Table of contents for Issue 4743 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 FMES Rally This year the Federation of Model Engineering Society Rally is being held at the Nottingham Society of Model and Experimental Engineers at their Ruddington headquarters on the 31st of August. Set in the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre in Ruddington, the railway includes a kilometre of 7¼ inch gauge ground level track with gradients of up to 1 in 85 and almost ½ mile of 3½ and 5-inch gauge raised track where gradients up to a maximum of 1 in 115 and tunnels add interest to this attractive railway. The club will also welcome visitors with miniature…

I read David Fulton’s article in Model Engineer (ref 1) on the background to the design of his very neat looking ‘Forerunner’ oscillating engine and was struck that his method described in the ‘Moving Diagram’ section would be able to overcome the error in geometry of the drawing shown in fig 1, for the setting out of the porting in an oscillating engine attributed to Greenly and K.N. Harris. However, the difference between the two methods in actual geometry of the port positions wasn’t highlighted and, having seen the two items, a beginner might be confused, making for a high chance they would miss a golden opportunity when building an engine of this genre from scratch. Although the engine will doubtless run when finished, sadly it will not be as…

Views and opinions expressed in letters published in Postbag should not be assumed to be in accordance with those of the Editor, other contributors, or Mortons Media Group Ltd. Correspondence for Postbag should be sent to: Martin R. Evans, The Editor, Model Engineer, Mortons Media Group Ltd, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR F. 01507 371066 E. MEeditor@mortons.co.uk Publication is at the discretion of the Editor. The content of letters may be edited to suit the magazine style and space available. Correspondents should note that production schedules normally involve a minimum lead time of six weeks for material submitted for publication. In the interests of security, correspondents’ details are not published unless specific instructions to do so are given. Responses to published letters are forwarded as appropriate. Propane…

Continued from p.646 M.E.4742 May 3 Trailer weight distribution "January 23, 2021 I'm on United flight 15 somewhere over the Atlantic between London Heathrow and Newark Liberty airport in New Jersey…..” As some of you may remember, these were the exact words which launched The Eating of Elephants, a series of articles which first appeared in this magazine in late November of 2022, issue 4704 to be exact, and marched unrelentingly onwards for the best part of a year before finally reaching its conclusion some twenty-one additional issues later. Much to your relief, no doubt. At least … that is what I assume will happen, or has happened, because, as I write this, the latest episode of Butterside Down, it is presently 14 January 2023, the fifth episode of Elephants…

Continued from p.129, M.E.4734, January 12 In the last article we had the reverser ready for brazing but we’re not ready for that stage yet. We first need to transfer the mounting holes to the reverser stool which, of course, hasn’t yet been made and then work out the exact position of the stool which will sit in between the main and trailing frames. The stool itself is a simple rectangle of 2 x 1⅜ inches (made to fit) from a length of 7/16 inch steel. Not having anything close to that size I machined from the closest size in stock which was 75mm x 50mm x 12mm - a wee bit of machining required. I used a grinder to get close to size and then machined to size and…

Continued from p.651, M.E.4742, May 3 We now come to the platework and we have talked about making the step treads and such like so I can now provide the drawings to go with them (figs 183 to 185). You will see the front corner tapered piece of plate and if you want to make some working lamps to go with your engine you will need to drill a No. 40 hole directly under where each lamp iron fits. I will explain why later. All of the front-end plating is fixed with 10BA bolts as it all needs to be removable so that if the engine needs a re-bore or anything as drastic as that it will make life a bit more tolerable. The centre pieces of plate can all…

Continued from p.640 M.E.4742 May 3 The only remaining thing to finish the cylinder assemblies, barring all the internal parts, is the making and fitting of the brass cladding (photos 30 and 31). The brass cladding is made from 2 inch wide x .015 inch strip from the K & S range (fig 9). The two full-length strips were marked for the LP and at the other end the HP cylinders and then carefully folded around suitable round mandrels which were much smaller in diameter than the cylinders themselves to allow for the spring back. These folded strips were clamped to the cylinders with tool maker’s clamps, close to one pair of end holes and then spotted with a small ⅛ inch centre drill and drilled 1.25 mm diameter for…

Continued from p.642 M.E.4742 May 3 The previous parts of this article dealt with the jet size. Now we turn to the topic of aeration and the final design of the burner. Aerated gas burners The most well-known of burners for gas is the Bunsen burner - we all remember them from the school laboratory. The Bunsen burner consists of a vertical burner tube, the open end of which is termed the burner port, a jet and an air hole to vary the amount of air (‘primary air’) drawn in by the fuel issuing from the jet. If the air hole is closed, the flame is termed a diffusion flame as the air required for combustion has to diffuse into the gas as it leaves the burner port. This air…

Why is the sea salty? Because according to the Norwegian fairy tale, the sunken mill kept on churning out salt, just as I keep issuing these musings. So, let’s face the musings and chance. In this issue, a shunter, a drink, a construction frame, vacuum forming, fairgrounds, ‘sit up and beg’ and the train at the mall. Just as the previous column was put to bed, I received the only club newsletter actually produced in a railway station. The Gauge 1 Model Railway Association Newsletter & Journal for March has another 96 pages this issue, in which Martin Ford writes on some historic wagons on Alex Jackson’s Bridgewater Railway. A very short item by Chris Forster shows how he produced some cheap tank wagons with the help of some conveniently-sized downspout…

This well-established event in the model engineer’s calendar was held at the Pembrey Park site of the Llanelli and District Model Engineers. The weather forecast for the weekend was not encouraging but, as often is the case, after early morning rain on Saturday the remainder of the weekend enjoyed some fine sunshine and dry days. The wind was a bit sharp at times but as is the way with true model engineers, everyone just got on with enjoying themselves. Rob Rayner and his fellow members had organised a wide variety of both locomotives and traction engines to take part. The great thing about the location is that the whole area was once a MoD Munitions facility so there is plenty of hard standing and surfaced roads, which means the traction…

Published by Strathwood Publishing, 2023 ISBN 978-1-913390-88-4 456pp, hardback, £49.95 Many books cover the life and works of this great railway engineer. Thankfully, this book offers fresh research and original insights, despite some errors. The author is an engineer working for Network Rail and also involved in locomotive preservation, notably Merchant Navy Clan Line, so is well placed to write this book. Nigel Gresley was born in Edinburgh and educated at Marlborough College, going to the LNWR as a premium apprentice, then to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway working mostly in the drawing office before becoming Assistant Manager at Newton Heath works. The general manager John Aspinall was clearly a major influence. However, Gresley did not work for Beyer-Peacock as erroneously stated in the book. He moved to the Great…

Ron Fitzgerald takes a look at the history and development of the stationary steam engine. Continued from p.562, M.E. 4741, April 19 Between 1797 and 1800, in the group of copper mines between Camborne and Redruth, Richard Trevithick showed that it was possible to dispense with the separate condenser, compensating for the loss of power by raising the steam pressure. Whilst his initial objective may have been to avoid the paralysing impact of Watt’s patent, higher steam pressures opened the way to more compact and flexible designs of engine. In 1802, patent 2599 of March 24th was taken out and sealed in the name of Andrew Vivian. Richard Trevithick is named in the preamble as co-patentee. (Where Trevithick and Vivian are jointly cited Trevithick’s name takes precedence although this may…

Continued from p.611 M.E.4742 May 3 Hood The hood body sides (figs 3 and 4) each consist of two vertical rails routed on one edge with a 4mm biscuit cutter to take the glass. On the rear rail only there is also a routed recess to fit the lip on the base back. The only issue with these uprights is finding wood that remains straight after cutting. This would have been an easy exercise using wood from a well seasoned Victorian table but I could not find one big enough at auctions with the grain going in the right direction. I therefore carefully chose the plank of Sepele to machine and even then only about half of those cut remained straight. Lesson – always ensure you have an excess of…

May 17 Rochdale SMEE Models Running Night–17:00 onwards. Springfield Park. See www.facebook.com/RochdaleModelEngineers 18 Bromsgrove SME Polly Rally. See www.bromsgrovesme.co.uk 18 Cardiff MES Steam up and family day at Heath Park, Cardiff. Contact: secretary@cardiffmes.co.uk 18 Northampton Society of Model Engineers Bassett-Lowke Rally. Contact Kevin West at westkev58@gmail.com 19 Bradford MES Public Running Day. Members from 11:30 public from 13:30 To 16:00, whatever the weather, Northcliff. Contact: Russ Coppin, 07815 048999. 19 Guildford MES Open day, 14:00-17:00. See www.gmes.org.uk 19 Plymouth Miniature Steam Public running, 14:00-16:30, Pendeen Crescent, Plymouth, PL6 6RE, Contact: Rob Hitchcock, 01822 852479 19 Sutton MEC Annual exhibition from 13:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 23 Sutton MEC Afternoon run from 13:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 25 Westland and Yeovil MES Track running day 11:00. Contact:…