TQ1878 : Steam Launch Eva – engine, Kew Bridge Steam Museum

This steam launch was in the workshops for restoration by Historic Steam Ltd. It is now in the Museum of Rowing at Henley on Thames. I was disappointed that the museum would not allow photography, then delighted when I later discovered that I had photographed it here where nobody objected. The engine is an inverted vertical single cylinder built in 1874 by J I Thornycroft & Co Ltd at Chiswick. The cylinder is 6.25″ x 8″ with a slide valve and Stephenson link reversing gear. It was rated at 42 indicated horsepower. The vessel has a new boiler built in 1985 but I suspect it was barely run in before the vessel was placed on indoors display.