Table of contents for Issue 4722 in Model Engineer

NAME Awards The Northern Association of Model Engineers (NAME) presented their Newsletter Award trophy for 2022 to the editor of the Polly Owners Group newsletter, Richard Taylor, at their recent AGM held on the 13th May 2022 at the Andover Society’s track site. The award given was a suitably engraved cup, and was presented by Denis Mulford, chairman of NAME. The reason this newsletter was chosen was for the clear pictures, clear and very clean text plus the fact that Richard writes most if not all of the articles himself. A couple of weeks later at the Whitwell and Reepham Model Engineering Club track, next to the Whitwell and Reepham railway station, on Sunday the 2nd July NAME presented their Junior Engineers Awards for 2022. The winner in the 8…

I thought that this time we would have a look at the valve gear for the B1 and I have heard excellent reports of the Martin Evans valve gear so I have just drawn it out as is (hopefully) so the only alteration I have added is some detail on the crossheads and oil boxes (figs 88 to 91). Whether the lap and lead movement are the same or not I don’t know but from what I have learnt from Eddie Gibbons commissioning my 4MT I may have added a little lead as it made such a difference to my own engine. He said it has now got its ‘chuff’ back. I do know that Eddie added about 15 thou overall. I have heard a friend’s engine running and this…

While the mortar was left to cure over a few days I moved on to other tasks, one of which was to work out what section to build to reconnect the new concrete with the old. Yes, it would involve another six inch square piece of timber but it wasn’t as simple as that for I wanted to fit a door here. When the donor garage was delivered by my sons it included the two large garage doors and also a smaller side door. One of the large doors was rotten beyond repair, the other was only rotten along the bottom and the smaller side door looked brand new. After giving this some thought (I had decided early on to ditch the up/over garage door fitted to the original building…

With her chassis, boiler and smokebox painted and reassembled, and having acquired two extra family members in the preceding years, we pick up the story in 2011. The author’s painting booth has been disassembled and his workshop dragged into its new and well-windowed location in the basement where he is preparing for the final phase of Elidir’s construction. Wonderland revisited Should you cast your mind back to earlier parts of this series, long-suffering and ever-patient Reader, you may recall that, from Elidir’s earliest moments, the author allowed his mind to wander into the dangerous and time-consuming region where What ifs? are born and allowed to evolve - the What if? Wonderland, if you remember - which henceforth I’ll refer to simply as Wonderland, if you don’t mind, because we should…

One problem that we face at Parklands Railway, located in the village of Hemsby in East Norfolk, is that we are never quite sure how many, or if any at all, locomotives are going to turn up for our annual Railway week. We could, we knew, rely on our regulars, some already booked into bungalows on site, or ‘locals’ visiting for one or a few days, but we are never sure about the other visitors, many of whom just seem to come on the spur of the moment. However the numbers this year, including 43 visiting locomotives, meant that everybody was bound to have a great time … and so we did. Locomotives were already unloading on Saturday morning for this year’s event, the 43rd, and within a very short…

Published by Déjà vu Publishers (67 Normanhurst Ave, Bournemouth, BH8 9NW), 3rd Edition, 2022 ISBN 978-0-9558359-3-3 £27.99 + £2.85 p&p,218pp, hardback (order through the website thehejazrailway.com) For most British readers the story of the Hejaz Railway is indissolubly linked to Lawrence of Arabia and his Arab allies’ attacks on the line. This book, in a new edition with an additional chapter, shows a rather different aspect of the railway. It was a remarkable feat of engineering not as well appreciated as it deserves to be. From conception the Hejaz Railway was intended to bolster the prestige and reach of the Ottomans. Sultan Abdulhamid’s empire was under threat by the late 19th Century with Russian conquests, the British occupying Egypt and breakaway elements in Arabia itself. As the Sultan was the…

Cliff Almond continues his description of a potential unusual narrow gauge 0-4-0T for 7¼ inch gauge Cylinders and steam chest design Followers of my articles may recall how I came across a set of prints of the original Guinness drawings, and that many of these had shown signs of damage, caused when the brewery suffered a flood before they could be copied. These, despite being invaluable in developing the design for William Spence, have given me considerable challenges, due to many areas of most of the drawings being smudged or blurred due, I have been reliably informed, to water damage. This has been particularly challenging during the designing of the cylinders and steam chest. The art of producing Victorian engineering drawings I am sure some readers may be asking how…

Iain Haile adds a power feed to his milling machine. Setting up a basic workshop from scratch is something of a daunting task, with so many decisions on how to prioritise the spending of your precious cash. Once the big ticket items i.e. lathe, milling machine, bandsaw, pillar drill etc. are selected then there’s all the tooling and accessories which can add almost as much again. When you begin to use all the equipment you then find out that there are features you wished you had purchased from the start. In my case this was a power feed for the mill table. Buying an after-market unit can set you back £200 or more so being a Yorkshireman I set about making one. Several prototypes were made but they lacked the…

Since my first venture into model locomotive engineering, many of the projects have started with the purchase of uncompleted models and components from eBay; the Southern Region Schools or V Class is a continuation of this principle. My ‘next’ project has usually been sourced and placed under the bench well before the ‘current’ project is finished. This ensures continuity and that there’s never a rush to find the next locomotive. In the past my choice was informed by the wheel arrangements as I was trying to build locomotives from the humble 0-6-0 through to the majestic 4-6-2 Pacifies, in 2½ or 3½ inch gauge, however the Schools, whilst it was a second 4-4-0, was undertaken because I had not built a Southern Region locomotive before, despite living near the Southern…

July 27 Newton Abbot and District MES Track evening at club site. See nadmes.org.uk 27 Sutton MEC Afternoon run from 12 noon. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 30 Bristol SMEE Public running at the Ashton Court Railway BS8 3PX, noon-17:00. Contact: secretary@bristolmodelengineers.co.uk 30 Canterbury MES Public running. Contact: ginapearson@btopenworld.com 30 North Wilts MES Public running at the Coate Water RaiLway, 11:00-17:00. See www.nwmes.info 30 Warrington and District MES Running day at the club track. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events August 1 Taunton Model Engineers Meeting, West Buckland, barbecue night, 18:00-23:00. See www.tauntonme.org.uk 2 Bradford MES Evening running and social., Northcliffe, 19:30-22:00. Contact: Russ Coppin, 07815 048999 3 Sutton MEC Bits and Pieces evening 20:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 4 Rochdale SMEE General, meeting, Castleton Community Centre, 19:00. See www.facebook.com/ RochdaleModeLEnqineers…

Excepting slip eccentric this must be the simplest valve gear available. The gear was patented in 1859 by John Wesley Hackworth (1820-1891), son of Timothy Hackworth who designed Sans Pareil of Rainhill trial fame. It is based on the principles outlined in Part 1 (M.E.4718, June 2) but, as will be seen later, it has certain shortcomings which have restricted its use except where extreme simplicity is required at the expense of performance. The layout of the gear is shown in fig 19, and a photograph of the locomotive Edward Thomas shows the valve gear (photo 1). All of the drive is provided by the return crank ag which extends to the opposite side of the axle to the crank pin. Attached to the return crank pin is the vibrating…

Views and opinions expressed in letters published in Postbag should not be assumed to be in accordance with those of the Editor, other contributors, or Mortons Media Group Ltd. Correspondence for Postbag should be sent to: Martin R. Evans, The Editor, Model Engineer, Mortons Media Group Ltd, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR F. 01507 371066 E. MEeditor@mortons.co.uk Publication is at the discretion of the Editor. The content of letters may be edited to suit the magazine style and space available. Correspondents should note that production schedules normally involve a minimum lead time of six weeks for material submitted for publication. In the interests of security, correspondents’ details are not published unless specific instructions to do so are given. Responses to published letters are forwarded as appropriate. Signals…

The following notes should be read in conjunction with the track diagram given in Part 1 (Fig 1, M.E.4716, May 5). Lineside plungers These allow drivers to request routes while moving. Large plungers (ex-BR block-shelf bakelite-type) are provided (photo 16). As the system defaults to the main route (from Much Natter station and back), drivers have to request only for diverging routes. Plungers should normally be located at the signal immediately to the rear of the junction signal. However, if it is necessary to locate a plunger at the previous signal, a train destination stick relay (TDSR) is provided, to ensure that the system ‘remembers’ the destination of the train concerned while it is in the intermediate section. All main-line signals are ‘first-wheel replaced’ to danger. Plungers are effective only…

The last part needed for the model to be run on rails was a gas tank and while making it the body and roof were painted, first with an etch primer then a couple of top coats of enamel (photos 14 and 15). The gas tank is probably the most complex that I have made. It is intended to look like a water tank and its control valve like a brake handle. The tank itself is made from 1.5mm thick square section brass tube with 1.5mm end plates, which are hard soldered in place with a stay with threaded ends that goes through the centre of them and is secured with nuts, which are also soldered in place. The tank is held to the footplate by two lengths of threaded…

Put not thy faith in electronic media, until the human element has been removed. To explain: I wanted to retrieve an article in M.E. so I consulted one of the indices and it gave me the volume, issue number and page number, all of which were WRONG! This left me with no option to search, issue by issue, in the archives until I reached the one I wanted. Let me be quite clear, there was no fault with the M.E. archives, which produced the correct issue, readable, copiable and printable, as required. This relates to the Al discussions which are currently flavour of the month. Devices using Al can make lightning fast decisions but if their data records are incorrect, there will be tears before bedtime. Garbage in = Garbage…