Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MAKING A
TOOL TO TUR
N
LARGE RADII
ON THE
LATHE
11 20 36
EDITORIAL
34 YOUNG ENGINEERS –
AN AWARD TO ENTER
by Matthew Kenington
they find such a style of feature less enjoyable to read, which leaves me in a bit of a quandry!
So I’m throwing this open to the EIM readership. Write and tell me what you would
prefer! And if you have a detailed build to share with your fellow readers, then yes, I’d like to
hear from you. Enjoy your EIM. Andrew Charman – Editor
40 GENERAL NEWS
A new Polly loco
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41 CLUB & TRACK NEWS
Heading into winter season Publisher: Steve Cole
Email: stevec@warnersgroup.co.uk
Design & Production: Andrew Charman
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FRONT COVER Advertising manager: Bev Machin
Tel: 01778 392055 Articles: The Editor is pleased to consider mutilated condition, or in any unauthorised
Email: bevm@warnersgroup.co.uk contributions for publication in Engineering cover by way of trade, or affixed to as part
John Arrowsmith caught serial EIM contributor in Miniature. Please contact us to discuss of any publication or advertising, literary or
Advertising design: Amie Carter
Matthew Kenington and fellow Hereford member your work. pictorial whatsoever.
Email: amiec@warnersgroup.co.uk
© Publishers & Contributors Whilst every care is taken to avoid mistakes
James Knight busy with some loco maintenance Ad production: Allison Mould All rights reserved. No part of this publication in the content of this magazine the publishers
Tel: 01778 395002 may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
at the club’s summer steam-up earlier in the year. Email: allison.mould@warnersgroup.co.uk cannot be held liable for any errors however
system, or transmitted in any form or by any arising. The reader, in pursuing construction
This month Matthew and his dad Peter begin means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, and operation of any product, should exercise
describing how they sorted out some issues on a Marketing manager: Carly Dadge recording or otherwise, without the prior great care at all times and must accept that
Tel: 01778 391440 permission of the Publishers. This periodical safety is their responsibility.
locomotive they bought secondhand. Email: carlyd@warnersgroup.co.uk is sold subject to the following conditions;
that it shall not without the written consent Engineering in Miniature – ISSN 0955 7644
& Presents...
F
or those of you unfamiliar with
the foundation of the city of
Rome and the Roman empire, in
“We
returned
1
Roman mythology it is reputed to have from
been founded by twin brothers
Romulus and Remus. Romulus then respective
killed his brother and became the first running days
King of Rome – despite my assurances having found
to the contrary, Matthew long believed a few
I was probably there as an eye-witness,
although he did very well in his recent more issues
GCSE history, so he may have worked each time...”
out that I’m not quite that old…
Matthew and I purchased a
little-used Romulus-derivative loco
during the first easing of lockdowns in
2020. The design is a ‘Maggie’, which
is essentially an 0-6-0 Romulus with
Walschaerts valve gear. We were PHOTO 1:
unable to run it until earlier this year, Matthew driving
due to the closure of our club track Idris on her first
(Hereford) for virtually the whole of outing (minus
2020, although we were expecting nameplate at
some issues. this stage) – EIM
We were able to test the loco on a correspondent
very short length of track, prior to John Arrowsmith
purchase, and this highlighted that it is hiding his
had a major ‘dead-spot’ in reverse, terror very well.
although it seemed to run okay
forwards. We could clearly only test it PHOTO 2:
at a very low speed on the available safety valves Maggie or a Sweet William?)– quite A Long List
track, and this did mask a few as originally ‘woke’ and certainly in keeping with So, what issues did we encounter with
problems which we will discuss in configured. the modern zeitgeist. Idris? It is a pretty long list and,
future articles. indeed, formed about three separate
The price we paid was very PHOTO 3: False Sense of Security lists as we returned from respective
reasonable, however, especially given Tubes funnel We are not entirely new to purchasing running days having found a few
that it had a copper boiler. The loco the escaping ‘new but virtually unused’ engines more each time (and solved a few in
had been built largely for a friend of steam out of – our first loco (which we still own) the interim). We will cover all of the
the owner who rapidly lost interest the cab. was a ‘Super Simplex’ which had been issues, both large and small, in this
once it was complete. As the owner built, test-run, and then left on a shelf series and it will hopefully illustrate
had many other locos, this one PHOTO 4: for 10 years. It was a well-engineered that even a ‘finished’ and ‘working’
became surplus to requirements. Original valve example but, due to its lack of use, had loco can (and almost certainly will)
stems – far never been ‘de-snagged’ – a task left to have snagging issues to sort out. Far
A Very ‘Woke’ Loco from identical! us as new (and inexperienced) owners. from being a source of angst, these
As you can see from Photo 1, ‘Idris’ It took us a long time to get have the benefit of ‘forcing’ you, as a
(as we have named the loco) is an FIGURE 1: ‘Roselea’ to perform to the standard new owner, to really learn how your
unconventional Romulus and is Can you spot she does now, mostly due to us not loco works. This will dispel any fears
officially classified (on its boiler why this safety understanding what she ‘should’ be you may have when it comes to fixing
paperwork) as a ‘Sweet William’, due valve wasn’t like, although even her imperfect state things which go wrong later on (as
to it being fitted with a marine boiler very usable? was very good. In most cases, a little they inevitably will); think of
built to the Sweet William design. (note that the tweaking here and there was all that de-snagging as a blessing in disguise.
This has the side-benefit that it spring, valve- was required, although some issues I hope this series doesn’t give the
qualifies us to enter the ‘Sweet Pea’ stem and such took a bit more tracking down. impression that the loco we purchased
rallies and we attended the most are deliberately For example, the holes drilled in was in any way ‘bad’ or a ‘Friday-
recent of these, which was omitted, as the blower jets were too small, so the afternoon job’. It is a nicely-built loco
conveniently hosted by Hereford SME. they are not the blower was never quite powerful which was finished to a working
One thing is for certain, there will source of the enough, but not so lacking in power standard rather than being fully-
not be another loco like it anywhere problem...). for this to be obvious. In short, we sorted – we purchased it as such and
(although the EIM letters page may were ‘lucky’ with our first purchase with our eyes open.
correct me here, we’ll see) and it is not All photos and and this could have lulled us into a All of the important aspects are
easy to categorise or ‘label’ it in a diagrams by false sense of security when later sound – the boiler is lovely, the basic
conventional sense (is it a Romulus, a the authors purchasing a used loco. motion runs smoothly, with no
Safety First
2 Although this was not the first issue
we tackled (it did not come to light
the track, which highlighted a number
of problems – most of which we’ll
come onto in future articles – but one
immediately), this opening article will was particularly annoying: neither of
concentrate on the safety valves. The the safety valves seemed to re-seat at a
loco is fitted with twin safety valves sensible pressure – in one case, not
(Photo 2) and these are large, to cope re-seating until around 40psi!
with the substantial volume of steam This had not been evident at the
which can be generated by the Sweet steam-test earlier in the day, but was
William boiler (it has a capacity of unarguable now. We tried adjusting
approximately 17 litres, 3¾ gallons). the valves multiple times but could
In normal operation, the safety not find a position at which they blew
valves are topped by tubes which off at a safe pressure and then
funnel the escaping steam out of the re-seated at a sensible point. This
cab (Photo 3). Whilst this is essential made running impossible and
in preventing the driver from being therefore was propelled to the top of
scalded whilst trying to operate the our (long) list of ‘issues to be resolved’.
injector steam-feed valve (injecting
being a useful way of using the excess Taking the Plunge(r)
steam and, simultaneously, calming We removed and disassembled our
down the boiler), it makes it rather safety valves and produced an
harder to ‘tap’ the top of the plunger approximate drawing as an aid to
FIGURE 1
Reproduced approx full-size
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk 07
RAIL LOCOMOTIVES
FIGURE 3
Reproduced
approx full-size
around our new ball and plunger are central hole, presumably to reduce
appreciably larger than this figure, turbulence in the escaping steam.
then the six holes will be the limiting Photo 6 shows the original and
factor. Since we already know that replacement balls – the new ‘correct’
these are adequate, we can be ball is a good deal larger! This photo
reassured that our choice of ball (and also shows the original valve steam-
ball-cup) diameter is also acceptable. exhaust caps (which we didn’t modify)
The overall length of the ball-cup and their six steam-exhaust holes.
was 10mm and its diameter was
12.5mm (only just larger than the A Fresh Spring
ball). The cup needs to be as small as Even without the modified ball-
FIGURE 4 possible whilst still centring the ball bearing size discussed above, it was
– it could arguably have been made obvious that we would need to make at
smaller in diameter whilst still least one new spring for our safety
upper orifice, so high-precision is not fulfilling this function, however this valves. One of the original springs was
required in this measurement. diameter was adequate to allow about 20 per cent shorter than the
sufficient steam to pass without other(!), reflecting the differing
Go With the Flow unduly throttling the valve’s lengths of the valve stems shown in
Dealing now with the second issue, operation, as will now be discussed. Photo 4. We decided that we might as
namely that of not unduly restricting The inner-diameter (measured) of well make two new springs, as we
steam flow, there are two ways of the screw threads into which the top would need the same set-up to produce
looking at this (assuming that an cap screws, on our safety valves, is both and the incremental time and
existing safety valve is being modified, 14.7mm. This suggests that the thread cost in manufacturing the second
rather than one is being designed could be a 5/8-inch UNC or UNF type, would be small. That way, we would
from scratch): FIGURE 4: although we didn’t attempt to confirm start out with a known-quantity in
1) Design from first-principles, as if it Stepped form this as we had no need to do so, since terms of the materials and design.
were a from-scratch design of valve seat we planned to re-use this part In order to design the springs, we
2) Assume that the original valve has found on unmodified. The minimum cross- needed to calculate the force they
been designed correctly, at least from pop-type sectional area of the inner ‘tube’ of the would need to operate under and
the perspective of its steam- safety valves. safety valve is therefore: determine an acceptable displacement
exhausting capacity, and use this as a Inner diameter = pi * (14.7/2)^2 = 170.0 mm² to allow the steam to escape. Again,
basis. In this case, if the safety valve(s) PHOTO 5: the gap through which the steam
are able to hold the boiler at its Empty safety Likewise, the cross-sectional area needs to escape should be of a similar
maximum designed working pressure, valve body of the ball-seat located at the base of order to, or larger than, the six holes
despite not re-seating at an acceptable showing its the valve-stem, and which restricts the through which the steam will
boiler pressure, then they are probably internal bore. above cross-section, is: ultimately escape into the atmosphere.
correctly-designed in terms of their Restriction = pi * (12.5/2)^2 = 122.7mm² The spring ideally needs to be made
steam-exhausting capabilities and PHOTO 6: from corrosion-resistant spring wire,
their characteristics can be exploited Safety valve Subtracting these two results gives since ordinary mild steel could rust
in the calculation of the size of a caps, along an unrestricted cross-sectional area of quickly. We opted for a low-alloy steel
replacement ball. with original more than 47mm2. This is comfortably with a zinc-phosphate coating, to
We took the latter approach, as the (smaller) and greater than the 42.4mm2 available minimise corrosion in such an
engine had passed a number of steam new (larger) from the holes in the top cap, meaning essential component. Stainless steel or
tests, including one we witnessed, so ball-bearing that they are still the main restriction bronze would be better, but are not so
the steam-exhausting capabilities of seals. Note the to the steam exhausting through the easy to obtain.
the valves are clearly adequate. The six small amount valve. This, therefore, suggests that a Calculating the force acting on the
holes in the top of our safety valves are of corrosion 12mm diameter ball, housed in a cup spring is relatively easy: since pressure
each approximately 3mm in diameter. on the old ball, which is just larger than this diameter, = force per unit area, it follows that:
This provides a total cross-sectional which won’t is acceptable. Force on spring = Boiler pressure x
area from which steam can escape of: have helped Photo 5 shows the (empty) safety cross-sectional area of orifice
6 x pi x 1.5^2 = 42.4mm2. its sealing valve body, with the base uppermost.
s
So long as the cross-sectional area properties. Note the chamfer on the edge of the So, for a working pressure of 80
5 6
PSI (reverting to imperial units here): and Table 2; the latter is taken directly A Note on Active Coils
Force on spring = 80 x 0.088 sq. inches
“Not all coils from the spring calculator we used When is a coil not a coil? Not all coils
(area of an 8.5mm diameter aperture) on a spring (www.thespringstore.com/spring- on a spring actually contribute to its
= 7.0 lbs = 31N actually calculator.html). Examining the table, ‘springiness’ or, to be more scientific,
it is evident that the spring constant is its spring-rate. This is most obvious
What do we need our spring to do? contribute approximately 2.72N/mm. The spring’s when considering a spring with
1) We need a distance of travel to its deflection at 31N (7lb) of pressure ground ends.
(compression) sufficient to easily ‘springiness’...” should therefore be around 11.4mm. Figure 5 shows a diagram of a
allow our steam to escape As the steam expands, having spring, almost the same as the ones
2) We require a reasonable adjustment passed through the orifice which is discussed in this article – it has been
range to allow us to fine-tune the sealed by the ball and into the wider changed very slightly to illustrate a
pressure at which the valve opens tube, its pressure could be expected to point. The ends of this spring have
3) We need a spring internal diameter drop, although this tube is, itself, been ground to leave a flat surface (for
which does not unduly impede restricted by the ball and ball-seat, the purposes of this discussion, we
movement of the valve stem during complicating matters a little. assume that they are more or less
operation of the valve (in other words Exploring this in more detail: entirely flat across the whole of the
so the spring is not ‘tight’ on the stem) Cross-sectional area of orifice = pi * end of the spring, which is not quite
4) Likewise, we need an outer diameter (8.5/2)^2 = 56.8mm² the situation shown in Figure 5).
for the spring which is not so large as Clearly the ground-down wire will not
to interrupt or impede the flow of the It is evident from a comparison of be as ‘springy’ as an unmodified wire.
steam exhausting from the valve this figure with that of the total Likewise, most commercial
5) The partially-compressed length of cross-sectional area of the six holes in springs, at least, are formed such that
the spring (when correctly adjusted) is the top of the safety valve and of the the start of the first turn of wire
a function of the internal length of the unobstructed cross-sectional area of touches the end of this same turn. For
valve body – something which was FIGURE 5: the main tube section of the safety both of these reasons, this turn will
beyond our control (short of making Identifying valve (both calculated previously), that not act as a spring. This first turn is
an entirely new valve) so we worked the active the above orifice is not the limiting therefore deemed to be ‘inactive’ and
with what we had in this regard. and inactive factor in terms of the volume of steam therefore effectively does not count
The parameters of the spring we coils on a which can escape per second. The when calculating the number of turns
designed are summarised in Table 1 coil spring. limitation is the total area provided by required in a given spring’s design.
the six holes in the top cap of the valve. The upper picture in Figure 5 shows a
Table 1: Spring design parameters To resist the steam pressure within spring with 23½ active turns, but a
Parameter Value Units the boiler, the spring will need to be total of 25½ actual turns.
Wire diameter 1.2 mm compressed by 11.4mm (adjusted by In our spring design, we require
Spring outer diameter 8 mm the cap at the top of the valve, when 24 active turns; this means making a
setting-up the valve). This is notably spring with around 26 actual turns,
Free length 50 mm
less than the maximum deflection of depending upon how we form and
Number of active coils 24 the spring of 17.6mm, allowing the grind it. When using a ‘spring
valve to open by some 6mm or so, if calculator’ (as discussed above) it is
Table 2: Results from online spring calculator used required. The actual amount of important to enter the number of
Rates & Loads compression needed will be a complex active turns into the relevant box,
amalgam of a number of factors: the ignoring the inactive ones. EIM
Spring Rate (or Spring constant), k : 2.722 N/mm fact that the ball is round and not a
True Maximum Load, True Fmax : 78.727 N flat surface, the turbulence of the flow n Peter and Matthew continue their
Maximum Load considering Solid 47.903 N of steam past and through the various redesign of the safety valves in the next
Height, Solid Height Fmax : elements of the valve and such like. episode of this series.
Safe Travel
FIGURE 5
Potential True Maximum Travel w/ 28.925 mm
longer Free Length, True Travelmax :
Maximum Travel considering 17.600 mm
Solid Height, Solid Height Travelmax :
Minimum Loaded Height: 32.400 mm
Physical Dimensions
Diameter of spring wire, d: 1.200 mm
Outer diameter of spring, Douter : 8.000 mm
Inner diameter of spring, Dinner : 5.600 mm
Mean diameter of spring, Dmean : 6.800 mm
Free length of spring, Lfree : 50.000 mm
Number of active coils, na : 24
Number of total coils, nT : 26
Solid height, Lsolid : 32.400 mm
Type of ends: closed & squared
Spring index, C : 5.667
Distance between coils, Coilpitch: 1.933 mm
Rise angle of coils: 5.17 Degree
D 1
uring the summer of 2006, a
distant 15 years ago, my first
model engineering project had
its initial steaming (Photo 1). Another
12 years earlier, I had been advised
that a 5-inch gauge ‘Railmotor No.1’
would be a very suitable ‘starter’
project and so in 1994, at the age of 14,
‘Project No.1’ commenced. After
many, many hours of hard work
(Photos 2-3) and with plenty of help
along the way, the first fire was duly lit
12 years later.
At the time, I wrote a piece for
EIM about the project, which I hoped
would inspire other would-be young
model engineers to have a go at a
locomotive project and this was
published in June 2007. Now 15 years
down the track, and after a lot of miles
under her belt, ‘Railmotor’ is finally
nearing ‘completion’, so I thought it
would be nice to write another article
or two about the intervening years
and upgrades along the way.
The first steaming back in 2006
was undertaken with the locomotive
in her barest form. With limited
experience fabricating locomotive
2
fittings they were functional if by no
means perfect, but enough to obtain a
steam test and get her wheels turning.
The first lap of my home track was
really special, after the hundreds
(possibly more than a thousand) hours
of construction that had been
ploughed into the project to date. The
locomotive had come alive and an
ambition once joked about at school
was now a reality – I had achieved
what I set out to do. PHOTO 1: A
3
special moment
Pressing faults – the Railmotor
The list of ‘faults’ following the first project, the
run was not that bad but certainly the author’s first,
lubricator and water pump bypass steams for the
valve were the most pressing. first time.
The lubricator was not actually a
‘fault’ as such; just that it pumped too PHOTO
much oil. The lubricator itself had 2-3: Stages
been kindly donated to the project by in the initial
John Gange, a very good friend of construction
mine and one which he had built a of the loco.
batch of.
Originally it was made with a All photos in
⅛-inch stainless steel ram and I have this feature by
▲
L
ast month I mentioned briefly develop a fuel that could do the same What has so far been developed is
PHOTO 1: Green
that we had a batch of ‘Green job as coal, but with almost none of a briquette made from the leftovers
coal in the bunker
Coal’ delivered from a the ecological downsides of mining resulting from cold-pressing rapeseed
of ‘Russell’, of
manufacturer that wants to try to and distributing traditional coal. oil – this still has a reasonable oil
similar size to the
content so the volatile content of the
coal normally used.
fuel is a little higher than traditional
1 PHOTO 2: The
prime product
Welsh steam coal. However it is far
less dense, so behaves in a very
from pressing different way to coal – using it is a
rapeseed – the cross between the techniques and
bi-product is quantity required for a wood-burning
compressed loco and a coal-burning loco.
into briquettes I was rostered out on the loco as
to burn. driver for three midweek turns which
seemed the perfect opportunity to try
PHOTO 3: The the green coal out, Phil, the
rag for lighting representative of the manufacturer
up is soaked in delivered three quarters of a ton to us
rapeseed oil – as on the Tuesday morning, just in time
green a product as for me to light up.
possible to match To give me a reasonable chance of
the green coal. learning how the green coal worked
and to ensure we could still run the
PHOTO 4:
2 3 Ignition – while
slower burning
service whatever occurred, I decided
to take ‘Russell’, the most free-
steaming member of our fleet.
than the diesel
normally used, Shape of things...
the oil does the
Having filled the empty bunker with
job adequately.
the green coal, the first thing I noticed
PHOTO 5: The was the fine dust coming from the
briquettes feed briquettes – this was significantly
through the bunker more floaty than coal dust, partly due
chute just like to the shape of the briquettes which
coal, though they have sharp triangular corners. One of
produce more the immediate suggestions we made
floating dust. for the next batch was to change the
shape of the briquettes to reduce the
PHOTO 6: The dust, something that would come into
fire is gradually play later on.
built up with the Phil had brought some of rapeseed
green coal. oil to with which soak a rag with and
4 5 6
7 8
PHOTO 7: ‘Russell’ sat happily at the Point with the somewhat smoky exhaust from
the coal, potential improvements to the loco could help this.
PHOTO 8: The fire burning with a little blower put on to draw it a little.
PHOTO 9: The aftermath next morning, the black soot is from cleaning the tubes as
Harry forgot to take a picture before cleaning them! The fire bed was very similar to
that produced by normal coal. 9
PHOTO 10: Having started to clean the fire through it can be seen that there is a
reasonably high ash content and clinker.
PHOTO 11: The clinker that was pulled out in the morning.
provide a truly green first light-up. shoulder season that we would not
This worked well though it took a require so many).
little longer to light and burned with I built the fire up as I would have
less intensity than the normal diesel with coal and received the right-away
we use. from the guard – what followed was
Having established a kindling fire certainly an interesting trip while I
I started adding the green coal as I got to grips with how the green coal
would normal coal and the engine delivers its heat.
came around in about the same With a high volatile content and
amount of time and using a similar low mass, combined with the shape of
volume of coal as with Welsh steam, the briquettes shape it gives heat very
the main difference being the amount quickly when the engine is working
of smoke – this has a slightly acrid hard, but it also burns through very
smell and tends to linger for a while. quickly. If you have not been to
The rest of the light up and Fairbourne, while the railway is on
preparation continued as normal and the beach, it is anything but flat,
I ran around onto a six-coach set (our especially when running with a long
sets for the summer had been nine train around the reverse curves 10
s
coaches but we had assumed in the through the dunes and over the flood
11
PHOTO 12:
12 The following morning when
doing the preparation I found there
was no more than normal char in the
Russell’s valves
feathering at
front end and the tubes were no more the head of
coked up than with ordinary coal. The a larger train
one thing I did find, however, was a than expected,
large quantity of clinker – I believe this giving the
is from the dust causing issues with air coal a more
flow through the fire, then causing strenuous
incomplete combustion in places. work-out than
What followed was another day of was intended.
perfectly satisfactory running with the
very different firing style required, PHOTO
though with more attention paid to 13: A
cleaning the fire and making sure bit of manual
there was enough air flow through it. CNC employed
Overall the test was pretty to produce
successful, the green coal kept up with the rail roller
defences. I found I was shovelling a lot – this year has been full of surprises. the engine even when it was being shape – doing
more after I had realised my mistake With the extra load on and an worked hard, the downsides being the it this way was
in treating it like normal coal! improved firing technique, Russell smoke and the dust – the former could faster than
I used a little more volume of coped admirably with the weight and potentially be helped by the addition setting up the
green coal than I would have normal was able to maintain steam and water of an arch in the firebox and some cross slide.
coal but not significantly more. Due to in the same amounts as if I was using more top air, although the coal PHOTO 14:
the trial being arranged at slightly ordinary coal. manufacturer is also working on Boring one of
short notice I hadn’t had a chance to The rest of the day followed in reducing the oil content of the the rollers to
come up with a properly scientific much the same way as I continued to briquettes which should help with the fit over the
method of weighing the coal usage develop a better firing technique and smoke too. The dust is also hopefully existing flat
and comparing it against the green refine my use of the green coal. The going to be addressed by the change in bar roller.
coal – on the next batch, which will end of the day disposal was as normal the shape of the briquettes.
have an updated shape, I will be too – there was no significantly I am looking forward to further PHOTO 15:
significantly more precise with it all. increased amount of ash to deal with, trials with the improved batch next Adjusting
I had reasonably got to grips with although the ash that was present was season and producing some more the fit of the
the green coal by the second trip, of a much lighter consistency and scientific results, as well as trialling it existing flat
which was lucky as we had to tended to blow around a bit more in with different engines! bar roller to
strengthen the train to nine coaches the wind. take the foot
On a roll of the rail.
18 19 20
fit over the existing flat-bar rollers PHOTO 19: the compressor not producing enough boiler off to have the tubes removed
and weld them on – the pictures show CAD design for air and the fluid flywheels not and allow our boiler inspector to
the process a little better than my laser-cut bogie delivering the power to the final drive produce a proper assessment of the
words here. bearing holders. gearboxes correctly. So there is a little work required (while he is also
I have also been designing new bit more work to be done, but it is very carrying out the annual inspection on
bearing holders for the carriage fleet. PHOTO 20: nice to have the loco mobile again. Russell). then we will be able to decide
The current method of articulation for Better lighting The final bit of news this time is what we are doing with it – the chassis
the axles is using take-up bearings in a inside the the start of the overhaul of our North will stay as it is until the spring as the
flanged holder – these are designed engine bay Wales Narrow Gauge Hunslet-style normal running fleet maintenance
for use in industry to allow for poor of ‘Tony’. loco, ‘Beddgelert’, I have stripped the takes precedence. EIM
shaft alignment from the bearing plate
PHOTO 21:
– a spherical outer to the bearing fits
into the corresponding spherical
machined outer.
Tony moves
under its own 21
power for the
These are designed to be set to a
first time since
position and then left, however we
Harry started.
have been employing them differently
and using the spherical surface to PHOTO 22:
allow the axle to articulate. ‘Beddgelert’ in
Unfortunately this articulation its initial strip-
exposes the grease ways in the bearing down phase.
outer edge to the fresh air, which then
gets sand in it due to the railway PHOTO 23:
running on the beach. This is then Between the
forced into the bearing when the frames– the
carriages are greased, causing steam passages
premature failure. are cast in an
My solution is to use self-aligning interesting way...
bearings in a new housing – these
have two ball races running in
spherical outer housings, allowing the 22 23
bearing inner bore to articulate within
the outer without uncovering any
grease ways or using a bearing surface
in a way it is not designed to be used.
The CAD design in Photo 19 shows
the initial design of the bearing
housing, most of which is to be laser
cut and welded together before
machining to accept the bearing. This
design should also reduce the amount
of sand able to get at the bearings.
T
he various components of a accurately across the pin diameter turned to fit out of silver steel. I make
locomotive valve gear can either “Drilling 1mm and at the right distance from the my pins about ⅛-inch to 5⁄32-inch
be held together by fitted bolts diameter shoulder was always a bit of a longer than the width of the lifting
or by using shouldered pins, cross- challenge. Some years ago, I schemed arms with about a 1⁄16-inch tapered
drilled and secured with split-pins. I
split-pin holes out the jig that is the subject of this lead on the end to ease assembly.
prefer the latter technique but, in the accurately article and found that it worked as Once all the components are
smaller scales I normally work with, across the intended, always putting the holes made, the pin is slid home into the
where the pins are only ⅛-inch pin diameter exactly where I wanted them. joint, the assembly placed in the jig
diameter and the split-pins ⅓2-inch was always a I made my jig (Photo 1) out of an and the bolt tightened to hold the pin
diameter, I found that drilling the challenge...” offcut of 1-inch diameter stainless fully home (Photo 2). You will notice
1mm (No 60) diameter split-pin holes steel bar. Whilst I have produced a that I have fitted the pin through both
dimensioned drawing of the jig, the the lifting arms and the lifting links
FIGURE 1 proportions of mine grew organically – whilst the lifting links could have
as I machined it out of the solid. The been omitted, leaving them in place
only critical dimension is the removes all risk that the slot in the
0.04-inch positioning the 1mm hole lifting arms will be closed up when
from the shoulder and, of course, the the jig bolt is tightened.
placement of this 1mm hole on the In use, the flat bottom of the jig
centreline of the ⅛-inch reamed hole could be placed on the drilling
it transects. Instead of 5BA, I used M3 machine table and the jig held by hand
on mine. or, alternatively and preferably, the
I hope that the use of the jig is shoulders can be used to position the
obvious from the various jig squarely in a machine vice. Not
photographs, which show the jig being obvious from Photo 2 is the fact that
used to cross-drill the pins securing the drill chuck on my drill press will
the Stephenson valve gear lifting links not close sufficiently to hold a 1mm
and lifting arms on my 3½-inch gauge diameter drill. I have fitted a small
Don Young GWR 43xx loco. Whilst a Jacobs size-0 chuck to a short length
socket-headed bolt is shown in the of ¼-inch diameter bar (Photo 3) and
first photo, I have only ever had it use this as an adaptor so I can hold
FIGURE 2 finger-tight in use. smaller diameter drills than the
Reproduced approx The two parts to be linked by the machine itself is capable of doing.
full-size pin are made first and then the pin
Metric v imperial
Incidentally, whilst I generally think
and design in imperial units and
obviously use these on my Myford
M-type lathe, I generally use metric
dimensions on the digital readouts of
my small Warco vertical mill – don’t
ask me why! I do not own a set of
number drills but, instead use a box of
metric drills, 1mm to 6mm in steps of
0.1mm. I would be interested to know
who also uses metric drills – if it is, as
I suspect, many of us, the age-old
practice of quoting drill sizes by
number becomes less than helpful as
we have to convert them all to the
nearest metric equivalent before use.
The final image (Photo 4), shows
the joints with split-pins fitted. In the
lower assembly, you will note there is a
gap between the split-pin and the
shoulder; the reason for this being
obvious from the design of the jig. In
the upper assembly, a standard washer
1 2
has been fitted before the split-pin, this hole in the shouldered pin, a gauge button leave the split-pin hole hard up against the
filling the gap nicely and preventing any will have to be purpose made instead. face of the lifting arm when the joint is
lateral movement of the shouldered pin This button, made out of for example finally assembled. It goes without saying that
across the joint. 5/16-inch diameter steel and drilled through the shouldered pin should be cross drilled
If, despite it being good practice to do so, 1/8-inch diameter, would need to be shorter before it is hardened.
your preference would be not to fit a washer, than the width of the lifting arm by Whilst the jig shown is for use with
the jig will have to be used slightly approximately 0.020-inch. 1/8-inch diameter shouldered pins, other
differently. Instead of using (in this case) the Placing this button on the shouldered pin similar jigs could be made for use with pins
lifting arm to set the position of the cross instead of the valve gear components should of other diameters. EIM
I
am currently fabricating the
smokebox for my loco ‘Chub’, a
Kennions 0-4-0 tank engine. The
smokebox door is domed and looks to
be of about a 5-inch radius – Figure 1
shows how I came to deduce this. I
have a commercial ball turner that fits
to the top slide of my Myford, Photo 1,
but it only has a capacity of 38mm.
I modified the ball turner with a
larger tool holder to increase the
capacity (Photo 2). I further modified
it to fit directly onto the bed of the
lathe with an even longer and taller
tool holder (Photo 3) which increased
HEADING: the capacity again, but to nowhere
The finished near the radius that I was looking for.
and domed
smokebox door Infrequent use
complete with The challenge was to make something
hinges and lock . that would machine the required
radius. From time to time the need to
PHOTO 1: carry out similar operations has come
A commercial up so I considered it worthwhile
ball turner. making something to achieve this. I
didn’t want to spend too much time
PHOTO 2: A on the construction as it is a tool that
suitably modified will get some use but not a great deal.
tool holder. The tool I would like to show you
is designed to fit my Myford ML7
1 2 PHOTO 3:
Commercial ball
turner fitted to
lathe but should be easily modifiable
to suit other makes of lathe. As is my
usual method of operation the first
the lathe bed. thing I do is go to my ‘that’ll come in
handy one day’ box and see what I can
PHOTO 4: come up with. I am including a few
Preparing the drawings (Figure 2-4) to give you
baseplate of the some idea of sizes but the tool is made
new tool. around whatever material is available
and not to specific sizes.
PHOTO 5: A First of all my usual apology for
pair of clamp mixing imperial and metric sizes but I
plates made up. do use whatever comes to hand and I
am happy to do so. Now what am I
All photos and looking to do? Basically, to machine a
diagrams by dome onto a piece of steel 3½ inches
the author in diameter. A casting is available for
the smokebox door but because I have
Smokebox front
5” radius Smokebox
door 3.5”
FIGURE 1
Reproduced half
full-size
FIGURE 2 – BASEPLATE
& SIDE WING
12mm thick steel,
reproduced half full-size
Clamps x2
FIGURE 4 – TOOLHOLDER
Reproduced half full-size
6 7 8
A pair of clamp plates were steel as per the drawing (Photo 6). PHOTO 6: you don’t have access to welding
machined to fit under the lathe shears Next a round piece of 10mm thick Turning up equipment. The bar has a series of five
and drilled and tapped 10mm (Photo steel with a diameter of 23/8-inch had a the stepped holes drilled and tapped M6 (Photo 9)
5). The pivot point was drilled and central hole drilled in it then opened countersunk to which the adjustable tool holder
tapped 8mm. My piece of steel plate out with a boring bar slowly and washer. will bolt onto.
has a few holes in it already which are carefully until the stepped washer was The tool holder is a piece of
visible in some of the photos, please a very close fit (Photo 7). PHOTO 7: 3/4-inch square steel 21/2-inch long with
ignore these. The pivot has a notch machined Boring out a 6mm slot machined right through.
I decided that the pivot should be into it until a piece of 1 x 5/16 x the pivot. At one end a 1/2-inch hole is drilled
as large as possible to help reduce any 71/2-inch steel bar fits in (Photo 8). I and reamed (Photo 10). The end is
play. Firstly I turned what I will call a will eventually weld this bar in but it PHOTO 8: drilled and tapped 6mm to take a grub
stepped countersunk washer from could be pinned and silver soldered if Machining a screw for clamping the tool post in
notch in position (Photo 11).
The tool post is a piece of 1/2-inch
9 10 the pivot.
PHOTO 9:
round steel. Amongst my bits and
pieces I found a triangular carbide tip
Drilling and which I initially used (Photo 12). The
tapping the five end of the tool post was drilled and
holes in the bar. tapped M3 and then machined away
until the triangular tip was a snug fit
PHOTO 10: (Photo 13).
Machining the
tool holder. Cutting comment
In use this tool post worked okay but
PHOTO 11: didn’t cut as nicely as I would have
Drilling and liked. Maybe it was the wrong type of
tapping end of tip or the cutting angle was wrong,
the tool holder. I’m not sure. I made another tool post
from 1/2-inch round steel drilled and
PHOTO 12: tapped M6 and cross-drilled ¼-inch
A triangular (Photo 14). A piece of ¼-inch round
carbide tip tool steel ground to the profile shown
is a good fit. performed much better (Photo 15). I
11 12 13 14
15 16 17
18
24 23
n When you’ve been dragged out to go round a gardens all day, meeting a
model steam engine is a big bonus. Editor Andrew Charman captured this
Burrell attracting a lot of attention when Exbury Gardens in the New Forest
held a Garden Railway Show in August. The resident 121/4-inch gauge line
(right) was busy too. Exbury is closed for the winter now but well worth a
visit when it reopens in the Spring, whether you are a horticultural or steam
enthusiast, or perhaps both...
A
t the conclusion of my series on BELOW: The the first example I’d seen of dealing me to choose a workable solution.
constructing a double-acting EIM Steam with the problem in a logical way. It
oscillating engine powered by Plant with the prompted me to consider the Making space
a vertical boiler (engine EIM Oct feed pump practicality of making a pump, but A small additional consideration was
2016-Dec 2017, boiler Oct 2018-March visible to the after working through the calculations my wanting to fit the pump onto the
2020), I offered several suggestions to lower left. I arrived at a figure that was just so engine’s existing baseboard, while I
make further items that would small it didn’t make sense, and as would also require a modified ‘Double’
enhance what was then a small basic All photos and often happens other things demanded clack valve to enable the existing
steam plant – one of these was to diagrams by attention so it was forgotten about. boiler and hand feed pump to
make a feed pump. the author Three years went past and having continue to be used without any
The actual inspiration for the demonstrated the steam plant at a structural modification/additions to
provision of a feed pump described in couple of shows each year the original the boiler, but this was easily achieved.
this article came from our experience fag of feeding water by On the first test, the pump worked
of running the steam plant at various hand remained as the only but did not quite keep pace with the
shows, because given that it usually major annoyance and water demand when running with the
ran for four hours, having to prompted another look for a bypass shut. Having invested time and
continually add feed water sort of lost solution. tempted by ‘nearly’ achieving success I
its attraction after the first hour! Going through my decided to increase the diameter of the
In 2017 I read an article, ‘Notes on original working of the pump piston using the same stroke
the Design of a Steam Engine Hemmeigarn’s calculations with everything else unchanged.
Feedwater Pump’ by Kenneth. J. I found I’d made a mistake, The results from this
Hemmeigarn in Live Steam & Outdoor and when this had been modification were disappointing and
Railroad magazine and this was corrected, I obtained a very surprising as given that the
result that looked increase in output was 56 per cent,
more reasonable, the result only exceeded
Taking this consumption once the engine had
figure, I made warmed up and again only at certain
up a table of revs. Also because the output was so
various standard close to demand adjusting the bypass
diameters for was extremely ‘tetchy’.
the piston and I decided that what I’d produced
worked out the was ‘Not Fit for Purpose’ the modern
strokes required term for a dismal failure or rubbish!
to produce But this didn’t seem to make sense and
the volume prompted a search of proportions of
calculated which feed pumps used on small
then enabled locomotives. which produced such a
wide range as to be meaningless.
However it did explain why some
locomotive designs visibly ‘jerk’ when
being driven slowly with the bypass
fully shut due to the pump being
of an excessive size/output for the
application.
Taking another path I
looked at further suggestions
mostly in books; Model
Stationary & Marine Steam
Engines by K N Harris, a
1916 book Model Steam
Engine Design by R M
De Vignier, Model
Steam Locomotive
Construction by
Martin Evans,
Experimental
Flash Steam by J
H Benson & A A
▲
Rayman and a
posting on The American Live Steam Far from solving the problem as to having adjustable ball non-return lift
forum. These also produced a very “The water which of the formulas/calculations limiters good for 4000rpm, but
wide range of figures – so wide in fact consumed were best suited to my application the supplying at a much higher pressure.
that as a last resort, I decided to see if water consumed actually appeared I knew from personal experience
it was possible to find out practically actually less than the revised pump I’d built that some 5-inch gauge locomotive
how much water the engine actually appeared had been designed to supply! axle pumps are good for 600rpm.
consumed whilst running. less than Looking at everything I’d read/ Martin Evans hit the nail firmly on
This was done by filling the the revised experienced in the light of this the head by saying “It is difficult to
feedwater tank to a mark and running discovery, it suggested that my pump specify exact dimensions for water-
the engine for 30 minutes, keeping the pump I’d built was suffering from a poor non-return feed pumps for model locomotives,”
engine revs as steady as possible to the had been valve function either by leaking or before giving a rough guide related to
1150rpm speed it usually operated at designed to ‘floating’ because of the speed it was track gauge and I assume twin
when demonstrating by means of an supply...” running at. De Vignier had suggested double-acting cylinders.
optical rev counter, and measuring that a pump of this size should not This tended to suggest that I’d
how much water had to be added to exceed 350rpm and that delivery perhaps be sensible to look at a new
bring the feedwater back to the mark valves should be spring loaded, whilst pump design considering De Vignier’s
in the tank. Benson & Rayman gave a design 350rpm maximum, which would
demand a larger output with some
EIM BSP Feed Pump & double clack – Parts List form of reduction. Additionally a
Manufactured Parts for Engine Driven Feed Pump common practice found in most of the
references was a need to add between
Part # Description No Off Material
50 to 65 per cent to the calculated
1 Base 1 MS, Brass or Ali Plate (See Text) figure to account for ‘losses’.
2 Bearing Block 1 Cast Iron 20 x 30 x 30 (From Ø50 x 25) Reducing the speed of a pump on
3 Pipe Stubs 3 Ø10 Brass an engine of this small size and power,
4 Pump Cylinder 1 Ø7/16” Brass so as to incur the minimal frictional
5 Valve Block 1 1½” x ½” Brass losses, prompted the use of a toothed
6 Drilling Plug 1 Ø4 Brass belt and pulleys giving a 5:1 reduction
7 Bypass Valve Body 1 ½” AF Hex Brass in pump speed and the use of a
small-section ball sealed race on the
8 Bypass Valve Spindle 1 Ø ¼” 303 Stainless
crank, both being freely available and
9 Bypass Valve Control Wheel 1 Ø20 Brass or Ali maintenance free in operation.
10 Bypass Spindle Gland Nut 1 ½” AF Hex Brass This then was the history that
11 Ball Valve Covers 2 10 AF Hex Brass
12 Pump Gland Nut 1 14 AF Hex Brass GENERAL
13 Pump Piston 1 Ø5 303 Stainless (
14 Piston Clevis Pin 1 From Ø5 303 St St
15 Pump Connecting Rod 1 Ø1” & 10 x 50 x 2 Brass
16 Connecting Rod Retainer 1 Ø16 MS
17 Shaft Spacer 1 Ø14 MS (Ø14 from Item 16)
18 Shaft Retaining Collar 1 Ø14 MS (Ø14 from Item 16)
19 Crankshaft 1 Ø8 Silver Steel
20 Crank Disk 1 From Ø1¼” MS
Purchased Items
21 Eccentric Bearing 1 61701-2RS (12 x 18 x 4)
22 60T Wheel 1 16 Wide x T2.5 Pitch
23 12T Wheel 1 16 Wide x T2.5 Pitch
24 265T Synchroflex Belt 1 6 Wide x T2.5 Pitch
25 Ball Valve 2/4 Ø4 (5/32”) St St Ball (4 If making Double Feed clack)
26 Crank Disk Securing Screws 3 M3 x 12 Countersunk Hd
27 Ball Valve Lift Limiter 2/4 M3 x 14 SHCS (4 If making Double Feed clack)
28 Nut 1 M4
29 Set Bolt 1 M5 x 8 Button Skt Hd
30 Component Securing Screws 4 M4 x 10 Countersunk Hd
31 Grub Screw 1 M4 x 4
32 Bypass Valve Spindle “O” Ring 1 BS 007 Nitrile
33 Pump Piston “O” Ring 1 Ø2 Section x Ø5 ID x Ø9 OD Nitrile
Modified Engine Item (If required)
34 Extended Engine Crankshaft 1 Ø5 Silver Steel
Manufactured Parts for Double Feed Clack Valve
35 Clack Valve Body 2 10AF Hex Brass
36 Clack Ball Valve Covers 2 10AF Brass
37 Central Banjo Body 1 12.x 16 x 9 Brass
38 Banjo Bolt 1 10AF PB 102
Purchased Items (See 25 & 27 above)
25 Ball Valve 2 Ø4 (5/32”) Stainless Ball
27 Ball Valve Lift Limiter 2 M3 x 14 Skt Hd Cap Screw
Construction
As the most likely persons to be
interested in this feed-pump addition
will be those who actually constructed
the EIM Steam Plant described in this
magazine, I will assume that level of
experience has been gained and
therefore only give a very brief
description of the methods used unless DRAWING FP1
they haven’t been covered before. Base (material to
The engine-driven pump as match engine base)
described assumes that the base of the NOTE: Underside
engine was made to the original shown here
dimensions and that the engine and
boiler were fitted to a base also made
and oriented to the dimensions
suggested. If this is the case it will be
found that there is sufficient distance
between the engine base and the
fireproof mounting of the boiler for
the pump to be secured with room for
the pipework required.
If not, it may be possible to use
whatever base has been provided
simply by moving the engine a little
s
L ARRANGEMENT DRAWING
(refer to parts list at left)
www.model-engineering-forum.co.uk 27
CONSTRUCTIONAL
hand-pump pipework.
1 Right, let’s begin the build...
The Base
Item FP1 – 56 x 167 x (thickness and
material to match Engine base)
Refer to Drawing FP1 (drawing viewed
from underside as it shows more detail).
On the mill, machine the blank to size
in the form of the overall rectangle
and mark out detail as shown on the
drawing (Photo 1). Centre drill, then
drill 4mm diameter and countersink
at the four places indicated.
Centre drill and drill 4mm dia at
longer supply and exhaust pipes to making up pipework to suit. the ends of the two slots before using a
suit. Failing that option, the only Speaking of pipework, at the end PHOTO 1: The 4mm slot drill to produce the two
realistic option would be the simple of the pump construction, details for base, machined slots as indicated (Photo 2).
task of removing all the parts required the construction of a replacement to size and Centre drill and drill 3.5mm dia at
and making a new larger baseboard to double feed clack will be described so marked out. the four places indicated. Saw away
retain the heatproof boiler mount, that the existing hand-pump clack the waste using a hacksaw or band saw
boiler, engine and hand feed pump, can be replaced but still use the PHOTO 2: (Photo 3).
Using slot drill Clamp on the edge and using an
2 to produce
adjustment slot.
end mill between 6-12mm dia,
machine the end corner (Photo 4).
Next machine the long length (Photo
PHOTO 3: 5) and finally the flywheel cut-out
Waste removed (Photo 6). Remove all burrs. EIM
from plate.
n Martin continues his build next month.
PHOTO 4-5: Anyone wishing to obtain the issues of
End corners and EIM detailing the original Steam Plant
long length then and boiler projects, as detailed in the
machined... opening paragraph, can download digital
back issues or order printed copies from
PHOTO 6: www.world-of-railways.co.uk/store/back-
...and finally cut- issues/engineering-in-miniature or
out for flywheel. by calling 01778 392484.
3 4
5 6
Classic British
Single-Driver Locomotives
Rodger describes how a succession of big-wheeled high-speed steam locomotives
made their mark on the 19th century railway scene.
BY RODGER BRADLEY
T
he classic single driving-wheel
locomotive in Britain evolved
from Stephenson’s ‘Patentee’
type of 1830, with 2-2-0 and a few
years later 2-2-2 arrangements, and
the early designs also found their way
to Belgium, Germany, and Austria, all
with inside cylinders.
Britain’s railways expanded at a
phenomenal rate in the mid 1800s –
the ‘Railway Mania’ years – and as the
number of railway companies grew
rapidly, so did ideas about design,
construction and performance needs.
For passenger service the simple 0-4-0
locomotive gave way to the 0-4-2, the ABOVE RIGHT:
2-4-0 and 0-6-0 designation was The first GWR
reserved almost exclusively for goods broad-gauge
traffic, while the faster speeds needed 2-2-2 was built
for express passenger work saw the by Robert
size of driving wheels grow, to almost Stephenson –
ludicrous proportions. this replica is
Of course, the Great Western on display at were built for use by that railway’s 2-2-2 called ‘North Star’ and possessed
Railway, under the stewardship of the Swindon Northern Division. 7ft 0in driving wheels, with 16-inch
Brunel and employing his broad gauge Steam Museum. Increasing numbers of single- bore by 16-inch stroke cylinders, with
produced very impressive designs that driver types appeared in the middle an 8ft 6in long boiler housing 167
appeared on the London to Bristol BELOW: The years of the 19th Century, but what tubes that provided, with the firebox
main line in particular. But the broad first single driver would be termed the ‘Classic Single an overall heating surface of 711
gauge was destined to disappear, as loco for the Driver’ only arrived after about 1860. square feet. A replica of this
the narrow, or standard gauge of 4ft LNWR was No. Designers had to consider both locomotive exists today, housed in the
8½ inches took centre stage – and yet, 3020 ‘Cornwall’, standard and broad-gauge use, until Swindon STEAM Museum.
the great size of the driving wheels photographed long after the Gauge Commissioners The equally impressive replica of
was seen to be essential for increasing at Ordsall ruled that no new broad-gauge ‘Iron Duke’, which was one of the first
speed on express passenger workings. Lane shed, railways could be built after 1846. locos to be built at Swindon Works in
Manchester, Brunel and Daniel Gooch worked 1846, is now at the Didcot Railway
Wheel wherefore circa 1890. well on their broad-gauge designs, but Centre. In fact, the first Swindon loco
Why the very big driving wheels? the first locomotive to haul a was the 2-2-2 ‘Great Western’, built as
Well, essentially it could be argued Both photos: passenger train out of Paddington was a trial engine, and fitted with a
that this was down to low piston speed Tony Hisgett/ built by Robert Stephenson, in 1837, ‘haystack’ firebox – later members of
with lower-pressure boilers, and the Wikipedia and originally intended for the New the class employed round-topped,
▲
gearing effect provided by the large Commons Orleans Railway in the USA. It was a wooden-lagged fireboxes and boilers.
diameter driving wheels, with lower
revolutions per distance covered.
Earlier designs such as the
‘Cramptons’ were superseded by
Alexander Allan’s single-driver ‘Crewe
Type’ which began to make headway
across all Britain’s railways by the
1850s, with the last of that design built
for the Manchester, Sheffield &
Lincolnshire Railway in 1882.
These single drivers were the most
well-known express passenger
locomotives of the day, and for the
London & North Western Railway,
over a 14-year period ending in 1857,
only Crewe-Type single -driver locos
s
Wikipedia
Kitsons of Leeds and the Avonside Commons
Engine Co in Bristol – along with
some that were the first locomotives RIGHT: One
built overseas for a British railway. of the LNWR
Southern
The Later Years Division’s
Over the half century from 1850 to 2-2-2 ‘Small
1900, the classic express passenger Bloomers’ No
locomotive evolved, with expanded 602, seen posed
wheelbases, from four to six-coupled, outside one of
amongst which could be counted the Rugby’s coke
famous 4-4-2, ‘Atlantic’ designs for sheds circa 1868.
engines that were produced by the Photo: Unknown
Lancashire & Yorkshire and London, author/Wikipedia
Brighton & South Coast railways. Commons
Doncaster, and produced perhaps one Stirling was not keen on in his other
of the three most famous single driver designs. But with No.1, it was
designs of the era – the No.1, with its essential, and was not simply fitted to
8ft 1in wheels. enable a more stable entry to curves ABOVE LEFT: covered the 82 miles from Grantham
These engines were furnished with on the track. Massey Bromley to York in 1 hour 16 minutes, at an
such enormous wheels in order to All 53 of this classic design were designed and average speed of 64.7mph.
provide better grip on the 80lb steel built between 1870 and 1895 – but Kitson-built Mention must be made of a
rail used on the Great Northern’s initially, Doncaster only built one or GER Class 245 one-off design for the Caledonian
main line at that time. But, with such two at a time, instead of the usual 4-2-2 No 609 Railway, the famous 4-2-2 No. 123,
large wheels, the compromise was that batch of 10, and by 1875 there were Photo: Alon built at Neilson & Co.’s works in 1886.
outside cylinders were essential, and still only 12 in service. The remaining Siton/Historical This engine won a gold medal at the
these were the only such locos built by 41 were constructed over the following Railway Images Edinburgh International Exhibition
the Great Northern during Stirling’s 20 years, by which time the classic that same year. However, this was a
time. The steam chests were British single driver was on the wane. ABOVE: Patrick joint project between Dugald
positioned vertically, inside the Stirling’s design was a very Stirling’s eight- Drummond, the Caledonian’s CME
frames, which were cut out to locate successful express passenger type, footers for the and Neilson & Co, intended as what
the cylinders on the outside. hauling most main-line workings Great Northern we might describe as a showpiece for
Another issue which appeared to from London to York until the turn of Railway – No.1 PR purposes representing the railway
be a ‘problem’ was the potential the century. These locos took part in at the National company and the builders.
overhang of the cylinders at the the famed 1895 Race to the North, Railway Museum. In fact at the time No 123 was
leading end. The solution was to competing with the West Coast Photo: Author built, with the increasingly heavy
provide a bogie – a feature that companies – No 775 was said to have LEFT: GNR trains on the Anglo-Scottish routes
Stirling Single particularly, single-driver types were
Class 4-2-2 No. 5 falling out of favour, due to their low
at York station. tractive effort, poor acceleration and
Photo: Alon adhesion – especially on gradients.
Siton/Historical
Railway Images The Final Examples
Despite the single driver’s waning
BELOW: The popularity in the 1880s, two railway
Caledonian companies bucked the trend and
Railway’s gold produced two of the classic designs
medal-winning ever operated on a British railway.
project, No.123. These were the 80 engines from
Photo: Stuart Swindon, under William Dean – the
Sellar/Wikipedia 3031 Class for the GWR, and the five
Commons batches of ‘Midland Singles’ built
between 1887 and 1900 for the
Midland Railway under S W Johnson
at Derby Works. The final batch of 15
– the ‘115 Class’ were completed in
1900, and one of these – ‘Princess of
Wales’ – was exhibited at the Paris
Exhibition where it won a gold medal.
Given that it was well known by
the 1890s that single-driver
locomotives had problems with
adhesion, why would the Midland
Railway opt for this design? One of the
answers may well lie in the invention
of the steam sanding gear at Derby, by
F Holt in 1886, which led to the
production of the Johnson 4-2-2
‘Spinners’ from 1887.
Another key feature was the axle
load of 18½ to 19 tons, which
provided the class with the ability to
haul 120-ton loads on the 1 in 90 to 1
that characteristic huge steam dome, Century provided a glimpse into the
and in the case of these single drivers, world of the engineer artists perhaps,
the firebox was raised over the level of and these elegant machines were
in 100 gradients of the Derby to ABOVE: The the boiler to provide extra steam space. typical of the thinking and the
Manchester route. One of the class Midland 4-2-2 Both the new and rebuilt members approach to the engineering of the
was recorded as hauling a 325-ton No. 673 at the of the class have been described as an steam locomotive. But that elegance
train between Kettering and National Railway elegant, stylish design, but then so did not disappear in 1900, it was
Northampton, unassisted, at an Museum in York. were the numerous other single-driver replaced by equally classical steam
average of 51.7mph – not bad for a Photo: Author types across the country, from the locomotives with a 4-4-2 Atlantic
design that could be traced back 20 Great Eastern, North Eastern, Great wheel arrangement.
ABOVE RIGHT:
years and more, and of a type that had Northern, Midland and even the I still wish I’d been able to buy one
Works picture of
adhesion problems, but which was London, Brighton & South Coast of those Triang Lord of the Isles
an early Johnson
definitely a classic of the age. Railway. The last decade of the 19th models though! EIM
‘Spinner’. Photo:
I have to confess a preference for
Lens of Sutton/
the GWR Dean Singles, which maybe
RPB Collection
had something to do with the
OO-gauge model of No. 3046 ‘Lord of RIGHT: Replica
the Isles’ made by Triang back in the of 4-2-2 ‘The
early ’60s – a loco I always wanted for Queen’ built
my train set at the time. The real thing at Steamtown
was developed from a 2-2-2 design Museum.
– the 3001 Class from 1891, for the Photo: Author
standard gauge passenger workings as
the GWR was busy converting from BELOW: Scale
the broad gauge. drawing of Dean
Converted to 4-2-2s they arrived Single No.3009
in 1894 and were of course intended ‘Flying Dutchman’,
for the West of England expresses as converted
from Paddington to Bristol and from broad to
Newton Abbot, where they had been standard gauge.
operating for the previous two years as Image: F W Roche
2-2-2s. The class was numbered from /RPB Collection
3001 to 3080, and only the first 30
were converted, while the first
new-build 4-2-2 was No. 3031,
completed in March 1894 and
carrying the name ‘Achilles’.
Gauge convertible
The 2-2-2 3001 class, which formed
the basis of the new Achilles class
were built as broad gauge, but
convertible (to narrow gauge) engines,
with the wheels outside the frames
and were delivered from Swindon in
1891-92. Despite their success in the
final years of the broad gauge, after a
derailment in 1893 in Box Tunnel they
were found to be too heavy at the front
end, and the leading axle was replaced
by a bogie, after which they became
part of the 3031 Class.
Detail changes in Dean’s design on
conversion included replacing the
underhung spring to the trailing axle,
and a major extension to the front-end
frames to enable the leading bogie to
be fitted. Dean’s locomotives all had
I
t might sound obvious that the
encouragement of young engineers
is crucial to the future of our
1
hobby, but it is true, and with schools
struggling to teach engineering (I
know of a school that used cardboard
for its Design Technology projects,
due to lack of funding) model
engineering clubs have an even greater
opportunity and, dare I say it, a
responsibility to help to create the
engineers of tomorrow.
Engineering is a rewarding
occupation, both as a hobby and a
career – I hope I am preaching to the
converted here? I speak from personal
experience when I say that schools,
even very good ones, just don’t get it.
3 4
A freelance traction
engine in 3-inch scale
Jan-Eric continues his latest build, inspired by a full-size engine but designed to work rather
than follow a particular prototype – this month he makes the flywheel and wheel hubs.
BY JAN-ERIC NYSTRÖM Part 4 of a series
43
U
sually, the flywheels of model
traction engines are castings.
However, I no longer had the
opportunity to visit the friendly local
foundry that helped me with casting
the wheels of my locomotives – alas, it
had gone out of business due to cheap
foreign competition! Also, as with the
large front and hind wheels of this
project, the 340 mm/13½-inch PHOTO 43:
flywheel presented another design The parts for
problem, considering the limited the flywheel,
swing of my hobby lathe. Thus, I had before they
to think up a fabrication method that are assembled.
did not require any turning work.
Photo 43 shows my solution: the PHOTO 44:
flywheel rim is a strip of plasma-cut Protecting
3mm steel with six evenly spaced the workshop parts, as can be seen in the photo. were 3mm wide and quite deep, I
holes for the spokes, the strip rolled to from flying The hub, made from a surplus reckoned it would take many passes
a circular shape. In order to get it sparks while piece of cast iron, is drilled for six back-and-forth, and that I would
perfectly round, the inner edge of the grinding in spokes of 15mm round, bright steel. In wreck, or at least wear out, quite a few
strip needs support by an accurately the mill. order to attach the spokes to the tiny and fragile 3mm end mills, if
shaped, circular piece of steel plate. protrusions on the circular rim, they attempting the job in such a way.
Again, this was too large for the Photos by had to be slit quite deeply. I did not As you all know by now, I have a
plasma cutter, so it was made in two the author want to mill these slits – since they favourite tool that can solve such
dilemmas! But there was a problem:
the angle grinder motor has a
44 gearhead hub covering a large part of
its 5-inch disk, so it would not have
reached deep enough. Instead, I used
my mill at its highest speed with a
home-made arbor holding an angle
grinder cutting disk. In this way, the
disk reached deep enough.
Photo 44 shows the slitting
operation in progress – note the
pieces of steel and brass plate
surrounding the operation; I did not
want to have sparks flying all around
the workshop! The metal plates
collected the sparks; there was quite a
heap of fine powder after the
operation, considering the amount of
material that was removed from each
of the six spokes.
47
48
Putting it together
For the final assembly, I clamped the
axle vertically in my bench vice and
balanced the spoked wheel loosely on
the hub. By rotating the wheel, and
holding a steel ruler close to, but not
touching its rim, I could rotate the
wheel, check and adjust the
positioning by tiny increments, until
the wheel was well-centred and
balanced. Then I could tack-weld the
spokes to the hub. The arc of a TIG
welder is ideal for fusing parts
together – unlike stick or MIG
welding, nothing touches the
workpiece, risking displacing it.
In Photo 49 the bearings have
been removed and the spokes finally
securely welded to the hub – the heat
from the more substantial welding
seen here could well have destroyed
the ball bearing’s rubber shields, so
that’s why I only tacked them at first.
The construction of the hind
wheel hubs is more complicated, since
there is a bevel gear attached to the
right-hand hub, seen in Photo 50, the
spokes cannot be welded directly to
the outside of the hub. Instead, I
attached a plasma-cut circular flange
about ¼-inch from the edge, and the
spokes were welded to this flange,
again only by small tacks when
balancing and centring the wheel on
the bearings.
On the left in the photo you see
50 the parts forming the other hub – note
the piece of tubing to be inserted into
the hub before assembly; it is
necessary for spacing the inner races
51 “Heat from the
more substantial
of the ball bearings to the same
distance as the outer races when
welding could well tightening the wheel to the axle.
Without this tube there would be an
have destroyed axial pressure on the bearings’ inner
the ball bearing’s races when the securing bolt is
rubber shields...” tightened, possibly causing the
bearings to seize.
Photo 51 shows the assembled
right-hand wheel (less its drop-shaped
PHOTO 49: The ten hubcap) attached to the main axle.
front wheel spokes are Some of the engine’s gearing can be
welded to the hub, five seen behind it. I’ll return to those
on each side. gears, and some other details of the
engine’s drive mechanism in the next
PHOTO 50: The episode in this series. EIM
parts for the hind
wheel hubs. Note the n The first three parts of this series
flanges to which the appeared in the September to November
spokes will be welded. issues of EIM – you can download a
digital back issue or order printed copies
PHOTO 51: The hind from www.world-of-railways.co.uk/store/
wheel has 16 spokes, back-issues/engineering-in-miniature or
eight on either side. by calling 01778 392484.
1 2 3
W
elcome to this month’s club
and track news round-up, at “The EIM
what is a somewhat
uncertain time, yet again! As I write
club diary
these words the news is again full of page has
foreboding over whether Covid will been
make yet another comeback this missing
winter and what that could mean.
However, what also seems clear is
from our
that we won’t be returning to the level pages for 20
of lockdowns that we saw a year ago, months...”
and while for most clubs the welcome
return of running sessions at tracks
for both members and the public has
come to an end with the onset of the
winter months, we are beginning to
see evidence of clubs planning a
winter programme for their members,
as was the case before the harsh RIGHT: Next
winter of 2020. generation in
Which brings me to the EIM club action – Beatrix
diary page, something that has been Huddart, aged
missing from our pages for 20 six, is confident Steam Chest is that the scale is scale really fits into today’s lifestyle
months now. I would like nothing working n her healthy with many proponents and a where everyone is downsizing,
better than to restore it, and I will do dad’s 2¹₂-inch wide variety of locomotives being whether they want to or not! And I’m
just that as soon as I receive enough gauge Purley modelled – demonstrated by delighted to reveal that we will soon
entries to occupy a diary. So please, if Grange. Malcolm Brown’s example from the be featuring a 2½-inch gauge
your club is starting or scheduling 2ft gauge Burma Mines Railway locomotive build series in our pages
meetings for its members again, ask BELOW: Lots reproduced on this page. – watch this space!
your diary secretary to send details of variety in The other picture from the same
to us to help you publicise them. 2¹₂-inch gauge, Association running day inspires Railway for sale
such as this confidence for the future of the Going to the other extreme, if you
Small objects of delight model of a 2ft hobby, when six year-olds such as are suitably endowed with funds and
We start with the smaller scales this gauge Burma Beatrix Huddart can become so fancy owning your very own
month, and last time in these pages I Mines Railway engrossed in feeding the Purley 10¼-inch gauge railway, then you
mentioned Steam Chest, the journal locomotive. Grange loco of her father Dave. could! The Ferry Meadows Railway,
of the National 2½-inch gauge As I mentioned last month I which since 1978 has run around a
Association, a copy having been sent Photos: Cedric believe 2½-inch gauge could be in country park close to the standard-
Norman, N2¹₂GA
▲
in by a reader and I stating that this line for renewed growth, because the gauge Nene Valley Railway in
was one we hadn’t seen before. Well
the hint certainly worked, editor of
the Association journal Cedric
Norman quickly getting in touch and
popping the most recent four
editions into the editorial inbox.
These have proven to be very
interesting reading – I admit to not
knowing that much about 2½-inch
gauge, it’s not that long ago I learnt
the difference between the gauge and
Gauge 3, which also runs on rails 2½
inches apart. Basically, Gauge 3 is
more for railway modellers, building
layouts with scenery and such, and
2½-inch for the model engineers
building and running locomotives
that they can be hauled by.
What is clear from the editions of
www.mkmetals.co.uk
www.SteamwaysEngineering.co.uk
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