Table of contents for Issue 4733 in Model Engineer

Happy New Year! All of us here at Model Engineer would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year, with the hope that the coming year will be an improvement on the previous twelve months. There is no doubt that we are living in interesting times, as Confucius might have said, but I think the times are plenty interesting enough at present and a little boredom for a while would do no harm. I hope the gods read Model Engineer and will take note. SMEE This week Geoff’s Club News column (page 112) includes news from the Society of Model and Experimental Engineers (SMEE), our nearest relative, sharing, as we just have, our joint 125th birthday. We hope this will become a regular feature in Model Engineer. Butterside Down We’ve…

Connecting rods After considering my still accurate but somewhat elderly Myford ML7R lathe I decided to make the connecting rods in three pieces. The end result would be as durable and much kinder to the lathe than machining completely from the solid. The two forks were cut from steel bar and then cross drilled to form the bottom of the fork. The remaining metal was gradually milled out to form the rest (photo 70). After this the wrist pin holes were drilled Va inch and this enabled the rounded ends of the fork to be finished using filing buttons (photo 71). The stem joining the fork and the bearing was a piece of steel rod reduced at either end to fit into reamed holes and secured with high strength adhesive.…

Published by Pen and Sword Transport 2023 ISBN 978-1-39902-343-6 £25,176pp, hardback It is remarkable how disparate railways managed by Colonel Holman Fred Stephens have attracted such attention. Perhaps it was their often ramshackle appearance, the motley collection of obsolete locomotives and rolling stock, or even the Colonel’s preference for names, rather than numbers for ‘his’ engines. The Colonel began his work around the time that the Light Railway Act promised a new era of cheaply built and operated railways, alas not to be. He envisaged standard locomotives of economical design suitable for light railways, with centralised services, including workshops, but this last this never happened. Instead, local crews and fitters did their best to make locomotives serviceable. Not all locomotives were second hand. Peckett and Sons built a 2-4-2 tank…

As more model engineers take up digital workshops the role of hand tools can be overlooked. Thank goodness Neil Wyatt has produced this excellent beginner’s guide but with information more experienced hands will find helpful. It is well illustrated with chapters on files and filing, measuring and marking out, aids to accurate working, heat treatments and workholding. Then the author describes making specialist cutters including punches, using boring tools, taps, dies, drills and reamers, and 3D printing, of which he is a great advocate. Short of a collet chuck? Here’s advice on how to make a set. The ‘slotted top hat’jig to help file keyways is simple but effective. A section about storage covers a subject too often ignored as I know to my cost. (My tip for anyone starting…

I went to the Huddersfield SME club site not realising that like the Bradford Society they had two sites, one at Highfields and the other in Greenhead Park where most of the public running events take place. The club has an interesting history having been formed in 1919, so this year they are 103 years old, another long-standing club which is still flourishing. President Richard Lyons introduced me to David and Michael Lockwood, who joined me for my visit to the club. Richard explained that the club was founded in 1919 as the Huddersfield and District Society of Model Engineers by a Mr. Millar and five other members. Eventually by the end of that year membership had grown to 55. The interests in the club reflected the society of that…

In the United Kingdom there are probably many thousands of unfinished model engineering projects and this is the story of how one of them came to be completed, just because I ran out of 6 BA steel round head screws. I am a member of the Cardiff Model Engineering Society which holds a biannual ‘Bring and Buy’ auction. The range of the items on offer varies, from high quality precision tools to rusty lumps of metal. In an auction held last year an item that was purchased was definitely in the latter category. A project being worked on at the time needed some round head 6BA screws to complete it; they had been ordered, but hadn't arrived. In the auction there was a large, rusty and rather bent Huntley and…

December 26 North Wilts MES PubLic running at the Coate Water Railway, ll:00-dusk. See www.nwmes.info 26 Sutton MEC Boxing Day run from 10:00. Contact: PauL Harding, 0208 254 9749 27 Bradford MES Mince pie steam-up, Northcliffe, 12:30 until frostbite sets in. Contact: Russ Coppin, 07815 048999 2024 January 3 Bradford MES Talk - Graham Astbury, ‘Twist Drills’, SaLtaire Methodist Church, 19:30. Contact: Russ Coppin, 07815 048999 4 Sutton MEC Bits and Pieces evening 20:00. Contact: PauL Harding, 0208 254 9749 4 Warrington & District MES Projects/natter night, St Mary Magdalene Church, WA4 3AG, 20:00. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 14 Sutton MEC Track Day from 14:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 17 Bristol SMEE Talk: ‘Narrow Gauge Railways of India’, Begbrook SociaLCLub BS16 1HY, 19:30. Contact: secretary@bristolmodelengineers.co.uk 18 Warrington & District MES…

William Adams was a Victorian locomotive engineer somewhat overshadowed by contemporaries, yet André Chapelon said he was the last British steam locomotive engineer to wield any influence abroad. Thanks to an excellent new biography by John Woodhams we now have a rounded picture of this well respected man. Most of this article is drawn from the book (photo 1). Adams’ achievements were remarkable. Claimed as the ‘father of the suburban train’, a pioneer of continuous train brakes, designer of a transformative front bogie and innovation with the first British 2-6-0 and the vortex blast pipe, he is described in the book as ‘probably the finest late Victorian locomotive engineer’. He did not start on railways, however. Born in Bromleyby-Bow in 1823 his father was Clerk of Works to the West…

We all tend to assume that the electrical supply will always be there but what would you do if you were standing in your workshop, perhaps in the middle of doing something a bit tricky, and everything went dark? Whilst you could carry a torch, or leave a lighted candle burning all the time you are at work (probably not the best idea), there is an easier way… We have all seen emergency lights fitted over the emergency exit doors in shops and other public places. There are many different types and systems, some with a central battery and many with individual batteries, often showing a little green or red light to indicate that all is well with the light. For use in public areas, these have to be installed…

I am sure many of you read about the IMLEC event (International Miniature Locomotive Efficiency Competition) which occurs each year. I did and was fascinated. I am relatively new to model engineering and set out on a voyage to discover more. If you are not aware IMLEC is an event where the efficiency of a locomotive is measured by using a dynamometer car behind a locomotive which is using a fixed amount of fuel and pulling a known weight. This sparked my interest. How was this done? What magic pixies are inside this machine that make up a dynamometer car? Research revealed a fascinating history of how a LNER dynamometer car was used to record Mallard’s speed record in 1938 and has been preserved at the National Railway Museum in…

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Welcome, curious Reader, to Butterside Down, a column which will be appearing in your favourite periodical on a semiregular basis if all goes well, or at least until our worthy editor realises his profound mistake and wisely pulls the plug. “Favourite periodical?” I hear you cry, “Why, for heaven’s sake, would Cheese Grater Gazette carry an article written for Model Engineer magazine?”. Well, you certainly have a point; but ours is not to reason why so let’s just accept it as a strange quirk of syndication and be thankful you’re not facing yet another instalment of that interminable Elephants series in this edition of our magazine. Anything but that… absolutely anything. For the time being, then, here we are; columnist and columnee to use the appropriate technical terms - one…

I want to get on with the manifold or turret or call it what you will (fig 129). Photograph 250 is the best photograph I have of the manifold so you will have to make of it what you will. I have also shown photo 251 which shows the interior of my 4MT cab which shows a similar whistle valve. The only thing is that it has not got the flange on the side to attach it to the flange on the manifold. I have of course had to make a small alteration to the manifold to fix a flange on the left-hand side to accommodate the whistle valve. I am sure no one will notice specially if you “don’t tell him Pike” as it is hidden away up in…

I’m getting closer to being able to recommence working on 4472 again and in fact will do so before actually finishing the workshop, not so much the internal areas but the outside which still needs tiling and painting. Once that is done, I can decide on the colours, or should I say those railway colours that I can get past senior management. Naturally, I want LNER but may have to settle for Midland as the red matches the house’s front door… The walls of both the house and the workshop will match being a cream which can cover both LNER and Midland liveries… anyway, we shall see… So, back to the inside and a few bits and pieces to do. First up is the last of the internal insulation sheets,…

Some model engineers believe using model engineering skills for domestic jobs is like fishing to carry home and not something a gentleman should do. Others hold that those skills are there to be used for any purpose that contributes to domestic harmony or helps the household budget. After all, times are hard and, alas, likely to get harder. The carpet cleaner at Backhouse Towers has been part of the household for many years. Of Goblin make, it has kept the carpets and sometimes upholstery decently clean despite doggie visits, mud trodden in from the garden and the not-to-be-forgotten occasion when a cafetiere of fresh ground coffee went over in the dining room. Thankfully the cleaner was then found to be equal to the occasion. The cleaner It is reasonably simple,…

Mark Smithers visits a two foot gauge railway in Kent. Continued from p.18 M.E.4732 December 15 Internal combustion locomotives As with the steam locomotives, these are all four-wheeled and, as mentioned earlier, the first locomotive to arrive on the railway was No. 7 Motor Rail ‘Simplex’ W/N 7403 of 1936. This locomotive received an overhaul in 2018 and further work to correct leakage of excess carbon from around the piston of one of its two cylinders, and replacing two excessively worn valve guides was necessary in the latter part of 2022. Another early arrival on the railway is, at least as far as England is concerned, a unique survival. This is the French Campagne petrol ‘Locotracteur’ W/N 903 of 1925. The design, designated class ‘TS’ dated back to the First…

The frames The original tender frames were constructed from flat plate and angles. A strip was riveted to the bottom and an angle finished off the top of the frames for mounting the tank. I deviated a little from the original in the construction of the model’s frame to increase the strength (fig 36). In doing so I was able to make the tender a partially seated rideon tender, avoiding the need to take the superman pose during a club steaming day. As humorous as driving like this is, it does no favours to the drivers back and neck. The frame construction has a number of assemblies riveted to the main side channels, so the channels are as good as any place to start. The frames were machined from 5mm…

Some decades ago, in the 1980s, several companies started to specialise in tuning and remodelling sports cars. Companies like Walkinshaw in England, Koenig and Zender in Germany became famous for their upgrade kits for sports cars from Jaguar, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche. They offered (wide) body kits, side skirts, front and rear spoilers, engine tuning and advanced exhaust systems, not only for the good looks but also to improve the cars’ road handling and performance even more (photo 1). Maybe not always to everybody’s taste but it sure did appeal to a group of customers who wanted to stand out from the crowd. Car manufacturers were not always happy about this and saw it sometimes as an infringement to their original design and could, as a consequence, withhold or revoke…

I am starting this column with a new Society, that is, our fellow modellers, and Class of 1898, the Society of Model & Experimental Engineers. They intend to produce a monthly report, and possibly more frequently. Go ahead, Mr Smee! q.v. Edward Kipling, 1924.* (Edited for brevity - Geoff) Martin Kite writes, ‘For the Society of Model and Experimental Engineers, 2023 has been a busy year, as we celebrate the 125th Anniversary of the Society’s founding in 1898 by Percival Marshall. The last couple of months have been particularly active arranging exhibits for Forncett Industrial Steam Museum’s model engineering day and the MMEX show preparations in addition to all our regular meetings and activities. Rich Carlstedt from Wisconsin recently described his research into Matthew Murray, less well-known than his great…