Innehållsförteckning för December 2022 från Engineering in Miniature

The coupling of our ride-on tender is designed to press-fit together, forming a rigid and strong structure which does not rely upon the integrity of any welds, in order to retain its strength when pulling (or being pulled). It is made from 6mm thick mild steel and consists of four parts: a rear plate (Figure 12), a front plate (Figure 13) and a pair of top/bottom plates (Figure 14). In the prototype, these plates were laser-cut and required no modification before being pressed together - they formed a good, solid, press fit; we used a woodworking vice for this purpose. The first step is to press the top and bottom plates onto the front plate (Photo 10). This can be undertaken one plate at a time or both plates can…

As the title might suggest, this month’s report documenting the latest engineering goingson at the Fairbourne Miniature Railway has a much brighter tone than previously, this is entirely down to the completion of the re-gauging and trials of our new Simplex locomotive. My last article describing the regauging of the locomotive form its original 2ft to our 12¼ -inch gauge finished off with the wheelsets together but requiring final profiling – this has been completed now. I have described the process I use, employing a hydraulic copier, before in some detail (EIM May 2021) so won’t repeat it now, however there were a couple of interesting points that cropped up. The first was the clearance over the bed – I had measured very carefully and was reasonably confident but it…

■ The background, by editor Andrew Charman. Back in the October and November 2021 editions of EIM we told the somewhat remarkable tale of Stuart’s 3½-inch gauge Princess Royal - a project that started in the 1960s. Having helped his father, a noted model engineer in his workshop for some years Stuart broached the subject of making his own engine and was given the blueprints to the Princess! “Looking back now I can see that this project was far too ambitious for an outright beginner,” Stuart wrote in his build description, to which we would reply, no kidding… He got as far as building the frames before perhaps not surprisingly other things intervened – a full-time job, marriage… and the frames languished in a loft for more than 30 years.…

At long last the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition opened its doors to large numbers of visitors for the first time in three years. All the usual features were present at the EIM-sponsiored show, held at the Warwickshire Event Centre between 13th-16th October but on a slightly smaller scale, as the organisers were not sure what the reaction of both exhibitors and visitors would be following the pandemic, along with the sad loss in May of Chris Deith, the founder of the show. But to everyone’s delight the event went ahead and a fine selection of excellent model engineering was presented and apparently greatly appreciated by the many visitors. As usual in this initial report I will focus on the show’s Competition classes and follow that next month with the clubs…

Readers of any of my previous scribblings will have noticed that I often refer to my locomotive build ‘Conway’ pictured on this page. I can now happily say that after five years she runs around our club track and has given me many hours of enjoyment (a video of Conway in action can be seen at https://bit.ly/3Fv25zy). She hasn’t in fact taken five years to build, there have been many periods of inactivity. I must admit I am easily distracted and tend to go off in all kinds of directions as takes my fancy. This is a hobby for me so there are no deadlines to meet. So what made me want to build a steam locomotive? Well I have been into model engineering with my good mate Julian for…

When I built my previous, first locomotive, my Midland Spinner, I took the frames and fittings completely apart for painting. I didn’t want to lose the valve timing on the Stirling, therefore I left the frames, cylinders and valve chests bolted together and masked everything off (Photo 59). In Photo 60 you can see one of the driving wheel valances masked off for painting. All was sprayed black and then the paper and tape over the brass beading was removed (Photo 61). I didn’t realise at this stage that the tops of the wheel valances should be painted green, not black! I repainted them later! Photo 62 shows my first attempt at lining using 1mm wide masking tape sold by plastic kit manufacturer Tamiya. I discarded the double tape idea,…

Over the weekend of 29th/30th October the 15-inch gauge Haigh Hall Miniature Railway in Wigan operated a steam locomotive for the first time in 29 years (reports Donald Brooks). In the early days of the mile-long circuit 1954-built Guest 2-4-2 ‘Katie’, best known for its association with the Fairbourne Railway, was the resident steam locomotive at Haigh until it left for Cleethorpes before finally ending up on the Kirklees Light Railway, where it runs today with its sister loco ‘Sian’. The new steam locomotive at Haigh has moved from Cleethorpes and is LNER O4 2-8-0 No.6284, completed in 2009. Over the weekend it was scheduled to work halfhourly shuttles between Haigh Hall and Walled Garden stations, with the steam loco working on the steep gradients outbound and the train returning behind…

Ineeded to make a universal joint/ coupling for one of my son’s model boats. The coupling in question connects the drive from the electric motor to the propshaft. This article shows that when it comes to using the equipment you have, rather than buying more, then ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’ – the job can usually be accomplished. At my age I’m not into buying more model engineering equipment, I prefer to use what I have if at all possible. “I’m not into buying more model engineering equipment, I prefer to use what I have…” The coupling is shown in the ‘back of an envelope’ diagram reproduced above. It consists of two main parts, a ‘flywheel’ on the motor shaft that has two pins in one face, parallel…

Kicking off another very full round-up of the activities around our clubs and miniature lines in recent weeks, it’s clear from perusing the latest highly varied selection of newsletters received at EIM Towers that many clubs enjoyed highly successful ends to their first ‘normal’ public-running seasons for a while. This is good to read, putting them on a good footing as they go into the winter months of undertaking essential maintenance and developing their sites. We start this month with the ever-busy Rugby ME, and as indicated above the latest packed newsletter, extending to 20 pages, starts by telling members that in one month the club has staged an enjoyable members’ running day plus its final normal day of public running and a highly successful additional event held over the…

In touch recently with EIM has been Ian Lake of the Dublin SMEE, to update us on latest goings-on in Ireland. Ian tells us that the Society traditionally has an open day in September which usually marks the end of public running for the season but also gives visitors a chance to view the clubhouse and workshops, areas not normally open to public access for safety reasons. “Members of the Society use the opportunity to display current projects and items that they have completed in the past,” Ian adds. “It is also the only day of the year when adult members of the public are carried on our trains.” This year’s open day was a great success with well over 1,000 members of the public visiting and most of them…