Nov/Dec Sutton Coldfield Model Engineering Society

Transcription

1 Nov/Dec 2017 Steaming Ahead Sutton Coldfield Model Engineering Society

2 Sutton Coldfield Model Engineering Society President Bill Colman Chairman Peter McMillan Secretary Paul Green Treasurer Chris Greene Directors Brian Clarke John Cope Mike Bentley Mark Dale Adrian Linnecor Tony Critchly Len Ingram Events November 2017 Saturday 11th Bonfire Night. 6-00pm pm Events December 2017 Sunday 3rd Steam Up 10-00am onwards Saturday 9th Santa Special am onwards Sunday 10th Santa Special am onwards Tuesday 26th Boxing Day Steam Up am onwards Events January 2018 Monday 1st Steam Up am onwards THANK YOU Thank you to all those of you who offered me words of sympathy and comfort over the loss of my dear friend Carol. Your kind thoughts have been much appreciated. Chris Greene Editor: Dave Edwards E Mail address scmeseditor@gmail.com Press Date is the second Tuesday of the month. Front Cover: September Chemin de fer du Vivaris Mallet No 104 at Lamastre 16th Page 2

3 Building an Eric Eric is a 16mm scale, 32mm gauge loco based on a John Fowler tank loco which was delivered to State Metal Quarries in New South Wales in 1923, and carrying the works number It was designed by Brian Wilson, and the construction is fully detailed in his book Steam Trains in your Garden. The book contains everything you need to know to build the loco, with complete plans, drawings of all the components and a lot of information about materials. It also gives a lot of practical advice on techniques for cutting, drilling, shaping and joining, most of which are illustrated. I bought the book at the Garden Rail Show at Leamington last year, and started building. I decided that I was going to try to build as much as possible from scratch using stock materials, and generally I have stuck to that, but I did use some laser cut parts for the valve gear when the prospect of getting all the 10BA holes in the right place became a bit daunting. Suffice to say that I do have a (small) collection of parts that I had to make twice. For anyone who wanted a quicker build, several laser-cut parts are available, and Roundhouse cylinders and valves could be used. My loco, (which I have temporarily named Ernie ), ran on air for the first time last January, and I set myself the goal of steaming-up before the end of Page 3

4 August, which, with Mark s help and advice, I managed to do. Ernie had his first run on the SM32 track a few weeks ago. There is still quite a lot to do. As yet there is no cab or tanks, and radio control will be a must, but that will be the winter project, as will trucks and coaches for him to pull. I am not an engineer by trade, and some of the skills I needed for this project were slightly rusty, but it has been very rewarding learning and re-learning what I needed. As always fellow members are supportive and willing to help and advise, and my particular thanks to Mark and David who have taken a keen interest in the build. If anyone would like to see the book, or Ernie himself, I m usually at the club on Tuesday mornings so please just ask. And finally, on page 48 of the book, is a quote that I went back to often:- Let us remind ourselves that the objective is to produce a fun locomotive which is run for enjoyment... Remember we are making a steam engine, not a Swiss watch! Tony Critchley. Page 4

5 Lynton and Barnstable Progress Report Before setting out my regular report, here is a tale of woe which provides the answer to many of the problems we have encountered so far. Apparently. The man who produced the drawings that we have been working to had a major falling out with his employer just before being given the job. In retaliation he deliberately introduced a number of errors into the plans. This involved altering some of the critical dimensions or subtle variations in the drawings. We have become aware of some of these mistakes but did not realize that they were deliberate. I mentioned last time that the boiler is now at Andy Walton s. Ever since it arrived, Paul Green has been spending several days each week preparing it ready to be mounted on the frame. Whilst he is at Andy s, Paul has also been working on the smokebox, chimney and back head fittings. He has even been able to rehearse some of the procedures by helping Andy with repairs on another L & B boiler belonging to one of Andy s customers. In our own workshops we have now reached the point whereby we can fully rotate the driving wheels in both directions with the gear selector in full forward, neutral or reverse without any fouling of the various components. Shortly after Bonfire Night, Andy will take the frame away, so that he can mount the boiler on it in his own workshop. If adjustments are needed to achieve this, he is better equipped to deal with it than we are. Chris Greene Page 5

6 Wolverhampton Club Visit Old friends meeting up again A scratch built World War One Train on the SM32 track Page 6

7 Little John LNER J39 Page 7

8 What are we doing today? Well fellow club members it s that time again as you will probably have guessed, concreting, slabbing and laying gravel for drainage. We are at present just passing the gardening shed and with a good push we shall reach our goal i.e the gate. When this is done its back to tidying up around the new pit area, tidying up in the workshop is another job carried out between concreting spells. You may have noticed the boxes and jars of b/a nuts and bolts donated to us have been sorted out and stored away in the draws above the sand blasting machine. The roof of the workshop has been completely refurbished so has the parapet walls and coping stones. With fingers crossed this will have cured the ingress of water into the workshop. On a Sunday morning Chris, Dave and myself usually walk and check the track ready for public running if required. It is surprising what you find when doing this job i.e. loose rail joints rabbit holes dug in the banks, soil spread out over the track, bits of trees stuck in point blades, and hundreds of horse chestnuts just lately. A big thank you goes to Len Ingram and Martin for clearing these and the piles of leaves. The clubs Paddington has had more T.L.C from Dave and Mark with the fitting of mechanical lubricators in place of the very hit and miss hydrostatic ones. With bonfire night only a short time away our efforts are being turned towards this and of course Christmas which takes a lot of time and work from a very dedicated team. If you are able to help please let us know. Brian Dale. KIND THOUGHTS. It was with great sadness to learn that Brian Clarke s wife Maxine had passed away after a long illness. I am sure you will all join with me in sending him our sympathy and friendship also our support in his hour of need. Page 8

9 Santa Specials Our Santa Special weekend is not far away now. It is taking place on Saturday 9 th and Sunday 10 th of December. The public will be with us from till about Mark Dale and I will be putting together a Man Power list for the weekend as soon as the Bonfire Event is over. We would be delighted if you could help on one or both days. Please let us know. For all events there is always a Man Power list up on the notice board close to the event. Lots of things have been happening in the way of preparation including all presents bought and wrapped thanks mainly to Michelle and Allan. Brian will be starting his wonderfully decorated station soon - not sure how he is going to top last years. Same applies to Allan and Santa s Grotto which was wonderful and much admired. We are holding a TOMBOLA again and any suitable items can be put in the box in the clubroom. Last year we had a magnificent lot of donations from members. It s a chance to clear out unwanted gifts and have a pre Christmas clear out. Sales are going well with Sunday tickets being more popular at the moment. Thank you in advance for your support over this event which is always a very enjoyable. It is great to see the children having such a special time. Mike Bentley and Mark Dale Membership News After a busy summer, it has been a very quiet time recently on the membership front. There is just one new member since my last report, Simon Clayton of Tamworth who has joined the society on the introductory programme. Welcome to the society Simon. We hope you enjoy your time with us and will be happy to become a full member in due course. John Cope Membership Secretary Lost And Found On Tuesday 24th October Mike Brophy found a banknote on the patio in front of the clubhouse kitchen window. If you think it might be yours, talk to Chris Greene. If it is not claimed within the next few weeks it will go into the donation churn. Page 9

10 Members Locomotives at September Sunday Steam Up Page 10

11 October Birthday Party Page 11

12 Chairman s Chunter November 2017 By the time you read this our Bonfire Night event will have come and gone. I believe that Adrian, Mike and Paul between them have done a good job covering all the organisational aspects, and having conscripted all available members it is now down to you and I to run things on the night. Let s just hope the weather holds fair. Many thanks to those who responded to my last request for bonfire material we ended up with plenty probably enough for two bonfires in fact! It has been a busy couple of months since the last issue of Steaming Ahead with good progress on many fronts. The workshop roof has been fixed, Pond Junction signal box has its new door, the L&B is about to have it s completed boiler fitted, and preparation for this year s Santa events are now about to move into top-gear. Hopefully in this issue, my team-leader colleagues will have reported separately on these topics so I don t need to go into detail here. I have been asked to point out however that tickets for the Santa Specials are selling well and that the only remaining ones now available are for the Saturday afternoon. Please get in touch with Chris Greene as soon as possible if you would like to book. The programme of events for 2018 is well advanced and hopefully will appear alongside this issue. We could really do with more speakers for the Tuesday evening slots please, so if anyone is willing, or knows of anyone who would be prepared to come along and give a talk to a couple of dozen people or so on any topic of general interest (but preferably engineering or railway related) then please get in touch with myself is the 70 th Anniversary of the founding of our society, so we are looking to do something in recognition of this fact. In April we have a presentation planned by Hugh Sykes in which he will present a set of Page 12

13 slides looking back at society events since the 1960 s. Other information is coming to light which will also be presented. Incidentally, I have recently spent quite a few evenings scanning slides into computer files so they can be viewed more easily. Noticeable was how the colours of the slides had faded and changed hue over time. Using image editing software this can be corrected to some extent, but some are a bit far gone. It occurs to me that transferring slides and photographs onto computer-based media is a really good way of conserving the images and protecting them from the ravages of time. Provided of course that one keeps back-up copies and is prepared to convert the files to other formats as technology advances. For now, JPEGs seem to be the defacto standard and look as if they are going to be around for a long while yet! At the beginning of October, John Cope and I attended the Midland Federation meeting at Illshaw Heath where Maurice Bennett briefed us on the latest work being done by the MELG (Model Engineering Liaison Group). It was noted that the HSE has withdrawn its support for document HSG216 (the guidelines for construction and operation of miniature railways), and therefore a sub-group has been set up to revise and take ownership of these guidelines and documentation. This subgroup is the PCMRSG (Passenger Carrying Miniature Railway Safety Group). Maurice is our delegate on this group and as well as keeping us briefed about what is going on, he is our voice when representing our views. Also, we have been advised that changes are afoot to the Boiler Testing document (the Green Book ). This is being revised and split into three covering small boilers, large boilers and gas tanks. As more information becomes available we will let members know. I think that s about all for this month. Peter McMillan (Chairman) 10 th November 2017 Page 13

14 Latest Pictures of the L & B Boiler Progress Page 14

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16 FOR SALE MYFORD SUPER 7 LATHE This imperial machine, that is in immaculate condition, was purchased by the current owner in 2002 from a factory sale almost unused. He purchased a new quick change gear box for it. In 2009 a single phase variable speed drive was fitted using a IMO Cub 3A inverter. It comes with a 3 jaw Scroll chuck, a 4 jaw independent chuck, a faceplate, a catch plate with peg and a collet attachment with a set of collets. Price 2,500 Buyer collect. Please contact wtc322@btinternet.com for more details. Page 16