Table of contents for Issue 4723 in Model Engineer

IMLEC IMLEC 2023 was held at the Bristol Society's track in Ashton Court over the weekend of 7th to 9th July, as part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations of their track. The weekend was well supported with many IMLEC regulars enjoying the usual camaraderie of the event. There was an interesting mix of locomotives, and a good contrast of competition experience amongst the competitors. Friday was dry and hot and there were some good runs but also some retirements. Blustery and showery weather followed, although that did not seem to dampen the spectator's enjoyment of the proceedings. Despite the rain and problems with adhesion there were many impressive runs and good competition. At some point on the Saturday water managed to get into the dynamometer car's load cell resulting in…

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Continued from p.231 M.E.4722 July 28 Tender We start this second part of the Schools recycling project with building the tender body from galvanised steel sheet. The sides, front, rear panel and the coal plates are folded to size using my 24-inch folder, using half inch flanges to form the joining face angles or channels. The front panel has an aperture cut out to form the coal feed and the side panels shaped with the cut-outs front and rear. The top edges of the side panels are folded to form the tender profile. Photograph 20 shows the forming of the tender side top profile in my large folders. The loosely assembled tender body is shown in photo 21. Note the half inch flanges at the front that allow the body…

Continued from p.196 M.E.4722 July 28 Straight slide error As mentioned in part 5 the mid gear line in fig 22 (M.E.4722, July 28) is not straight. This is partly because the slide is straight rather than curved. Imagining the valve rod horizontal, as the slide end m moves up and down the valve end p will move to and fro. Who cares, it's mid gear? Well the in-phase motion contributes to the total valve motion, so unless that is right we are starting from a poor base. It is tempting to think the slide should be curved to the same radius as the length of the valve rod, but a moment's thought will show that the radius in Hackworth gear should be shorter. Imagine link gh moving such that…

I have now got my locomotive, Deborah, running back and forth in the garage and am currently constructing a simple riding/driving trolley. For those who are monitoring my model locomotive progress (he's out there somewhere…) ‘she' played her part today. Whilst I was lain on the garage floor attending to the control box, she rolled up behind me and gave me a nudge in the back of the neck. Item, fit brakes! As the old sailor put it: ‘Like one, that on a lonesome road doth walk in fear and dread and having once turned round walks on and turns no more his head; because he knows a frightful fiend doth close behind him tread' or words to that effect. In this issue, radio telescopes, petrol fuel, bird boxes, an…

Kelham Island Industrial Museum was featured for this series in 2005 (Model Engineer, Vol 194 no 4224, 1 April 2005, pp 389-391). It has developed significantly since then, not least by now housing the vast Ken Hawley collection, probably the best collection of tools in these islands, if not the world. Other exhibits reflect Sheffield's history as a leading tool making centre and the museum emphasises iron, steel, cutlery and engineering with associated social history. It is a fascinating place to visit. Thanks to a joint York Model Engineers and SMEE visit held in May 2023, I revisited the museum enjoying a guided tour given by Richard Gibbon OBE. He was Keeper of Industrial Conservation, appointed in 1979 to set up exhibits but staying for over ten years! The building…

Ron Fitzgerald takes a look at the history and development of the stationary steam engine. Continued from p.163, M.E. 4721, July 14 The majority of large stationary steam engines built between 1800 and 1870 followed the style described in the last section of this series in that they were integrally built into the engine house that accommodated them. There were, however, circumstances that made the house-built engine undesirable or impractical and a new generation of smaller engines emerged designed to be wholly or largely independent of their shelter. The result united the various parts of the engine together within a timber frame or upon a cast iron bed that was bolted down to an ashlar foundation. In the event of the engine being re-located it could be readily dismantled and,…

Continued from p.217 M.E.4722 July 28 The next job was to insulate the roof inside and also make it waterproof from the outside. The rafters are made from 3 × 2 inch section timbers with the sheeting itself being 18mm exterior ply; it's a pretty strong affair and more than able to take the weight of composite tiles to be fitted later, plus possible adverse weather such as snow. Having a hipped roof made life a little more interesting but nothing too taxing. I started with the easier end sections and then worked out the hip angles as I got to them. Using a cordless nail gun does make life easier but also a little painful wielding such a heavy tool. I was most grateful to have it, though, kindly…

My guide for this visit to the Fareham Society was long serving member Clive Addis who provided me with a great deal of historical information. As he was the club newsletter editor for around 40 years he should have a good idea of the club and its progress! The Society was formed in March 1947 and the main ambition of the time was to possess their own headquarters. They established their site at the rear of the West End Inn where they were able to erect a suitable club building. Plans at the time included a model passenger carrying railway, a race car track and a control-line flying base. The society paid great attention to attracting and encouraging younger members into the society with interesting lectures and visits to other…

August 10 Guildford MES Open day, 10:00-13:00. See www.gmes.org.uk 13 Canterbury MES Public running. Contact: ginapearson@btopenworld.com 13 North Wilts MES Public running at the Coate Water Railway, 11:00-17:00. See www.nwmes.info 13 Sutton MEC Track Day from noon – 16:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 13 Warrington and District MES Running day at the club track. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 16 Bristol SMEE ‘Anything Goes' meeting, Begbrook Social Club BS16 1HY, 19:30. Contact: secretary@bristolmodelengineers.co.uk 17 Sutton MEC New driver evening from 18:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 18 Rochdale SMEE Quiz night, Castleton Community Centre, 19:00. See www.facebook.com/RochdaleModelEngineers 19/20 National Tramway Museum,Crich Model Tramway and Railway Exhibition, 10:00-17:00. See www.tramway.co.uk 20 Bradford MES Public running day, Northcliffe, 13:30. Contact: Russ Coppin, 07815 048999 20 Canterbury MES Public running. Contact: ginapearson@btopenworld.com 20…

Continued from p.206, M.E.4722, July 28 I thought that it would be a good idea now to make the slide bars and connecting rods (figs 92, 93 and 94). You will need some⅜ × 1¼ inch BMS material to make these. Now, please don't tell me that you can't get that size of bar as all the imperial sizes are available from one of our advertiser's, namely M Machine who advertise regularly in Model Engineer. A couple of foot should eat the job. I would make a start by profiling the rods and thin them down afterwards. They can also provide the material for the slide bars. When I made my Y4 I machined the profile for a start and I know that these are a lot different from the…

Continued from p.227 M.E.4722 July 28 As we left the story, Elidir had gained her saddle tank, her smokebox contents and a host of valves in her cab, and all of these were far different than the published drawings thanks to the what if? whisperings of the Wonderland dragons. As we re-join the tale, attention had turned to the dispensing of water, both hot and cold, into her boiler. A fascination with fittings Perhaps it's a flaw in my nature but I do like making valves and fittings. And one of the nice things about a larger-scale engine, for Elidir is roughly a quarter the size of her quarrybased prototypes, is that it is relatively straightforward to construct these items such that they are both attractively scale-sized and sufficiently large…

Sheffield, 3 -4th June saw the 31st Sweet Pea rally, at Sheffield & District Society of Model & Experimental Engineers' Abbeydale Miniature Railway. In contrast to the last time I reported on this event (it bucketed down, very noisy…), the weather could not have been better - warm, sunny and dry - although the atmosphere must have been a little humid, since the exhaust from the various locomotives did not disappear too quickly. The club site is in glorious woodland, adjacent to a nature reserve and bird sanctuary. The Limb Brook, which runs alongside, was the ancient boundary ‘twixt Northumbria and The Midlands, or Mercia. A weighty history for such an insignificant trickle. Although this was a twoday event, I only visited on the Sunday, when I counted 12 locomotives…

Continued from p.200 M.E.4722 July 28 Cylinder assembly flashforward At this point of the build the spares box was getting rather full with all the components manufactured but not yet fitted to anything. Despair started to creep into the safe place that is my workshop and I had no choice but to slog away at the build. One thing that keeps me motivated in dark times like these is to look at pictures of the finished locomotive, focusing on the current part of the build. The beauty of the finished assembly is more than enough to crank that motivation up a gear or two. When I painted my locomotive I made a special effort to photograph some of the painted sub-assemblies on their own, so the cropped/ grainy pictures of…