Enginebill:
small world ! Alex got in touch with me about the Philipsburg pumping engine for ideas as to how to get the dashpot pistons removed from the dashpots. I gave him a few ideas, and he told me about the damaged valve gear from the engine being rolled over by persons who (being charitable) misrepresented themselves and their experience.
Alex mentioned he was working with a machinist who was doing some fine work on the repair/restoration, but did not mention you by name. From the looks of the pictures and youtube, it appears that new arms were cast. It strikes me as a herculean project to repair and return the Philipsburg pumping engine to where it is operational (at least to run for demonstration purposes). As Alex pointed out, here in the USA, we do not have one single steam waterworks pumping engine able to be operated on steam (or compressed air) for demonstration purposes. I hope this project and your fine work come to fruition as it will be quite an accomplishment. I did some work on the horizontal Corliss pumping engine at National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, PA, and designed piping so that will run on compressed air. As it is, the water end of that pumping engine is pretty much gutted and it is not in its original setting. The Philipsburg pumping engine presents a unique opportunity to return a vertical pumping engine to operating condition (at least for demonstration purposes).