Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i Engineering in Miniature

Welcome to the April edition of EIM and I have to start my editorial this month with some very unwelcome news – it is with great regret that I have to inform you that this will be the penultimate edition of the magazine as the publishers have taken the decision to close EIM with the May issue. While I have no doubt that this news will be as disappointing to readers as it is myself, I admit to not being greatly surprised by the decision. In today's environment it has become increasingly difficult to keep producing the standard of magazine that you are used to and expect from us. I see it in the amount of feature material I receive – attracting sufficient has become an ever-growing challenge in the…

I began this month in the workshops of the Fairbourne Miniature Railway, where I have been for some time, working on the 12¼ -inch gauge Hunslet Jenbach diesel ‘Gwril’, this overhaul was finally approaching its end and I was close to being able to test all the work I had done. The first thing I did was to wire in the fuse board I had mounted onto the removable panel last month, I first made most of the wiring connections using Wago connectors – these are easily reversible and very quick to connect, also allowing multiple wire to be joined, in this case a group of ground wires. When wiring in things such as switch panels and removable panels I always ensure I leave enough wiring harness to be able…

There are many things which occupy my more stressful nightmares – car crashes, house fires, knife crimes and the like, but perhaps none is more stressful than the thought of our precious (and new, to us at least) locomotive coming adrift whilst being towed at high speed in its trailer. The fact that it is insured doesn't seem to affect my stress levels; perhaps it's the embarrassment of knowing that such an eventuality is eminently preventable and it would therefore be at least partially (if not wholly) “my fault” if the worst should happen. In the interests of coronary health (mine) and structural integrity (the loco's) I therefore decided I needed to design a clamping arrangement which was inherently very secure and with no likely failure mechanisms (short of an…

Following on from the design, building and publishing of our very successful Sub500 electric locomotives, serialised in EIM between June 2023 and February 2024, I decided to build and retro-fit a simple removable remote control on mine (Photo 1). This came about after repeatedly suffering from back-ache when driving on ground-level track. This occurs because to reach the controls on the loco I have to lean far forward and down. As there is no problem on raised track the remote unit needed to be removable. It is simple because all it controls is direction, speed and the horn. As this is all that is needed to drive the loco, all other controls remain on the dash. The remote is built with a ‘dead-man's’ button for safety. The button has to…

It is always difficult in 3½-inch gauge to model the footplate area if the loco is intended for track use rather than a mantelpiece ornament. I have made a few deviations from the full scale, which will be clear when comparing the model to the works drawing depicted in Figure 14. The most obvious change is the simple drop down firehole door on my model compared with the twin sliding door arrangement of the original. Both published designs use a simple side hinged door. Photo 123 shows the sliding-door arrangement I used on my South Eastern & Chatham Railway L-class 4-4-0 which was a predecessor of the Schools, being introduced 16 years previously just as Maunsell joined the SECR. It may be possible to fit this type into the Schools…

Mamod, the maker of ‘toy’ steam engines for more than three quarters of a century, has found itself caught up in a battle with the Government that could threaten the future of such inexpensive steam. Recently issued regulations have banned the sale, purchase or possession of the solid fuel tablets that power the engines without holding a licence. Many EIM readers and indeed your editor can recall owning various Mamod engines in our youth, and indeed many an interest in matters steam and model engineering was sparked by running these engines – the Mamod range was wide from the simplest of stationary engines to a traction, engine, steam roller, steam lorry and a car and many are still available today. First made in 1937, Mamod steam toys were powered by…

Part Four of four Once you have completed building the shell of your workshop, fitting out the interior is largely down to personal choice, with factors such as the type of machines that will be used and the type of work that will be undertaken dictating the layout. But I thought I'd show you how I did it. The general layout of my workshop is two 16-foot long benches, one under the windows and the other along the back wall, leaving an area of approximately 8ft by 7ft 6in at the door end. I want to leave this as clear as possible so that it can be used as an assembly area for larger projects. Any machinery that may end up being in this area such as my bandsaw and…

I recently had to make a stand for a fly press and thought that a tip I was taught some years ago might be useful to readers, this is how to form perpendicular joints in box section tubing The following is the easiest and quickest way of doing this that I know. The first thing to do is to angle the upright piece of tubing slightly away from where you are going to put the first tack – this will allow you to make as much modification to the positioning of the upright as possible. If you have the upright flat on the bottom piece when you put the tack on, it will pull the upright towards it, which will then make it very difficult to correct. Once the first…

I've been enjoying the Retyrement Project series in EIM (Feb-Mar 2024, on replacing worn-out tyres on a 7¼-inch gauge ‘Tom Rolt’ - Ed) but having read the article in the March 2024 issue, I thought I'd make a comment on the way the job was done. I see from the pictures that the step in the wheel centres and tyres is at the midpoint of the tyre width. This means that if there is the slightest difference in the step depth in either the tyre or centre, even as little as a tenth of a thou, then the tyre will shrink onto just one half of the wheel width. If this does happen, there will only be half the gripping area. Now I've never shrunk a model tyre onto a…

Welcome to a slightly shorter edition of the Club & Track News than is typical – with the decision as detailed in my editorial that EIM will publish its last issue next month, I need to ensure that our running build features are concluded – there is nothing worse than following a build feature in a model engineering magazine that suddenly stops halfway through… On which note I must do some thoroughly disagreeable housekeeping. Many club secretaries and magazine/journal editors are kind enough to send me your publications – these are both entertaining and inspiring to read and provide us with lots of useful copy for these pages. Sadly I must now ask you to remove our details from your contact lists as clearly we will no longer be able…

EVERY SUNDAY Bournemouth DSME public running, Littledown Pk, Bournemouth, 11am-3pm (also Wednesdays) Lancaster & Morecambe ME public running, Tarn Lane, Carnforth, LA5 9RX, 10.30am King's Lynn DSME public running, beside Kaset skatepark, Greenpark Avenue, King's Lynn PE30 2NB, 11am-3pm (also Wednesdays) Norwich DSME Pop-up trains, Eaton Park, Norwich 11.30am-3.30pm North Wilts ME public running, Coate Water Country Park, Swindon SN3 6AA, 11am-dusk Rochdale SMEE public running, Springfield Park, Bolton Rd (A58), Rochdale, pm. Wakefield SMEE public running, Thornes Pk, WF2 8UD. 1-4.30pm APRIL 01 Westlands & Yeovil DSME portable track and steam at South West Main Liine Steam Trust, Yeovil Junction station 01 Lancaster & Morecambe ME Easter public running, Tarn Lane, Carnforth, LA5 9RX, 10.30am 02 Bournemouth DSME Tuesday Meet-up, Littledown Pk, Bournemouth, 10.30am 02 Romney Marsh ME Easter…