What kind of action would be in a Broadwood straight strung 7'4" semi concert grand with 85 keys, made in 1895? I was looking at one yesterday but there was no room to pull the action as the piano was pretty tight up against a wall. This piano has been rebuilt with a new pin block, #2 pins, strings, damper felts, hammers, etc, etc, but I was wondering about the action type. Just playing it, it didn't feel "modern" but didn't fee bad either. What say you?

Probably an English action, like a modern action without the repetition lever. It would work like a vertical action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTCyqXv8c-Q
Some have dampers above, and some have them below, the strings. They have a single escapement, but if regulated with a very close let-off, can provide remarkably sensitive control of repetition on half key. If not, then the hammer tails are prone to jamming on the backchecks because there is no "rise" to drop position

One that makes it play???

The action in the video is the patented repetition action, which was a very pragmatic and cheap way to get keys to repeat in a way which, when set-up, could rival a double-escapement action..

basically on the Jack, a small metal hook is set-up to suspend the hammer while the key is depressed so that the Jack can slip back under the hammer assembly.. same thing that the double escapement action does but with fewer moving parts

this particular model is a bitch to set-up because there are no regulating screws

keep in mind that the vast majority of actions in the 1800's used single-escapement actions, including Steinway until 1880, and that this was seen as a good thing

the repetition action in the video is quite old, I am not sure if it's the same as the one on a late century Broadwood but it does not harm anyone's technique to play on an English Action IMO