Currently, the majority of my colleagues in the Department of Mechanical Engineering would seem not to be in favour of removing an historic Crossley gas engine from the thermodynamics laboratory. A proposal to the effect of leaving it where it is, while making some major changes to the layout of the laboratory, is being drawn-up.
I like that engine. I admire and I value it. However, I find it hard to justify its continuing presence in the thermodynamics laboratory. It has probably not been run for thirty-five years, or, if it has been, it would have been run for only very few hours in that period and for the benefit of very few students. I know for certain that it has not been run since I joined the institute seven years ago. It no longer has the necessary connections to gas and water, so it would now take some effort to get it running again.
