Innehållsförteckning för Issue 4710 från Model Engineer

Martin Evans can be contacted on the mobile number or email below and would be delighted to receive your contributions, in the form of items of correspondence, comment or articles. 07710-192953 MEeditor@mortons.co.uk Harrogate The Harrogate Model Engineering Exhibition is only a month away now. This is a ‘two for the price of one’ show as it runs in parallel with a model railway show, Model Rail 2023, and the same ticket admits you to both shows. According to the show website (www.theeventsoffice.com) entry will cost £15 for adults but tickets bought in advance are available for £12. Family tickets (two adults and three children) are available for £25, bought in advance, or £30 on the day. The show is presented by The Events Office who organised the Harrogate Model Engineering…

Continued from p.165 M.E. 4708, 13 January 2023 Hotspur may be contacted on 01600-713913 or hotspurengines@gmail.com Completing the boiler fittings In order for the boiler fire to be generated and kept in a working state, there needs to be a steam blower jet up the chimney and a control valve for the control of the chimney draught. Then, to indicate the steam pressure, there also needs to be an appropriate gauge. The left-hand pillar inside the smoke box top plate that takes the safety valve was described last time and two ¼ inch x 40 threaded unions are used for these two remaining features. Figure 21 shows the plan of the boiler and the suggested route for the additional pipework and fittings. All the fittings I have added to the…

Model engineering is a broad church and some within prefer scientific experimenting and development engineering to making models. One was Jörg Hugel, Professor Emeritus at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, who blended a firstclass engineering brain and academic distinction with a remarkably generous personality. Jörg was bom in Stuttgart in 1938 where his father was a Doctor of Chemical Engineering working at Stuttgart University, who later went into industry. His mother was previously a dental assistant. Sadly, the family suffered the traumatic bombing of their home during the war. Jörg studied electrical engineering at the Stuttgart Technical High School and then the University of Stuttgart, where he obtained his doctorate in 1968. He joined the electrical engineering industry attaining leading positions with significant responsibilities. His professional career…

Thinking of southern railway engineers, the names of Drummond, Wainwright, Billington, Maunsell and Bulleid might come to mind – all great steam engineers – but Alfred Raworth? Not a name that comes to mind in railway engineering, yet he's probably the man who did most to ensure Southern Railway passengers could enjoy fast, frequent and cleaner services provided by their electric trains. His life and works are described well in this new biography. Alfred's father John was a prolific inventor developing textile machinery but then started work for Siemens. He set up his own company where he developed a low-cost tramway car – the ‘Demi-car’ – and a regenerative braking system. That system was effective but adoption was marred by accidents and legal action over the patent. Alfred followed his…

The smokebox was tackled next, by rolling a ring to the correct diameter onto which was fitted the front former and mounting for the door assembly. The surplus ring was cut away leaving the truncated smokebox as shown in photo 44, which also shows the door assembly and the tidied up saddle. Concentrating on the front end of the locomotive, the distinctive chimney was machined from brass block, the excess material being chain drilled to create the profile and cut off with a hacksaw. Photograph 45 shows the brass blank being chain drilled and photo 46 the profiled chimney positioned on the cladding. The buffers were cleaned up and the threads extended on the front units to accommodate the shaped washer that would allow the stocks to fit the cladding…

I bought myself a stick in the summer, a walking stick, which I find more useful than I expected. I can poke errant youths in the kidneys, close doors remotely, i.e. which would otherwise be out of reach, and indicate directions. So useful was it that I have named it Meg. (Why? – Because it's me stick…) I also bought a kit of ‘Leonardo da Vinci's’ flying pendulum clock. The detailed, working mechanism dates only from the 1880s but Leonardo di Caprio had a similar idea centuries before. It looks most interesting, and was easy to assemble. It is however tricky to get running, being dependent upon the length of the pendulum and the relative heights of the swinging arm and stationary posts. It is also sensitive to the amount…

Esteemed Contributor Roger Backhouse, who clearly has time on his hands, writes to me with the following: ‘While passing though Waterloo Station en route to Portsmouth recently I saw a promotion for the Polestar car of which I was previously ignorant. I was intrigued to read under the ‘specification – charging’ that it uses three phrase electricity and I wondered what those phrases could be. ‘Graham Astbury suggests the following and I cannot improve on his suggestion: “the three-phrase electricity is used when there are four bars in each line. I expect that the Polestar is tuned to B#, particularly the long-range dual motor model.” ‘This may be something you'd like to mention in Smoke Rings. Perhaps other readers have ideas on what the three phrases might be?’ Recalling my…

We have all seen them but no one seems to know where to get one! I'm talking about the ubiquitous steam raising blower that is a key piece of equipment for model steam locomotive and traction engine owners alike. So, when I was getting towards the time to carry out the first steam test of my 7¼ inch gauge Hunslet I was expecting to be able to get my hands on one quite easily. Some initial research and question asking quickly informed me that most people with these had come by them, sometimes, many years ago; with many being adapted from fans and such like, found on old and redundant aircraft. These, generally, operated on a low DC voltage and are ideal for ‘our’ use. Some quick research via the…

Most publications dealing with the history of street tramways concentrate on the electric era. This is not surprising as the electric tramcar has dominated the scene for over a hundred years and even now in existing and new tramways it continues as the dominant mode. It was not always so; the early days of street tramways was a time of experiment and innovation. It started in the midVictorian times with horse power. The horse tram was an improvement over the horse bus being smoother and larger as rails overcame the problem of rough roads. There were however major disadvantages. Horses were expensive in upkeep and they were slow and messy. It was understandable that at a time of rapidly advancing mechanical development attempts were made to mechanise tramways to improve…

Three years ago, I made a set of bending rolls from a Hemingway kit. That was an interesting project and the completed rolls worked well (photo 1). As the self-selected chair of the Institution of Not Very Good Engineers (incorporating the Worshipful Company of Bodgers) I decided to try another Hemingway kit. After not too subtle hints my wife and daughter bought me a sheet metal folder kit for Christmas. Truthfully – ‘it was just what I wanted’. Hemingway don't do kits in the Airfix sense. Several designs are by well-known tool designers such as G.H. Thomas. Not glued or fitted together, instead you receive plans, an instruction sheet (not fully detailed but still useful), the metals needed and any special parts – e.g. gears, ball races (photo 2). So…

Continued from p.211 M E. 4709, 27 January 2023 In Part 6 of this series, the author machined more than the typical number of cylinders for a Rob Roy and launched a steam chest through a window, although not in direct retaliation. We left him, telephone in hand, having received two simultaneous offers, and rejoin him on the morning of his school's summer fete where he will help to operate a real working steam engine for the first time. He is very excited. Preparations The day of the Beacon School fete arrived and I pedalled up the long hill to Chapel Green in record time and without pause. Knocking on the carriage-house door, I found Bob and Cecil busily preparing the necessary supplies: coal, water, oil, rags, matches and sundry…

Continued from p.264 M E. 4709, 27 January 2023 There are a few more items on the locomotive to describe before moving on to the tender. Photograph 64 shows the ashpan that also has the grate attached to it by the bolts each side at the left end of the casing. It is a simple mild steel fabrication; I have not modelled the front and rear dampers. I have made a pair of hopper doors with a removable pin that also supports the front of the grate. When the pin is removed the contents of the fire and most of the ash are dropped and the hopper doors fall open. Anything that remains in the ashpan can be raked out without the need to remove it from the engine. A…

February 12 North Wislts MES Public running at the Coate Water Railway, 11:00-17:00. See www.nwmes.info 12 Sutton MEC Track Day from noon – 16:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 15 Bristol SMEE ‘Modelu’ (small model figures), Begbrook Social Club 19:30. BS16 1HY. Contact: secretary@bristolmodelengineers.co.uk 16 Warrington and District MES Talk – Geoff Stocker, ‘Rebuilding the Welsh Highland Railway’, St Mary Magdalene Church, Appleton Thorn, 20:00. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 19 North Wilts MES Public running at the Coate Water Railway, 11:00-17:00. See www.nwmes.info 21 Taunton Model Engineers Meeting, Stoke St. Mary village hall – ‘More Engineering Tales’ by David Hartland, 19:30-21:30. See www.tauntonme.org.uk 26 North Wilts MES Public running at the Coate Water Railway, 11:00-17:00. See www.nwmes.info March 2 Sutton MEC Bits and Pieces evening 20:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254…