Innehållsförteckning för May 2022 från Engineering in Miniature

Last month I began this project by restoring the bogie of my Gauge 1 Midland Compound loco, bought on the used market and in need of much work. This was unusual as whenever I build a loco I always start on the tender — there's nothing so dispiriting as finishing a loco, be it live steam or electric, and having no tender ready to run with it. Mind you I was glad that I had finished the loco bogie as its resulting appearance gave me encouragement that the end result of the restoration and rebuild would produce something worth the effort I was putting in. Hidden issues The tender seemed at first sight pretty much complete but there were two sets of steps missing and, although I didn't realise until…

In the April edition of EIM there was an article by John Arrowsmith on the Faszination Modellbau, held at the Friedrichshafen Fair premises in Southern Germany November 2021. Photo 5 of the feature is of an unusual 5-inch gauge prototype displayed on a rotating builder's stand, and the author asks if one of the readers can provide some more information on the locomotive. I will try to do this. Krauss/Munich built a total of 97 of these locos, named Pt 2/3, from 1909 to 1916 for the Royal Bavarian State Railway, and they were later numbered as Class 70. They were intended for light passenger trains on main and secondary lines. Due to the use of superheated steam in the locos they were very economical and they remained in use…

GENERAL NEWS A brand-new miniature railway is under construction in the UK, one which will have our technical editor Harry Billmore paying attention as it is to the same 12¼-inch gauge as the Fairbourne Railway where he is the engineer. The line is being built on the premises of the Statfold Narrow Gauge Trust, already a steam mecca near Tamworth in Staffordshire. Editor Andrew Charman, in his other role editing EIM's sister magazine Narrow Gauge World, regularly attends enthusiasts’ weekends at Statfold, which routinely boast 14-plus full-size narrow gauge locos in steam on the extensive 2ft gauge line. At the most recent weekend he admits to completely missing the fact that an entirely new railway had appeared on the other side of Statfold's car park! Apparently the line will make…

I discovered the hobby of model engineering and miniature steam locomotives only because I happen to live near the club at West Ryde here in Australia, the Sydney Live Steam Locomotive Society. I happened upon running-day operations and observed through the fence a couple of times over the years when food shopping. Eventually, one day I paid my money and went in. I was amazed and delighted by the magnificent engines in steam on the day, with the authentic smell of coal and hot oil, and safety valves blowing, not that I knew then what safety valves were. I asked someone about how the engines were made and was advised to come along on a Saturday and talk to some of the members. “The authentic smell of coal and hot…

The Midlands Garden Rail Show, always a popular event, returned again to the Warwickshire Event Centre on 12th-13th March after a two-year absence brought about by the Covid pandemic, and with sponsorship from EIM and our colleagues at GardenRail magazine. It was good to be able to attend and feel that at last these type of events are returning again to be enjoyed by all. Popular layouts were joined as usual by a wide variety of suppliers who had just about everything available for this branch of the model engineering hobby. Many clubs throughout the UK cater for the Garden Railway enthusiast so this show provided the opportunity to see the latest developments in both material supplies and the range of models now available. “It was good to be able…

The Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Model Engineering Societies (FMES) took place this year at The Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings in Bromsgrove, in the splendid setting of the Guesten Hall which boasted some superb building details and windows and proved to be an ideal venue for the event. In fact the timber roof structure came originally from a building that was adjacent to Worcester Cathedral and used to house the prior's guests so meeting attendees were seated under an important piece of medieval history. A new feature for the meeting this year, a consequence of the Covid pandemic, was the provision of Zoom online conferencing facilities enabling many delegates to take part without actually attending in person. By and large this seemed to operate without too many…

Over the last couple of months I have described my efforts to free up more space in the cab of my locomotive build project by designing new vertical hand water pumps - the loco design having precluded my mounting a horizontal pump out of sight either under the running board or in the water tank. The very first little pump I made way back in 2009 uses what I will call mushroom valves instead of balls. It works well and has been in regular use to test boilers, superheaters and safety valves and the like without fault since then. Using balls for the valves relies on gravity to a certain extent so they must be used vertically. I wondered if the mushroom-type valve could be used horizontally? Only one way…

We move onto the final stage of our project this month by first constructing a replacement double-feed-clack, the arrangement of which can be found on Drawing DCPL. Clack Valve Body Item FP35 – 10mm diameter AF hex brass Refer to Drawing FP35 On the lathe, hold the brass bar in a three-jaw chuck with 25mm protruding and face off. Turn 6.35mm diameter x 8mm, then using a 1mm wide parting tool set with its left-hand edge against the turned face, undercut 0.5mm deep (1mm on a diameter dial) into the 6.35mm diameter. Chamfer the hexagon 30 degrees x 0.5mm and thread ¼-inch x 32 ME x 8mm. Using a No 3 centre drill, drill into the face, stopping when the cone formed is just short of the core diameter of…

Kirkaldy's Testing Museum is one place you may like to visit when in the London area. David Kirkaldy was a Scottish engineer, who in 1866 opened for business with equipment to test the strength of all kinds of materials - steel, cast iron, building bricks and such like. His main piece of equipment was a patented hydraulic testing machine (Photo 1), capable of testing materials in tension, torsion, bending, and compression. In 1874 the company moved to the site where the museum is located today at Southwark Street, London SE1 OJF, and continued in business there until 1974. Except for the final nine years, the business was run by three generations of the Kirkaldys. I recently made a visit there, having seen it when walking from Waterloo to Bermondsey, and…

If you are a typical model engineer who loves poring over detailed drawings, you will love this book. Compiled from a deep dive into the mid-Wales 2ft gauge railway's own archives, it is not a history of the line but rather an in-depth survey of it, running to some 450 pages. There is no history, just in-depth descriptions, photos and drawings of every aspect of the railway. To start with all the locomotives are very extensively covered - and that's all the locomotives, not just the three well-known 2-6-2Ts but the early Bagnall, ‘Rheidol’ and right up to the latest arrival an NG13 Garratt You get works drawings, cab layouts, details of such changes as brake systems and trucks all in drawing form, coloured descriptions of the liveries, so much…

A shorter Club News this month due to John's special report from the FMES AGM. But please keep the magazines and newsletters coming in as we will report anything interesting that doesn't make it into these pages next month when this feature returns to its normal length. We start on an unfortunate note with serious fire damage caused to the facilities of the Hilcote Valley Miniature Railway on 25th March. The 7¼ -inch gauge line, based at the Fletchers Garden Centre in Eccleshall, Stafford and first opened in 1993, lost its ticket office and station following the blaze, which started when a fire in a neighbouring garden got out of control and spread to the garden centre. Hilcote Railway manager Stu Harris told local media that thankfully the line's locomotives…