Innehållsförteckning för December 2023 från Engineering in Miniature

Ihadn't planned on constructing manually operated cylinder drains and it did take quite a few hours to get the whole lot designed and built, even though the construction pretty much follows existing LBSC designs. Once again there is not much room to fit all the bits and pieces in, the middle engine valve gear is always close by! Schools-class 4-4-0 No. 925 ‘Cheltenham’ is part of the National Collection but is on loan to the Mid-Hants Railway, and they overhauled the engine at Eastleigh in 2011/12. They appealed for Whitworth nuts and bolts required for the work and I was able to supply a bucketful of various sizes. I had inherited these from the time that my father spent working in engineering in the 1950s. My reward was an opportunity…

Regular readers will know from my monthly column that I am the resident engineer at the 12¼ -inch gauge Fairbourne Miniature Railway, which can be an all-encompassing role! Despite this and volunteering in the motive power department and workshop of the 2ft 6in gauge Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway I do try to find time for some model engineering – in recent times I have been working on restoring my long-unused Holmside, a 7¼ -inch gauge 0-6-0 saddle tank designed by Martin Evans and based on a Coal Board locomotive. I have finally got around to booking the boiler tester for the loco, the need to have this done handily coinciding with the annual exam for one of the locomotives at work – Peter Hawkins of Hawkins Inspection Services Ltd…

GENERAL NEWS The Leek & Rudyard Railway, one of the UK's longest 10¼-inch gauge lines, has been put up for sale as its owner prepares to retire. Simon Clarke, who took over the 1.5-mile long Staffordshire line in 2015, has put it on the market for £495,000, though according to news reports he is also willing to split it. Running on the trackbed of the former North Staffordshire Railway, the Leek & Rudyard Railway was built in 1984 as the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway by enthusiast Peter Hanton, largely working on his own. After 10 years and due to declining health he sold the line to the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway Ltd. The line was sold again in 2015 to the current owner, at which point it took on its…

This month's Club & Track News roundup comes to you just after one of the most significant gatherings of model engineers of the year – as we report elsewhere in this issue the Midlands Show was another successful event and with there not being so many such gatherings as there used to be, it remains one of the few occasions each year where model engineers come together from all over the country to swap stories, tips and news, and to view what their compatriots in other clubs are up to. While these days your editor is occupied at the show with such serious matters as judging, I still leave plenty of time to have a wander, – the club stands are always one of my most favourite elements of the…

Another year has gone and here we are again looking at the 2023 Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition, held in its usual venue of the Warwickshire Event Centre over four days between 12th and 15th October. Photos by the author except where stated This year was down on 2022 in terms of model entries but that was to be expected – last year had seen a bumper crop of models as we were viewing three years’ worth of work, thanks to the Covid pandemic the 2022 show being the first since 2019. Quality not quantity Only five competition classes out of the 16 did not have any entries so that was not too bad, while the smaller numbers did not detract at all from the quality with some superb model engineering…

The Usk Show has been held annually since 1844 which means it must be one of the longest-running events of its type. Organised by the Usk Farmers Club it takes place on a 100-acre site at Gwernesney, near the town of Usk in South Wales. There are many different competition classes relating to farming but there is also an engineering element to the show aptly named ‘Steam Corner’ and this was where I was heading when I attended the show on 9th September. This section of the show had been organised by Phillip Pritchard, a member of the City of Newport Model Engineers, a club which operates the portable Glebelands Miniature Railway – this was in attendance giving rides (Photo 1). The day of my visit was one of the…

Organisers of the Harrogate Model Engineering Show, which was successfully revived in March this year, have confirmed to one of EIM‘s correspondents that the event will return in 2024. However the show will move to May, on dates to be confirmed, in the hope of better weather – heavy snow across the UK prevented some intending visitors from attending this year's event (including EIM‘s editor!). A fixture on the northeast scene for years as the National Model Engineering Show, the Harrogate event later moved to Doncaster but then fell victim to the Covid pandemic, being last held in 2019. The show was revived this year at the Great Yorkshire Showground and combined with the long-established Harrogate Model Railway Exhibition, tickets giving visitors access to both events. Most declared the event…

The website Youtube, which encourages users to upload video clips, is a rich source of widely varied model engineering content, but can be overwhelming to the first-time user. So each month we will be pointing readers at some clips they may find of interest. If you have seen something on Youtube that you think other readers might enjoy, then send in the link to editor@engineeringinminiature.co.uk ■ We've described in this issue how enjoyable was the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition, confirmed by several videos that have appeared since the October event. This is one of the better ones, even using drone footage to capture a flavour of the show extending to such things as running up gas-turbine engines. There's no commentary, but we will have more details of the models in…

One area in which our soon-tobe former massage couch was not up to scratch was in the castor department. It came with two (of a required four) castors and a neat kick-down arrangement – pressing a foot-operated (and latching) lever forced the couch onto its castors; releasing the lever allowed the couch to sit on solid feet. Photo 23 shows this arrangement for (a) the ‘foot’ end of the couch and (b) the head end – the latter is missing its castors, which is one reason behind the ‘bargain’ price we paid. Unfortunately, the original castors were only intended to allow the couch to be moved when unoccupied (unlike, say, a hospital bed, which has wheels designed to allow the whole to be moved with a patient in-situ). These castors…

Recently I began building a Stuart Turner triple expansion engine – why this engine? I had purchased a set of castings for it at an auction of a late members effects held by the Wolverhampton and District Model Engineering Society, where I was a member, a few years ago. Then, having moved house during the Covid lockdown and after completing my 5-inch gauge Johnson Spinner, I was seeking a new challenge – building a rather complicated marine engine seemed like quite an attractive alternative to loco building. I set to familiarising myself with the box of bits. It was almost complete and I was reasonably sure that I would be able to obtain or make the missing items. But after obtaining the drawings and component schedule (missing from the auction…

Model engineering societies will again play a prime role in the 2024 Midlands Garden Rail Show, which takes place at the Warwickshire Event Centre on Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd March. Organisers Meridienne Exhibitions have confirmed that exhibitors at the show, which caters for the smaller scales of O Gauge, G Scale, Gauge 1 and 16mm, will include the Bromsgrove Society of Model Engineers, Coventry Model Engineering Society, the Gauge 3 Society and National 2½-inch Gauge Association. At least a dozen layouts will appear and 30 suppliers have also been confirmed for the event. The show will be open from 10am to 4pm each day and tickets will cost £11.50 adults, £11 seniors and £5 for children. Further details on the exhibition and ticket pre-booking facilities are on the website…