Table of contents for Issue 4742 in Model Engineer

Martin Evans can be contacted on the mobile number or email below and would be delighted to receive your contributions, in the form of items of correspondence, comment or articles. 07710-192953 MEeditor@mortons.co.uk Atmospheric Engines I know many readers have been following with interest Ron Fitzgerald's excellent series on the development of the steam engine. Up to now, of course, the story has really been that of the atmospheric engine, rather than the steam engine, as in the former case the power is derived from the pressure of the atmosphere acting on a cylinder evacuated by condensing steam. The story is now moving into the realm of the real steam engine, where the power comes from the pressure of high-pressure steam and Ron's series will soon move onto the story of…

The 2024 Midlands Garden Rail show opened to visitors on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd March at the Warwickshire Events Centre with good attendances on both days. The prevailing weather provided some soggy parking conditions but as usual this did not deter visitors. There were 12 operating layouts covering every gauge currently in this area of miniature railway modelling. In addition, five static displays by model engineering clubs added to the attractions. Two large working layouts caught the eye on entering the main hall. The Midsomer Norton layout in Gauge 1 standard scale is a layout based on the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway station at Midsomer Norton just south of Bath (photos 1 and 2). This large layout was always busy with all the big four companies represented together…

In 1970 I started a project which was to occupy all my spare time for the next 45 years. I have researched and constructed in miniature the important steam engines which were built in the eighteenth century. These engines paved the way for the industrial revolution in the British Isles and which spread to many other countries throughout the world. These eighteenth century engines are usually grouped together and called ‘steam engines’ but they were not steam engines. Steam was used as a means of creating a vacuum against which the earth's air pressure could act. The correct terminology is that they were atmospheric engines. The Newcomen engine The invention of the steam engine can with justification claim to be the most important event of the industrial revolution. The man…

Continued from p.566 M.E.4741 April 19 The first part of this article described why the change in the type of gas to be used for the burner meant the jet bore became too small for me to make myself. British Standard jets There are commercially available jets available in the UK but these jets are calibrated by numbers being the flow in cubic centimetres per second of petrol that flow through the jet under a specific pressure. Unfortunately, there is no specification for the bore, just the flow. The now-obsolete British Standard for calibrated petrol jets (ref 6) defines the flow-rate and the physical dimensions of the jet itself. All the jets are threaded 1BA and have 4BA spanner flats on them but some have a chamfer and others do…

Welcome to my TARDIS, or ‘Theasby's Amateur Radio Discussion and Intellect Site’. I must relate to you, dear Reader, the events which occurred yesterday. Debs woke with a ‘fat lip’ (not caused by me, I hasten to add). Looking it up online, it may be a reaction to antibiotics prescribed two days before, so we rang 911 and they said “get thee to a hospital NOW”, and asked us to leave the front door unlocked for the paramedics, but before I could get there, they had beaten me to it! After a few measurements they whisked off to the hospital. I resisted the temptation to ask the driver to use his ‘Blues and Twos’. At the hospital, we were pronounced DOA or ‘Deborah on Arrival’ before being prescribed ant-histamines after…

The regulator timepiece is a popular workshop project both for horologists and model engineers. The design needs only a few wheels to be cut and has the added appeal of precision time keeping. Many descriptions of their construction have been published in the Model Engineer as well as other journals (table 1). The emphasis of most of these articles has been on the mechanism. The case, usually of classic shape, has nearly always been described last and often in far less detail. This is unfortunate. The case needs to be attractive to display all the work put into making the mechanism and, importantly, it needs to be rigid and allow access to the mechanism for setting up and adjustment. In many of the designs published access to the mechanism is…

Continued from p.558 M.E.4741 April 19 Making the boiler Right from the start of this project, the boiler loomed as significant challenge and has been a limiting factor in many other parts of the design (figs 15, 16 and 17). No doubt I was now asking myself similar questions to those that the designers of the original Cornwall, Francis Trevithick and John Ramsbottom, would have been asking all those years ago: how to get the biggest possible boiler in between those huge driving wheels? And how to get it slung as low as possible, to keep the centre of gravity low? In my case, there was an additional question: How to make it look as much like the preserved Cornwall as possible? Fortunately, the basic boiler design was not difficult…

Continued from p.578 M.E.4741 April 19 In this edition of Butterside Down I must begin with an apology, dear Reader, for if you, unlike sheep, prefer both order and consistency in your world, then I am about to disappoint. You see, as I sit here today, metaphorical pen in hand, the calendar tells me that it is the thirteenth of July 2023 and yet, in just two weeks’ time, I will inform you with equal candour and accuracy that it is fully seven months earlier. I suspect you will find this confusing. In my defence, let me explain that, due to a roughly tenmonth backlog of written but yet-to-be published articles, I am afforded the luxury to slot stand-alone Butterside episodes between their miniseries brethren should I so desire and…

May 1 Bradford MES Meeting: ‘Helicopters’ by Derek Round, 19:30, St James’ Church, Baildon, BD17 6HH. Contact: Russ Coppin, 07815 048999. 2 Cardiff MES Members’ projects. Contact: secretary@cardiffmes.co.uk 2 Sutton MEC Bits and Pieces evening 20:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 3 Rochdale SMEE General Meeting. Castleton Community Centre, 19:00. See www.facebook.com/RochdaleModelEngineers 5 Plymouth Miniature Steam Public running, 14:00-16:30, Pendeen Crescent, Plymouth, PL6 6RE, Contact: Rob Hitchcock, 01822 852479 6 Sutton MEC Fete at Lower Kingswood. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 11 Bradford MES Annual Exhibition & Competition, 12.30 – 16:00, St James’ Church, Baildon, BD17 6HH. Contact: Russ Coppin, 07815 048999. 11 Bromsgrove SME Open Day – all gauges are welcomed – 5, 3½, 2½, Gauge 1 and 16mm. Contact: Doug Collins, 01527 874666. See www.bromsgrovesme.co.uk 12…

One of the benefits of having a long history is that SMEE has a large collection of artefacts that physically show the activities of model engineers from the early days up to modern times. However, holding such a large collection, some of which are of historical importance to the hobby, comes with a responsibility to keep each item in good condition. This really demands a rolling programme of conservation and we are fortunate to have a few members who are willing and able to carry out this work. A recent item to be treated to this programme is the SMEE mill engine No. 033 and this process was the subject of our monthly main meeting delivered by Allen Berman, who recently completed its conservation. No. 033 is a fairly large…

Continued from p.553 M.E.4741 April 19 The next step was to set the individual cylinders up in the mill and drill the holes for the screws that hold the steam chests to the cylinders, some 48 of them. It is a real blessing having digital readouts on the mill for this sort of operation. Then of course they were tapped. The next items I tackled were the valve plates, steam chests and steam chest covers. These were all roughly cut out slightly oversize as they will be finished to size when the cylinders are finally machined externally. The valve plates are from 1.6 mm bronze, the steam chests from aluminium flat bar, 16 mm thick, and the covers from 2.5 mm brass (figs 7 and 8). These 12 parts were…

Continued from p.572, M.E.4741, April 19 What I am about to describe are the ’side platforms’ as that is how I am used to describing them, as that is how they are called on all the works drawings I have seen. Never mind ‘footplating’ or other such names, side platforms are they, so that is what I will be calling them. The ‘footplate’ is inside the cab and does not extend beyond that (figs 176 to 182). One thing that the previous designer did do was to ignore the fact that the B1 side platforms taper inwards at the front so that when a train is approaching a station platform on a curve it can miss the brickwork. Even at Pickering, it does get quite close. I have copied all…