Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2022 i Engineering in Miniature

I needed some small louvres to go on the side of a diesel shunter type loco body I was working on, as shown in the heading photo above. They would need to look like engine cooling vents and I would need eight in all sized at about 3½-inch x 2¼-inch. They were for decorative purposes only and would be simply glued to the body. Of course my first reaction was to jump on the old PC and have a scan through eBay and a search on Google. Nothing suitable came up so I had a look around the house to see what if anything had louvres, thinking that I might find something of use at our local recycling point. I found some on the back of the microwave and some…

GENERAL NEWS One of the UK’s longest-lasting but less well-known miniature railways held its final Open Day on 2nd October ahead of closure after half a century of operation. The Rhiw Valley Light Railway was built to 15-inch gauge close to the mid-Wales village of Berriewin the early 1970s by miniature railway enthusiast Jack Woodroffe. Jack was already a model engineer running a 7¼-inch gauge garden line which when he retired he planned to upgrade to 10¼-inch gauge. These plans changed when on a visit to Severn Lamb Ltd he viewed the 15-inch gauge steam locomotive ‘Zebedee’ which was under construction at the time for a line at the Longleat Safari Park. Jack bought a 90-acre mid-Wales farm, only two miles from the well-known 2ft 6in gauge Welshpool & Llanfair…

This year the Federation of Model Engineering Societies annual rally was kindly hosted by Sutton Coldfield ME at the club’s attractive Balleney Green site at Little Hay. The rally took place on Saturday 3rd September, however SCMES ran an informal visitors’ day on the Sunday for people wishing to make a longer weekend of it. According to the records for Saturday, there were only 23 visitors with 13 locomotives, and this was a reduction on 2021’s attendance. Those who did make the effort to come enjoyed an excellent day and felt sorry for the absentees. We are very grateful for the efforts of SCMES members and friends who worked hard beforehand to ensure everything was ready and spent time during the event looking after their visitors. The Little Hay site…

Summer 2022 has been spent completing the boiler and smokebox for my 5-inch gauge North London Tank (bought used as a loosely assembled chassis) while also doing some painting as the weather has allowed. As I start these words at the beginning of September, I have just completed fabricating the chimney and smokebox shell, with the front door and rivet detailing to finish. A summary of the last three months… Next on the to-do list for the boiler was to solder the dome bush, manifold/safety valve bushes and the two clack bushes to the barrel section. For this job I used higher temperature ‘C4’ (now Silver-Flo 24) solder I had a few sticks of very old C4 in stock. The flux mix was the same Thessco ‘Y’ as per all…

The locomotive cab on a Stirling is very plain and minimal. In fact it is the one part of the Stirling design which in my eyes could have done with a few more graceful lines. However it is very distinctive and is in keeping with the locomotive’s general persona. I purchased platework for the footplate, driving wheel valances, spectacle plate, cab sides and roof from Model Engineers Laser. It was then a simple job to curve and solder the panels together. The half beading on the spectacle plate/cab sheets join proved to be a straightforward soldering exercise. However the beading on the rear edge of the cab required full-round beading with a groove cut into it, to enable it to be pushed onto the cab trailing edges. I chose round…

In the first part of this series in the June 2021 issue we introduced the 2-inch scale traction engine that we bought as an unfinished project on Ebay, and described our initial investigations and dismantling. Now Isaac takes up the story… Progress had stalled somewhat in recent months and the Ransomes had taken a bit of a back seat due to the purchase of a classic mini project and a seized engine on my dad’s telehandler! But now we have finally been able to do more work on moving the project onto the next stage. Firstly, we got the crankshaft and connecting rods connected to the crossheads with a makeshift gudgeon pin made from a couple of short lengths of silver steel, in order to show where to locate the…

When the current editor first took over EIM back in the March 2018 issue he was asked several times if the readers’ Notice Board section would be reintroduced, printing free of charge private for sale or wanted ads, queries and such like. We replied if the ads were sent to us we’d print them. In the time since we have been able to print Notice Board requests on occasions, but rare occasions. Below is the latest and gives us an opportunity to emphasise that this is a free service that readers are welcome to take advantage of. If you have something for private sale, are searching for that elusive casting or drawing, or just want to alert your fellow model engineers to something of interest, simply send in details to…

It was pleasing to be able to attend a full-size steam gathering at last after the disruption of Covid and the Onslow park site of Shrewsbury Steam Rally was bathed in early morning sunshine when I arrived. This large site was already getting into gear for the anticipated busy time ahead. I like to see early preparations with large tins of Brasso to the fore and traction engine minders busily polishing everything that needs to be done - I never stand too close in case they include me in their work! The comprehensive programme listed more than 70 full-size traction engines and rollers along with around 15 locally built Sentinel steam lorries. A couple of full-size Stanley Steam cars added to the attraction while there were plenty of miniature steam…

We had been on the lookout, for a while, for a 7¼-inch gauge ‘workhorse’ steam locomotive to undertake passengerhauling operations at our local club, the Hereford SME. We wanted something simple, inexpensive and not needing much, if any, work doing on it (we have enough projects already, as regular readers will know). I came across a potentially-suitable loco more or less at the start of the first lockdown in 2020, but of course we were unable to see it or collect it at that time. I negotiated a potential deal with the owner and we awaited an opportunity to take a look - we had to be patient. Eventually, we made the journey during one of the partial lockdown-lifting ‘windows’ in early summer and we came away with a ‘Maggie’…

This year the AGM of the 7¼-inch Gauge Society was held at the Kingsbury Water Park, home of the Echills Wood Railway for the second year running - the Society had been invited by the Railway to hold its AGM there following a successful event in 2021. Visitors started to arrive on Thursday 15th September so by the time I arrived on Saturday 17th there were already more than 70 locomotives booked in. Obviously this large number of engines takes some organising but the EWR is second to none in providing the necessary facilities for both locos and Society meeting visitors, so the weekend was managed without any real problems. It was a large gathering just enjoying the railway and all its features. The railway itself is about 1¼ miles…

A shortened Club & Track News this month due to the special report on the Federation annual Rally on the next pages, but still lots to get in! Our news pages this month report on the sad closure of one of Britain’s long-established miniature railways, but there is also news this month of the reopening of another. As reported in these pages last month the Poole Park Railway is a 10¼-inch gauge line laid down back in 1949 in the Dorset seaside resort by Southern Miniature Railways, which also ran other lines including in Bognor Regis and Southsea - only the Poole one survives. The local council ended a tenancy agreement with a previous operator in 2017 and initially wanted the track removed before seeking tenders for a new operator.…