected and approved for continued use at some point. I'm gonna take a guess that "RLS" is a live-steam club or organization that did the inspection. Live steam is often operated at large clubs that own some land and have tracks laid out to run trains on. Many require boilers to be periodically inspected for safety, to avoid accidents from a boiler rupture or explosion.

In a quick search, there appear to be at least two clubs with the initials "RLS":

Riverside Live Steamers, in Riverside CA.

Ridge Live Steamers, in Dundee FL.

If you're near either California or Florida, you might try contacting one of those clubs and see if they might have any additional information. Your locomotive might have belonged to a former member of one of those clubs.

 

[J.Albert]

Live steamer. Could have been built from a kit, or it might have been "hand-made" over a period of years.

Are there trucks for the tender?
If so, measure the gauge.

For sale?
Even if you were to get it cheap, it would probably take some work to restore and be made "runnable" again. Some knowledge of machining, etc. would probably be needed.

 

[Daluvian]

What’s cheap? I put a small deposit on it cause it seemed like a no brainer it is located in so cal. Any idea what it’s worth. I believe it is a 7.5 scale

 

[Smudge617]

What’s cheap? I put a small deposit on it cause it seemed like a no brainer it is located in so cal. Any idea what it’s worth. I believe it is a 7.5 scale

Cheap is a relative term, depends on how much work and cash your willing to spend on getting it up to some kind of running order, if it needs a new boiler that will set you back a few K, as it's specialist work, that's assuming you can find someone who can do it. I would suggest you find a club who have one, they might well have a better idea on A) how much your gonna have to spend to restore it, and B) how much one is worth in running order, but either way your going to have to take a trip and see it in person, photos won't help you decide if it's worth the cost. You could also try specialist auction houses, they might well be able to help in what it would be worth.

 

[Rico]

I had friends who did live steam, one actually machined everything but the wheels from scratch!
Do you have or can you get pictures of the sides?

Heres some good places for reference…

https://thesteamchannel.com/live-steam-marketplace-1

Locomotives For Sale

Rideable Live Steam and Diesel Locomotives For Sale, used and new.

discoverlivesteam.com

 

[Selector]

What’s cheap? I put a small deposit on it cause it seemed like a no brainer it is located in so cal. Any idea what it’s worth. I believe it is a 7.5 scale

What's cheap? Cheap is whatever is substantially less than you think it is worth. What you think it is worth is what you're willing to pay for it. What you're willing to pay for it has little bearing on what its market value is if you're not familiar with its market value.