In the background the last few days I've been prepping the display bases for these engines. Rather than just having them sit flat on the table or a plinth, I thought it would be more interesting to have them on a section of steam shovel main boom, like the crowd engines would be in use. Most shovels of that era had boom assemblies consisting of two tall/thin panels, each made of a white oak core surrounded by thick (1/2" to 1" range) metal panels, those two assemblies bolted through with a wide oak spacer between them. That gave a good combination of strength, lower weight/cost, and the ability to absorb shock loads without taking a permenant bend. It also gave room for the dipper stick with the bucket to sit between the two sides.
So, what I did was cut some white oak blocks left over from a boat project years ago, and 3d print the side booms - sections taken from the Marion CAD model. These sections are long enough for the engines to sit on the angled section of each base. Here are the parts so far - the printed parts need a coat of black paint before gluing them to the wood blocks.
Should make a nice display.
