Table of contents for Issue 4728 in Model Engineer

IMLEC 2024 After a couple of years down south, the International Miniature Locomotive Efficiency Competition is moving up north. I am very pleased to be able to announce that next year's IMLEC will be hosted by the Southport Model Engineering Club. The club has hosted IMLEC twice before, in 2008 and 2017 and has both raised and ground level tracks for 5 and 3½ inch gauges. More details about the competition, including the rules and how to enter, will be posted here nearer the time. Wordsearch Competition I hope you enjoyed the wordsearch competition in issue 4723. As they say on the TV, ‘the results are now in’ and I can tell you who the lucky winners are. First place is taken by Ray Jenkins from Marlborough, who wins a…

Continued from p.521, M.E.4727, October 6 We now come to the largest part of the engine, the boiler. I thought that it deserved a slight modification in that it must have a proper LNER 100A boiler. This proved to be quite a universal boiler as it was fitted to a lot of other engines. This was followed by the K1s which had a slightly shorter version and the LNER 2-8-0s, a lot of which had them fitted too. The 01s were fitted with them and the O4/8s were re-built with the B1 boilers, as were the 02/4s. I have also taken the opportunity to introduce you to a higher superheat than what you are used to on a 5-inch gauge engine. I decided that we did not use high enough…

One of the biggest problems with being involved with mechanical engineering is that there is usually more than one way of doing things correctly, depending on cost and facilities, and a great many more ways of doing them incorrectly, usually by ignorance or sometimes cost cutting. Sadly, in the short term all of the methods seem to work. The impetus behind this article stems from what is my lifelong curse of having an intrinsic motivation to ask the question ‘How on earth was that done in an earlier time with simpler, more basic tools?’. This usually means I keep returning to the subject until a result is achieved, for as long as it takes to reach an understanding of the process and prove it by actually making a good working…

Ron Fitzgerald looks at the life of our founder and first editor. Continued from p.503 M.E.4727 October 6 I nas much as economists are ever to be taken seriously, the success of the Model Engineer is a parable of Say's Law, an essay in a product inducing its own demand. Before Percival Marshall launched his concept of a journal for amateur engineers their activities were fragmentary and disparate. The magazine provided the first focus for enthusiast mechanics and electricians, model makers, boat builders, and motorcyclists. In the manifesto that formed the introductory editorial of issue No. 1, Marshall summed up the situation as he saw it: …It is simply that there is at present no journal in this country which is exclusively devoted to mechanics and electricity from the amateur's…

Continued from p.527 M.E.4727 October 6 I set out to model this gear as an exercise to learn Python, with the essential help of the chap who writes on the Model Engineer forum as Silly Old Duffer. Let me assure you he is anything but silly or a duffer, whether he is old depends is your definition. I first came across this gear in a series of articles by K.N. Harris (ref 18), and then again when I came across an I.Loco.E. paper (ref 19). Permission to reproduce figure 1 from this paper has been granted by the I.Mech.E. Probably because I'm so used to valve gears where point h runs up and down a curved slide my first thoughts were that this drawing was wrong but that was erroneous.…

This collection, located at Jurby, in the north of the Island, is the property of Mr. Cunningham, who was present when we visited. He has amassed a wonderful collection of vehicles, cars and motorbikes, capable of keeping petrolheads quiet for hours. These pictures do not include the bikes, an equivalent number to the cars, since I scarcely know one from t'other, so this is really a half review, suitable for those with half a day to see it, and half a mind to stay. There is also a collection of models, railway and stationary, unfortunately not labelled, but Mr. C. said that they were all made on the Island. There was, in addition, rolling stock and related items and a period workshop, including a Paragon lathe, which does not appear…

I had felt that visiting one of the oldest model engineering societies in the world would be quite daunting but I needn't have worried; it turned out to be a very interesting and informative day with like-minded model engineers welcoming me to their club. Northcliff Park, the home of the Bradford Model Engineering Society was bathed in warm summer sunshine when I arrived for my visit and I was soon engrossed in their working day. However, firstly I think a little about the history of the club itself would be appropriate. The origins of the club go back to before 1908 when a small group of working men formed a model engineering club but apparently this did not continue. The reasons for its demise are not known but in 1908,…

Continued from p.510 M.E.4727 October 6 The motion work and hands Another item of interesting horological ingenuity is the motion work, which is that part of the works that takes the rotation of the centre wheel and arbor which turns once per hour (therefore indicating the minutes as it revolves) and reduces it down by 12 to indicate the hours. Very old clocks have the hour and minute hands as two separate dials but, at some point, someone worked out a way of making them concentric about the same shaft. This involves some complexity, as the hour hand needs to revolve on the minute hand which in turn is running on the centre arbor. Obviously, both the hour and minute hand need to rotate in the same direction, so a…

I acquired some stuff in with a couple of wanted items at an auction, including two radio control transmitters, motors, servos and lots of metal bar offcuts in several materials. Other items ranged from pop-pop boats to servo testers, Meccano, Fischertechnik and some minor test equipment. That would keep me busy, if I were not so already. The Fischertechnik Handbook is available online and has also been very useful. Robert Postlethwaite writes from the National 2½ inch gauge Association informing us that the Society has a large number of castings (two tons) from a scrap dealer who in turn got them from the family of the closed Bond's O’ Euston Road. The astute dealer saw them for what they were and did not melt them down, so the Society bought…

My goodness, I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me for a while, didn't you? You poor, astonished Reader. However, like bad pennies, presidential elections and episodes of Coronation Street, it seems I am destined to make yet another unbidden appearance into your otherwise peaceful life. So please lie back, put on some soothing music, think happy thoughts and, like a visit to the dentist, rest assured that the discomfort will soon be over. Oh … and please accept my apologies for whatever pain may occur in the meantime. Adaptionism In The Eating of Elephants, that recently concluded seventeen-part trilogy which, even though you are gifted with the superhuman patience typical of all model engineers, you undoubtedly read with one finger poised above the ‘Unsubscribe Me’ button, you…

Published by Pen and Sword Transport 2022 (www.pen-and-sword.co.uk) ISBN 978-1-39909-530-3 £40,307pp, hardback ISBN 978-1-39909-534-1 £30,180pp, hardback One of my happiest railway memories remains going on the footplate of 7029 Clun Castle when it was in steam at Gloucester shed. My brothers were with me and, unusually, my mother. The fireman proudly showed us the workings and the enormous firebox. It was vast with an area of 29 square feet area (2.7 square metres), heavy work for a fireman to keep going. Although I saw Castles occasionally at Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester sheds had the nearest allocations. At that time Clun Castle was polished up for steam farewell rail tours and was withdrawn at the end of 1965, one of eight preserved. Both authors have personal experience of the class. David…

Continued from p.325 M.E.4724 August 25 With the new section now at an advanced stage I turned my attention to the original garage structure. This of course meant moving everything around again but I'm getting a dab hand at that now with the advantage that with each new section I have less to move as some of the gear finds its home. As before the top of the wall where it meets the timber roof frame is sealed with a waterproof membrane and also bonded with the industrial mastic which keeps out the draughts. In photo 31, you can see the black membrane and also the mastic doing its job between the panels and also along the top between the panel and roof support. The corner has now been clad…

Continued from p.531 M.E.4727 October 6 The blow-downs The blow-downs are rather inconveniently located to the side of the boiler behind a melange of rods and links (photo 139). Non-the-less they are accessible for blowing down the locomotive and filling the boiler. All my locomotives (from the smallest 3½ inch to my largest 7¼ inch gauge) blow downs have a common ⅜ inch fitting at the end, so I only need to make up one filling line, and I never bring the wrong line on a steam day. For the model I had to make an adaptor for the filling line to keep the blow-downs to scale (photo 140). The threaded hole on the underside isn't really visible, even on the raised steam track at our club, so very few…

October 18 Bristol SMEE Talk: ‘Steam Launches and Engines’, Begbrook Social Club BS16 1HY, 19:30. Contact: secretary@bristolmodelengineers.co.uk 19 Warrington & District MES Talk: Jeremy Nichols on ‘British Railways in WW1’, St Mary Magdalene Church, WA4 3AG, 20:00. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 20 Rochdale SMEE AGM, Castleton Community Centre, 19:00. See www.facebook.com/RochdaleModelEngineers 22 Bristol SMEE Public running at the Ashton Court Railway BS8 3PX, noon-17:00. Contact: secretary@bristolmodelengineers.co.uk 22 Canterbury MES Public running. Contact: ginapearson@btopenworld.com 22 North Wilts MES Public running at the Coate Water Railway, 11:00-17:00. See www.nwmes.info 22 Tiverton & District MES Running day at Rackenford track. Contact: Chris Catley, 01884 798370 22 Warrington & District MES Running day at the club track. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 26 Guildford MES Open day, 10:00-13:00. See www.gmes.org.uk 26 Newton Abbot & District MES Club night at…