Innehållsförteckning för May 2024 från Engineering in Miniature

While Engineering in Miniature is closing with this issue one model engineering staple forever associated with the magazine is continuing to flourish – the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition. EIM founder Chris Deith launched the magazine in 1979, a year after staging the first Midlands show and in close to half a century since the show has continued to highlight the best examples of models right across the hobby – other shows have come and gone, not least the ‘elder statesman’ of the Model Engineer Exhibition, but the Midlands show has outlasted them all and now takes a deserved role as the premier event on the model engineering calendar. Competitive attraction This year’s show will take place on 17th to 20th October, and while that may seem to be a long…

JSJ locomotives (James, Sylvia and Josh) was conceived in November 2022, to operate a portable miniature railway at events and private functions. We are based on the Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire border with good road links, although we tend to limit ourselves to events taking place within a 50-mile radius from our home. The 7¼-inch gauge track and carriages have been designed and built by ourselves. Both steam engines have undergone heavy maintenance and the new locomotive to the Scamp design was built by Josh in three weeks in early 2024. Early Plans It all started in a pub, where we met and discussed the feasibility of setting up our portable railway. We decided to build our own track and to design and build our very own flat-pack Meccano carriage. Doing it this…

This new release from Pen & Sword focuses on the specialist operation established by British Railways in 1970 to take over the design, manufacture and maintenance of its rolling stock. British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) played the central role in developing the new trains for Britian’s rail network, a role that often brought it into conflict with the main British Railways board. This is a detailed and well-researched work covering in depth all the challenges that BREL had to surmount, from the obsolete stock it inherited to the relationship with the subcontractors and private suppliers it had to work with. The story is told chronologically, ranging from the most highprofile projects topped by what proved to be the most public of failures, the Advanced Passenger Train, and extending down to…

Many years ago (at least 40), I purchased a kit of materials from Neil Hemingway to make a small ungeared rotary table. This was designed by George Thomas (GHT), and the building of it was published in Model Engineer magazine during 1976-77. The table is 3¾-inch in diameter, and has mounting holes suitable for Myford 7 tee-slots. The design was also included his book Model Engineer’s Workshop Manual. The kit was made up according to the instructions, and the table has since proved to be very useful in my workshop, particularly as it is ungeared and has stops to limit the table rotation. To make it quicker to set up, I’ve mounted it on a steel plate and added a tenon, so that it can be clamped in the milling…

The Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway was both the archetypal branch line and something quire unique, an outpost of the Colonel Stephens empire that had everything from a military takeover to some very odd locomotives, not least the diminutive well-tank ‘Gazelle’. The ‘Potts’ is a line that has long fascinated author Peter Johnson, best known for his work on narrow gauge subjects, and it’s perhaps not surprising that he has penned not his first work on a line that had many traits more familiar to the narrow gauge. Peter is well known for his extensive research and this is an intricate work telling the full story, from the line’s short-lived predecessor the Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway followed by 40 years of dereliction before reopening as the S&M in…

So here we are at the start of the very last Club & Track News round-up to be published in EIM, and before diving into the latest pile of magazines and newsletters received from the clubs I vowed that for this final edition I would only pick out upbeat stuff! After all while our vocation faces many challenges, some of which have brought an end to the history of this magazine, there are still a lot of positives around the miniature engineering movement, particularly what I perceive to be a full-on revival for miniature railways. Prior to the turn of the millennium I can recall such lines being considered ‘old hat’ and those at attractions in particular being closed down, but now it seems that a host of new lines…

This month’s report from the depths of the workshop of the Fairbourne Miniature Railway continues with the build of the prototype air pump I have designed over the last year and started describing the build of last month. The first assembly of the steam chest showed up a couple of minor issues – the valve rod wasn’t quite long enough to provide full support to the locking nuts on the bottom of the rod and there wasn’t enough clearance to turn the nuts easily. This was a relatively quick fix by machining the valve top down a little further and thinning the valve rod support by 1mm either side (Photo 1-3). With the steam chest initial fit-up working nicely I then fitted the air piston to the piston rod and…

The various parts that the making of was described last month were then painted with some suitably weatherproof paint (Photo 16-17), before being placed in-situ, in the trailer (Photo 18). Note that the steel strengthening plate for the trailer’s front upright has also been mounted in place by this stage and part of it can be seen (painted) on the left of this photo. The buffer-sockets board is used to mark the holes to be drilled through the trailer-plate, to accommodate the main retaining bolts. Doing this in situ, with the loco buffers inserted into their final positions, ensures that the whole arrangement is guaranteed to fit (until or unless you decide to re-adjust your loco’s suspension…). The M12 retaining bolts can then be added (Photo 19) and the whole…

GENERAL NEWS The takeover of the Evesham Vale Light Railway in Worcestershire by David Nelson-Brown, owner of fellow 15-inch gauge line the Perrygrove Railway in the Forest of Dean, has resulted in some immediate announcements of ‘awaydays’ for the motive power of the two lines. David assumed control of the Evesham line in February following the retirement o previous owners Adrian and Sandra Corke and has since renamed it as the Valley Railway Adventure, building on the family theme applied at Perrygrove. Both lines will still be welcoming enthusiasts, however, and early evidence of this is the sending of both Evesham’s ‘St. Egwin’ and Perrygrove’s ‘Mr. Hallworth’ to the Gala of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in Cumbria, over the weekend of 4th to 6th May. St. Egwin, built by…