@Carey Williams posted:Thank you for posting more photos ..very interesting engine ...
Tender trucks look Alexander ..
Early / mid 30's ...not Icken , not Alexander , not Ken Henry , not Scale Model Railways ...so who ?
Many scratch builders ..add a few bought bits ..drivers , trucks etc .. build the rest ...
17/64ths was popular among several modelers ..
Very odd to have Lionel manual reverse.....
Leave it outside 3rd ...
If you ever tire of it or wish to trade let me know
Cheers Carey
Thanks for your input, Carey. I guess you know as much about these old things as anyone, so I appreciate your time. 
Given the rather thin metal construction, I am convinced that this is a home made, hand built example.
When I first got it, there was a large piece of tape wrapped around the engine; turns out the boiler/cab is held to the chassis only by 2 screws beneath the cab. No attachment on the front, through the cylinder saddle or anywhere!
The tape was used because one of the tabs holding everything together was intact, but broken. I tried to solder the pieces together, but the metal literally melted away. I fashioned a brass replacement piece, attached with JB Weld. Here's a picture of the underside of the boiler/cab; perhaps you can see the brass piece to the far right:
...at least the builder did an "enclosed boiler"... 
The smokebox front is held in place by small screws; removing it revealed the boiler "rivets" are actually the heads of some kind of tack; the sharp points are very obvious! Here's a close up of those rivets:
(You can see the headlight connection is similar to a Lionel Standard Gauge #33...)
I can post more pictures if there's any interest; just ask. 
Mark in Oregon
