Jay Leno's Most Powerful Steam Engine | Behind the Scenes

It would be nice to add a generator and load.

it’s nice to see a piece of history thank you great video.

Excellent to see it working and thank you for sharing. J.L. a genuinely good bloke and a proper enthusiast 👍

I was a power plant operator in Australia, we called it a Flyball Governor.

So this is what I want. Buddies come round for an engine day and let's make a video out of it.

The "balls to the wall" governor is so cool! Simple but effective!

Jay is such a good American. I am enthralled with his enthusiasm for Americana…

Facinatig very special piece of history

Steam power has always been one of my favorite things to watch on Jays Garage. Linking us as humanity from the past to what could be our future . Petroleum fuel may disappear one day. Steam power will always be available, on our water world (Earth). Truly Fascinating torque machine, a feet of engineering, and kinetic Art work .Great show Jay ! :^)

Balls-to-the-wall also refers to fighter aircraft like the p-38 lightning which had plastic or bakelite circular lever covers, handles. and when do you want full throttle you push the balls to the firewall. or the instrument panel/cloché Maybe not so much a P-51 because it only had one throttle but twin-engine like the p-38, or bombers like the b25,b26,a20,a26,f7f anything with two engines or more.

Steam engines are immune to EMP & geomagnetic storms

This engine runs perfectly. Let's put a load on it!!!

Waiting for next time .

Enjoyed this video very much. When I was a preteen my dad got a job operating Wilmington Water Works where they had two Holly steam engines, manufactured in Buffalo, New York, that each weighed 500 tons and could pump twelve million gallons per day. In 1968 they were replaced with electric pumps. As kids we liked to watch the fly wheels spinning through the floor at which time my dad would yell get out of there you will knock your block off. Sure enough they were no safety guards of any kind. One was sold to a scapper who told my dad it cost more to move than it was worth in scrap.The engine that is left can still be seen at Wilmington Water Works in Wilmington Delaware.

I'd love a steam truck with a transfer case and front / rear diffs 😃

For those in the middle of the country, in Colorado Springs, there is the Western Museum of Mining and Industry. There is a steam engine on display and rotating for the public to see! That machine has a HUGE rotating flywheel to be in awe of!

Keep up the great work Jay!

This is so cool. I wish my father was around to see this. He worked in the power house for Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. He was a First class stationary steam engineer. I remember as a young man getting the tour of the power house. I am now 67. If my memory is correct, there two very large flywheels. They were massive, as a small child they seemed to be around twenty or so feet in diameter. Half of which would go beneeth the floor. There were multiple large boilers that we were allowed to look into the sight glass on them. Dad worked there until the late 80's. I do beleive that these massive machines were removed and sent over to the Greenfield Village in Dearborn. The powerhouse was updated just before he retired.
George B

Anybody who thinks people long ago were not smart should look at the Antikythera machine. Also the scientific breakthroughs made in the 1800s and early 1900s were absolutely earth-shaking and required amazing leaps of intellect.

as big and Mechanical this entire engine is it is Amazing on how quiet it does run , and that it’s all automatically done i know Dennis kept asking Jay why he has it etc but in reality It’s because it’s Cool and Jay can I don’t blame him one bit

Jay is a class act

iI was working with a paper making company in south east LA in the late 90's to convert their Paper making machine to a variable speed AC drive system. They were replacing a steam engine which was built in the 1870's. They kept the steam engine in service as the backup drive. To the best of my knowledge it is still in service.

Hoss Cartwright was no sailor he was a cowboy, it was Ben Cartwright who was the captain lol, Nar that's awesome machine jay

Great engine

Absolutely brilliant tour of this stationary steam powerplant! Thanks.

I hope one day Jay makes a museum out of his collection, while still taking them out and enjoying them. Its admirable that hes not just a collector, hes truly preseving history.

This is really close to an engine that @blondihacks built in miniature.

I would like to see the engine powering a generator or something.

What is the fuel for the boiler? Gas or oil?

I think before following the start up procedure on the Clayton I'd want to verify that all the valves were in the expected positions from the previous shut down procedure.

i could listen to it all day. proof time repeats its self, this put ppl out way back then. fast forward and computers are doing the same now. places like walmart are shutting down and becoming a fulling online delivery service like amazon now to cut cost on labor. even Mcdonalds are going automated ordering wont be much longer till the whole cooking process is automated

My wife said as I never stop working in my life time, she is going to put my ashes in an hour glass so I can keep going when I'm dead. So Mr Leno, if you feel a cold draft at night in your garage/museum and the brass-works has a polished look it's me.

a steam engine so powerful it could burn your face right off!

I hope he knows steam can burn you just as bad as gasoline.

Why? Because it’s cool! Also someone has to be the custodian of it. One would think Jay was a comedian or something.. 😂

It’s energy conversion. Converting a cubic foot of fuel to steam..the steam energy and its pressure moves a piston or two and that movement is converted to a rotating motion. Not highly efficient , compared to a steam turbine or combustion turbine. Combustion turbines and steam turbines are Farr more interesting . Therefore this is where it is started

Balls to the wall is a ww2 aviation term there jay...

them joking about steam being safer aged like milk after Jay's burn

Jay you are going to blow your ass up one of these days with that dam steam power

Jay Leno is so old-school that he won’t even come out as gay. He’s still in the closet, but you know he’s with that black guy who he does shows with . It’s obvious. I would feel less awkward about his shows if he would just come out and admit that head in a gay relationship. The fact he hides it is the weird part

How much torque does it produce

Jay Leno is a perfect example of spending your money well.

with a moustache like that you know u can trust this guy with steam

Listen carefully this is the symphony of motion that ran the industrial world for over 200 years.

"Balls to the wall" is actually an aviation term. When the throttle was fully engaged the handles (with balls on the end) would be closest to the wall of the console.

fantastic! and is nice to see Jay's pride and knowledge regarding it. When i was 6 years old my parents gave me a toy steam engine as birthday present, coz i loved locomotives.
Of course my father was the one that handled the lighter at the beginning. I used it for many years and kept it. Now 36 years later, I play with it with my 4 yo daughter and she really amazes with it. It makes me happy.

What and Where was the Power Take off for Machines off the massive Fly Wheel?