The engine was taken out of service and sold to a private owner in 1972. It is not known why the mechanical engineering department got rid of the engine, but it is believed that there was insufficient registration of students on a year-on-year basis for mechanical studies to justify the expense of maintaining the laboratory engine. The first correspondence that Ray has replied to was in 1981.
After being sold out of service, the engine was not used at all, and was sold again within a few years to another owner. Ray Hooley,
the
Ruston-Hornsby expert wrote to two of these owners and his original correspondence has been passed on to me, together with
the official Ruston-Hornsby books that belonged with the engine. An installation drawing of the engine, brake and water/fuel tanks etc has
also been supplied by Ray, and this has now been enlarged and encapsulated to keep it clean.
The third owner kept the engine under cover and in a dismantled state for some years, and only when a bout of ill-health forced him
to
reconsider his ownership of a number of restored and interesting items, did he offer the engine to us. We did not know of his interest
in engines until the Ruston-Hornsby was mentioned in conversation, we had no idea that he had any!
The engine had done very little work, and an estimated 400+ hours had been run since new, so it was in really good condition.
The engine came
with the mechanical brake and rev-counter, but no fuel tank or exhaust which probably remained in place or was
sold off to
scrap dealers.