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Engineering in Miniature August 2022 (Digital)

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18 Articles

Midlands show is happening -so let's make it a good one

Welcome to the August EIM and I write these words not long after returning from the funeral of our founder Chris Deith, whose passing was reported in the July issue. I suppose it’s inevitable that I learnt at the funeral of rumours circulating suggesting the return in October of the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition, also founded by Chris and the jewel among a number of shows he organised, would not happen due to his passing. Well I'm pleased, and frankly not in the least surprised, to be able to dismiss such rumours as completely untrue - the show team, led by Chris’s daughter Avril, are working very hard to prepare for the event and have even more reason to ensure that this year’s show, the first since 2019, is a…

Midlands show is happening -so let's make it a good one

A GNR Stirling Single in 5-inch Gauge

Each cylinder for the David Piddington-designed Stirling Single model locomotive, as supplied by Reeves, was a single bronze casting with its port face. I cut to shape a sheet of MDF to fit into the as yet unmachined cylinder holes of the casting at each end, then pencilled in crosshairs to determine the centre point of the cylinder bore (Photo 12). I then machined the port face to be parallel to the cylinder bore. This could only be estimated by eye by visually lining up with the outside of the cylinder casting. The top slide oi the lathe was then removed and the casting bolted, port face down onto the cross slide and shimmed so that the centre point of the crosshair lines on each end were aligned with centres…

A GNR Stirling Single in 5-inch Gauge

Making a Beam Engine from 'Scrap' Castings

Photos by the author There has been mention recently on a couple of the model engineering forums that I am a member of that the price of castings seems to be on the increase. Which is not surprising given the current state of world affairs - the rising cost of raw materials, electricity and gas inevitably mean a rise in the price of finished goods. Anyway thinking about this motivated me to write a few lines about one of my early engines. I have always been a bit of a recycler, a keen skip-dipper, scrounger and forager and from an early age I have been amazed at the amount of stuff we throw away. In my early days in the motor trade it was a common job to remove a…

Making a Beam Engine from 'Scrap' Castings

A freelance traction engine in 3-inch scale

Building this traction engine, I’ve already come as far as having to find a way for the ‘steam plumbing’, even though there was an almost two-year hiatus in construction - this was partly due to a painful, almost completely snapped tendon in my right shoulder (from attempting to start a recalcitrant mower), which prevented any heavy lifting for more than a year. The finished traction engine will probably weigh around 120kg/260lb, so it is definitely not a toy for tiny tots… nor for broken tendons! In addition, I had to take care of the estate inventories after my parents, who both died within 15 months of each other - a quite exhausting task… Now, with the tendon healed, and the other duties brought to completion, there was again time to…

A freelance traction engine in 3-inch scale

One further part was made for the bending tool that we have constructed over the past couple of issues - an ‘anvil’ to enable sharp bends to be made precisely. This is an example of a ‘custom-designed’ part for a specific application (achieving very tight radius bends), although many other possibilities exist for other ‘custom’ parts, to fit into the same place (U-channel base section) in the bender. This part was fabricated from a piece of 30mm x 16mm x 750mm mild steel bar. Fortunately, such bar is readily available, with the correct width and thickness dimensions, so the only fabrication required was to cut the bar to length and then to mill the V-groove along its length. This is not straightforward to do, particularly on a mill with an…

A word of warning…

Encouraged by the articles I wrote in recent times for EIM I became involved in the restoration of a 5-inch gauge half-amile long track formally known as the Moss Bank Model Engineering Society. It was run for the public in the 1980s but the then society eventually closed down and the track was used by a local fairground as part of the attractions in the park - eventually it stopped altogether about six vears ago. The population of Bolton that frequent this park have fond memories of having rides on the line with their parents and were very disappointed at the closure. Some 2½ years ago and with encouragement from our council a very small group decided to attempt a rescue - I joined the group and since most of…

A word of warning…

Restoring a Gauge 1 Midland Compound

I now turn to the perhaps more exciting and engineering part of the project; the restoration of the locomotive - firstly the chassis and then the superstructure. The chassis I had to begin with is shown in Photo 28, and as I previously found with the bogie and tender, the back-to-back wheel measurement was incorrect for the standards so I needed first to dismantle the chassis and remove the cross-pieces by a mix of unsoldering and localised heating, to break down the glue and dismantle it into its component parts. I described in Part 1 the challenges of getting wheels off their axles on the side where the spokes had been sawn through and re-glued, as I dare not get too much heat into those spokes. After dealing with the…

Restoring a Gauge 1 Midland Compound

Hovercraft & air cushions

As a child, like many of us I was drawn to building models, and of course, at school we had these arts and crafts lessons - a welcome relief from learning ‘times tables’ and ‘weights & measures’, although those skills did come in handy too. One of my earliest attempts at building a model was inspired by news of the latest transport technology the SRN1 hovercraft. But, surprisingly the idea for the real thing had a very long history and was almost 250 years old, although like many of us my first thoughts were directed to Christopher Cockerell, creator of the SRN1. The original concept came from a Swedish theologian, a philosopher with a passion for science. Emanuel Swedenborg had studied physics at Uppsala in Sweden, and travelled across Europe,…

Hovercraft & air cushions

Finding solutions and more interesting issues…

Thankfully after all the hard work that had been put in on ‘Sherpa’, the Fairbourne Miniature Railway’s 6-inch scale Darjeeling B-class (and described in recent editions of this column - Ed), the locomotive went into traffic on the day before the May bank-holiday Gala and then performed well throughout the three-day event. The Gala also gave me the kick up the behind to finish re-commissioning my 7¼-inch Scamp petrol loco that I had inherited just before lockdown. It had languished in a somewhat leaky shed for two and a bit years before I managed to bring it to my house and start work on it, although it turned out to not need too much mechanically - a new belt for the generator drive, a new clutch cable, a few adjustments,…

Finding solutions and more interesting issues…

2022 Mainline Rally

Photos by the author This annual and always enjoyable event at the Ryedale SME took place over the weekend of the 14th-15th May and as usual the preparations for the rally started on Friday, with many of the locomotives arriving along with the rolling stock and being unloaded and put into storage for the next day’s operations. There is a very good hydraulic locomotive lift adjacent to the Gilling track’s shed so that engines and large stock can be unloaded directly onto the system without any problems (Photo 01). It is also a good time to catch up with lots of people who have travelled to be present - one visitor had travelled all the way from Australia to be there and enjoy the atmosphere which is ‘Gilling’. Scale action…

2022 Mainline Rally

A Britannia Dilemma

Some time ago I acquired a very well built 3½-inch gauge Britannia chassis. The boiler was part-built, and all in all it was a very desirable project to finish. Now a Britannia is a difficult construction. Apart from lots of bits, the shape must be correct or else it will look terrible. And the shape is not simple! Very little is straight and right-angled, the cab is low on the boiler and the sloping-back firebox in three planes means there is very little room above the boiler and below the cab roof for the manifold and other piping. My loco is to the LBSC design. The chassis came with some drawings, but alas no general arrangement. I obtained the Model Engineer articles from the club library but these were not…

A Britannia Dilemma

Sisters reunited at Rhyl Miniature line

GENERAL NEWS Five of the six ‘Barnes Atlantic’ 4-4-2 steam locomotives built in the 1920s for miniature seaside lines are now together at the Rhyl Miniature Railway, following the arrival of ‘Billie’ on the north Wales 15-inch gauge line on 28th June. The Rhyl Steam Preservation Trust, which runs the Rhyl line, purchased the loco from Austin Moss of the Windmill Farm Railway in Lancashire. Austin had already carried out much of the restoration of the engine - this will now be completed at Rhyl allowing Billie to enter service alongside sisters ‘Joan’ and Railway Queen’. A fourth Barnes Atlantic, ‘Michael’ is currently being reassembled at Rhyl following engineering work to its boiler, while the fifth, ‘Billy’ is owned by Rhyl Town Council and on display in the line’s museum…

Sisters reunited at Rhyl Miniature line

Full steam ahead for return of Midlands show

Preparations for the first Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition since 2019 are proceeding as planned - organiser Meridienne Exhibitions has dismissed rumours that the show would not take place following the death of founder Chris Deith, and has released details of more suppliers who have signed up for the event between Thursday 13th and Sunday 16th October at the Warwickshire Event Centre, close to Leamington Spa. Sponsored by Engineering in Miniature and long presented as the show for model engineers, the Midlands event is expected to be the only major model engineering exhibition in 2022 and the first to be held in close to three years. Currently around 40 traders and 30 clubs and societies have confirmed their attendance with more signing up each week - the current full list and more…

Full steam ahead for return of Midlands show

Chris Deith - EIM was 'a brave venture'

I was sorry to hear of the passing of EIM founder Chris Deith. In the early days of EIM, I visited the Hinckley office many times and was a regular provider of front cover images for the magazine. At one time I lived a short way down the Fosse Road from the Fosse Exhibition Centre and on many occasions took Dick Blenkinsop’s full-size Aveling Barford roller to exhibitions at the Fosse. EIM was a brave venture in taking on the established Model Engineer publication, but was a breath of fresh air and produced in a very readable format. My model engineering days are long over, but I still keep my enthusiasm with steam as the owner of a Lykamobile replica steam car. The Editor replies: Thanks to the several readers…

Steam shows - too expensive?

My good mate and fellow model engineer Julian and I like to visit as many steam fairs as we can. Covid saw many cancellations so it’s very welcome to see them back again. So far this year we have visited Stapleford, which with entry at £5.00 per car was great value, Whissendine for which entry was free, even better value, and Ashby Magna which at £6.00 per person for a big show was also good value. Next on the agenda is Rempstone which is a big steam rally local to us - I usually treat my family to a day out, which is myself and wife, three daughters and a son-in-law and three grandchildren. This year they have whacked the price up to £15.00 per adult! That would cost me…

Steam shows - too expensive?

Transport Curiosities, 1850 - 1950

Every so often a book comes along that is different from the norm and might not be picked up by the average reader of this magazine, but which merits a look Transport Curiosities is just such an example. The premise is simple, the author has taken the four major methods of propelled travel - by track, land, over and under water and by air, and looked for the more unusual examples of machinery produced to meet the needs of travellers. He’s certainly found plenty to write about. The rail section starts the book and is the largest category, beginning with propeller-driven trains, several of these on overhead lines and of course including the famed Zeppelin machines tried between the world wars. Pneumatic and atmospheric railways are of course included, before…

Transport Curiosities, 1850 - 1950

Summer fun, but stay safe…

Four packed pages rounding up the club action this month, reflecting just how busy the scene has been over the past few weeks, evident in the many magazines and newsletters sent into EIM Towers and the pictures arriving from our various correspondents (Yes - we are getting some pictures sent in at last!). We start with the 7¼" Gauge Society and it is no surprise at all that the summer edition of 7¼ Inch Gauge News features on its cover a picture of chairman Frank Cooper, presenting awards at the Society’s Nottingham Mini Gathering on what proved to be his final duty before his untimely passing on 3rd May. In the magazine Society president Brian Reading pays full tribute to Frank, commenting that he “was a great asset not only…

Summer fun, but stay safe…

EVERY SATURDAY (Weather permitting) Sussex MLS public running, Beech Hurst Gardens, Haywards Heath RH164BB, 2-5pm EVERY SUNDAY (Weather permitting) North Wilts ME public running, Coate Water Country Pk, East Swindon, SN3 6FG, 11am-5pm Ryedale ME public running, Gilling East, North Yorks Y002 4JJ Southampton SME public running, Nursery Rd, Southampton S018 1PQ 10.30am-4pm AUGUST 3 Bradford ME evening running, crepes & social, Northcliff, BD18 3DD Members 11.30am, public 1.30-4pm 3 Bristol ME meeting, club auction, Begrook social club, BS16 1HY 3 Lincoln & District ME club running evening, North Scarle playing field, LN6 9ER 4 Cardiff ME Members Projects, Heath Pk, Cardiff CF14 4AW 4 Guildford ME public running, Stoke Pk, Guildford GU1 1TU, 10am-1pm 6 Tiverton & Dist MES running, Rackenford, EX16 8EF 7 Cardiff ME open day. Heath…

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