MYFORD LATHE MODIFICATIONS BATTLES WITH A PETROL ENGINE

THE MAGAZINE FOR MODEL ENGINEERS

FEBRUARY 2020 ❙ £3.99

Ten-Wheeler
New loco build in
7¼-inch gauge

FIRING INSPIRATION – VINTAGE

CHILD’S TOY STATIONARY STEAM
CONTENTS FEBRUARY 2020 Volume 41 Number 8

13 26 28

EDITORIAL

08 A7¹₄TEN-WHEELER
-INCH GAUGE
FOR
Who remembers their
by Jan-Eric Nyström

first steam engine?

13 BUILDING A MIDLAND
SPINNER IN 5-INCH
W
elcome to EIM and while it might say February at the top
by Bruce Boldner of this page, I’m tempted to wish our readers Happy New
Year, because the vagaries of publishing schedules see me

16 WORKSHOP – MYFORD
TELESCOPIC CROSSFEED
by Graham Meek
writing these words on New Year’s Eve!
We have some interesting material lined up to entertain you with
as we head into both a new year and a new decade, a mix of the good,
solid traditional model engineering EIM is known for, and some quite

18 EIM BOILER – BURNER

TUNING AND LAGGING
by Martin Gearing
different subject matter showing the wide diversity of our hobby. I think the smorgasborg (no
your editor did not get a new diary for Christmas...) in this issue demonstrates that rather well.
From our regular correspondent Jan-Eric Nyström comes the start of a new and impressive
loco build, a 7¼-inch gauge ten-wheeler, and being a Jan-Eric production the project is full of
interesting techniques, not least the laser-cutting colourfully illustrated in this first part.
22 3D-PRINTED RIDING
TRUCK WATER TANK
by Peter and Matthew Kenington
As a complete contrast Jan-Eric takes a good look at one of the most basic steam engines
made – so how many of you were first turned onto the hobby by the gift of a Mamod for
Christmas? Breathing in the distinctive smell of methylated spirits in a time when it wasn’t felt
necessary to keep youngsters so far away from such dangerous chemicals (sarcastic, me?). Or if
26 EFFORTS TO IMPROVE
A PETROL ENGINE
by Patrick Cubbon
you were younger you might have wrestled with the later solid fuel tablets that were much
‘safer’ but also far less efficient? Yup, the part played by Mamod in inspiring future model
engineers should not be under-estimated, but if this is far too basic for you, don’t worry, we
have some ‘proper’ stationary stuff coming next month with a new Muncaster engine build.
28 ATHESECOND LOCO ON
APPLE VALLEY
by Simon Mace
We have a rare petrol engine piece this month, an interesting tale with perhaps not the
conclusion one might have expected. Memo to i/c engine fans – we’d like to see some more
features on these... Meanwhile the father-and-son Keningtons have been getting ever more
inventive with their 3D printing techniques, while three major builds near their conclusion

30 DOUGAL – THE FRONT

AND REAR TANKS
by Andrew Strongitharm
– Martin Gearing will be lighting up his steam plant boiler next month and Bruce Boldner
painting his Midland Spinner, having added some clever touches in this month’s episode.
With Andrew Strongitharm’s ‘Dougal’, a staple of EIM since I arrived in the editor’s chair,
also nearing conclusion, there’s space for lots of new stuff and we have some exciting material

33 AN OLD MAMOD
STATIONARY ENGINE
by Jan-Eric Nyström
lined up. But as I’ve stated before, there is still space for your project to feature in these pages
so why not make a new year’s resolution to write it up? Andrew Charman – Editor
Editor: Andrew Charman Technical Editor: Harry Billmore

35 LETTERS/REVIEWS Email: andrew.charman@warnersgroup.co.uk Tel: 01938 810592

Editorial address: 12 Maes Gwyn, Llanfair Caereinion, Powys, SY21 0BD
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36 GENERAL NEWS Facebook: www.facebook.com/engineeringinminiature

FOR SUBSCRIPTION QUERIES call 01778 392465 – the editor does not handle subscriptions.
  37 CLUB NEWS Publisher: Steve Cole
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41 DIARY OF EVENTS
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Jan-Eric Nyström’s latest project to be featured Email: allison.mould@warnersgroup.co.uk
in our pages is this impressive 71/4-inch gauge Marketing manager: Carly Dadge
Tel: 01778 391440
ten-wheeler. Photo via Jan-Eric Nyström Email: carlyd@warnersgroup.co.uk
in Miniature. Please contact us to discuss
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Engineering in Miniature – ISSN 0955 7644
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www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 07

 LOCO CONSTRUCTION

Building a Ten-Wheeler
Jan-Eric introduces his latest 7¹₄-inch gauge project with some design considerations.
BY JAN-ERIC NYSTRÖM Part one of a series
■ Many readers may remember the accounts of my
first two live-steam locomotives, published in this
magazine in 2015 and 2016. Those engines, a 4-4-0 and
a 0-6-0, were relatively small (for 7¼-inch gauge, that
is); each just under one metre in length. Neither
weighed more than 120 kilograms. Now, I have
returned to my loco workshop to build a substantially
larger and heavier 4-6-0 ‘Ten-Wheeler’ locomotive.
The prototype, of which a few are preserved, is
quite a gorgeous-looking engine, as Figure 1 shows.
Many of the techniques used for the previous engines
will be employed again, such as built-up cylinders,
laser-cut frames and water-jet cut connecting rods.
This time, the descriptions will not form a continuous
story. Instead, I will focus on some of the methods
used, and present them in greater detail, in separate
articles, with the hope that some of you who may be
contemplating similar projects can benefit from my
experiences – successes, as well as mishaps.

1 M
y workshop is rather modest space of a little over 10 square metres.
compared to some ‘super- It does get cramped sometimes!
shops’ I’ve seen described – it
accommodates a low-cost 9x18-inch Designing with CAD
lathe, a small mill, a tiny band saw Due to the modest size of my mill, I
(really tiny, no good for steel, it can have no easy way of making the frame
barely cut brass…), an air compressor plates for a ⅛th scale ten-wheeler –
and a TIG welder, plus a variety of and cutting them by hand isn’t easy!
small motor and hand tools. The Thus, I returned to the laser and
fanciest tool I have is a 6-inch rotary water-jet cutting company that had
table, seldom used, but very handy helped me out on my previous 0-6-0
when a tricky part has to be project. This time, I struck a nice deal:
fabricated. All this resides in an I’d get a low, very low price, on
L-shaped basement room, with a floor condition that the company would do
HEADING:
7¹₄-INCH TEN-WHEELER – SOME FIGURES FIGURE 1 Jan-Eric at the
Loco and tender length 2.2 metres over buffers regulator of his
Weight approx 180kg. Tender approx 45 kg empty. 7¹₄-inch gauge
Stainless tank with capacity of 35 litres. ten-wheeler.
PHOTO 1:
Lending his
previous loco
for an industrial
exposition
earned Jan-Eric
a very good
deal with his
laser-cutting
company...
FIGURE 1:
This drawing
by Tapio
Keränen, for
modellers in
HO (3.5mm)
scale, served
as inspiration
for the 7¹₄-inch
gauge, 1.5-inch
scale loco.

08 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk

 LOCO CONSTRUCTION

FIGURE 2 FIGURE 3

the cutting during its ‘slow’ time, and

that I’d lend my already completed
laser-cut 0-6-0 loco for display at an
industrial exposition the company
would be attending. You can bet I
agreed to those conditions! Photo 1
shows the little steam engine on the
display at the show – I was told it was
the highlight of the exhibit…
Using a compact digital camera, I
photographed a lot of old, partly faded
blueprints of the original shop
drawings of the ten-wheeler
locomotive, drafted in Germany and
balance being copper. This alloy
machines easily, and won’t corrode.
The other components are made
FIGURE 2: from brass bar, 10mm thick by 80mm
Enhanced wide. Importing the old drawings as
digital photo of background templates into the CAD
an old blueprint program, I drew my own design over
of the ten- them. Where my photos of the
wheeler. The not-too-flat blueprints had distorted
the original lines somewhat, I could
use the measurements on the drawings
to get everything correctly scaled.
The red lines in Figure 5 show the
result, an end view of the final cylinder
design, superimposed on the contour
of the valve motion bearer and the
main crank pin, both outlined in
blue. The green lines show the steam

s
Finland in the late 1910s to early negative image
1920s, and preserved at our railway was reversed,
museum. Some filtering in photo and contrast
FIGURE 4
software was necessary to bring out increased in
the lines clearly, so I sharpened and order to show
adjusted the photos for use as the lines clearly.
templates for the CAD work. Figures
2, 3 and 4 show typical examples of FIGURE 3:
these drawings. The cylinder
Since the measurements were block is a
included on all the detail drawings, I huge casting
had an excellent resource for the in the full-size
design work. prototype.
Onto fabrication considerations
– since I wanted to avoid complicated FIGURE 4: All
casting work (except for the wheels measurements
and axle boxes, a process I was needed for
familiar with from my earlier scaling down
endeavours), I decided to fabricate the were available
cylinders in a built-up technique. on the old
Figures 3 and 4 gave me all the loco drawings.
information I needed in order to make
a design – differing from the original, All diagrams
for sure, but easy to construct from and photos
simpler, turned and milled pieces. The in this series
material for the cylinders is bearing produced by the
bronze, of the gunmetal type, 5 per author except
cent each of tin, zinc and lead, the where stated.

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 09

 LOCO CONSTRUCTION
‘collar’ around the valve cylinder.
The ports in the valve cylinders
FIGURE 5 were milled (Photo 2). You can see
that I have mounted my lathe’s
three-jaw chuck in the vertically
positioned rotary table on the mill.
3 This allowed me to form the proper
oblong shape while milling the ports.
Note the recess turned into the outside
of the tube – this helped me mill the
ports to the exact width.
Photo 3 shows some of the parts
machined according to this design.
Note how I had to make the main
piece in two parts because of the
limited width of my raw material – the
little ‘bump’ on the left side forms the
contour of the ‘by-pass’ cylinder, as
seen in Figure 3. This is necessary in
full-size, but is not included or needed
in the model.
In Photo 4 the parts are assembled
prior to silver soldering. The inside of
the cylinders will be honed to a very
smooth finish after soldering.
As you have seen, a CAD program
enables checking that all dimensions
fit together properly – Figure 06
shows another example; here I have
included most of the valve gear parts,
as well as the suspension and brake
4 rigging. The vertical clearance of the
front truck wheels can also be
ascertained in this rendering. It also
helped me to empirically form the
FIGURE 6
10 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
curve on the reach rod, by
superimposing it in several positions
on the drawing.
Time-saving or not?
Getting used to a CAD program does
take some time, and work on the
actual drawings can also be a lengthy
process. However, if you do not have
any drawings (other than copies of the
original ‘works’ drawings), and do not
wish to build your model true to the
prototype engine in every detail
(which I certainly did not, but which
may, in fact, be another builder’s main
objective!), then you have to do all the
small-scale design work yourself.
Using purchased model drawings, you
are of course spared from this phase of
the process – it all depends on your
choice of prototype!
Some CAD programs are better
than others for this purpose. However,
the kind of work I’ve done when
designing the parts for my loco
projects does not need any fancy 3D
modelling features, so a low-cost
‘introductory’ version, or even a free,
public-domain program is all you
really need – unless you wish to make
three-dimensional, shaded renderings
of your engine before you start
building it…
When commencing the design
work, I knew that I’d be drawing
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
 LOCO CONSTRUCTION

FIGURE 5: Using the old drawings as

background templates in CAD software,
parts are designed to conform to the
outlines of the prototype.
PHOTO 2: Steam ports being milled in a
valve cylinder.
PHOTO 3: Some of the parts for a
fabricated cylinder.
PHOTO 4: Parts are here assembled
before silver soldering.
FIGURE 6: Using CAD software to
check part alignment, as well as trial-
and-error forming of curve on the reach
rod (which will rest on support bracket
attached to side of boiler).
FIGURE 7: Parts to be cut from 2mm
thick stainless steel plate. Most will form
intricately shaped tender tank. Note
many small parts at lower right, including
many nines for loco’s ‘999’ number plates
FIGURE 8: Some 300 parts to be cut
from 3mm hot-rolled plate. Colour coding
refers to use of parts: Dark blue – running
boards; Light blue – frame and smokebox
saddle; Pink – suspension, brake gear
and axle boxes; Yellow – cab; Orange –
smokebox; Grey – buffers and buffer bar;
Light green – front truck; Red – swing
link bolster; Dark green – valve gear. Note
tab-and-hole design of most parts – this
will enable exact assembly. FIGURE 7 (above). FIGURE 8 (below)
hundreds of parts in the CAD
software – but the final number sure
caught me by surprise! I decided to
simplify the complicated parts, which
allowed me to make them from only
three kinds of flat steel plate; 2mm
stainless steel, mainly for the tender
tank, shown in Figure 7; 3mm
ordinary hot-rolled steel for the
frames and the bulk of all parts to be
fabricated from several pieces, Figure
8; and finally 10mm cold-rolled steel,
for rods and other parts of the valve
gear, Figure 9. Later, we’ll study some
of these a bit closer.
Please note that some laser cutters
may not like ‘nested’ parts, in other
words one part inside a hole in
another, as in Figure 08. This may
necessitate special procedures when
cutting or preparing the files, so ask
your cutter how to prepare the layout!
Some may prefer each part in a
separate file, plus the information on
the number of that particular part to
be cut.
Shopping around, both by phone
and on the internet, I found one
mail-order company that offered an
online service that accepts dxf
drawings (one file per part)
electronically. This firm will cut and
mail the finished parts within a few
days – its pricing was determined by
thickness of plate, length of cut and
s

number of ‘starts’ – the latter a fixed

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 11

 LOCO CONSTRUCTION
FIGURE 9
fee for every time the laser beam starts
a cut, whether it is the extensive
outline of a large part, or just a small
hole. This substantially increases the
price for any part with, say, a long row
of rivet holes – it might be a lot
cheaper to drill them by yourself.
The company offered a firm quote
based on the submitted files, so I
knew ahead of time what the work
would cost me. Other companies may
take a quick, cursory look at your files,
and quote you a ‘lump sum’ for the
entire job. It will pay to shop around,
5 drawbars.
6 straight edge to the part.
12 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
and if you’re lucky, you might even
find a company manager getting really
interested in what you do, offering you
an unbeatable deal – which I was
lucky to obtain, as already mentioned.
Possible problems
There are a few different methods
used in laser cutting which may affect
the result. First of all, not all machines
accept the newest types of CAD files.
DXF appears to be a rather universal
standard, but some machines may use
other forms of coding. My designs
FIGURE 9: were all saved in the DXF format.
Colour coding of I was warned not to use ‘splines’
10mm cold-rolled for curved lines; the software this
steel parts: Blue particular cutter utilized could only
– main, eccentric accept straight lines or segments of
and connecting circles. Another important factor was
rods; Green – that all line end points had to coincide
Walschaert’s exactly – no breaks were allowed in
gear; Yellow the lines. A break would cause a new
– horn blocks, ‘start’ for the laser beam, which is
axle boxes and time-consuming and also causes some
suspension; Red unevenness in the cut.
– brake gear; In fact, all starts are made outside
Orange – front the part, and a short cut brings the
truck; Grey – beam to the actual outline. Photo 5
couplers and shows the sparks flying around
whenever a start is made and the laser
beam penetrates the steel plate. All
PHOTO 5: these start points were in my case
Shower of determined and inserted into the files
sparks emitted by the cutter, since I did not have the
every time 2.5kw experience nor the necessary software
laser penetrates to do it myself. The cutting firm had
steel plate. to work on my DXF files for a couple
During actual of hours to bring them to a format
cutting, sparks suitable for the machines. Without a
collected in ‘dust special ‘lump sum’ deal, this could
bin’ below plate. mean a significant expenditure!
A very important consideration in
PHOTO 6: choosing the method of cutting is the
The difference gas used; some laser cutters work like
between cutting miniature flame cutters, using a
with oxygen high-pressure jet of oxygen to actually
and nitrogen burn away the steel from the cut line.
obvious. This is a This results in some roughness in the
small 3mm thick cut edge. Another option offered was
part for trunnion cutting with nitrogen, which only
assembly in ‘blows away’ the material as it is
valve gear. melted by the laser. This is much
slower, but gives a nice, perfectly
The difference can be clearly seen
in Photo 6 – the part on the left is cut
with oxygen at a speed of about 100
millimetres per second (yes, fast!).
That on the right was cut with
nitrogen, at about a quarter of that
speed. The plate is 3mm thick. If you
design your parts to be assembled like
mine, using a ‘tab-in-hole’, jigsaw-
type construction, this is of enormous
significance. The pieces should fit
together with a minimum of slop.
We’ll study this assembly method in
part three of this series. EIM
n Next month Jan-Eric looks at other
methods of cutting, including water-jet,
EDM wire, and CNC machining
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
 LOCOMOTIVES

A Midland 115 Class

‘Spinner’ in 5-inch Gauge
Bruce makes the platework and tender on his first-ever live-steam loco build project.
BY BRUCE BOLDNER Part four of five

56

For his first

I
hope it will not be regarded as too
great a heresy when I divulge that I project
added a ⅛-inch extension to the Bruce has
top of the buffer beam, to enable me to
built a
continue the footplate to the beam in a
straight line. To my eye, the buffer
beam does not look overly tall (Photo
model of
the Midland
57 58
56). I hope you agree! Railway 115
The original ‘Princess of Wales’ class 4-2-2
was an exhibition engine, winning a
gold medal at the Paris Exhibition of designed
1900. As such, all rivets were hidden by Samuel
to present a smooth surface. They Johnson.
were countersunk, stopped up and
sanded smooth.

Rivet counting
Johnson Spinner no. 1853, which won
a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition of
1889, was probably the only other
Spinner thus treated. All the rest had
the usual visible round-topped rivets.
Being one of the 115 class, my
Spinner had to have visible rivets, on PHOTO 56:
the smokebox, wheel valance top Buffer beam had
covers, buffer and drag beams and 1/8-inch added
such like. to height.
Actual rivets were fitted to the
beams. However, I decided to emboss PHOTO 57:
59
indentations to simulate rivets in thin Adding rivet
sheets of brass and secure these over detail to
the wheel valances and smokebox smokebox...
with J B Weld, a US-made steel
reinforced epoxy. PHOTO 58:
I’d made the smokebox with a ...and driving
removable front. However the forward wheel splashers.
rivet line sat exactly over the join, so
using real rivets was not possible. An PHOTO 59:
additional benefit was that the join Tender chassis
between the bronze saddle and brass designed from
smokebox was now covered with a drawings of full-
continuous sheet, as per the prototype. size loco.
J B Weld claims that its product
will withstand up to 315 degrees C, All photos by
▲

but as an additional insurance, two the author

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 13

 LOCOMOTIVES
60
actual rivets secure the overlay to the
saddle on both sides at the base
(Photos 57, 58).
Life is short and I’m already 73
years of age, so I had no compunction
in ordering the brass plate work for
the Spinner from Model Engineers
Laser (www.modelengineerslaser.co.
62
63
14 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
61
uk). This comprised the cab sheets,
spectacle plate , footplates and basic
driving wheel valances. At my request
Malcolm at MEL also produced both
brass platework and steel side frames
for the 3500 gallon six-wheel tender,
from the drawings by Dennis Monk.
So if anyone else out there wants this
tender, Malcolm now has the parts.
I obtained engineering drawings
for both the tender tank and chassis
from the National Railway Museum
at York and I based my tender frame
largely on these drawings,
incorporating the well tank. The
plate work differs a little at the
drawbar end to give access to the
drawbar pin (Photo 59, 60).
Ideally, I would have placed the
tender water valves in the water space,
so that even if they leaked, it wouldn’t
have mattered. However, I wanted to
place the handles in their prototypical
position, just inside the tender front
plate. I therefore had to create sealed
passages for the control rods where
they passed through the water space,
with the valve bodies secured to the
frames beneath (Photos 61, 62).
Hidden lubrication
Returning to the locomotive, I did not
PHOTO 60: want to follow Martin Evans’ solution
First stage in and install a mechanical lubricator in
assembling full view on the footplate, driven off
bought-in one of the crossheads. The full-size
platework. Spinner was hydrostatically lubricated
with oil travelling to the cylinders via
PHOTO 61: the left-side handrail. So I decided to
Well tank built use the same method on my model. A
into tender. large steam oil tank was installed
PHOTO 62:
beneath the cab floor (Photo 63).
Steam to pressure the tank is piped
Valve bodies from the whistle turret. The pipe is
fixed to frames. seen looping over the left spectacle
plate window. On the full size loco it
PHOTO 63: leads to the hydrostatic vessel with
Oil tank installed double sight glasses mounted on the
under cab floor. inside of the left cab sheet.
I have replicated this vessel.
PHOTO 64: However it is too small to function,
Handwheel on therefore the pipe continues below
seat regulates footplate level to the oil tank. The
steam supply hand wheel emerging from the rear
to oil tank. seat wall regulates the steam to the oil
tank (Photo 64).
64
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
 LOCOMOTIVES

65 66

PHOTO 65: Hydrostatic glass and whistle neatly hidden from view in left cab side.
PHOTO 66: Handrails employed to take oil to cylinders. 67
PHOTO 67: Two pipes merge into one and enter cylinder steam pipe in the smokebox.

PHOTO 68: A day running the Spinner at the track before painting begins.

Oil displaced by steam pressure is
piped from the tank to a functioning
hydrostatic sight glass located in the
forward section of the left-rear wheel
valance. The oil bubbles from the glass
rise vertically into the left handrail.
I also squeezed the whistle in
under the left seat. A door may be
closed to conceal the hydrostatic glass
from view from the cab (Photo 65). I
subsequently placed a bank of LED
indicators alongside the glass, to give
visibility when setting the steam and
oil valves at the start of a run.
Oil from the left handrail diverges
via the two small vertical copper pipes
down to the steam pipe in the
smokebox. The handrail forward of
the bronze fitting is solid rod. The
snifter is visible at left (Photo 66). The
twin oil lines merge into one beneath
the smokebox saddle, emerging inside
the smokebox to enter the steam pipe
to the cylinders. (Photo 67).
The model was now ready for
painting, but first I enjoyed a day out
with it at the club (Photo 68). EIM
NEXT TIME: Bruce completes his
project with the application of the
all-important paintwork.
Parts one to four of this series appeared
in the November 2019 to January 2020
editions of EIM. To obtain back-numbers
go to www.world-of-railways.co.uk/
engineering-in-miniature/store/
back-issues/ or call 01778 392484.

68

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 15

 WORKSHOP
Myford Super 7 telescopic
cross-slide feedscrew
Graham describes a useful modification to the classic lathe.
BY GRAHAM MEEK
W
hen using the taper-
turning attachment on the
Myford Super 7 lathe the
instructions are that the cross-slide
feedscrew bracket be detached and
allowed to hang on the feedscrew,
usually upside down. After a couple
of times using this method I was not
happy with the feedscrew bracket
just hanging there on the feedscrew,
the setup had all the potential of an
accident waiting to happen.
Anything dropped and
impacting on the feedscrew bracket
is going to potentially bend the
feedscrew. Similarly the sleeve of a
smock coat could quite easily catch
the ball handle and again bend the
feedscrew. Admittedly this is not
such a problem with the power
cross-feed models due to the
larger-diameter feedscrew thread but
one still has the task of re-aligning
the feedscrew bracket at the end of
the session, which is not always an
easy task.
These first sessions with the taper
turning attachment was about the
time that George Thomas was
describing his modifications to the
Myford cross-slide micrometer
collars in the Model Engineer
– details of these improvements can
16 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
be found in George’s The Model
Engineer’s Workshop Manual,
“The chapter 15, page 164.
feedscrew Reading through the articles as
bracket they were being published I thought
just it would be a good idea to add the
needle roller bearings to my own
hanging lathe. Thus a spare ball handle
there feedscrew bracket and feedscrew
on the were ordered from Myford, and
feedscrew meanwhile a start was made on the
new feedscrew bearing and collar
had all the that would eventually take the needle
potential roller bearings.
of an
accident Eureka moment
As I was about to drill and ream the
waiting to 9.54mm or ⅜-inch bore the penny
happen....” dropped – rather than Loctite the
feedscrew into this bore, what if the
feedscrew could telescope inside this
bore? Then the requirement to
dismantle the feedscrew bracket
during taper turning would no
longer be necessary.
A Woodruff key in the feedscrew
and a keyway in the ⅜-inch bore
would ensure a positive drive from
the ball handle to the feedscrew, the
whole assembly being retained by an
M6 capscrew fitted where the Myford
chrome slotted ball-handle retaining
screw normally resided.
GENERAL ARRANGEMENT
(Not to scale)
Using the taper-turning
attachment in future would simply
mean slackening off the M6 by
30mm long capscrew, or removing it
completely, then turning the ball
handle a couple of turns clockwise
which instantly puts play in the
system to allow the cross-slide to
float under the influence of the
taper-turning attachment. The taper
machining cuts still have to be put on
using the top-slide as before, which
incidentally can be set at a fairly
shallow angle to make use of some
very fine adjustments towards the
final stages of producing the taper.
I regret to say I have not taken
any photographs to include with this
article as the lathe in question was
passed on many years ago when I
acquired my Emco Maximat Super
11, the only photograph I do have is a
Polaroid and does not come out very
well when scanned. It was only
recently when having a long overdue
tidying up session in the workshop
following my retirement that the
original ball-point sketch came to
light. Therefore the reader who is
contemplating adding this to his or
her Myford would be well advised to
read the articles by George Thomas
mentioned earlier as the
modification is primarily George’s, I
have just added a refinement.
Friction-setting dial
My modification retains a friction-
setting dial, this can be arranged by
using the nip on an O-ring as the
friction medium or the reader could
do as I did and make a friction spring
similar to that used on George
Thomas’s versatile dividing head to
provide friction for the sector arms.
Details of such a spring can be found
in Fig 22, detail 34 on page 81 of
George’s book Dividing and
Graduating, of course the outside
diameter will need reducing.
Not knowing which way the
reader might opt to go these
dimensions are marked thus (*) on
the drawing of the modifications to
the ball handle, reproduced here.
Obviously the centre dial locking
arrangement favoured by George in
his article on the lathe micrometer
dials cannot be used with this setup.
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
 WORKSHOP

MODIFICATIONS TO MYFORD MODIFICATIONS TO FEEDSCREW

CROSS-SLIDE BALL HANDLE MICROMETER COLLAR MODIFICATIONS

The reader will notice from the
drawings that overall length of the
new feedscrew bearing also carries a
(*). The reason for this is initially the
feedscrew bearing needs to be
produced slightly oversize on length,
as does the 12mm long spacer.
When the feedscrew
modifications have been completed
the feedscrew bearing is fitted to the
feedscrew and the 12mm spacer with
some Loctite 603 on the outside
diameter dropped in the bore. All is
locked up with an M6 capscrew, a
final check is made to ensure the
feedscrew bearing is hard up against
the shoulder of the feedscrew and all
is left to set.
Needless to say the amount of
Loctite used needs to be minimal, as
All drawings in we do not want to end up with the
this feature by feedscrew permanently attached as
the author well. When all is set – and I usually
leave these things overnight – a light
facing cut over the end of the
feedscrew bearing and spacer will
bring both faces flush and establish
the 21mm dimension. EIM
Have you modified a piece of workshop
equipment to make it more useful?
Why not write up your experiences
for your fellow model engineers? For
more information contact the editor at
andrew.charman@warnersgroup.co.uk

ALL COMPONENT DRAWINGS

APPROX FULL-SIZE
All dimensions in mm

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 17

 CONSTRUCTIONAL
Gas-fired vertical boiler
for the EIM Steam Plant
Final pipework and then Martin tunes the burner on his boiler for the EIM Steam Plant.
BY MARTIN GEARING – Part Sixteen of a series
W
e begin this month with the
specific considerations we
must make when silver
soldering cone ends to pipes.
The the difference between the
inside and outside diameters (wall
thickness) of the cone when fitted to
its pipe forms a ‘ledge’ that is too small
to positively locate even a 0.7mm
diameter silver solder wire, so we can’t
use the ‘Pallion’ method of silver
soldering to reliably attach such items.
The more commonly accepted
practice of heating the work to a little
above the melting point of the silver
solder and only then touching/wiping
the silver solder wire against the joint
to melt the solder, which then flows
into the joint aided by capillary action,
offers a workable solution.
In practice it is not as daunting as
it might at first seem – study the flux,
and watch it becoming transparent,
directing the flame accordingly. By
now you will know this occurs just
before the solder ‘slumps’ and flows
when using LT (55 per cent) silver
solder. After the silver solder has been
seen to flow, a brief pass of the flame
over the whole joint ensures that both
parts are up to temperature to ensure
that capillary action pulls the silver
solder into the joint, leaving a neat
smooth fillet visible.
B122
18 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
The main prerequisites are
1) A clear view of the joint area – even
with good eyesight a headband
magnifier is a help, and if you need
glasses you must wear them!
2) A small reliable and controllable
flame to melt the solder
3) The ability to be aware and
recognise that the cone has a very
small mass and can easily be over
heated. The main path for the heat
from the flame comes from the copper
pipe but the cone can’t be totally
ignored – this ‘juggling act’ is
something that comes with experience
but until you try there will be no
experience, good or bad!
4) Your silver solder wire held in some
form of clamp/holder with only
sufficient length for the joint being
attended to at that time – one of the
most common faults is having too
long a length of wire protruding
beyond your fingers, meaning it is
very difficult to control accurately and
inevitably flails around and touches
surfaces in the general area before the
actual ‘target’ is found. This results
in a little ‘splat’ of silver solder at
each ‘miss’
5) An area free of disturbance – of
any kind!
The best procedure is to practice
with a couple of cones (don’t bother
This series
builds
a boiler
suitable for
powering
the EIM
Steam
Plant,
that
was
serialised
with the nuts) on either end of a piece
in the of pipe to help gain confidence.
magazine Remember to clean up and flux the
between second end before trying to solder the
October second cone.
2016 and Copper Connection Pipe
December Note – ONLY for constructors using a
2017 purchased gas tank valve
A length of ⅛-inch diameter x 22 swg
copper tube is required to connect
between the purchased gas tank valve
and the ¼-inch x 32ME mounted
fitting of the burner gas-supply fitting.
A specific fitting for attaching to the
gas tank valve complete with a sealing
O-ring needs to be purchased at the
same time, along with a ¼-inch x
32ME nut and compatible ⅛-inch
diameter pipe cone to match.
Cut a 350mm length of ⅛-inch
diameter 22 SWG copper tube. File
the ends square and deburr. Remove
PHOTO B122 the O-ring from the valve end fitting
Starting to and put this with the cone in the acid
tune the bath for 10-15 minutes, then drain
burner flame – and rinse.
yellow colour Flux the cone recess and the tube
indicates too end before pushing them together.
little air. Silver solder the cone to the tube first
as described in the previous
PHOTO B123: paragraph, holding the tube in a
Dark blue vertical position with the cone end at
flame and even the bottom. Bring both parts up to a
glow all over dull red heat before attempting to
the ceramic touch the pipe where it enters the cone
burner surface with Ø0.7mm LT (55 per cent) silver
is what you solder wire, moving the flame aside as
should aim for. you do so. Allow to cool, pickle for 10
minutes, and rinse in clear water.
All photos and
Fit the hexagon nut with the
drawings in
threaded end facing towards the cone,
this feature by
followed by the knurled nut with its
Martin Gearing
threaded end facing the blank tube
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk

end, before silver soldering on the
O-ring end fitting in the same manner.
Pickle for 10 minutes, rinse in cold
clean water and clean away any flux
residue. Check for visible fillets and
that the silver solder hasn’t blocked
the tube, then replace the O-ring.
Assembling and setting
a purchased ceramic
gas burner
Screw the No 8 jet into the jet holder
(GB7), coating the threads with sealer
that you can confirm is compatible for
use with propane gas.
Begin with a gas safety check
– ensure this is carried out in the
open air, NOT inside a building.
Fit the gas valve to the gas
cartridge and connect the pipe
between the gas valve and the end
fitting/mount/jet holder/jet assembly.
1) Mix up a small quantity of clean
water with a generous amount of
washing-up liquid and mix the
solution thoroughly using a small and
soft brush
2) Open the gas valve on the cartridge
two turns
3) Starting at the cartridge, paint every
joint including the stem of the gas
valve with the soapy water solution
4) Then paint at every joint of the end
fitting/mount/jet holder/jet assembly
with the soapy water solution,
including the end where the gas jet
screws in to the jet holder, to ensure
the seal is good between the gas jet
and jet holder threads.
The soapy water solution will
produce small fine bubbles as it is
painted onto the various joints. The
bubbles will remain the same size
provided there is NO leakage of gas. If
the solution is painted over an area
that has even a minute leakage of gas,
the bubbles will become ‘active/
animated’, usually increasing in size.
Should this be the case, turn off the
gas valve and investigate the cause of
the leakage and rectify. On no account
consider proceeding until a successful
zero leak test result has been achieved.
Setting gas/air mixture
Initially set the jet carrier flush with
the end of the mixer block and secure
with the lock-screw finger-tight.
Fit the gas valve to the gas
cartridge and connect the pipe
between the gas valve to the end
fitting. Open the gas valve on the
cartridge half a turn and hold a
lighted match to the burner ceramic
surface to ignite the gas.
Allow to warm up for 30 seconds
then open the gas valve a further 1½
turns. You should find the flame is
predominately yellow, indicating not
enough air (Photo B122).
Moving the jet carrier out very
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
CONSTRUCTIONAL
slowly will allow more air to mix with
the gas and the flame will begin to
show pale blue with yellow peaks.
B123
Slowly moving the jet carrier
further out allows still more air to mix
with the gas and the flame will lose all
trace of yellow, any flame visible
becoming dark blue indicating a
correct proportion of air is being
mixed with the gas.
Do not move the jet carrier out
any further – the flame will become
lighter and more ‘transparent’ if you
do. Aim to achieve a ‘definite’ stable
blue flame, with small blue cones
burning over the ceramic surface,
without any traces of yellow.
Leave the flame to burn for a
couple of minutes and you will find
the ceramic surface will evenly glow
red, showing all is well. Then tighten
the lock screw in the mixer block
(Photo B123). back face on the outside of the
Turn off the gas and allow the “Pipework hexagon nut.
burner and firebox assembly to cool. tends to With this in mind go back to the
Be warned – I know it’s obvious but define the start and if necessary trim the wire (it
the burner assembly gets hot in use! sort of may have gone right through the
centre hole in the cone fitting) so that
Steam and water pipes person who the wire end is at the same point as the
Convention has it that where possible did the job. recess inside the cone, putting any
pipes run straight either horizontally Quality is offcut to one side.
or vertically, with a consistent radius a lot easier Repeat at the engine inlet end,
to the bends when a change of again keeping any offcut should a
direction is required. Pipework rather to talk further trim have been necessary.
tends to define the sort of person who about than Double check that the wire follows the
did the job. Quality is a lot easier to achieve...” path exactly as intended, from the
talk about than achieve, but always bottom of the cone recess in the first
something to aim for. fitting to the bottom of the cone recess
We start with the main steam pipe in the second fitting.
from the boiler main stop valve to the PHOTO B124: If you’re not completely happy
engine inlet, on which the lubricator Using soft with the way it looks or you have
is attached. A good way to achieve wire to design trimmed off too much at any stage,
something that looks reasonable is to the pipe runs please make another ‘wire’ and keep
‘take wires’ of the intended path of a between the on making them, until you achieve
pipe. Sort out the end fittings burner and the exactly the appearance you want
▲
required (nuts and cones in this case), steam plant. (Photo B124).
and fit them hand-tight to the valves/
connections at the start and end of
the run.
Obtain a length of soft iron or
B124
copper wire around 16SWG – 1.5mm
diameter (I find the copper earth wire
from 2.5 twin & earth cable ideal).
With a tape measure estimate the
length of the chosen ‘run’ that you
intend the pipe to take – make your
estimate up to the next nearest 50mm
and then add an additional 100mm to
that figure. Note the figure and cut a
piece of wire carefully to that length.
Push one end inside the stop valve
cone fitting at the start, bend as
demanded to arrive neatly at the
engine inlet fitting, cutting it slightly
over length and putting the offcut to
one side.
Remember that the end of the pipe
will actually be a little way inside, as
the cone has a recess into which the
pipe will fit. With the cones I used the
cone recess ended conveniently inside
at exactly the same point as the plain
ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 19
 CONSTRUCTIONAL
B125
Put your ‘wire’ safely to one side
and measure each of the collection of
offcuts removed from the original
length, adding all the individual
lengths together. The sum of all these
lengths needs to be subtracted from
the original wire length recorded. The
resulting figure is the correct length of
straight copper pipe you need to make
the ‘pipe run’. Cut the tube and square
up both ends with a file and deburr
inside and out, then anneal the tube.
Soldering pipe into cones
Forgive me for taking the liberty of
what may seem unnecessary
B127
B128
20 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
repetition but for some builders this
silver soldering process may be
difficult to master.
We begin with the 4mm (5/32-inch)
diameter pipe prepared to go between
the main stop valve and the engine
inlet. The first cone may be attached
without concerning yourself with the
nuts. However it does mean you must
remember to put the two nuts on to
the pipe with each one facing the right
way round before the second cone is
soldered on! I think forgetting one or
all of these orientations is almost a rite
of passage! A short length of soft iron
or copper wire will be of great
assistance to keep the two nuts out of
the way when soldering the second
cone to the tube.
Put the end of the pipe and the
cone in the pickle for 10 minutes,
drain and rinse in clean water. With
wire wool or a brush clean one end of
the tube to a bright finish. Apply flux
to the recess in the cone and around
the end of the tube before fitting on
the cone, making sure that the pipe
goes fully into the cone. Rest the cone
on a heat-resistant block in the hearth
B126 and support the tube so that it is
vertical with the cone at the bottom
(Photo B125).
Direct a fine flame up the first
50mm of tube but avoid playing it on
the cone for too long. The aim should
be to bring both the cone and tube end
up in temperature as evenly as possible
by keeping the flame moving. Bear in
mind that the cone has a very small
mass and will be melted if the flame is
directed at it for too long. Whilst the
tube has a larger mass and copper
conducts heat very readily, if the flame
remains in one spot too long it may
overheat locally causing the flux to
expire before the cone is hot enough.
Quickly bringing the end of the
pipe and cone up together to a dull red
and the flux turning transparent
signals that it’s time to briefly touch
the end of the 0.7mm diameter LT (55
per cent) silver solder wire at the point
where the pipe enters the cone,
moving the flame away momentarily
“The cone as you do so. If the pipe and cone are
has a very up to temperature the silver solder
small mass will ‘flash’ around the joint, and flow
into the joint cavity forming a fillet.
and will be If on touching the joint nothing
melted if happens, heat the area for a few
the flame seconds longer and repeat, until you
is directed achieve a ‘flash’ round the joint of
silver solder. Allow the assembly to
at it for cool (Photo B126).
too long...” With wire wool or a brush clean
the free end of the tube to a bright
finish. Slip the two nuts onto the tube,
checking they are the right way round.
Bend a 100mm length of copper wire
of about 1.5mm diameter into a
U-shape and insert one leg into the
end of the tube with the silver
soldered cone. Pull up the two nuts
and twist the free end of the wire
around the tube to stop them
dropping back down. Double check
PHOTO B125: that the nuts are the right way round
The method (Photo B127).
of holding for Apply flux to the recess in the
silver soldering cone and around the end of the tube.
the pipe. Push the tube into the cone recess and
repeat the silver soldering process on
PHOTO B126: the second cone. Allow to cool.
Put the assembly in the pickle for
Silver soldering
the first cone. 10-15 minutes, drain and leave to soak
in clean water for 25-30 minutes.
PHOTO B127: Remove any flux residue from the
This method cones and surrounding area with a
ensures nuts stiff brush and clean the tube up with
are held clear wire wool.
when soldering. Despite all I said previously
(Photo B128) I’m ashamed to say this
PHOTO B128: is not a posed picture! The only
Oops... It’s excuses I can offer are “more haste
vital to ensure –less speed” or “There’s no fool like an
the correct old fool” – both are equally applicable
orientation and in the circumstances!
number of nuts The tube may now be installed,
before you bending it to match your wire made
solder on the for obtaining the true length required.
second cone... Resist the temptation to make each
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
 CONSTRUCTIONAL

bend fully in one go, rather ease it

round partly and check to make sure
the bend is forming exactly where you
B129
intended it to be – again a case of
‘Make haste slowly’.
Repeat the process for the water
hand pump to boiler feed clack pipe.

Pipe Bending Extension

To assist with bending of the engine
exhaust pipe) – 10AF Brass

The end of the exhaust pipe where it

connects with the smokebox cap will
need a tight semi-circular bend
followed by a sharp reverse bend.
Being so close to the end of the piper
this is almost impossible to achieve by
hand. It is possible if you make up an
extension from a length of brass.
Hold the brass in a three-jaw
chuck with 15mm protruding. Face
off, turn 6.35mm diameter x 8mm.
Undercut 0.5mm (1mm on a diameter
dial) against the hexagon face. Thread
¼-inch x 40ME.
Using a centre drill with a pilot
diameter no larger than 2.8mm,
centre drill until the cone leaves a just
visible ring of the faced end before it weakened when in contact with NEXT MONTH...
reaches the core diameter of the “Resist the water, I felt that there was a need to Martin concludes his constructional
thread. Chamfer the hexagon face 30 temptation secure the ends of the string more series with the first steamings of the
degrees x 0.5mm. positively, so used 10mm lengths of boiler, plus some tips on maintenance.
to make
Attach one end of the exhaust pipe electrical heat-shrink tube fitted over
to the extension and tighten the nut.
each bend the last three or four turns at each n Parts 1 to 15 of this series appeared in
Hold the extension in a bench vice and fully in one end of the lagging (Photo B131). This the October 2018 to November 2019,
put in the semi-circular bend close to go. Ease has stood the test of time, and and the January 2020 issues of EIM.
the end, followed by the reverse bend it round finishes off the lagging in a Digital back issues can be downloaded or
which should result in the pipe being partly and workmanlike manner. An alternative printed versions ordered from www.
at 90 degrees to the extension. If any would be to bind the ends with cotton world-of-railways.co.uk/engineering-in-
signs of collapsing occur, anneal the make sure thread in the same manner as miniature/store/back- issues/ or by
pipe. Remove from the extension and the bend ‘seizing’ the end of spliced rope. EIM telephoning 01778 392484.
finish the remaining bends as before is forming
(Photo B129).

Lagging steam pipes

exactly
where you
B130
The supply and exhaust steam pipes intended it
are fairly long pipe runs and this will to be...”
cause the steam to condense, resulting
in droplets of hot water being spat out
of the chimney whilst running.
Lagging both pipes to reduce the rate
of heat loss will reduce the problem of
condensation to an acceptable level on PHOTO B129:
starting and remove it altogether after Trial fitting of
a short period of running. the finished
The method used, that has proved pipework.
very successful, was to wrap the
supply and exhaust pipe in plain white PHOTO B130:
cotton household string. I found that Lagging the
the process of wrapping was made
very much easier by securing the pipe
initially on the extension used to help
steam pipes
adds greatly to
the efficiency
B131
bending, and sticking the first couple of the boiler.
of turns of string to the tube using
Super-Glue. The tube was then PHOTO B131:
removed from the extension and the Detail of a
string wrapped tightly along its length lagged pipe end
before sticking the last couple of turns – heat-shrink
with Super-Glue before cutting the tube effectively
string (Photo B130). seals ends
Because Super-Glue can be of lagging.

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 21

 RAILWAYS

A Crate Idea
Peter and Matthew conclude their description of a 3D-printed riding truck water tank.
BY PETER & MATTHEW KENINGTON – Part two of two

I
n the first part of this series, which
appeared in the December 2019
issue of EIM, we described the
making of the inner tank for our
riding truck water tank. Now we
complete the project with the building
of the packing-crate to house the
3D-printed liner and the assembly of
the complete tank.

Max Plank
With apologies to the originator of
quantum theory, we are concerned
here with creating the illusion of
planking to make our idea of a
packing crate outer for our water tank
look a little more authentic.
There are two ways of approaching
this: creating a large sheet of planked
wood and then cutting out the pieces
required to make up the crate or
cutting out the pieces first and then
engraving the planking. We used both
methods in our project – the former
method is more or less essential for
the filler-cap, due to its small size,
whilst the latter method is more
practical for the larger pieces,
depending upon the size of machine
you have available.
One thing to watch for with the FIGURE 3: (approx quarter-size)
large-area planking method, however,
is warping in the wood sheet (if not engraving lines at a separation of
clamped appropriately). If this is 15mm (Photo 08), with the resulting
excessive, the engraving cuts will vary grooves then being cleaned with
in depth (and hence width also) to a compressed air and a little
degree which detracts from the effect. encouragement from the point of a
We have in the past experimented scriber or thin screwdriver.
with a range of different types of We used the fastest spindle speed
engraving tool on a range of different available from our mill (5600rpm); if
materials. These experiments have led this is beyond the capability of your
us to the conclusion that the type of mill, the fastest available speed should
cutter shown in Photo 7 seems to be be used, together with a (still) lower
about the best for working in wood. It feed rate. Alternatively, a compressed-
has a 60-degree angle tip and a air powered hobby drill or a Dremel-
roughly semi-circular cross-section. type electric drill may be mounted on
This gives it a single primary cutting the mill-head and used at a suitably
edge (in either direction of rotation) high speed.
and plenty of ‘room’ to allow swarf (or Note that, with the benefit of
shavings) to clear. Its shaft-diameter is hindsight, we probably should have
⅛-inch (3.175mm) and its useful engraved in-line with the grain of the
cutting length around 13mm. Again, wood on the outer layer of the
these are available from ebay at a very plywood (in other words not as shown
low cost. in Photo 8); this would have given a
For the planking, we used a cut slightly more realistic effect although
depth of 2mm and a slow feed rate by the time the wood has been stained
(say 5mm/sec or less) relative to that at it is very hard to spot this error!
which the tool can cut if pushed
(many centimetres per second). The Crate Construction
use of a slow feed rate gives a much The wooden crate is made from 9mm
better finish and only a light sanding thick plywood; this is available from
is required to complete the piece, once all larger DIY stores, although the FIGURE 4:
engraved. The planks are created by quality is somewhat variable. We used (approx full-size)

22 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk

 RAILWAYS

some really first-class material which

we had ‘in stock’ (left over from a
long-forgotten home DIY project
7 8
many years ago) and some newer
material which was much poorer, a
fact which only really came to light
when it was worked.
The dimensions of the crate and
filler-cap are shown in Figure 3 and
Figure 4, respectively. The bracing
around the crate is made from off-cuts
of softwood, which are planed or
sanded to a cross-section of
approximately 15mm x 9mm.
The crate is held together using
counter-sunk stainless steel self-
tapping screws: No.2 x ¾-inch
(2.2mm x 19mm including head).
These are placed on each ‘plank’, with
clearance holes and pilot holes being
drilled to avoid any danger of the
wood splitting or de-laminating
(Photo 09). Similarly, along the length
of the ‘planks’ an approximately
15mm hole-spacing was used.
To ensure accuracy the two
similar parts (the lid and base in the
FIGURE 3: Wooden crate
dimensions (planking detail
9
picture) were placed on top of each not shown). The ‘planks’ are
other and drilled together. 15mm wide and created using
We did debate the use of panel an engraving bit (see text). All
pins and wood-glue, as the use of nails dimensions are in mm.
would potentially be more authentic,
however we were a little nervous about FIGURE 4: Filler cap
our abilities (particularly Matthew’s, dimensions (planking detail
at the tender age of 13, as he was at the and centre-hole not shown) –
time) in driving the nails in straight all dimensions in mm.
every time – although, again, we could PHOTO 7: Engraving cutter
have used pilot holes to aid this. This used for planking.
was, after all, Matthew’s project and
was intended to feature (along with PHOTO 8: Engraving
the rest of the riding truck) at the the ‘planking’.
Midlands Model Engineering
Exhibition, in due course. PHOTO 9: Drilling pilot holes – clamps needed to be re-set a few times during this process, hence
A recess was added in the inside of redundant clamps to left and right in this picture.
the base of the box (not shown in the PHOTO 10: Drilling recess for load-spreading washer, at Hereford’s Young Engineers’ workshop – the
drawings in Figure 3), to allow a washer itself can be seen on bench-top to right.
load-spreading washer to be added to
the base of the 3D printed box (Photo PHOTO 11: Check that the recess is deep enough, before removing the clamps!
10). This washer prevents excessive
localised force or turning moment
being applied to the PLA material
surrounding the hole for the water-
10 11
take-off, when tightening the ¼-inch
BSP hose-tail fitting. There is a danger
of breaking the PLA at this point,
without the use of a washer.
We used a ‘penny’ washer, with
the centre-hole drilled out to ½-inch
(Photo 11). We also used a rubber
washer glued to the inside of the tank.
It is compressed by the ¼-inch BSP
nut which tightens onto the hose-tail
fitting, to seal the tank outlet.

Assembling the crate

Once all of the parts have been made,
test-assembly can begin. It is a good
idea to check that the tank fits in the
crate prior to fitting all of the screws
(Photo 12). It should be a reasonably
sung fit, particularly between the lid
▲

and base which will act to clamp it in

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 23

 RAILWAYS
place and minimise leaks around the
filling hole – some thin rubber can be
used here as a gasket, if desired.
Assuming that all is well, the
woodwork can be stained and
varnished (disassembling as needed).
We used an ‘All-in-One Wood Finish
(Rich Teak)’, which is applied with a
cloth, for the planking on the outside
14
15
16
24 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
12
of the crate and yacht varnish for the
inside (to prevent any stray water
from soaking in to the plywood,
PHOTO 12: ultimately leading to swelling and
Checking that de-lamination).
tank fits, before We found it necessary to use a
inserting all of thin brush to ensure that the wood
the screws. finish penetrated into the grooves of
the planking, prior to buffing with a
PHOTO 13: cloth. All being well, you should end
Part-assembled up with a kit of parts looking like
‘packing crate’ those in Photo 13 and Photo 14.
after wood-
staining
and internal
Photo 15 shows the underside of
the filler cap (after varnishing); the
fillet around the edge allows the cap to
varnishing, with fit neatly on the mesh filter unit,
filler-hole cut whilst its upper side remains level
in lid. Bracing with the remainder of the box lid.
pieces to Once painting and wood-staining
right, filler- are complete, the tank and crate can
cap in centre undergo final assembly. Photo 16
(cut from shows the underside of the assembled
separate piece tank/crate, with the water take-off
of ‘planked’ fitted. The crate bracing will be used
wood). as the means of attachment to the
top-plate of the riding truck (using
PHOTO 14: woodscrews), hence the additional
Close-up of the pilot-holes just visible in this photo.
lid, showing the Photo 17 shows the assembled
planking detail
and the neat fit
of the filler cap.
tank/crate with the filter (and a
muslin-cloth inner filter)
incorporated. The cloth inner is
PHOTO 15: Tank filler cap showing the edge-fillet to accommodate the rim of the mesh filter and the
centre-hole to allow the ‘knob’ to be attached.
PHOTO 16: Underside view of assembled tank, showing water-take-off. The part used was a standard ¼”
BSP hose-tail fitting – a custom-turned part could be used instead, if desired.
PHOTO 17: Top and front view of the assembled tank/crate, with filter inserted and muslin-cloth finer-
filter included within (white material visible part-way down the neck of the filter assembly).
17
13
made up of multiple layers of the
muslin cloth (four layers in our case,
but use as many as you like); this
provides an effective barrier to
water-borne particles, whilst not
impeding the water flow into the
tank, even with high flow rates from
the typical hose-and-header-tank
arrangements found at most model
engineering clubs.
The muslin was stitched around a
former made from a brass ring, which
was itself formed (i.e. rolled) from an
off-cut of brass sheet, soft-soldered
together at its ends to form the ring.
This ring needs to be a loose fit into
the neck of the filter (which tapers
slightly, making a tighter fit easy to
obtain, once the muslin has been sewn
in place – thanks, again, go to Mrs
Kenington for this bit). Both the
muslin inner filter and the mesh outer
filter are therefore easy to remove for
cleaning or replacement.
The lettering was applied using
general-purpose craft spray-paint and
a stencil – the font used for the stencil
is, somewhat unimaginatively, called:
‘stencil’. The stencil was cut using a
vinyl-cutter from a special-purpose
film designed for use with spray
paints. This film is both impervious to
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
 RAILWAYS

most paints and uses an adhesive

which is also not affected by the
solvents used in paint, yet is still easy
18 19
to peel off an already-painted (or
wood-stained) surface, without
damaging the paint. Isn’t modern
chemistry wonderful?!
At this point, it is perhaps time to
make a little confession, at the risk of
embarrassing a certain over-
enthusiastic young engineer. When
mounting the crate on the riding
truck, we found it necessary to slightly
increase the diameter of the pilot-
holes which we had drilled in the
bracing pieces surrounding the crate,
as they were a little tight for the
woodscrews we had chosen and we
didn’t want to risk splitting these thin
pieces of wood.
but authentic, family connection to truck – a similar ‘packing-crate’
There’s a hole in my... PHOTO 18: the project. The company even had its theme has been used for both the seat
This task was, of course, entrusted to Three-quarter own special blend of tea, so the column and the coal bunker. The
Matthew (as it is his project) using a view of riding reference is historically accurate, riding truck was exhibited at the
hand-drill, whilst dad was engaged truck with although I’m not sure that it was ever Midlands Model Engineering
elsewhere in the workshop (in other water-tank transported by railway. Exhibition in October, as an entry in
words not keeping an eye on him…). mounted. Truck Finally, Photo 21 shows the water the Junior Engineers’ category, and
In mitigation, it is worth pointing out is configured tank installed on the completed riding earned Matthew a second prize. EIM
that we have been working on our for raised-level
riding truck project, on and off, for
some months and there was a certain
operation.
20
‘enthusiasm’ on Matthew’s part to get PHOTO 19:
it finished, being as how we were so Rear-view.
close. This enthusiasm resulted in a
little carelessness when widening the PHOTO 20:
holes and one of them went right Toolbox/filler-
through the bottom of the tank! “Let cap handle
he who is without sin cast the first was sourced
stone” as they say – I’m sure we’ve all from dolls-
been there (particularly at age 14). house supplier
This left us in a bit of a hole (pun on ebay for a
intended) but fortunately it was quite few pounds.
easy to fix – so should you do At 1/12th scale
something similar, here’s what to do. it is perfect
The hole itself was 2mm in diameter;
fortunately, this is almost exactly the
size of the 3D printer filament used to
for a 5-inch
gauge model.
Tools made
21
make the inner tank in the first place. of metal and
Repairing the hole was therefore a most function
(relatively) simple matter of putting a – they are now
short length of filament in the hole held in place
and ‘plastic-welding’ it in place with a using epoxy.
small blowtorch (the sort that are No. 4 x 13mm
often sold as ‘cook’s’ blowtorches for self-tapping
making crème brulee and the like). screw attaches
The flame on the torch needs to be toolbox to
set to the absolute minimum, just filler-cap.
above the point where it extinguishes,
and the flame applied sparingly to the PHOTO 21:
top and bottom of the repair. Water-tank
Fortunately the lid (forming the whole (left) in-situ
of the top of the tank) is removable, on its riding
making access relatively easy. Once truck and
complete, the tank inner was again on display at
tested for leaks and the repair proved Midlands show.
to be good, saving us from having to Photo: Andrew
print a whole new inner tank. Charman
Photos 20 to 22 show the
completed crate. Calvert and Freeman Photos and
was my grandfather’s (Matthew’s great diagrams by the
grandfather’s) wholesale grocery authors except
business, so it was nice to add a small, where stated

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 25

 PETROL ENGINES
Not always a happy ending...
Patrick’s restoration exercise was thought-provoking but ultimately unsuccessful...
BY PATRICK CUBBON
O
ne afternoon in August 2017 a
visit I made to fellow model
engineer Peter’s workshop in
the Lincolnshire town of Bourne had
an unexpected ending. Peter’s interest
in his hobby is the construction of
steam engines. One in particular was
a Norden Lancashire mill engine (Neil
Wyatt series, Model Engineer 2013,
4452) and the fine workmanship and
detail Peter has produced is evident in
the picture reproduced here.
Whilst glancing round his
workshop a part-finished petrol
engine was spotted, looking rather
forlorn on a top shelf. Peter brought
the engine down and quite by surprise
offered it to me as a challenge to
complete. The engine had been given
to him some time ago but it had
remained untouched as steam takes
precedent in his workshop activities.
The engine has been given the
name ‘Bourne’ and is shown in the
picture beside Edgar Westbury’s
‘Whippet’ for comparison. My
detailed studies follow;
The engine
The engine in question is a four-stroke
unit with a 1-inch bore x 1-inch
stroke, of 13.86cc. It weighs 3.3kg, and
for comparison Westbury’s Whippet
26 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
engine weighs 2kg, and is also 1-inch
bore but ¾-inch stroke. Our engine is
very heavy for its capacity.
The design is of unknown origin
and appears to be by one individual
who probably made his own patterns
for the casting of the flywheel,
crankcase and cover plate, timing case
and cast-iron cylinder head.
The crankshaft is fabricated with
brazed webs and ball-bearing support,
the con rod of mild steel with a
split-bushed big end and a bushed
small-end. It has an aluminium piston
with a single ring, the camshaft is
skew-gear driven at half engine speed
and overhead valves are operated by
fabricated rocker levers.
The carburettor is to the Emmett
design published in Model Engineer
4271 in 2006, and deemed suitable for
a 15cc engine.
The engine design is of interest for
its simplicity. The general machining
of my unit is below average though the
parts fit together and have been
marked for positional identification.
On receipt the engine was missing
several components – tappets, the
timing case cover plate assembly,
ignition system, the petrol ‘tank’ and a
feed pipe. It was therefore judged to be
an abandoned project.
Stripping and rebuilding
I began by stripping the engine to
“On receipt examine its components, consider its
the engine design aspects, to assess and then
was missing carry out the work required for
several completion and trial running.
Beginning with the cylinder head,
components I drilled and tapped it for a ¼-inch
and it was long-reach 32TPI spark plug.
therefore Machining the head required setting it
judged at an appropriate angle. The head is
secured through four studs from the
to be an crank case and I found one fixing hole
abandoned was out of position. I rectified this by
project...” re-drilling the hole oversize. Finally a
cylinder head gasket was cut from
thick card and assembled with
Vaseline on either side.
A timing case cover was cut from
a sheet of aluminium. A brass bush
was necessary to support the end of
the crankshaft, and a clamped length
of Paxolin with a Hall-effect ignition
sensor added. The bush was fixed to
the cover using two socket-head
screws with nuts.
I mounted the flywheel on a
mandrel in an attempt to achieve true
running. Blow holes were evident on
the rear face of the cast-iron wheel
and it also proved difficult to
machine. The bore diameter was
oversize to the crankshaft and with a
single socket-head screw true running
of the flywheel could not be achieved.
The front cast surface was painted
black to improve appeal.
An aluminium pulley was bored
to fit in front of the flywheel to enable
belt starting using a hand-held 12-volt
electric starter motor.
Turning next to the crankshaft
LEFT: One and con rod, the split big-end was
good reason unacceptably tight on the crankshaft
Patrick’s journal, but by removal of excess web
model brazing free movement was achieved.
engineer The crank end float was reduced with
friend never shim washers.
got round to The piston top land was attached
taking a look by two countersunk screws, which
at the petrol allow the piston ring to be placed in
engine – a position without having to expand it
fine model of for assembly. The ring gap was found
a Norden to be zero in the cylinder bore, so
Lancashire material was removed from the ring
mill engine. horns by filing. A lead-in chamfer for
Assembled engine valve timing check
Bourne Whippet
INLET Open 10 10 btdc degrees
Close 42 50 abdc
EXHAUST Open 75 60 bbdc
Close 7 20 atdc
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 PETROL ENGINES

the piston ring was added to the lower

end of the cylinder to aid assembly.
The camshaft was held in a
three-jaw chuck attached to a rotary
table, the cam lift measured using a
dial gauge and the results plotted (see
table). The cams, secured by socket-
head screws from the nose, are poorly
machined with rough surfaces and
poor blending from the base circle to
the commencement of lift and from
the flank to the nose.
The surface condition was
improved by the use of an emery
block, however the cam profiles
remain in doubt – a recommended
solution would be to fit revised cams
to improve engine breathing and
reduce valve train loading held in
place by Loctite.
Tappets were machined from brass
to fit the holes in the timing case. The
contact point between the cam and
tappet may run off the tappet edge.
Due to poor cam profile the clearance
in the dwell period is excessive and refitted with Loctite Super-Glue with better and sadly this Bourne engine
could encourage the push rods to jump “Reworking no harm done. The spark plug was has no further potential from making
out of position, especially the inlet. would be repositioned to place its point just minor changes. Considerable
New tappets with an increased foot required inside the combustion chamber. component reworking would be
diameter would be recommended. most Under testing the engine required most notably in the valve
The Hall-effect ignition system demonstrated short bursts of running, train for possible future success. The
had a brass wheel machined for
notably in slightly aided by the starter belt drive engine remained a non-starter due to
fitment to the crankshaft. A 3mm the valve input with combustion and an audible leaking valves and frustratingly
earth magnet was inserted into the train for bark from the exhaust. further effort is not really justifiable.
side face of the wheel and held in place possible Disappointingly, however, I was not On a positive note Peter is to be
by Loctite. The wheel was secured able to achieve continuous running thanked for the enjoyable and
with 6BA socket head screw and was
future despite numerous adjustments to the thought-provoking time that I spent
adjustable for timing purposes. success...” Nemett carburettor settings. A glass in the workshop tinkering with the
A strip of Paxolin was channelled jar surface carburettor, with a slider Bourne engine.
to accept the Hall-effect sensor and air control close to the intake, showed The writer has since returned to
wiring and mounted in front of the no promise of success either. his own steam engine build – a single
timing case cover plate with the sensor I was left with the conclusions that cylinder version of ‘Borderer’ with
facing the earth magnet. This assembly the engine is not to a validated design, reversing gear as described in Model
can be advanced and retarded. the component accuracy needs to be Engineer in 1989. EIM
The body and cover sealing faces
of the Nemett carburettor were
re-machined to clean up their rough
surfaces. I found that the throttle
barrel to lever spindle was not
concentric causing binding on
assembly – this was cured by a light
cut to the spindle whilst the barrel was
held in the lathe chuck. The carb was ABOVE: Put
rebuilt with sealant on its cover faces. next to the
A spring was added to the jet screw, proven Edgar
and a screw to the body for throttle Westbury
opening adjustment. Whippet, the
I added a 5/6 inch x40TPI tapped Bourne engine
hole to the crankcase front cover plate is clearly a
at a height to indicate the oil level by heavyweight
overflow, and also to allow drainage. for its capacity.
The final touch was to make a
wooden base to mount the engine on RIGHT: The
along with a box to hold a 6-volt Bourne after
battery and coil, ignition control and Patrick’s work
switch unit, and the support pillar for on it – looking
a mustard jar petrol tank. The wooden much better,
base was varnished. but sadly still
inefficient.
Engine testing
Early on in the testing both valve Photos by
spring caps came adrift. They were the author

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 27

 RAILWAYS

A second Apple Valley loco

Simon concludes his series on his 7¹₄-inch gauge ride-on railway built to a strict budget,
with a major rebuild of a loco that started out as 5-inch gauge...
BY SIMON MACE – Part six of six

T
he second locomotive for the
Apple Valley Railway is actually
a re-build of a very unusual
1
5-inch gauge machine. This was
created by my father many years ago
for a friend as an experiment to see if
it was possible to build a ‘sit-inside’
loco for such a narrow gauge.
The chassis is constructed from
solid steel bar, and was originally 18
inches wide and 36 inches long. A
motor from a Sinclair C5 is
positioned, driving the wheels via a
worm-and-wheel gearbox and chains.
The axle boxes are mounted in
vertical slides, with springing
provided by rubber blocks.
The original design had the driver
sat low down, with his knees up under
the bonnet, and his feet either side of
the motor. The body was hinged so
that it could be pulled down over the
2 3
driver. The loco worked and proved
the concept, but was always quite
unstable and eventually fell into
disuse. Once my railway was built, the
chassis was very generously donated to
me to see if it could be made into a
useful 7¼-inch gauge loco.
The first task was to widen the
gauge; this was relatively simple as the
design of the wheels enabled them to
slide on the axles (once the locking
screws had been loosened). I also took
the opportunity to shorten the chassis
PHOTO 1: Loco no. 2 at work with a train of wagons. PHOTO 2: No 2 with its original boxcab body.
to 30 inches overall length, to better
match the other stock on my railway. PHOTO 3: The bare chassis – vertically mounted motor and sturdy construction clearly visible.
As my line is very short, with steep
gradients, I decided to reduce the PHOTO 4: Cutting out pieces of steel plate for the Orenstein & Koppel body.
overall gear ratio. I purchased a small
sprocket of the correct pattern from steel body, cutting these openings by
bearingboys.co.uk, and had it bored
out at a local engineering company to
hand would be difficult.
A friend recommended a local
4
match the worm-and-wheel gearbox’s firm that offered laser-cutting services
output shaft. The sprocket was then at good rates. He had recently used
welded to the output shaft. them to produce components for a
number of bridges on his Gauge 1
Design for the line garden railway. All I had to do was
The loco’s original body was made provide drawings of what I wanted,
from sheet plywood. This was long and the firm would do the rest.
gone, so I decided to build something Advanced CAD skills were not
more in keeping with my line. I work necessary (I sent in a drawing that I
to a rough scale of 1:5, giving a 3ft made in about an hour on Microsoft
gauge prototype, so to provide plenty paint!), the important thing being to
of internal space for batteries and include all of the dimensions that
such, I chose a 23-ton GE boxcab as would be needed.
the inspiration for my design. The body parts were cut from
Although the overall shape of this 2mm thick mild-steel sheet which was
loco is very simple, it features a large welded together as shown in the
number of cut outs for windows, pictures. Sections of steel angle were
which would need to be accurate and used to reinforce the corner joints.
consistent to capture the feel of the In order to achieve a good solid

28 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk


5 6
7 the four main body joints. This
8 The window frame sections were
PHOTO 5, 6: The new body comes together, seen here
before grinding the welds down.
PHOTO 7: With bonnet panel (and one battery) removed,
motor, drive coupling, and (klaxon style) horn can be seen.
PHOTO 8: The loco features an over-scale ammeter to
keep an eye on the load being placed on the electronics.
PHOTO 9, 10: The completed loco poses in the garden.
9 10
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
construction, I decided to seam weld
allowed me to grind the joints down to
a neat corner. A word of warning here,
don’t underestimate the effect that the
heat of welding can have on sheet
metal – I was lucky to spot the first
joint creeping apart due to expansion
before any harm was done. The best
approach is to make a series of tack
welds, spaced 2-3 inches apart to hold
everything together, then fill in the
remaining gaps once you are happy
that everything is square and true.
tack welded into the body from
behind, taking care to ensure that they
were correctly positioned first. I held
them in place for welding using
normal DIY masking tape. I find this
holds things long enough to get a few
tacks in place, and as long as only a
small quantity is used, it burns off
harmlessly if exposed to direct heat.
The roof panel was made by
cutting a length of 4-inch diameter
steel tube lengthways, using an angle
grinder, to create the curved edge
sections. These were then welded to a
rectangular plate, and small pieces of
angle iron welded inside to locate the
ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020
RAILWAYS
roof on the body. The thick (3mm)
plate roof is heavy enough not to need
further attachment.
I recently re-built the loco in the
style of a small Orenstein & Koppel
diesel, to approximately ⅓rd scale. All
body components are cut from 3mm
steel plate and welded together.
The body is painted using
Rustoleum spray cans. I find this
particular brand very easy to apply,
and a satin finish is available – far
more suitable for railway models than
high-gloss car paint.
Control of this loco is via a cheap
and cheerful speed controller bought
through ebay, power is supplied by
two 12-volt leisure batteries.
No. 2 is a heavy and low-geared
machine (thanks to the worm
reduction box) ideal for heavy loads or
days when the track is greasy. EIM
n Parts 1 to 4 of the series, describing
the creation of the Apple Valley Railway,
the building of its track, construction of
a simple battery locomotive and budget
carriages appeared in the August to
November 2019 issues of EIM, while
simple freight stock was covered in last
month’s issue.
29
 CONSTRUCTIONAL
Dougal – a 5-inch Barclay
Highly visible items, the side tanks, are next in line as young Sussex engineer Andrew’s
entry-level locomotive construction project moves closer to completion.
BY ANDREW STRONGITHARM – Part Twenty-One of a series
T
he four side tanks on my model
of ‘Dougal’ are a fairly
interesting building exercise for
two reasons. The first is that the two
front ones (originally designed for
water) would barely have enough
capacity to hold sufficient water to
complete any sort of distance on a
5-inch gauge track.
The second reason is that the
model is naturally front-heavy with
the majority of the weight coming
from the port & saddle block,
cylinders and steam chest which are
all forward of the front axle. I
therefore made the decision early on
that my tanks would all be cosmetic
and my water and coal supply would
come from a separate truck directly
behind the locomotive. The smaller
rear tanks were originally designed to
carry coal and any tools that may be
required for the locomotive and
likewise these would offer insufficient
capacity to hold enough coal to carry
out a long run.
In order to manufacture the tanks,
my mentor Andrew suggested making
each one from three lengths of steel
box section stood on end and welded
together. Therefore a 2-feet length of
30 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
60mm and the same again of 40mm
box section were purchased and each
piece cut into six 4-inch lengths.
The box section had corners which
were quite heavily rounded and these
were ideal to fill up with weld to give a
strong seam. It was also a good
opportunity to practice TIG welding,
something which might not be
considered a traditional model
engineering skill but one that proved
to be very useful at various times
throughout the build.
Once the individual pieces of box
section had been cut to length, I put The ones halfway through) and continued
each one in turn in the Bridgeport mill to fill the gaps until the weld was
to face off the ends. Three pieces at a
prototype roughly level with the side of the box
time were then laid down on a flat ‘Dougal’ section material.
surface and with the aid of a couple of loco is a
parallels to ensure they were level with 2ft 6in Fine finish
each other; I used numerous engineer’s gauge Now came the interesting bit – I had
clamps to hold them all together. to file back the weld until it was
To begin with, I tack-welded the Barclay completely flat and produced the
pieces of box section together at the 0-4-0 built appearance of a solid side tank
top and bottom of each seam and in 1946 for without any joints. For this I used
after checking the overall alignment I the Provan traditional files, a belt linisheer and
went back around filling up the voids. copious amounts of emery paper!
The welding took a while as the gap I Gasworks Following this there were a few
had to fill up was quite substantial. I in Glasgow areas that required more weld and
used a mixture of steel and stainless and today once these were seen to I repeated the
steel welding rods (I ran out of steel resident stage above until the sides of all four
tanks were completely flat.
on the The final task on the body of each
Welshpool tank was to remove all the marks left
& Llanfair behind by the emery paper. This was
Light achieved by hand using a red
Scotchbrite pad to leave a smooth
Railway in surface which could be painted at a
mid Wales. later date.
The bases of the tanks were the
next parts to make and fit. They were
all made from ¼-inch steel plate and I
machined a ¼-inch deep recess in the
bottom of each tank to accept them. I
used a ½-inch end mill to remove the
majority of the internal material
before swapping to a ¼-inch end mill
LEFT: The to tidy up the corners and to leave a
side tank from smaller radius. The bases were then
the original machined to fit and I manually filed
Dougal model the corners of every one as I fitted
loco drawings. them to each tank.
These show the Once all four bases had been
angled tanks individually fitted, I silver soldered
that the loco them on to the tanks and then
wore in early repeated the machining process
preservation described above on the top of the
– Andrew has tanks. This time however the recesses
chosen instead were designed to accommodate the
to model the top plate which holds the two filler
straight tanks lids on the front tanks and the pair of
fitted to the wooden seats which rest on the top of
loco today. the rear tanks. These recesses were
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk

4-inch deep again this time and I
followed the same process of using a
smaller end mill for the corners
(Photo 1).
The plates for the top of the front
tanks were made from 8-inch thick
steel and once again these were
individually fitted to their specific
tank. As per the real Dougal, these
plates sit slightly below the level of the
top of the tanks.
To finish off the front tanks, I
used photographs of the real Dougal
to make a pair of fake filler lids from a
piece of 2-inch round steel. I began by
turning the end down to a diameter of
14-inch x 7/16-inch long before
changing to a V-shaped lathe tool to
insert a groove 1/16-inch in from the
end of the material. This groove is
designed to give the impression of a
separate opening lid and I think it
looks quite effective.
I then parted off the whole filler lid
which included a further 3/32-inch
thick flange of the original 2-inch
diameter bar before repeating the steps
above for the second one. I set up the
dividing attachment on the Myford
lathe and one at a time drilled six holes
2.3mm in diameter and threaded them
6BA. These were 8-inch in from the
outside edge and each one was equally
spaced at 60 degrees.
Lock and load
Next, I made the fake hinge and
locking mechanisms out of various
pieces of 8-inch x 1/16-inch steel
channel section together with some
4-inch x 8-inch steel bar and
1/16-inch steel plate. Firstly, I cut four
pieces of channel section to 5/16-inch
in length. With them all sitting on
end, I then went on to drill a 1.7mm
hole 3/32-inch in from the top and
sides in all the pieces of channel.
For the hinges, I machined a
1/16-inch thick x 4-inch long step on
to a 5/16-inch length of the steel bar so
that it could rest on top of the channel
to make it look as if it was part of the
main lid. This was then silver soldered
inside the channel section but
importantly, the bar was now
positioned on the step 1/16-inch above
the top of the channel. As I had
already drilled the cross hole in the
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
“Working
1
handles
on fake
filler lids
– looking
back, I’m
not sure
why I made
them like
that...”
channel, I could simply use this as a
guide to continue the hole through the
bar before inserting a 10BA nut and
bolt to replicate the pivot for the lid.
I then concentrated on the locking
mechanism at the front and I cut out a
couple of 8-inch wide x 15/32-inch
long pieces of 1/16-inch steel plate
which I silver soldered on top of the
channel that I had previously cut to
size. I then filed a 8-inch wide x
4-inch long slot in the front of each
piece for the soon to be working
locking handles to go through. Yes
you did hear that right, working
handles on dummy filler lids and
looking back, I’m not sure why I made
them like that either!
The base for the handles was a
5/16-inch diameter x 4-inch thick
brass disc. I turned the first 8-inch
PHOTO 1: down to 4-inch in diameter and then
Finished pair drilled a 2.1mm hole and threaded
of side tanks – this 7BA before filing a 8-inch wide
these are slot through the middle of the 4-inch
the two at diameter section that I would later
the rear. silver solder the handle in to.
Next, held between a pair of
PHOTO 2: pliers, I heated a short length of
Detail of tank 8-inch brass round until it was
filler, modelled glowing bright red and bent it around
by referring a piece of 2-inch diameter material. I
closely to the repeated this process to create the
real thing. second handle and then cut the ends
off to leave a U-shape which I then
PHOTO 3: pushed in to the slot described above
Side tank filler
from above.
All photos in
3
this feature by
the author
ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020
CONSTRUCTIONAL
and silver soldered it in situ.
Finally, I cut two pieces of
3/16-inch diameter brass to 4-inch in
length for the hinges and drilled a
3.1mm hole through each of them.
Then I cross drilled these pieces of
tube and silver soldered a 4-inch
length of 7BA threads in the centre of
each of them. These were placed in the
middle of the channel and I pushed a
10BA bolt through to form the pivot.
This now rotated round for the 7BA
threads to fit through the slot that I
had cut in the plate on the top of the
channel. The two brass handles could
now be screwed down on these
threads to give the appearance of
working filler lids (Photos 2 & 3).
Bolting down
I could now bolt the tanks down to the
running plates and I began by drilling
a 4.8mm hole through the centre of
the base of the three pieces of welded
box section on each tank. I used the
8-inch thick running plates to their
full advantage, as I could simply bolt
straight on to them. The front tanks
were mounted centrally on the
running plates with their fronts in line
with the smokebox door. This left a
8-inch lip along both sides and a
1-inch gap from the front buffer beam.
The narrower rear tanks had to be
positioned off centre because of the
s
brake linkage so they only had a
31
 CONSTRUCTIONAL
4 5
1/16-inch lip from the outside edge,
which left roughly a 8-inch gap
between them and the boiler.
A mistake rescued
With one running plate at a time
mounted in the vice on the Bridgeport
mill, I drilled all 12 holes 3.9mm. It
wasn’t until after I had threaded them
2BA that I noticed two of the holes
looked like they were closer to each
other than the rest. I carefully
measured the spacing of the holes in
the base of the tanks to calculate how
far I had to pitch across when drilling
the running plate. It soon became
apparent that I had stopped one turn
short on the handle of the mill and
drilled the hole 2.5mm from where it
needed to be!
The solution was to turn a steel
plug the same diameter as the hole,
push it in and TIG weld around the
top and bottom of it. After cleaning
up any excess weld and filing it flat, I
re-drilled the hole in the correct
position, threaded it and placed the
tank on the plate to check the
alignment of the holes.
I made a batch of 12 stainless steel
2BA bolts to hold all four side tanks to
the running plates. These were
manufactured from 5/16-inch hexagon
which was turned down to 185 thou’
in diameter x 8-inch long. I then cut
a 8-inch length of 2BA threads,
6 7
32 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
which left 4-inch of plain section
nearest the head. Next, I parted off
each bolt, leaving a 8-inch thick
head, before chamfering the front face
of each bolt.
A fellow club member donated a
couple of pieces of 2-inch thick
hardwood for me to use as the seats on
the rear tanks. The finished
dimensions for these after machining
were 14-inch wide x 413/16-inch long
PHOTO 4: and I continued by machining a
Finished front 4-inch deep step around the bottom
tanks after of each one so that I could simply
mounting, with push them in to the recess that I had
dummy fillers. already machined in the top of the
rear tanks (Photos 4 & 5).
PHOTO 5:
Rear tanks A weighty issue
include pair of I mentioned earlier that the
well-modelled locomotive was naturally front heavy
wooden seats. and therefore I always intended to fill
the rear side tanks with ‘ballast’ to
PHOTO 6: even out the weight distribution. The
Clever use of tanks were effectively split into three
coat hook to separate compartments and it was my
remove lead intention to cast six removable lead
weights from weights. I had been gathering lead
the tanks . from friends and other ‘sustainable’
sources for a while before a melting
PHOTO 7: session was held to cast several large
Cast lead blocks. I then had the fun of
weights neatly machining six 15/16-inch square lead
machined to blocks which were 35/16-inch long. I
be a close fit used a large shell mill for this
in the tanks. operation and I remember vividly
the sight of lead swarf going
absolutely all over the workshop!
Once this was finished, I had to
round off the corners on the long sides
due to the internal webbing of the box
section and I drilled a 8-inch hole in
the centre of the top of each one which
I screwed a domestic wall hook into
that I used to remove the blocks with.
On the other end, I inserted a 8-inch
diameter x 5/32-inch deep counterbore
in the centre of each block which fitted
over the head of the bolts that hold the
bottom of the tanks on to the running
plates (Photos 6 & 7). EIM
Drawings in this
series reproduced
by kind permission
of A J Reeves.
Drawings, castings
and material for this project are
available from A J Reeves.
Tel: 01827 830894 E-mail: Sales@
ajreeves.com
Web: www.ajreeves.com
Digital back issues can be downloaded
or printed versions ordered from www.
world-of-railways.co.uk/engineering-
in-miniature/store/back-issues/ or by
phoning 01778 392484.
Next Month...
“During a visit to see Dougal in
Welshpool, I was informed that the
driver’s brake valve was a former DMU
one...” Andrew works on the brakes.
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
 STATIONARY STEAM

An old Mamod toy engine

Nostalgia time for many readers, as Jan-Eric takes a closer look at the toy that sparked a
model engineering interest in many a youngster. What, you didn’t have one?
BY JAN-ERIC NYSTRÖM

1
S
team toys, running on real live
steam, have always fascinated “They
kids as well as adults — and yours are not
truly is no exception! As a kid, I exact scale
remember two persistent wishes for
birthday or Christmas gifts which
models,
never materialized – a glass prism since they
with which to watch the solar are aimed
spectrum, and a ‘real’ steam engine. solely at
Maybe my parents were a bit the toy
apprehensive, since either toy could
prove to be dangerous; the former market..”.
might cause blindness, the latter
would scald you — unless you knew
how to use them! Though strangely
enough, I did receive a ‘Little
Chemist’s’ kit at the age of 11,
containing chemicals that would
require a thick heap of HAZMAT
or RoHS documents in today’s
crazy world!
Later in life, I was given a British
Mamod engine which used to belong
to a relative, now deceased. It appears
to have been made in the late 1960s
— it has seen a lot of use over the
years, evident by the severely burned
lacquer on the brass boiler, (Photo 1).). acting engine
The Mamod company had been — all of which were
founded in 1937 in Birmingham, and made at one time or another.
from the beginning specialized in live It has an oscillating cylinder,
steam models; its stationary engines which makes for a very simple ‘steam
and steam-operated road vehicle toys, chest’ for the entry and exit of the soft-soldered,
as well as miniature models of steam, and it is also only single-acting, which of course poses a risk of melting
workshop tools to be operated by the PHOTO 1: meaning that the steam pushes on the at the seams if it is heated with too
engines, are well known and still An oscillating- piston only from one end. This little water inside (silver-soldered
manufactured today, as are the 16mm cylinder, necessitates a substantial flywheel in boilers were introduced in 1969).
scale rail locomotives that came later. single-acting order to keep the engine running over However, the burners for these
They are not exact scale models, but reversible the ‘dead’ part of a revolution. It is engines were designed so that a boiler
since they are aimed solely at the toy Mamod steam also not self-starting; you need to give filled and fired according to
market. Other manufacturers engine toy made the flywheel a push once the boiler has instructions would not run dry before
specialize in more accurate models, in the 1960s. reached operating pressure. the fuel in the burner ran out.
▲

either as kits (Stuart Models comes to Clearly this toy The boiler of my engine is My Mamod has a ‘vaporizing
mind), or ready-to-run units. The has seen quite a
prices of these are of course much
higher than the stamped-metal toys
from Mamod and others.
bit of use over
the years. 2
PHOTO 2:
Many updates Mamod logo on
It is difficult to exactly date a Mamod side of firebox.
toy, since they have changed over the Surprisingly,
years, sometimes very frequently, and the decal has
there are scores of different survived the
combinations of features and details. heat! Note
The logo on the side of the firebox firebox vent
gives an indication, but no exact date, holes on either
(Photo 2). side of decal,
This engine, probably an SE2 or which is shaped
SE2A model, is not one of the accordingly.
simplest, which had the cylinder and
flywheel mounted on top of the boiler, Photos by
nor is it a two-cylinder, or double- the author

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 33

 STATIONARY STEAM
spirit burner’, (Photo 3). It is filled
with ‘meths’ (methylated spirits or
denatured alcohol), and inserted into
the firebox under the boiler.
After a few minutes, the water
boils and the pressure builds up. The
filling cap, seen at left in Photo 4
alongside the whistle, also functions
as a rudimentary safety valve — seen
close-up in Photo 5.
There is also a water level
indicator in the form of a hole with a
34 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
3 4
5 axle – this
threaded plug — to fill the boiler
correctly, you remove both this and
the filling cap, and add water at the
top until it overflows at the water-level
hole. Later models have sight glasses
in place of the simple plug.
The vaporizing spirit burners were
not produced for very long, since there
were reports of ‘exploding’ burners. A
true explosion is extremely unlikely, it
was rather the situation arising if a hot
burner was re-filled; the ensuing
6 PHOTO 5:
alcohol fumes causing a rapidly
expanding fireball. This also could
happen if the flame was still burning
when the burner was filled — outside,
in sunlight, an alcohol flame is
virtually invisible!
Properly used according to
instructions, these burners were safe,
but in any case, they were re-designed
to use solid fuel (hexamine tablets, for
example ‘Esbit’), so this risk was
eliminated. The news reports about
the spirit burner accidents did hurt
sales for some time, though (the solid
fuel tablets were also considered rather
less efficient – Ed).
Photo 6 and 7 show the steam
piping and the simple principle for
reversing the direction of rotation of
the engine. There is one central pipe
PHOTO 3: bringing the steam from the boiler
Vaporizing into the ‘steam chest’ — basically just
spirit burner, a brass plate soldered to the oscillating
supplied with cylinder. There is a single hole in this
engine. Note plate, which at the right moment
belt drive pulley coincides with the holes at the end of
on flywheel the steam piping as the cylinder is
enabled you
rocking. Depending on the position of
the cylinder’s pivot point, ingeniously
to run other adjusted with the reversing lever, the
equipment, not steam enters the cylinder when the
just the engine! crank pin (Photo 8) is either on top or
bottom of its motion.
PHOTO 4: If on top, the piston pushes the
Combined filler crank and the flywheel in a clockwise
cap and safety direction, if on bottom, the rotation is
valve, and counter-clockwise. The cylinder’s
spring-loaded oscillating motion then brings the
steam whistle steam hole to either one of the exhaust
on top of boiler, openings, above or below the entry
and water-level hole – simple, but efficient! The spent
plug on boiler steam exits into the smoke stack,
‘backhead’. providing a nice visual effect, too.
Filler cap has
Note in Photo 7 that there is a hole
in the reverser lever — this is not a
decoration, but is intended for
spring-loaded attaching your own reversing
plunger that mechanism. There are a lot of other
acts as safety holes on the base plate of the engine,
valve. After they are all spaced at half-inch
years of both intervals, the standard for Meccano
use and disuse, parts. In this way, you could build and
rubber washers run your own mechanical designs on
on this and steam power!
water-level plug
have crumbled Used or new
and need to Today, a Mamod engine can be
be replaced. obtained either used on ebay and
similar auction sites, or brand new,
PHOTO 6: from sellers specializing in metal toys
Three thin or the Mamod company itself. There
copper pipes are other manufacturers of similar
connect to toys, such as Wilesco in Germany and
‘steam chest’. Jensen in the USA. Be prepared to pay
Central pipe about £150 for a brand new engine of
brings steam the type shown here, or for a simple
from top of road vehicle.
boiler, while Complete steam plants featuring
outer ones are separate boilers, double-acting
exhaust pipes twin-cylinder engines and electric
leading to generators are also available from
the chimney. several manufacturers, but the prices
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
 STATIONARY STEAM

7 8
PHOTO 7:
Simple reverser
mechanism
moves oscillating
cylinder’s pivot
point, changing
steam inlet to
outlet and
vice versa.

PHOTO 8:
Crank and
counterweight
is simple metal
stamping.
End of piston
rod has brass
charged for these ‘luxury toys’ can run ‘bearing’. Very repairs. Always check with the seller Useful contacts
into thousands. loose tolerance that no parts have been lost — if you Mamod: www.mamod.co.uk
On the auction sites, you can here actually don’t have the proper tools, fabricating
Wilesco: www.wilesco.de/en/
obtain a worn-out engine for a improves the a new piston or safety valve (often
pittance, but be prepared to do some engine’s running. missing) can be a problem! EIM Jensen: www.jensensteamengines.com

REVIEWS
Miniature Railway Album – England & Wales, less than One Foot Gauge
By Peter J Green

T his is a follow-up album from prolific

publisher Mainline & Maritime, the first
having unsurprisingly covered miniature railways
of more than one foot gauge. This edition features
lines from 10¼-inch gauge all the way down to
model engineering club tracks of 5-inch and
3½-inch gauge.
Basically it’s a book that does what it says on
the cover – each page features a large-format
colour picture of a miniature line, accompanied
by a fairly brief caption. The coverage is very
wide, stretching right across the country and
throwing up some interesting contrasts, such as
the Northampton SME’s raised track on one side
Published by Mainline & Maritime Tel: 01275 845012.
Email: orders@mainlineandmaritime.co.uk Web: mainlineandmaritime.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-900340-53-3 Price: £16.95
of a spread and the temporary ground-level line
laid for Galas at the Talyllyn Railway on the
other. However there are one or two notable
omissions, such as the fabled 9½-inch gauge
Downs Railway.
The breadth of coverage means most lines are
illustrated by a single picture though some
high-profile operations get
more. The pictures are of
good quality but they are
basically all that the book is
about – some more
extensive captions would
have added to its value...

LETTERS
Beating lubricator steam blow-back...

I
n his article describing the lubricator for
‘Dougal’ (EIM January 2020), Andrew
Strongitharm touches on the issue of
steam blow-back into the oil tank. While he
rightly states that the system must be primed,
failure to do so is unlikely to be the main
cause of steam blow-back, and it’s important
to understand why this should happen.
Most lubricators employ a ball and a
compression spring to act as a non-return
valve, and steam blow-back occurs when the
spring fails to seat the ball correctly on the
suction (non-delivery) stroke of the pump.
Many years ago, Martin Evans hit the nail
on the head when he said that a coil spring
cannot be relied on to centre the ball over the
delivery hole, and may actually
push it off-centre. He therefore
recommended a short push-rod,
to be interposed between the
spring and the ball.
The push-rod can best be
described as a short cylindrical
slug of brass, made to a close
sliding fit in the bore, and having three or connect directly to either the point of delivery
four flutes along the side for the oil to pass by. or the lubricator).
This loads the ball at its exact centre, Having experienced steam blow-back
ensuring that it will seat correctly over the with two of my locomotives, resulting in a
delivery hole. tank full of water and no oil delivery to the
The sketch should make things clear cylinders, I have modified their oil check
(note that I have shown an inline check valve, valves as described above. Since then, I have
but the design can be easily adapted to had no further problems. Ron Head

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 35

 GENERAL NEWS
SMEE model engineering training
courses return by popular demand
T
he SMEE (Society of Model &
Experimental Engineers) will
launch its training courses for
2020 on 8th February with the
successful programme introducing
model engineering to newcomers.
Run over three Saturdays and held
at the SMEE’s headquarters in
Marshall House, South London, the
course includes the basics of setting
up a workshop, what’s essential to buy
in the way of tools and where to buy
them cheapest, key model engineering
operations and basic workshop safety.
The course is then followed in
May by the Part 2 or ‘Polly’ course
during which students will be able to
put their newly learnt skills to use to
make a working model steam engine
and boiler.
More than 150 students have
previously taken the courses and
nearly all of them have gone on to
develop further model making skills.
One of the 2019 students, Ian Grant,
discovered the course while visiting
the London Model Engineering
Exhibition at Alexandra Palace.
“Going on the courses was a great
help in setting up a workshop so I
knew what to buy – I reckon the tips
on where to buy tools saved me a large
part of the course cost!” Ian said.
“Although I did metalwork at
school I had no engineering
experience so the course was a great
help. Even better, the SMEE training
gave me an impetus to make things. I
made the Polly model and am now
36 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
making another. I plan to make a HQ which has a built-in workshop.
Stuart engine afterwards. ” More information about the SMEE
Ian is a civil engineer currently courses is available on the website
working on the Silvertown Tunnel www.sm-ee.co.uk, or by writing to
project in London. He added that the SMEE Courses, Marshall House, 28
tuition was excellent and he liked the Wanless Road, London, SE24 0HW.
way everything was demonstrated
with members around to give one to
one advice. “The course is excellent
value for money,” he said.
Although he now has his own ABOVE:
workshop Ian also used the SMEE Attendees
facilities to make parts including to the SMEE
rolling boilers. courses are
given proper
Wide-ranging hands-on
Other SMEE training courses this tuition in the
year include an introduction to techniques
milling and a ‘hands on’ course for of model
members only teaching tool grinding. engineering.
The SMEE’s members come from a
wide variety of backgrounds and with CENTRE Dave Billmore
diverse interests. LEFT: A n We are very sad to report the
The Society includes a Gauge One student on the passing on 18th December of Dave
group, an Engine Builders group and 2018 course, Billmore, after a long illness.
the Digital Group which meet online Stephen Hall, Dave, father of EIM technical
or at the society’s Marshall House receives the editor Harry Billmore, contributed
Poly prize the feature on the building of a
from SMMT 7¼-inch gauge ‘Scamp’ locomotive,
president featured in the December 2019 and
Mike Chrisp. January issues of the magazine.
While better known in the full-size
LEFT: Stuart narrow gauge arena, including
Budd, another many years as a driver on the
SMEE course Welshpool & Llanfair Light
student, used Railway, Dave was also an
the skills he enthusiastic model engineer, the
learnt when many organisations he was involved
building this with including the Stockholes Farm
Pembleton car. Miniature Railway.
We are sure readers will join us
Photos: Mike in sending condolences to Dave’s
Chrisp, Richard wife Kate and sons Sam and Harry.
Dedman, SMEE
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
 CLUB NEWS

Weathering the storms

Some unwelcome challenges for some of our clubs, but exciting prospects for others...
COMPILED BY ANDREW CHARMAN

B
y the time you read these words
we will be at least three weeks
into the new year, in fact the
new decade, but as this column is
being written between Christmas and
New Year most of the clubs are in a
slight slumber period, many hopefully
celebrating the success of their Santa
Special trains for the public. Many a
‘purist’ model engineer may scoff at
such runs without realising just how
much a successful Santa season can
do for a club’s funds and its ability to
provide better facilities for its
members later in the year.
As I write these words the news is
full of the terrible bush fires ravaging
Australia, not helped by soaring
weather temperatures, and we
certainly feel for our fellow model
engineers in the country and hope
that they are staying safe.
Elsewhere in the model
engineering world the weather has
been causing very different problems
and we are sure all readers will join
us in sending our thoughts to the
Centurion SME in Pretoria, South
Africa. As can be seen from the
pictures on this page, the area in
which the club’s highly scenic
900-metre long track is located has
been badly hit by flooding.
Worst-ever floods
Chairman Leon Kamffer, writing in
the Centurion Smokebox newsletter,
described the floods that hit its track
on 8th December as the worst in the
club’s history – while there had been
floods previously, never had they
seriously invaded the clubhouse and
library or reached the height of the
windows in the workshop or
caretaker’s flat.
“Our locos,
rolling
stock, tools
and library
cannot
survive
repeated
events like
these...”
including raising the level of its
rolling stock storage and Leon
admits that “we do not have the
resources to do it at the pace that we
want, so all assistance and
contributions will be appreciated.
Our locos, rolling stock, tools and
library cannot survive repeated
events like these.”
Certainly the Centurion SME is a
club facing major challenges and we
send all good wishes for them to beat
the ravages of the weather. And
flooding certainly appears to be a
growing issue for our miniature
railways, with UK tracks suffering
equally in recent times, just one
example being the Echills Wood
TOP RIGHT Railway near Sutton Coldfield. The
& RIGHT: 7¼-inch gauge line was forced to
The extent of cancel some public running days in
the flooding October after much of its track was
that hit the submerged under floodwater.
Welling & District ME, which as we
have previously reported in these
pages has been under an uncertain
future for more than a decade.
The Welling track is located on a
site close to Falconwood Railway
Station and the club was warned as
long ago as 2008 that it would have to
relocate at some point, as its site
would be required for a head-house
forming part of a cable tunnel being
built from Bexley to Woolwich by
National Grid to cope with increased
electricity demands in London.
Several delays to the project then
followed, a number of stated restart
dates passing with no activity, but in
2018 the club was told that its
premises would certainly be required
in 2019, sparking a renewed search
for a new site while the usual
programme of Public Running Days
and Parties continued.
▲

The water took two days to Centurion SME Some better news from the The latest news from the club
subside and lots of mud and rubble in Pretoria,
was washed into the premises. “A South Africa,
massive effort was needed to salvage on the 8th
our assets, clean the buildings and December, and
prevent further damage. Efforts the rubbish
started on Wednesday to clean away it left behind,
the mud in the buildings, and it took is clear from
nearly a week to clean and lubricate these photos
all the locomotives and rolling kindly supplied
stock,” Leon wrote, adding that by the club’s
damage been suffered to “basically Jon Shaw. The
everything”, and thanking all the club is now
club members, public, council and a being forced to
plastics company, Plastics SA, that consider radical
assisted with the clean-up operation. measures to
The club is now looking to take try and prevent
radical measures to protect its assets future damage.

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 37

 CLUB NEWS
indicates that it will remain at
Falconwood for 2020, and a list of
running dates has been received by
EIM and will appear in our diary. It’s
good news that the club appears set
for a running season but surely all
concerned must hope for some
long-term certainty before too long?
Good to hear from the North
Wales ME, the editor recalling a
highly enjoyable day at the club in
2018 when it opened its new track on
the West Shore at the coastal resort
of Llandudno. I certainly agree with
the club’s claim that the track must
have one of the best locations in the
UK – it’s a couple of hundred yards
from the sea, with the magnificent
backdrop of the Great Orme to one
side and the Menai Straits and
Snowdonia to the other.
North Wales member Keith Jones
has recently completed a Don Young
designed 5-inch gauge ‘Aspinall’
locomotive with local connections,
the model based on British Railways
(ex Lancashire & Yorkshire) loco no
38 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
52119 that languished on the scrap
line at Llandudno Junction shed
(6G). The note from the club tells us
that the full-size loco was a favourite
with all trainspotters in the 1960s
and the model goes as well as it
looks. Keith has now completed at
least four steam locomotives and we
are told his next project will take him
into the field of horology. Excellent,
perhaps write it up for EIM?
Among many club journals
received at EIM Towers (please keep
them coming!) is the latest from the
Worthing SME, within which is a
delightful tale contributed by
chairman Kevan Ayling, paying
tribute to club patron Dennis
Marshall who passed away in 2019.
It seems Dennis ran a company
that had been contracted to
manufacture equipment for a very
well-known airline, supposedly the
world’s favourite... Having ordered
the steelwork, the airline then
changed the specification, rendering
much of what had been supplied, and
paid for, redundant. As a result, the
Worthing Club’s desire for a
footbridge over its track to the
clubhouse, a project long put on hold
due to the cost, suddenly became
highly possible!
“Alas we didn’t get any air miles!”
Kevan quips, rounding off a lovely
tale demonstrating how you can
never second-guess the provenance
of the facilities at our clubs...
The cover of the latest edition of
Criterion, the newsletter of the High
Wycombe ME, unsually features the
club’s woven shirt badge, but for a
very good reason. ‘Est 1920’ states
the badge, a reminder that the
coming season will be a very special
one as the club clocks up its
centenary. No suggestions yet as to
how this auspicious milestone will be
“Does marked but we are sure the club will
be planning something suitable and
it really we look forward to reporting on the
matter celebrations in these pages.
that we
can no Embracing change
A thought-provoking piece in the
longer say latest edition of Vectimod, the
“I made newsletter of the highly active Isle of
all that?” Wight ME, addresses the fact that
times are changing and that the club
should ensure it changes with them.
Club secretary Roger Scott-Roberts,
penning the piece, argues that clubs
and societies that are determined to
resist evolution will disappear.
Model engineering has changed a
great deal, Roger says, the demise of
heavy industry in the UK making
‘true’ engineers a rare breed and
reflected in the hobby, with a new
breed of model engineer. Modellers
who would previously have spent
countless hours making parts in
their workshop that would not be
ABOVE visible on their completed model are
& LEFT: now far more relaxed about buying
The fine ready-made examples online.
Lancashire Does it really matter that we can
& Yorkshire no longer say “I made all that?” Roger
Aspinall loco asks. In some places regulation
built in 5-inch makes such complete builds far more
gauge by difficult, particularly where boilers
North Wales are concerned – even if you have the
ME member skill to build your own boiler rather
Keith Jones. than have it built professionally,
Photos: North today’s regulations mean selling a
Wales ME model with a home-built boiler is
much more difficult than it once was.
FACING Roger expands the theme in his
PAGE: well-written piece, arguing that model
Three views engineers today have much wider
of the mystery interests than spending hours in a
loco found workshop and clubs must reflect that.
in a loft – do Even clubs such as the Isle of Wight,
any readers in the enviable position of being
recognise the under no pressures, owning its site
type? Photos outright, need to evolve, to welcome
courtesy Roger new projects put forward by members.
Backhouse, Roger concludes; “The Society
SMEE can’t afford to stand still or like the
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
 CLUB NEWS

dinosaurs, it will become extinct.”

Wise words we reckon, but what do
other readers think?

Mystery engine
The extensive Journal of the Society
of Model & Experimental Engineers,
the SMEE to most of us, is always a
welcome read and amongst the 56
pages of the latest issue is an
interesting mystery, a plea for
information from Roger Backhouse
of the York SME.
Roger reveals how he was
contacted by a York resident whose
son discovered an engine in the loft
of his Bedfordshire house.
He’d like to bring the engine
back to working order but has no
idea of its provenance and Roger
adds that there is nothing like it in
the SMEE collection.
“It looks as if it was intended for a
model boat; the layout and angled full-size steam roller and more. And
chimney suggests a possible launch apparently it’s perfectly possible to
engine, but it has a small flywheel visit the collection, as free tours take
rather than a propeller connection so place on the last Friday of each
was probably never fitted to a boat,” month between 1.30 and 3.30pm. You
Roger adds. must book ahead, on 0121 348 8231
The oscillating cylinders work or mcc@birminghammuseums.org.
okay, one side appears to have a uk. Editor makes a note...
lubricator while the boiler possesses We previously reported on the
six vertical fire tubes, probably once Nottingham Club’s station revamp
fired by a meths burner underneath. project and this has progressed
There are no longitudinal stays and markedly, with the new loop being
oddly no sign of a safety valve. used for the Bonfire Night public
The pictures of said engine are on runs. Certainly the work is looking
this page – does it ring any bells with impressive, including the creation of
readers? If so drop us a line and we’ll a new shunting yard and relocation
happily pass on your correspondence to a more prominent position of the
to Roger. club’s imposing metal logo sculpture,
The SMEE owns an impressive based around a cogged wheel.
selection of models, many of which Bristol ME chairman Norman
have been gifted to the society over Rogers contributes his final column
the years, and three more joining the to the club’s latest newsletter as he is
collection are illustrated in the new standing down from his post at the the club’s track at Ashton Gate, a
Journal. The superb models, all forthcoming AGM. Norman takes feature of this column over the past
gifted by Ron Harris and displayed at the opportunity to warn members couple of years, seem now to have
s
the SMEE ‘Work on the Table’ that while the issues over the lease of been resolved for the at least the time
meeting on 5th October, include a
beam engine built by Ron’s father
Dudley, Ron’s own 9-cylinder Pratt &
Whitney Wasp Junior radial engine
and a 14-cylinder Pratt & Whitney
Wasp twin R1830 radial engine, both
built to 1:6 scale.

A hidden museum
An interesting aside in Kingpin, latest
newsletter from the Nottingham
SME, reveals a museum facility that
many might not be aware of. It’s the
Collection Centre of Birmingham
Museum, which apparently provides
a home for some 80 per cent of the
museum’s collection under one roof.
The main section consists of 24 rows
of racking, 12 shelves high, and on
the bottom row includes a host of
miniature steam locomotives.
There’s a second hall, full of
Austin Rover cars, motorcycles, a

www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 39

 CLUB NEWS
being, it is no time to be complacent.
“The Society’s future is not assured, it
needs members to be brave and help
shape its future,” Norman writes, a
refrain repeated at many a club up
and down the country...
Elsewhere in the newsletter
railway manager Rebecca Strong
reports that all tickets for the club’s
Santa Special trains were sold on the
same day that they went on sale –
very impressive, that’s the kind of
demand you get when chart-topping
pop bands go on tour...
Rebecca adds that plans are afoot
for a new locomotive for the ground-
level track, and that the club will be
“going green” by making the new loco
all electric. More details are for now
still secret, she adds mysteriously...
Even in the depths of winter
40 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
times are never quiet at the Rugby
ME, and the latest electronic
newsletter highlights a host of
activity including the installation of
a new crossover at the station opened
last summer (see picture on the
opposite diary page).
A second crossover is planned,
making use of some of a new stock of
rail that recently arrived from
Hertfordshire. This stock will also
allow the relaying of the club track’s
‘back straight’ overlooking the valley
during the winter.
Meanwhile work is underway to
complete the club’s new signalling
system around the whole circuit.
This is an impressive setup and the
Rugby club’s Chris Hill, one of the
team involved in creating the system,
has written a feature on it which we
will be running in EIM shortly.
We reported in the December
Club News pages on the major
ABOVE & overhaul of the Rugby club’s loan
ABOVE locomotive, East African Garratt
RIGHT: ‘Mount Kilimanjaro’ and EIM
Progress on correspondent Edward Parrott and
restoration his team have continued to make
of Garratt good progress with the work.
‘Mount The boiler is now ‘plumbed in’
Killimanjaro’ and work has been carried out in the
at the Rugby smokebox to make the many
Club has connections to the steam feeds and
been rapid exhaust outlets. We look forward to
and the loco this engine hopefully returning to
has certainly action in 2020 and featuring in steam
moved on in these pages.
from when we
last pictured it Colourful change
in December. There’s a new editor at 7¼-inch
Photos: Edward Gauge News, the glossy A4 format
Parrott, magazine of the 7¼-inch Gauge
Rugby ME Society, and Matt Fairweather has
certainly produced a dramatic new
LEFT: A new look to the magazine, highlighted by
colourful its large-format colour photos.
look for the Featuring in the magazine is a
71/4-inch full report on the Society’s AGM
gauge Society meeting at the City of Newport
magazine. SME, during which the annual
awards were presented and which
appears to have been a highly
successful event. Meanwhile there
are mixed tidings in the news pages
– both the Stockholes Farm
Miniature Railway and East
Somerset SMEE making progress
with new tunnels at their tracks, but
also describing the impending
closure of the Garden & Woodland
Railway in Thame, Oxfordshire.
Built in the 1970s, the brainchild of
the late Ted Martin and described as
one of the most extensive and highly
detailed 7¼-inch gauge lines in the
county, it is being closed as the land
is required for housing development.
A newcomer to the selection of
club newsletters we receive is the
neatly named Trackerjack, the
quarterly publication of the Teeside
Small Gauge Railway. I admits to not
having previously been aware of this
club, perhaps not surprising as this is
only the second edition produced of
the newsletter, a new innovation to
the club which is based at the north
end of Preston Park Museum in
Stockton-on-Tees.
Formed in the 1990s, the club
now has the use of a dual-gauge
5-inch and 7¼-inch ground-level line
and a raised 3½-inch/5-inch track.
On a good running weekend, we are
told, they can see 1000 visitors, which
is impressive.
One of the more recent TSGR
innovations, operational since 2015,
is a complex signalling system, fully
described in Trackerjack (I just love
writing that...), featuring complete
interlocking of points and signals and
train indicators.
TSGR is another club looking
forward to an important milestone
this year, celebrating the 25th
anniversary of its first public running
in 1995, and John Palmer, editor of
Trackerjack (okay, I’ll stop now...)
appeals for memories of the early
days, inspired by an article on the
building of both the club’s tracks he
found in a 2000 copy of... EIM!
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
 FEBRUARY DIARY
EVERY SUNDAY
(Weather permitting)
Bournemouth SME public running,
Littledown Pk, BH7 7DX,
11am-3.30pm
Canterbury SME (NZ) Public running
from 1pm at Halswell Domain
Fylde SME Public running at Marsh
Mill, Thornton Cleveleys, FY5 4AB
from 1pm.
Kings Lynn & District SME public rides,
Lynnsport Miniature Rly, PE30 2NB,
11am-3pm
North Wilts ME public running, Coate 4 Romney Marsh ME meeting, Judging
Water Railway, Swindon, SN3 6AA
Southport MES Public running at
Victoria Park 11.30am – 4.30pm
Tyneside SME Members Day,
Exhibition Pk, Newcastle, NE2 4AA
Urmston DSME Running Day,
Abbotsfield Pk, Manchester
M41 5DH, 11am
Wigan MES public rides, Haigh
Woodland Park, School Lane,
Haigh, PM
Wirral MES Public running, Royden
Pk, Frankby, 1-3.30pm.
EVERY
EVERYWEDNESDAY
WEDNESDAY
(Weather permitting)
Bournemouth SME public running,
Littledown Park, BH7 7DX,
11am-3.30pm
Kings Lynn & District SME public rides,
Lynnsport Miniature Rly, PE30 2NB,
11am-3pm
Tyneside SME Members Day,
Exhibition Pk, Newcastle NE2 4AA
Wigan MES public rides, Haigh
Woodland Park, School Lane,
Haigh, PM
1 Isle of Wight ME Open Afternoon,
Broadfields, Cowes PO31 7NN,
1.30pm
1 SMEE meeting, Reconstruction of a
WWII Turing-Welchman Bombe’ by
John Harper, Marshall House, London 17 Lancaster & Morecambe ME
SE24 0HW, 2.30pm
Details for inclusion in this diary must be received at the editorial office (see page 3)
at least EIGHT weeks prior to publication. Please ensure that full information is given,
including the full address of every event being held.
Whilst every possible care is taken in compiling this diary, we cannot accept
responsibility for any errors or omissions
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
1 Tiverton ME Running Day at
Rackenford, Contact Chris Catley
01884 798370
2 Wagga Wagga SME public running,
New South Wales, Australia,
10.30am
3 Lancaster & Morecambe ME Informal
Evening, Cinderbarrow, Tarn Ln, near
Yealand Redmayne, 7.30pm
4 North Wales ME meeting, An
entertaining evening with Harold
Jones, Craig y Don Community
Centre, Llandudno LL30 1TE.
Models by Harry Paviour, Rolfe Lane,
New Romney, Kent, 7.30pm
5 Leeds SME meeting, Drill sharpening
by Derek Brown, Mid Yorkshire Golf
Club, Darrington, WF8 3BP, 7.30pm
6 Wirral ME Club Night, WI Hall,
Thornton Hough, CH63 1JL, 7.30pm
7 Portsmouth ME AGM, Tesco Fratton
Centre, Portsmouth.
11 Romney Marsh ME Members’ Social
Afternoon, Rolfe Lane, New Romney, 22 SMEE meeting, Challenge of Larger
Kent, 2pm
12 High Wycombe ME meeting, An
Indian Railway Journey by Peter
Rayner, Rosetti Hall, Holmer Green,
HP15 6SU, 8pm
12 Norwich SME meeting, Resuscitation
a vital subject for us all by John
Nodgson, Eaton Pk, NR4 7AU
13 Worthing SME Club meeting, Field
Place, Durrington BN13 1NP, 7.30pm
14 Tiverton ME Meeting,Talk on his
latest projects by Anthony Mount,
Old Heathcoat Comm Ctre, Tiverton,
2.30pm Contact Chris Catley 01884
798370
15 Isle of Wight ME Members’ Day,
Broadfields, Cowes PO31 7NN,
1.30pm
16 Wagga Wagga SME public running,
New South Wales, Australia,
10.30am
Auction Night, Cinderbarrow, Tarn
Ln, near Yealand Redmayne, 7.30pm
18 Model Steam Road Vehicle Society 22 York ME meeting, Building a Corpet
meeting, Longford Village Hall, Loovet by Richard Gibbon,
Gloucester, GL2 9EL, 8pm Dringhouses YO24 2JE, 7pm
18 Nottingham SME meeting, 23 National 2½ -inch Gauge Association
Boilermaking challenges & outcomes Pre-season get-together, North West
by Norman Smedley, Ruddington, Leics SME, Whitwick, Coalville,
NG11 6JH, 7pm, contact Tony 10.30am-4pm
Knowles 01623 795242
23 Tiverton ME Running Day at
18 Romney Marsh ME meeting, Narrow Rackenford, Contact Chris Catley
Gauge Railways including China & 01884 798370
Malaysia, Rolfe Lane, New Romney,
Kent, 7.30pm 27 Worthing SME AGM, Field Place,
Durrington BN13 1NP, 7.30pm
19 Bristol ME meeting, Robot Bodies
and how to Evolve them by Alan
Winfield, Begbrook Social Club,
BS16 1HY, 7.30pm
19 Grimsby ME AGM, Waltham
Windmill, DN37 0JZ, 7.30pm
19 Leeds SME meeting, Three Short ME
Topics, Mid Yorkshire Golf Club,
Darrington, WF8 3BP, 7.30pm
20 Wirral ME Meeting, Shipbuilders
Shipwrecks & Suffragists by Mike
Royden, WI Hall, Thornton Hough,
CH63 1JL, 7.30pm For most clubs Winter is a time of
track maintenance, here at Rugby.
adding a new crossover in the
Models by David Hatherill, Marshall equally new station.
Hse, London SE24 0HW, 2.30pm Photo: Rugby ME
Coming next
month in...
A new Muncaster
engine build project
Painting and lining the
5-inch gauge Spinner
Full report of London
Model Engineering Show
Jan-Eric details methods
for cutting steel plate
Milling techniques
using the lathe
Steam Plant boiler
reaches its finale
And much more!
March issue on sale 20th February
Contents correct at time of going to press but subject to change
ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 41
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www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk ENGINEERING in MINIATURE | FEBRUARY 2020 45
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46 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk

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E: modelengineerssupplies@gmail.com
Manufacturer of 5 inch gauge
diesel outline battery electric locos
and accessories
Tel: 01780 740956
Precision machines made in Germany
for the discerning engineer!
EXCLUSIVE
IMPORTERS FOR
We regularly ship worldwide
Please contact us for stock
levels and more technical detail
All of our prices can be
found on our website
sales@emcomachinetools.co.uk
www.emcomachinetools.co.uk
50 FEBRUARY 2020 | ENGINEERING in MINIATURE
PROPERTY FOR RENT webuyanyworkshop.com
- Devon
Home workshops cleared,
3 bedroom bungalow good prices paid, especially
T: 07811 768382 with easy access to M5
and 20 minutes from for those with either Myford
Exeter with private railway 7 or 10 lathes.
AP Model Engineering (3 1/2 Gauge GL) set in a
supplies the largest range of
country garden, Finder’s fee paid if you
battery electric diesel outline offering well-presented
ready-to-run locomotives,
put in me touch with a
and spacious
workshop for sale that
accommodation
including integral I purchase.
7¼" scale and 3½" scale. Quality workshop space
products at affordable prices! Send your photos to
£800 pcm andrew@webuyanyworkshop.com
Tel: 07793 421462 Or call me on 07918 145419
stephen_harris30@btinternet.com
TO ADVERTISE HERE CALL
HOLLIE ON 01778 395078
ITEMS MAIL ORDER LTD
MAYFIELD, MARSH LANE, SAUNDBY,
RETFORD, NOTTS, DN22 9ES
Tel/Fax: 01427 848880
BA SCREWS IN BRASS, STEEL AND STAINLESS.
SOCKET SCREWS IN STEEL AND STAINLESS. DRILLS,
RIVETS, TAPS, DIES, END MILLS, SLOT DRILLS ETC
EMAIL: lostignition8@gmail.com or
PHONE: 01427 848880 FOR FREE PRICE LIST
www.itemsmailorderascrews.com
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk
 Station road steam
Engineers ∙ lincoln
Locomotive builders ∙ boilermakers
Full-size and miniature engines of all types bought, sold and part-exchanged

2 INCH SCALE FOWLER “PRINCESS” SHOWMANS ENGINE

A finely built 2 inch scale Fowler double crank compound Showmans road locomotive, complete
with crane. In excellent condition, is has had little use from new, being kept by the last owner for
display. £10,500

5 INCH GAUGE "MAID OF KENT" 4-4-0 3 1/2 INCH GAUGE GWR COUNTY 4-4-0
A particularly well made 4-4-0 to LBSC's popular "Maid of Kent" design. Workmanship is to A 3 1/2 inch gauge GWR 38XX "County of Hereford", the 4-4-0 version of Churchward's
a high standard throughout, fit and finish of the valve gear and motionwork is good - it steams four cylinder 4-6-0 "Saint" A nicely made model, a newWestern Steam boiler was fitted
freely and runs quietly. Comes with new hydraulic and steam certification. £6,500 some years ago, it’s had a recent hydraulic test with new certification issued. £3,750

5 INCH GAUGE SOUTHERN L1 4-4-0
A finely built Southern Railway L1 4-4-0. Built in 1998, unsteamed
from new, the boiler is in as-new condition throughout. The engine
runs absolutely beautifully on air. Standard of workmanship is
excellent throughout. £8,750
2 INCH FOWLER K5 PLOUGHING ENGINE
A 2 inch scale Fowler K5 single cylinder plough-
ing engine, built as one of a pair, we believe in the
late 1990s. The engine turns over freely however
there is no documentation for the boiler. £7,950
5 INCH GAUGE LNER V1
A finely built V1 2-6-2T to Martin Evans' "Enterprise" design,
based on Gresley's three cylinder V1/V3 class. Boiler has had
hydraulic and steam tests with certification for same. The engine
steams freely, runs beautifully. £7,950

We keep a large, constantly-changing stock of second-hand in all scales and gauges.

We are always interested in buying engines - from part-built through to exhibition-winning models.

NEW BUILD LOCOMOTIVES

“Stafford” & “feldbahn”
We build a range of narrow gauge inspired locomotives in a variety of styles
and sizes - from 5 inch gauge engines that fit into an estate car up to 10 1/4 inch
gauge engines weighing over half a ton - suitable for all applications, from
small garden railways to large commercial operations. Designed and built at our
works in Lincolnshire, see our website for full specifications of the entire range,
along with pictures and videos of the engines at work.

We are always interested in acquiring engines of the type that we sell. If you know of a steam engine for sale, in absolutely any condition,
please let us know. Engines bought outright, or we are happy to take them on a commission sale basis, or pay you a finder's fee if you put
us in touch with an engine which we later purchase. All engines listed are on our premises, available for inspection by appointment.
Please do contact us, even if all you have is a rumour of an engine being available!

For full details, high resolution photographs and video see our website
Unit 16-17 Moorlands Trading Estate, Metheringham, Lincolnshire LN4 3HX - visitors welcome by appointment
email: info@stationroadsteam.com www.stationroadsteam.com tel: 01526 328772
 Jones and Shipman balancers
£345 £345

£345

RJH Ferret Grinder 426DLX fume extractor £140

Myford Vertical slides

£345 Jones and Shipman balancers