Innehållsförteckning för March 2024 från Engineering in Miniature

I thought that EIM readers might be interested in my recent experience with some new equipment, and the value of checking it out before first putting it to use. I fancied owning a new rotary table which could be mounted either horizontally or vertically – it was a ‘nice to have’ really, as I already have a good horizontal rotary table and a universal dividing head. I'll mention at this point that the run-out of my existing rotary table central bore is less than a thou. Anyway, I purchased a new HV rotary table, complete with a threejaw chuck on a special backplate which located in the Morse taper in the centre of the chuck. I also purchased an ER32 collet chuck and a Myford nose adaptor, both with Morse…

The long-established Midlands Garden Railway Show this year takes place on 2nd and 3rd March at its traditional location of the Warwickshire Event Centre near Leamington Spa, again sponsored by Engineering in Miniature and our sister magazine GardenRail. The event is known as ‘the model rail show for larger gauges’, which might have some readers wondering why we get involved, but it's for a very good reason. While the likes of Gauge O, Gauge 1,16mm and G-Scale might be the larger scales for those who do their railway modelling indoors, they also have a sizable following among the model engineering community. These are our smallest scales but also ones enjoyed by many typical EIM readers – in modern times of downsizing and ever more limited space at home (or indeed…

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 firsttime 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 regularly ask readers to send in clips they think might be of interest and Steve Self has done just that with something rather newsy, a drone video taken in early January showing the flooding caused by Storm Henk of the River Wensum near to the County School station, which is part of but not connected yet to the standard gauge Mid Norfolk Railway. The…

Part Thirteen of a short series Anyone who builds a Schoolsclass model should know they are taking on a long-term project even in 3½-inch gauge. Even though someone else had done some of the work on mine to a pretty good engineering standard when I bought the model, it took four years of regular spare-time work to get it to the stage that I could steam it in October 2023. I also saved time by purchasing as many laser-cut parts as possible. Workshop hours were extended as a result of Covid lockdowns so if contemplating such a model you will be making a big investment in time, not to mention the increasing price of parts, materials and the operating costs of your workshop. Looking back into the archives I found…

Part One of three Ihave a riding car that I built, a few years ago, that can be used on a raised track by fitting two skirts with footrests onto the main chassis. The chassis has two four wheel bogies. To operate on ground level the skirts are removed and a box frame fitted to the top of said chassis with the footrests moved to its sides. This arrangement works adequately but requires several bolts and pins to be assembled to either configuration. This riding car will happily fit two adults or an adult and two children but carrying all the bits for both configurations takes quite a lot of room in my car. The unit also demands a fair amount of space in my workshop for its storage as…

Part Two of two Last month we described the first part of our project to replace the very worn tyres on the 7¼ -inch gauge ‘Tom Rolt’ we had purchased secondhand. Having measured all of the now machined wheels, with their original treads removed, we worked out the maximum diameter we had to work with, based upon the minimum residual wheel diameter. We wanted to machine all of the wheels to the same design and then all of the tyres to match that design (with a suitable allowance for shrink-fitting, as will be discussed later). That way, we would not need to worry about stamping the wheels to ensure that the correct tyre was fitted to the correct wheel. The dimensions we ended up with were provided earlier in Figure…

GENERAL NEWS The UK miniature railway scene lost another member in January when the nascent Astbury Light Railway operated its last trains. Officially the 10¼-inch gauge line was described as a portable railway set up at Glebe Farm in Astbury, near Congleton in Cheshire. Owner Adam Jeffrey had established a 700-yard long route in 2017, climbing out of the farm to a viewpoint over the Manifold valley. It was described as the “steepest adhesion-worked railway in Britain” with the gradient said to be 1 in 9! Adam made continued efforts to obtain planning permission for the line to become permanent, which would allow him to build proper locomotive facilities to replace the shipping container the stock was operated out of. However the local council rejected the applications, arguing that the…

Part Nine of nine In the most recent episode of this series I had mostly completed the steam-propulsion machinery for my 7-inch scale Fowler steam lorry but the cab bodywork needed finishing. One of the most conspicuous panels on a steam lorry is the front of the cab and the Fowler is quite distinctive as shown in Photo 125. Reproducing that double curvature was not going to be easy. I initially considered getting it done professionally, but a chat with my friend Pete suggested that beating over a former would be a reliable method. So the next problem was making a former which I built up from 6 x 2-inch timber reclaimed from a garden project. Layer by layer The timber was cut so the grain followed the cab front…

How important is a quarter of an inch in gauge? Not desperately, if you have enough width to play with… The 12-inch Ruislip Lido Railway and the 121/4-inch gauge Fairbourne Railway, where EIM technical editor Harry Billmore serves as chief engineer, will be swapping stock later this year. Fairbourne's Darjeeling-style 0-4-0 ‘Sherpa’ will be gurest of honour at Ruislip's Steam Gala on 4th-6th of May, and three weeks later the Greater London line's Penrhyn Hunslet-style loco ‘Mad Bess’ will head the other way to mid Wales to join in the Fairbourne Gala on 25th-27th May, along with Bassett-Lowke built former Fairbourne resident ‘Count Louis’ which will be celebrating its 100th anniversary. More details of both events will be available on the websites of the two railways, www.ruisliplidorailway.org and www.fairbournerailway.com…

This month's selection of club and track updates is being compiled on almost the last day of January, a strange time in the model engineering calendar – while by the time you read this page many clubs will be beginning to think seriously about opening up their tracks to the public once more, especially with Easter being early this year in late March, I'm writing in what seems that period of limbo between the busy festive period and a new running season, perhaps evidenced by the number of club journals arriving at EIM Towers this month being rather more selective than is the norm. Of course very few model engineers are hibernating – many are enjoying time in their workshops, especially if they are as warm and comfortable as the…