New Member From Inverness

Hello All,

My name is John, I live near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands and I fly helicopters for a living. I found your forum whilst searching for assistance with a project that’s very close to my heart.

To set the scene, many years ago my parents bought a Croft on The Black Isle near Inverness and built their dream house on it. For whatever reason, it wasn’t possible to connect the new house to the grid straight away so my father (sadly no longer with us) asked around the neighbours regarding generators and was pointed in the direction of a nearby farmer who “has loads of them for sale”. I vividly recall my Father’s account of the day he went to meet the farmer who said “Och aye, there’s one over there that’ll do you just fine” whilst pointing at a very nice but clearly empty field! Thinking he was the butt of some local joke, Dad muttered his thanks and turned to leave but the farmer pressed on with “but don’t you want it?”. After further discussion it became clear that the generator was “a wee bit buried” but would allegedly be none the worse for it. 30 minutes of brisk JCB action later there lay what was to become known in the family as “Horace Willy”. Hopefully the images I’ve tried to post below come through, but if not he was made by R.A.LISTER & Co Ltd, Dursley, England. He has a placard which states  “No 3241618, HP 6 and RPM 650 and there are stamps on his cylinder casing as follows : F30, 02, 8-2-44.





This was to be the beginning of what can only be described as a jealously guarded and enduring love affair between Dad and Horace Willy. Dad and some of his friends restored HW and installed him in his own custom built  shed next to the old Croft house where he still resides. I laugh when I see these electricity smart meters that we are being encouraged to install these days as they have nothing on my Father’s ability to conserve power! He new to the exact beat per minute what Horace Willy sounded like under what he considered to be “normal load” and any furtive attempts by the rest of us to make toast, use a hair dryer or (the ultimate sin) do the ironing were met with swift retribution and often the ultimate sanction of “I’m switching him off”………happy days!

The house was finally connected to the grid couple of years after we moved in but Dad always kept Horace Willy in working order “just in case”. Sadly however he hasn’t been run for over 25 years and I’d really like to get him going again.

Anyway, apologies for the rather long rambling post and thanks for getting this far. I’d be really grateful for any advice/assistance any of you could offer.

Cheers

John Mac

Hi John and a warm welcome to the forum.

Please start a new thread in New Projects/Restorations or Stationary Engine General Issues - whichever is most appropriate. I'm sure you will get plenty of help and guidance. Good luck.

Hello and welcome!

What a wonderful story!

Hi, it's great you know a lot of its history and it certainly looks to be in working condition.
Enjoy your 'spruce up'!

Alan

Welcome sir

Thanks to all for your responses. I’ll post something and see how it goes.
Cheers

John Mac

John,
The story of your father and the Lister CS gen set 'Horace Willy' would,with the excellent pictures, make a super feature article for Stationary Engine magazine. How about it?
Eric

I’d be delighted Eric, just let me know what else you need from me.

John,
Please send me a PM, we are in the wrong topic.
E

Hi, plenty of info on here, what size it is as I have the same engine with a 2.5kw start-o-matic generator removed from a croft near Huntly. I have manuals if you want/need a copy via email.

Chris