MiniSteam

It was 2003 when Doug and Suzann
Pusser launched their company—
MiniSteam, The Great Toy Steam
Company (www.ministeam.com) but
Doug’s passion for miniature steam
engines started decades earlier. When he
was a child, Doug received a Jensen model
steam engine as a gift. Years later, he still
remembered it with great fondness.

He wondered, were these “toys” still being
produced? An airline pilot, Doug was able to
travel to England and Germany to meet with
the factory owners who continued to
produce these mini-marvels. And that’s
when the idea for MiniSteam was born.

Around the World…
The Great Toy Steam Company, he told
Suzann, could not be “Great” without being
able to represent some of the world’s top
manufacturers of toy steam engines. Before
long, they were offering products from
England, Germany, France, Australia, Czech
Republic, China, Japan, and of course, the
United States. Today they are the North
American distributor of Wilesco steam
engines, among other venerable brands.

Over the years, Doug and Suzann have been
lucky enough to visit every one of their
international vendors. They’ve even hosted
some of them here in the States or toured
and stayed with them in their own
countries. Talk about globe-hopping! One
of their favorite events is the annual Toy
Fair in Nuremberg, Germany.

Suzann is a huge fan of the Toy Fair. “It’s
mind-blowing!” she says. “Building after
building full of toys of every kind. You can
walk all day trying out new toys and finding
that next new product.”

Doug remarks, “It was really helpful with
our business relationships. Sometimes
things get lost in translation when you’re
working with people whose first language is
not English. But meeting face-to-face
changed all that.”

Over the years, Doug and Suzann have
developed some extraordinary connections
in the worldwide steam engine industry—
as a glance at their website will confirm.

Solidifying their personal relationships
with international manufacturers is
crucial. It also helps them understand
certain vendors who have a more ‘artistic’
approach to business.

Doug smiles as he explains, “Sometimes
we wanted to rush an order. But that’s
not how they work. They are hand-crafting these engines, after all. So
we’ve had to learn to be patient.”

…And Back at Home

The Pussers are proud of their special
relationship with their customers in North
America. Many of them have followed
MiniSteam’s latest offerings for nearly two
decades, while others are recent arrivals
seeking to start a brand-new hobby.

“It’s so refreshing to hear from grandparents who want to introduce their
grandkids to something other than the
computer,” Suzann says. There are also
the customers who have always yearned
for a steam engine setup, and now, in
retirement, they’re ready to begin. Of
course, there are also the customers
shopping for the perfect gift. “Toy steam
engines make fantastic gifts for a holiday,
a birthday, a graduation,” Suzann adds,
“or even just to be displayed on an
engineer or executive’s desk.”

Doug recalls a different type of customer—
educators. Teachers often prefer to order a
model like the Wilesco D18 or the electric
Jensen 25G. They’re popular because they
demonstrate how producing steam can be
used to generate electricity to light the
lamp on the engine’s baseplate. “While
electric engines are often more popular
with schools for insurance purposes,”
Doug notes, “many steam purists will not
consider anything but a dry-fuel engine.”

One question they hear frequently is,
“Where do I start?”

The toy steam engine hobby is designed so
that one might start with a stationary
engine, for example, and then over time add
different steam-driven accessories. To do
this, one must mount the engine and
accessories to a board. Through trial and
error, steam engine hobbyists determine
where exactly the items can be placed (with
use of a countershaft or two and drive belts)
in order to maximize the steam power.

Because of this trial-and-error approach,
Suzann often warns new customers to start
with a plain board until they’ve perfected
their plan. Then they will have a template
for a new, varnished board.

Some hobbyists go so far as to make a
Christmas scene by adding trees with lights
and lampposts, artificial snow and figurines.
A winter scene from the Nuremberg Toy Fair
Model factory and carnival scenes are also
extremely popular. “Kids of all ages love the
movement of these engines and accessories,”
Doug says. “How they configure their scene
is totally up to the imagination. That’s the
beauty of it.”

The Pussers consider themselves lucky to
help their customers build so many new
memories. “We’re not selling some novelty
gizmo,” Doug explains. “These are handcrafted products made to last. Whether it’s
a stationary steam engine, a fire truck, or a
carnival piece, we know that someone out
there is going to love this toy for years to come. And that means a lot of us"