Table of contents for Issue 4745 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 Parklands Week Ends Writing this on a Bank Holiday Monday, I have just returned from the Parklands Holiday Centre in Hemsby, Norfolk, venue of the very popular ‘Parklands Week’, held every year at the 7¼ inch gauge railway which is a feature of the centre. Sadly, this year's ‘Week’ was the last and, later in the year, the railway will be retired and the track will be gone, to allow redevelopment of the site. The construction of the railway was begun by the late Don Witheridge, proprietor of the holiday centre, in 1973 with the construction of a…

Published by Great Northern Books, 2023 ISBN 978-1-914227-55-4 176pp, hardback, £27.50 Another in this author's extensive range of pictorial studies, using a good selection of quality photographs, some recently colourised as few genuine colour images of the LMS survive. Many are official, if rather stiffly posed, LMS publicity images. As might be expected there is an extensive section on locomotives both on shed and at work, some with drivers oiling up and one of a wheel tapper at work, a forgotten occupation now. Coronation and her train's trip to the USA get good coverage with several photographs. Photographs of Stanier 2-6-2 tank engines remind us that the LMS wasn't all Pacifics and 4-6-0s. Some near forgotten classes feature. There were 175 of Fowler's 0-8-0 goods engines built for Midland line…

The Banbury Society was formed in 1981 and caters for a wide variety of model engineering interests from locomotives through to boats. It is located just outside the town in a very rural location which provides a suitable venue for some of their projects. It is only a small club with just 20 members but they do have quite a number of different interests which keep the club active. I was met by club Secretary, Tony Lee (photo 1) who introduced me to the members who had arrived and who were keen to show me their work and current projects. The dual 5 and 7¼ inch gauge ground level track (photos 2 and 3), whilst not very long, has been really well built and runs very smoothly; I had a…

Whitchurch Silk Mill on Hampshire's River Test is one of the most attractively sited buildings visited in this series. It's an example of a small, rural enterprise that adapted to developing opportunities with national and international associations. Now it is the last remaining Regency era mill in the United Kingdom that still produces silk in the original building on Victorian looms (photo 1). It contrasts with the more industrial Paradise Mill in Macclesfield (Model Engineer 4601, 7 December 2018) where steam power had been adopted, although still to be seen there are hand powered Jacquard looms that also produced complex patterns and even pictures. Unlike most Macclesfield mills, Whitchurch silk mill did only plain weaving and there were no Jacquard looms. Water power was used in Hampshire from early times.…

Continued from p.771, M.E.4744, May 31 First of all, I would just like to touch on the AWS (Automatic Warning System) gear which is quite visible on lots of later locomotives. It is more or less identical on most locomotives and sadly I have no drawings of the gear. However, I did take lots of photographs of the gear on a Black Five at Llangollen which was being steamed by the late great Bob Maxwell. I had a most delightful morning couple of hours chatting to Bob as he wandered round the engine oiling all round and he gave me free access to take lots of photographs. The engine was 44806. Photograph 337 is the shoe on the bottom of the plate which is bolted to the back plate to…

This ‘magic bolt’ can be seen in a YouTube video entitled The Impossible Screw Will Drive You Nuts from ‘Latheman's crazy machines’ (www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rgb99wefLs). If you are of a sensitive disposition or a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Carrots please turn the page now. If you are still reading, two of these magic bolts can be seen in photo 1. The lower one is the same as the one seen on the video. The screw can be turned in the nut in the screwing direction from either side but is locked in the reverse direction. If the screw is held between thumb and forefinger, the nut can be turned in any direction. The nut throw provides a sufficient hint to work out the trick. The higher…

Continued from p.743 M.E.4744 May 31 A folding ramp, a tromboning bridge and a detachable fishing rod have, improbably enough, all conspired to aid the loading and unloading of a railway locomotive, a traction engine and their respective rolling stock into a suitably proportioned transportation trailer. But once on board the question remained: how to keep the highly prized ironmongery securely in place during the journey, whatever events may transpire along the way? Gumming up the arteries Despite your undoubted attention to detail, retentive Reader, and given your probable desperation to reach the end of the interminable Elephants series before losing the will to live, it is very likely that you will not remember the author's brief mention of his one-time dalliance into the realm of classic car restoration. But…

My locomotive has been introduced to the club track. Eventually I got it going and it limped hesitantly up the track. Any resemblance to a real, sophisticated model is purely coincidental. The trailer still tends to derail. I wondered if a front suspension might correct this (currently the wheels are unsprung on a rigid chassis. I envisage a transverse beam, centrally pivoted and each end fitted with a coil spring, perhaps an IC engine valve spring. This should deal with any tendency to lift a wheel (or a drop in the track ‘level’) underneath the driving trailer, allowing theflange to slide over the railhead and derail. Comment has been made on the obvious yellow tape around the radiator grille. Whilst the conventional arrangement is to show the stripes as a…

Turbine wheel Most miniature gas turbines use an axial flow turbine wheel (photo 8) and this is universally produced as a lost wax casting in Inconel alloy, to resist the heat and centrifugal loads on the turbine blades. That said, some real enthusiasts still like the challenge of making their own turbine wheels by hand. The cast wheels usually incorporate a ‘sacrificial ring’ in the hub, this being ground away as needed during the balancing process. The sacrificial ring is non-structural and therefore parts of it can be safely removed during balancing without compromising the structural integrity of the wheel. Clearly, the turbine wheel, the robust shaft connecting the turbine to the compressor, and the compressor wheel assembly need to be balanced to within quite close limits if the bearings…

Continued from p.749 M.E.4744 May 31 In the following, references to photographs and figures refer to those appearing in part 1 (M.E.4744, May 31) Reference standards In science and engineering the use of reference standards is commonplace. A reference standard is a constant that represents a known and verified quantity of something such as weight, length, volume, concentration etc. Reference standards for dimension, e.g. a straight edge, a test bar, a tri-square, or a plug gauge, are often compared directly with a component to assess compatibility with it. Instruments (analogue and digital) that measure e.g. distance must first be calibrated to a known reference standard to enable them to measure precisely and accurately. To calibrate an instrument, measurements from it are aligned with the known reference-standard(s) over a range of…

Continued from p.752 M.E.4744 May 31 The crankshaft side plates are made from 12 x 40 mm aluminium flat bar (fig 13). It is desirable to do these by clamping them face to face through the 6.35 mm (¼ inch) diameter holes. Do allow for the bottom face where the M5 holes are to be tapped to be machined off flat. The top profile can be roughly cut out allowing for the radiuses to be finished to size. The internal 8 mm radiuses can be drilled with a 16 mm drill and the external ones done with a stub shaft in the rotary table. The 8 mm radius for the main bearings needs to be a good size and finish - clamping a piece of scrap aluminium to the edge…

Continued from p.733 M.E.4744 May 31 Tender tank body As mentioned previously, I made the tender in two parts, the tender tank body (fig 23) being a separate assembly that sits on top of the chassis. Although relatively simple in appearance, the tender tank turned out to be a complex exercise in sheet metal working and presented a number of challenges. Firstly, there is the curved valance that runs around the top three sides and which is a very prominent feature. The outwardly curved corners are the most difficult to replicate. I thought copper would be the only material malleable enough to allow forming of these curved corners together with the valance edges, all in one piece, so I made up a wooden former with profiled edges to suit. It…

June 15 Bromsgrove SME Midlands Gauge 1 event, incorporating the Paul Forsyth Memorial event. See www.bromsgrovesme.co.uk 15 Cardiff MES Steam up and family day at Heath Park, Cardiff. Contact: secretary@cardiffmes.co.uk 16 Bradford MES Public Running Day. Members from 11:30 am, public from 13:30 to 16:00, whatever the weather, Northcliff. Contact: Russ Coppin, 07815 048999. 16 Plymouth Miniature Steam Public running, 14:00-16:30, Pendeen Crescent, Plymouth, PL6 6RE, Contact: Rob Hitchcock, 01822 852479 16 Westland and Yeovil MES Running the track at Yeovil Junction – Steam Train Day. Contact: Michael Callaghan, 01935 473003 20 Sutton MEC Club night – paper aeroplanes. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 21 Rochdale SMEE Models Running Night – 17:00 onwards. Springfield Park. See www.facebook.com/RochdaleModelEngineers 23 Westland and Yeovil MES Track running day 11:00. Contact: Michael Callaghan,…