Matt, one of Sean Anthony's sons, has got himself involved in a project to fully restore a 3" Burrell Plastow. Over the next few months we will be following his progress with words and pictures

Berrybrook Steam would be pleased to feature similar restorations by other youngsters so do please contact us so that their efforts can be reported on here.

If you would like to see what other young steam enthusiasts are up to have a look at the Steam Apprentice Club website

An introduction by Matt of his early engines followed by a more detailed account of the ‘work in progress'.

Hi, I'm Matthew Anthony, I'm 14 and my dad is the boss of Berrybrook Steam.

I started with my Dads 4" Foster which he then sold to be replaced by a 4" Burrell, double crank compound which I learnt to drive on.  Around this time I got my first Mamod (Showmans)  followed closely by a Jensen stationary engine along with a board and accessories  which I put together to include a man cutting wood, a round-about, a man pumping water and a generator. The set also has got a hand pump and runs off gas. I have displayed this set up over the Devon and Cornwall shows but mainly Trevithick Day. In the meantime my dad purchased a 6" double crank compound Showmans Burrell - The General the scale version of the well known scenic General Gough.

As time went by and I became more and more confident with steam so eventually during May 2008 I purchased (off Berrybrook) a nice 3" Aveling & Porter Maxitrak steam engine which required a lot of repair work and decoration until it was a good working, nice looking engine.

We then decided that I should find a Burrell which I did but it was one of the first of its kind. The engine was a 1960 3" Burrell Plastow, and being so old and used, it needed looking at and after a little consideration and thought I decided to take on the engine and restore it to the best of my ability.