Table of contents for Issue 4725 in Model Engineer

Midlands Highlights The Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition will be running this year on a full head of steam. The Society of Model and Experimental Engineers (SMEE) and Model Engineer will be there in force, celebrating their joint 125th anniversary, and the SMEE workshop will once again be in full operation, including demonstrations by Neil Wyatt, Model Engineers Workshop editor, of 3D printing. The SMEE stand will also feature a large collection of models from across its history. The lectures are back too, including Roger Backhouse on ‘Uncle Jim’ Crebbin and Bob Reeve on the behaviour of metals, and the Gas Turbine Builders Association will be outside making a lot of noise. To round it all off will be, as usual, The Fosse Live Steamers. A particular attraction will be John…

Continued from p.311 M.E.4724 August 25 Well ahead of the IMLEC competition dates, members of the Bristol Society of Model Engineers constructed a track degreasing vehicle with the curious nickname of the Dribbler, whose sole role was to spread degreasing fluid thinly on the rails, which would then be rolled in by its own and other trolley wheels. The job seemed to have been done well and, when we arrived to set up the event, the rails were clean with rust patches, showing its effectiveness. Excellent – when it's dry. Competition Day 2 Saturday For Saturday, all down to the ‘jet stream’ being south of the UK, TV weather forecasters were suggesting the conditions of the day would be ‘unsettled’ and, certainly, the early morning feel was already rather different…

Continued from p.316 M.E.4724 August 25 The cab sides, roof and spectacle plate were cut from galvanised steel using a Vibro saw. Cutting steel is a bit demanding on the blades but if you do not push too hard it is worth the effort and expense of the replacement blades. The profiled cab components are shown in photo 66. The smoke deflectors, which are a dominant part of the Schools class were cut from galvanised plate, care being taken to leave sufficient metal for final fitting to the front curved section of the running board. The deflectors are shown in photo 67. The central section of the front apron was fabricated from sheet metal and embellished with the door handles and rivets and is shown in photo 68. The profiles…

Published by Amberley Publishing, 2023 ISBN 978-1-3981-0012-1 £14.39, 96pp, 180 illustrations, paperback (order through the website Amberley-books.com) This, the third volume of Brian and Ian Reading's books of early railway photographs, all previously unpublished, deals with four standard gauge industrial railways and eight narrow gauge railways, mainly to be found in Wales and East Anglia. It starts with 26 photographs of the Isle of Man railways, taken by Brian during 1961 and 1962, including several in colour. This was of course before most of the system was closed in 1967 so we have shots of Ramsey and Peel stations, looking somewhat tired but still jaunty. We can even see some wagons, prior to freight traffic vanishing in 1967, as well as some rolling stock lost in the 1987 fire. Then…

Continued from p.329, M.E.4724, August 25 Now, we will get on with some more differences with our B1, First of all, were you aware that there are at least four different front views of the B1, notwithstanding the front bogies? I understood that the first ten B1s had handrails turned in at the front and then followed the radius of the smokebox as it went around the door. I may be wrong about this but, in any event, the doors on the first ten were considerably smaller than on the remaining four hundred. These varied somewhat too. The door hinges were spaced at 2⅛ inch spacing (on the model) and the rivets on the door hinges were at least visible. On the engines from 61010 to 61349 the door hinges…

With summer drawing to a close, now's the perfect time to get out and about and draw inspiration for your own projects and to feed your passions over the darker and colder months. We're sure you will have your favourite places to go, whether that's a heritage line, museum, model exhibition or another attraction, but if you are looking for somewhere a bit special, a part of the country you may not have been to for a while, or an attraction on your doorstep you'd forgotten all about, then take a look at our map and the adverts on these pages to gain some inspiration. All the venues and businesses here help provide a memorable day out or provide that inspiration and education we all need to feed our passions…

Continued from p.280 M.E.4724 August 25 Chas. Brown's gear Back at the beginning of part 2 it was explained that a corrected gear embodies some form of straight-line motion. Chas Brown's (fig 40) uses Watt#2 as described in part 6 (M.E.4723 August 11). (Chas. Brown was born in Uxbridge and, after an apprenticeship at Maudslay's, he went to Switzerland to set up the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM) that built the locomotives for the Snowdon Mountain Railway and others.) It is easy to visualise that as point d moves to the right along its mythical straight line, the correcting link ef pivots around point f, point e moves down and so point g moves down but by less and so, if the vibrating lever gh has been correctly proportioned,…

Continued from p.337 M.E.4724 August 25 By the autumn of 2020, after thirty-five years in the making, Jennifer Ann (née Elidir) was at last painted, lined, assembled and ready for testing. As we re-join the story for the final time, the moment had arrived to see if she would work. Lights, camera, action I have never made a video before but, having spent a decent portion of my life building her and wanting to record Jennifer Ann's first steaming for posterity, the idea of doing this using moving pictures rather than still images was rather appealing. And so, on the morning of Friday, 23 October 2020, with camera and tripod at the ready and with the last few items on the extensive Things to Do checklist ticked off, I carefully…

Continued from p.340 M.E.4724 August 25 Construction The model was built exactly like all the others in almost all respects, but with any changes and new methods designed to aid and improve the process. The 22E trucks, for me, are always the first things to make and then fitted to the underframe, tested and adjusted as required before moving on to brake gear and life guards (photo 10). I find getting all this ‘undertram’ detail work done at the beginning to be essential as having to work on an inverted model can be difficult. It is important, in particular, to make sure of perfect clearance for the swing of the bogies and proper clearance for the life guard front gate and tray, remembering to allow for the final weight the…

Published by Amberley Publishing, 2023 ISBN 978-1-3981-0008-4 £14.39, 96pp, 180 illustrations, paperback (order through the website Amberley-books.com) Sometimes books, like buses, come along as pairs and this is the case with Brian and Ian Readings series of books featuring Brian's photographs of UK railways. Just as I had finished reading volume 3, dealing with industrial and narrow gauges, then volume 4 arrived, dealing with the southern area of the UK, including the Isle of Wight. Now this was my territory. As a boy I lived in South London and my bike took me to most of the London terminals at some time and trams ran to Waterloo (well covered in this book), Euston and Kings Cross. Included were two pictures of Bricklayers Arms, a shed which I knew well. Parts…

As my amanuensis, John Arrowsmith, sets gently below the Western horizon, it is time for me to inflict more of my deranged opinions upon you, Gentle Reader. In my absence, Sheffield SMEE Open Day and Gauge 1 North have been held but Norway's North Cape was been blessed with my presence instead. This was in two weeks of the warmest weather the area has seen for many a year, with flat calm seas too. A number of interesting vehicles were spotted, including a Norwegian Coastguard vessel Jan Mayen, an LPG-powered offshore patrol boat Barentshav and a ‘stealthy’ Skjold missile corvette (photo 1) – also some very swish police Marell M12 boats, a Hillman RAF staff car outside the cruise terminal, a double decker coach in Henningsweg, a neglected Bedford TA…

Continued from p.351 M.E.4724 August 25 The steam exhausts When I decided to model the majestic Fire Queen I knew the steam exhausts were going to be an interesting challenge. In all honesty, when I got to this point of the build the fear of throwing in the towel because of those insane copper pipes was one of those cliff hanger moments where the buttocks clenching was only matched by the excitement of getting it right. Well, I did get it right, with only one failure - and if I can do it, anybody can! The original exhausts need a mention before I move onto how I made them for my model. Like a great number of the fittings they were forged into shape and brazed with the joint line…

My visit to the Wigan and District Model Engineering Society was part of a short tour I made in this part of Lancashire and Yorkshire. The present site is located in the Haigh Woodland Park which is a lovely woodland area through which the railway now runs. The Society has a long history having been started in 1937 when they were able to build an ‘L’ shaped track in a member's garden, then the World War II interfered with the operations. When this had run its course the members started to look for a more permanent site that would allow a continuous track to be built. Haigh Woodland Park was part of Lord Crawford's estate and when he returned to his ancestral home in Scotland he gave the whole park…

A while ago, while searching the Internet for something completely different, I came across the electronic leadscrew. This was something quite new to me, so I read on. Now excuse me while I tell granny how to suck eggs! Anyone with a small, screw cutting lathe will tell you that in order to cut a thread, there has to be a fixed relationship between the spindle and leadscrew. If, for example, the leadscrew pitch is 2 mm and the relationship between spindle and leadscrew is 1:1, then the lathe is set up for cutting a 2mm thread. This relationship is achieved through the use of a gear chain. If you need a different thread pitch, then you need to change the gear train. Your lathe handbook will tell you which…

September 6 Bradford MES Talk – Roger Backhouse, ‘King Cotton’, Saltaire Methodist Church, 19:30. Contact: Russ Coppin, 07815 048999 6 Bristol SMEE Talk: ‘Midsomer Norton Station and the S&DJR’, Begbrook Social Club BS16 1HY, 19:30. Contact: secretary@bristolmodelengineers.co.uk 7 Sutton MEC Bits and Pieces evening 20:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 7 Warrington & District MES Projects/natter night, St Mary Magdalene Church, WA4 3AG, 20:00. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 9 Polly Owners’ Group Rally at the Rugby MES, from 10:00. Contact: Neil Mortimer, 07900 133201 or neiljmortimer@gmail.com 10 Bristol SMEE Public running at the Ashton Court Railway BS8 3PX, noon17:00. Contact: secretary@bristolmodelengineers.co.uk 10 Canterbury MES Public running. Contact: ginapearson@btopenworld.com 10 North Wilts MES Public running at the Coate Water Railway, 11:00-17:00. See www.nwmes.info 10 Sutton MEC Track Day from noon – 16:00.…