MORGAN Denmark, the 20-year-old steam enthusiast who rebuilt a 1910 Fowler steam road locomotive from boxes of bits, some of which had been cut up for scrap, spent last week putting the "new old girl" through her lumbering mechanical paces.
"It's take a little while for the minor pressure leaks to fill up and seal off with lime, but otherwise we're well pleased. Every thing runs as expected," he said.
"After all that work, the Fowler is pretty much as it was when it came out of the factory exactly 100 years ago, apart from some stainless nuts."
Morgan and his mate, university engineering student Robert Royal, will wave goodbye to the year-long labour of love in the next few days when it is returned to its Victorian owner in Melbourne.
But it's more likely to be the beginning rather than the end of the gargantuan restoration story for Morgan.
He's got a growing reputation as a steam guru and his next project looks likely to be the restoration of the oldest steam plough in the country.
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