Innehållsförteckning för May 2023 från Engineering in Miniature

Part Seven of 11 The water-filler tube was made from a section of stainless-steel pipe. Stainless steel was chosen as this part is likely to suffer paint damage whilst being filled from a typical water-tower and hose arrangement and hence would otherwise be likely to go rusty! The pipe used was 3-inch (76.2mm) in diameter, with a 1.5mm wall thickness, chosen because this seems to be a standard size available for the motor accessories market. The piece of pipe that is shown in Photo 97 was obtained from a motor accessories dealer (online) – it is the kind of pipe that is used to add ‘bling’ to an exhaust system (at least to the visible parts thereof) and so is quite widely-available while also being relatively inexpensive. A bolt can…

The 2023 Midlands Garden Rail Show took place over the weekend of the 11th and 12th March at the Warwickshire Event Centre and was enjoyed by nearly 2,000 model railway enthusiasts. While this is more a model show and not a model engineering event as such, it does attract a fair few model engineers through its doors and EIM sponsors the event alongside its sister magazine GardenRail. There is always plenty to enjoy at the event, with layouts in O Gauge, G Scale, Gauge 1 and 16mm. While these are looked down on by some as ‘cheque book scales’, there is actually quite a lot of proper model engineering carried out in them and these smaller scales are now attracting increased attention in this age of downsizing and increased expense.…

GENERAL NEWS A historic 15-inch gauge locomotive will be one of the star attractions running at the Fairbourne Miniature Railway’s annual Steam Gala over the Spring bank holiday weekend. ‘Prince Edward of Wales’ is one of the original Bassett Lowke class 10 4-4-2 locos and normally resides at the Rhyl Miniature Railway on the north Wales coast. The 12¼-inch gauge Fairbourne line runs for two miles along a beach in the mid-Wales coastal village – regular readers of EIM will be very familiar with it due to the struggles in the engineering workshop documented each month by technical editor Harry Billmore. The miniature line was, however originally 15-inch gauge, before being converted in 1986 by then owner John Ellerton. Some years ago an extra rail was laid on the outside…

The Model Engineering Exhibition at Harrogate was a popular show for many years and it was good to return for a revived northern event at the Great Yorkshire Showground. With Hall No.1 being rebuilt into a much larger floor space the whole exhibition took on a new look to previous events. Hall 1 was a large space to fill and most of it was with excellent model railway layouts – the model engineering show running as a joint event with the Model Rail event and tickets accessing both. With the model engineering clubs working happily side by side and complemented by most of the trade stands, it did have a feel of the larger German events I have visited in the past. The hall itself was well lit and most…

A piece of driftwood, a sturdy reed for a mast and a tattered bit of rag for a sail and Youth is off for great adventure! The pond boat has been around for thousands of years; a couple were even found in King Tut’s tomb. When the submarine became a viable warship, circa 1900, the toy pond-boat manufacturers were quick to capitalize by offering small tin subs with a variety of propulsion systems, each becoming a highly prized possession by its young owner. Most of these model subs did not survive, submerging beneath the dark waves while their captain and first mate waited excitedly on shore for the little ship to surface and return home, but sadly, never to see it again. These rusting hulks sparsely littered the bottom of…

Part Four of a short series I mentioned in earlier editions of this series that the part-built model locomotive that I acquired came with both sets of published drawings for the Schools class in 3½-inch gauge. After carefully studying the details it became clear that neither design of boiler would be satisfactory. However the LBSC version was closest to a design that could be constructed to comply with modern boiler standards. The Jackson design not only had a number of features that I did not like but in my opinion was inadequately stayed to provide sufficient margin to withstand a 160psi hydraulic test pressure. Although the dimensions of the fireboxes are similar on both designs, using girder stays for the firebox crown, LBSC employs a total of 127 ⅛-inch stays…

The knowledgeable purist may scoff but in truth this piece is not for you – the fact is that several of those complete novices drawn to model engineering and preferring steam on the road to rail, do not realise that what are lumped together as traction engines come in four distinct types created for specialist reasons. ‘Traction engine’ is employed as a generic term to describe any form of road steam, with the exception of the steam car, steam lorry and steam roller, which basically do exactly as their name suggests. But what are dubbed traction engines are four major classes of similar, but different road-going steam engines. What many call a ‘traction engine’ is more correctly described as a General Purpose Engine – mid-sized examples which in their working…

In the March edition of EIM we reported on the impending creation of the Mease Valley Light Railway, a 121/4-inch gauge line at the Statfold Narrow Gauge Museum near Tamworth in Staffordshire. Well the line had its first, very wet, operating day as part of Statfold’s March enthusiasts event, and your editor was able to check it out a couple of weeks later at the Model Railway weekend. Currently the line runs from a newly-built stock shed behind Statfold’s recently established Transport Museum building, over a level crossing accessing the new car park and then across fields that many enthusiasts likely never realised were even owned by Statfold. As our sketch map shows the route currently ends in a station with a loop adjacent to what is known as the…

Welcome to our latest round-up from the club and track scene and this month many clubs will no doubt have positive memories of a successful revival of the Harrogate Model Engineering Show. While your frustrated editor was unable to make it to the show (see the editorial on page 3), from chatting to the model engineering fraternity it’s clear that plenty of readers did go and found that many clubs had made excellent efforts to produce plenty to look at – our correspondent John Arrowsmith was quickly in contact saying “I’m not going to fit all this into one report” which is why we’ll have a second one in next month’s issue. John Hunt, chairman of the Leeds ME, reflects the thoughts of many, your editor included, when reflecting on…