www.stalbansmes.co.uk Page 1

Gazette No. 386 February 2006

Children often find it difficult to control their excitement at the sight of our members’ brilliant marine models. After a long period of inactivity, on Sunday 17th January the Small Lake in Verulamium Park once again hosted many of these miniature boats. Page 2 St Albans & District MES Gazette

St Albans & District Model Engineering Society

Club Website—www.stalbansmes.co.ukwww.stalbansmes.co.uk Chairman Michael Dyer 01442 219024 Secretary Roy Verden 01923 220590 15 Juniper Grove, Watford, Herts., WD17 4RZ Gazette Editor Roger Stephen 01442 832213 2 Jubilee Cottages, Whelpley Hill, Chesham, Bucks, HP5 3RW E-Mail [email protected] Gazette Deputy Editor Tony Mason 01727 830607 E-mail [email protected] Treasurer Mike Grossmith 01923 222135 E-mail [email protected] 92 King’s Avenue, Watford. WD18 7SA Committee Members NP (Baz) Butcher 0208 9507068 Jeff Carter 01923 770188 David Saunders 01727 762848 Malcolm Beak 01923 672341 Dave Batchelor 01923 447058

From the Editor Roger Stephen To my surprise we had more than enough material to fill this month’s Gazette so the next instalment of Mike Collins’ experiences of building a Maxitrak locomotive has been held over to next time. If boating members think there is still a bias in the Gazette towards railways they know what to do: get writing! All contributions will be gratefully received.

Chairman's Letter Michael Dyer The January edition of our Gazette was the first under the sole command of Roger Stephen our new editor. I am sure that all will agree that the very high standard continues, and that we should thank Tony Mason for all his work as editor over the past two years. We should be extremely proud of our excellent Gazette. Mick Bell has passed over the running of our library to Tom Keleher, and we thank him most sincerely for all his efforts. We shall miss his naming of miscreants at our monthly meetings!

Your Chairman has had one of those ‘senile moments’. Recently I was speaking about gold medals awarded to members at the ME Exhibition and I completely forgot about the medal won quite recently by Francis Fearn. I apologise for this omission.

I was impressed by our stand at the Model Engineering Exhibition at Alexandra Palace, and when I was there on Saturday it certainly attracted much interest and quite a few enquiries about our club. Once again there was a wide range of models representing the scope of our Society’s interests, and our thanks to all those involved in the setting up of our stand. www.stalbansmes.co.uk Page 3

Secretary’s Letter—Roy Verden Hi everybody, and congratulations to all who contributed models and helped at the club stand at Alexandra Palace. We had a long stand, 24 feet in all, with the same number of tables but in a single row. This was because the club on the adjacent stand had to pull out at the last minute. It made the viewing much easier for visitors and the presentation of the models looked much better as you did not have to lean over other models to see the middle of the stand. There are already thoughts for improvements next year! A certain person will remember the exhibition very well as he was the competition winner for a lathe which may well be in the auction.

We also enjoyed two days at the Alban Arena on the previous weekend, with the Chiltern Model Railway Association show. At the last minute Les Johnson was asked to supply a ‘tinplate’ layout as another club had pulled out. I spent several happy hours on the Saturday playing electric trains. Baz organised the stand and it attracted a lot of comment. It seems that the bigger the trains are the more that little boys like them! I was ‘talked out’ by the time I left.

This month we have our annual auction with Dan Keen presiding. We now have the auction in February to be as far as possible from the Society Exhibition and the club shop in September. All done on your behalf of course, so that you can save up your pennies and have two big spends every year! I explained the general rules last month so won’t mention them again but if members have items that they wish sold on their behalf, rather than donated, then they must put their name on the item to be auctioned together with a reserve price, if any (see also the advertisement on page 5 – Ed). Settling up is at the end of the auction with Mike Grossmith and myself. So come early and spend, spend, spend but also enjoy the evening.

Club subscriptions for 2006 were due last month. If you have not yet paid your subscription please do so as quickly as possible so that we can clear up all the paperwork. By the way, I used my membership card to confirm my identity when showing my stewarding ticket at Ally Pally.

At the last meeting we asked if any members would like to have a club badge. Enquiries have been made and the price of new identical enamel badges is horrendous. They work out at in excess of £14.00 each, even if we ordered 50 of them, as the cost of re-tooling is 50% of this amount. It is therefore unlikely that we can afford to go down that route. However we have been sent a sample of a less costly acrylic badge. Our Treasurer has this and we shall seek your opinion as to how we should proceed. In the meantime we have 3 of the old type badges available for club members. I have spoken to our Treasurer and we are going to put them into the auction. But so that we are not seen to be profiteering from this, they are first going to be donated to WorkAid and the proceeds will go to the charity.

Look forward to seeing you all at the auction, Roy. Page 4 St Albans & District MES Gazette DOWN AT THE LAKE

Sunday 15th January saw the first real return to boating activity on the small lake for many months. Even though the sky was grey and overcast the rain stayed away and wind condi- tions were “almost perfect”. The water level was about right with just a a few inches of ‘beach’ showing on the opposite side. One member remarked that it was the first time he had seen the bottom of the lake for may years. The boats sailed and motored merrily alongside the ducks, who squawked happily too. John Cook, Allan Hawkes, Vic Driscoll and Alan Holt were all in attendance, providing much interest for the many visitors to a busy park that day.

Vic Driscoll’s small ‘Pocahontas’ class is chased by Alan Holt’s ‘Panache’ as they sail into a steady wind on 17th January.

Meanwhile Allan Hawkes’ steam launch ‘Tinca’, cap tained by a sailor who bears a remarkable resemblance to Allan, plods steadily through the waves; even the dog is enjoying the trip!

All the modes are radio con trolled. www.stalbansmes.co.uk Page 5

January was a quiet month at the track. Den Blazdell has paid a visit and made the mistake of walking across the middle of the car park - he says the muddy water came over the top of his carefully polished shoes! The purpose of his visit was to re-cover three of the passenger car seat pads in a tasteful shade of ‘briar brown’. He reports that they now tone in splendidly with the new GWR Pullman paint scheme. Thanks for all your hard work on these Den, and the editors apologise for pointing out the clash of colours. We understand the fourth passen- ger car remains in red and green to match the club electric loco.

Meanwhile, Roger has braved the cold of his shed and completed the supporting structure of the new water tower. He is now preparing to paint the structure with green fencing preserva- tive and to do the necessary plumbing on the ‘new’ tank. Installation of the new water tower at the track is expected some time in February.

CLUB AUCTION Please bring along any items you wish to dispose of. If you want to put a reserve on an item, and if we are selling on your behalf, please put your name on the item and make sure it is clearly marked. The Society will take an auction fee which is normally 20%, or you can say what you want for the item and the club will take the rest. Needless to say all electrical items must be safe to use and any items unsold must be removed at the end of the evening. Club Night - February 8th - 7.30pm

DDDON’TDON’T MISS THIS LOT!

Good news from Ally Pally: Malcolm Beak won the draw for this Chester ‘Conquest’ lathe worth £350! Even better news for a Society member is that it will be put up for sale at the February club auction with a reserve of just £250 - that’s a 29% saving!!! The Society will also benefit from a healthy share of the sale price. The specification is: Centre height 90mm, 325mm between centres, variable speed 0 - 2,500 rpm, spindle bore 20mm with No3 morse taper. Page 6 St Albans & District MES Gazette

ew boiler testing arrangements: further details for small boilers – David Saunders

Following last month’s article on the new arrangements for boiler testing we have clarified the requirements for small and low pressure boilers. In this article we can present only a summary but full details may be found in ‘The Examination and testing of miniature steam boilers (New edition 2006)’ published by the Southern federation of Model Engineering So- cieties.

The good news for marine enthusiasts and owners of very small locomotives is that all boil- ers with a capacity of less than 1.5 bar-litres are totally exempt from the hydraulic testing requirement and do not need to have any boiler water feeds. However, on the recommenda- tion of the Southern Fed’ they will still require a visual examination and a steam test (basically to check that the safety valve functions properly) at least every 12 months. If they pass this examination and test they will be given a boiler certificate.

The not so good news is that all boilers with a capacity of 1.5 bar-litres or more, whatever their application or fuel type, will be subject to all the requirements stated in last month’s article: i.e. hydraulic test, visual examination, steam test, feed water check, etc. If it is a new ‘home made’ boiler, or if specifically requested by the boiler inspector for older boilers, the hydraulic test and inspection must be done with all the boiler cladding, etc removed so that all surfaces of the boiler can be seen.

In respect of new boilers we will accept test certificates issued by recognised commercial boilermakers, provided that such certificates are in accordance with British and European legislation and the boiler has been tested to twice the intended working pressure. Note that a visual inspection and steam test of a commercially made boiler is still required.

Although not actually required by the South- ern Fed’ we also strongly recommend that all new boilers of less than 1.5 bar-litres ca- pacity are given an initial hydraulic test, with cladding removed, to twice the in- tended boiler working pressure. This will confirm that all the soldered joints are sound and water tight, and give you confidence that the boiler structure will be safe when it is steamed. No further hydraulic tests should then be necessary. The boiler in Malcolm Beak’s launch ‘Cyril’ So what does ‘1.5 bar-litres’ actually mean? is almost certainly of less than 1.5 barlitres Quite simply, you measure the total water capacity. www.stalbansmes.co.uk Page 7 content of the boiler when com- pletely full (i.e. no air spaces left) in litres and multiply that figure by the intended boiler working pressure measured in ‘bar’. The resulting number is the boiler capacity in ‘bar-litres’. For those of you who are unfamiliar with these metric units we suggest you use the follow- ing conversion factors: To convert from ‘pints’ (British!) to ‘litres’ multiply the number of pints by 0.5682; to convert from ‘pounds per square inch’ to ‘bar’ multiply the p. s.i. figure by 0.06895. If the figure you get for your boiler is 1.5 bar- Although it is of less than 1.5 barlitres capacity and litres or more then it requires a full would not require a hydraulic test this venerable hydraulic test, examination, steam boiler is in such doubtful condition that it would test and feed water checks. If the probably be unwise to steam it. It is thought to be a figure you get is less than 1.5 bar- German ‘Krupps’ model from the early 1900s if any litres then it needs only the exami- member can supply more details of it please contact nation and steam test. the editor.

Here is an example to help you if you are still unsure. Suppose Albert has a boat fitted with an existing small marine steam plant. He has completely filled the boiler with water and then emptied it into an accurate measuring jug. He found that the boiler holds ¾ pint of water and converted this to litres: 0.75 pints multiplied by 0.5682 equals 0.4262 litres. The intended boiler working pressure is 40 p.s.i. so he multiplied that by 0.06895 to get 2.758 bar. Now he multiplied 0.4262 by 2.758 to get a boiler capacity of 1.175 bar-litres. This is less than 1.5 and so Albert’s boiler only needs a visual inspection and steam test. In contrast, Roger’s 3½" gauge Princess Marina locomotive has a total boiler water content of 2.60 litres and the working pressure is 75 psi, or 5.17 bar, so it has a boiler capacity of 13.4 bar-litres and re- quires full inspection and testing.

Each boiler will need to be assessed individually to find out if it needs hydraulic testing and water feed checks. However, generally speaking we expect that most small, low pressure marine boilers in the Society will only need the inspection and steam test whilst locomotives of 3½" gauge or larger will require full testing and water feed checks. As time goes by we will get some idea of what the bar-litre boiler capacities of the more common model boilers are.

These boiler testing arrangements are new and will, no doubt, give rise to further questions as they are implemented. We will report anything of significance to you through the Gazette. In the mean time, if you require further information or guidance then please contact me. The telephone number is inside the front cover of the Gazette. Page 8 St Albans & District MES Gazette Fred Bearton strikes gold!

At the 2005 Model Engineer Exhibition (Sandown Park, 29-30 Dec 2005) Fred Bearton won a Gold Medal in class A7 (General Engineering Exhibits) and the Tom Nevins Trophy – awarded for a model steam reciprocating engine which in the opinion of the judges best ex- emplifies the highest tradition of sound engineering principles and design practices. The model represents a steam crane built by Thomas Smith & Sons (Rodlev) Ltd in 1904. It is a fully working replica to 1/8 scale of Makers No 6618, a crane which operated at Port Dinor- wic loading slate from the Dinorwic Quarry complex and is currently at the The North Wales Quarrying Museum in LLanberis.

Fred took many photographs of the crane and corresponded with ‘Smiths’ (now N E I Cranes Ltd) regarding the availability of drawings suitable for Model Engineering purposes. The only drawings available from that period are on microfilm and the quality is poor but Fred was sent copies of relevant sheets and was able to establish that the existing boiler, boiler supporting stays and coal bunker are replacements but most of the rest of the crane does appear to be original. Fred spent many hours measuring and sketching at the site and very many more converting this data into around 200 working drawings to build the model. The boiler outline is to the 1904 Smiths general arrangement drawing of No 6618 but the surface details are to a boiler drawing of 1922. Reference to archive mate- rial at the Armley Mill Museum in Leeds and the Boat Museum in Ellesmere Port (many period photo’s of steam cranes work- ing on the Manchester Ship Canal) showed this boiler to be basically a standard design at the turn of the century. Fred also referred to technical journals of the day such as The Engineer, Engineering, and Mechanical World. All steam fittings are practical work- ing components of Fred’s own design but are based on illustrations in the contemporary catalogues of W. H. Bailey & Co. Ltd of Manchester, Hopkinsons Limited of Hud- dersfield and Dewrance & Co of London.

The boiler appears to be a basic cross tube The prototype for Fred Bearton’s steam crane type, contemporary with the period, but is sits rusting and rather forlorn at the orth actually a true working steam boiler having Wales Quarrying Museum, Llanberis. www.stalbansmes.co.uk Page 9

57 vertical flue tubes and is after the style of K. N. Harris/Tubal Cain, as published in the model- ling press. All parts were designed and made by Fred although he did seek professional help in silver soldering the parts together and hydrauli- cally testing to 160 p.s.i. The smoke box and chimney assembly lift off for access to the flue tubes and below the boiler is a water tank of 1 pint capacity. The model is intended to be steamed as a conventional active model, and does run satisfactory on compressed air.

Fred made all the name plates himself using scaled drawings based on photographs and de- tails obtained from ‘brass rubbings’ at the crane. Each character was cut out of thin plastic sheet at three times scale size and pinned to a board. Then, using this as a template, together with a home made three to one pantograph frame and cutting spindle, material was cut away from a name plate blank leaving the characters ‘proud’.

Fred spent many hours photographing, The chequer plate used on the crane posed some- sketching and measuring the prototype thing of a problem but again, using ‘brass rub- crane in orth Wales. bings’, Fred obtained the precise shape and size required. A ‘diamond’ pattern was cut into a flat plate and, using a roller tool having ribs at the correct pitch, grooves were rolled into thin opened out ‘drinks can’ material, first at one angle and then at the complementary angle. This was then inverted and simply ‘Araldited’ onto pre cut 1/32 stainless steel sheet.

The jib was constructed in the same way as the prototype and was truly a labour if love. The basic material, sheet steel of scale thickness 1.24 mm, was cut up with a band saw and filed to size. This involved some 22 yards of edge filing and all 350 rivets were correctly closed in reamed holes except for four in each side at the top which are put in with ‘Araldite’.

The circular pitch and number of teeth of all the spur gears were measured from the proto- type and scale gears drawn up. Single point cutters were ground and, after roughing out, the gears were ‘fly cut’ to size. The internal gear ring was fly cut using a local cutter passing through the ring. The worm and wheel set was ‘hobbed on the lathe using a local shaft driven blank with hand feeding into the hobb. The bevel gears were bought in and adapted to suit the model.

Castings for the wheels, cylinders and hoist drum gear where obtained in cast iron from Col- lege Engineering Supplies using split patterns made by Fred. Other parts were fabricated or, Page 10 St Albans & District MES Gazette as in the case of the crane side frames, machined from solid.

The base of the crane is 22in long and 15in wide whilst the overall height is 52in. Total weight of the model is about 52kg (130 pounds) and because of the jib it tends to be top- heavy. The jib is therefore removed for transport and the crane reassembled on arrival at its destination.

Fred built the model using modest workshop equipment: basically a 5inch South Bend lathe, Centec 2A milling machine, small pillar drill, home made motorised cutting spindles and bending rolls, fly press and other general sundry items. Although Fred served an engineering apprenticeship on leaving school he had no further hands on workshop experience and had to redevelop old skills upon his retirement. He fully deserves our congratulations for his achievement in wining a Gold Medal and the Tom Nevins Trophy. Now we can all look for- ward to following progress on Fred’s next project which he says is to be an early design of a side lever paddle boat engine. Precise details are currently shrouded in mystery so watch this space for future developments.

The finished steam crane in all its glory, as exhibited to win a Gold Medal and the Tom evins Trophy at the 2005 Model Engineer Exhi bition, Sandown Park.

Many members have not had the opportunity to admire the crane finished and fully painted, so Fred has kindly agreed to bring it along to the AGM club night in April. Perhaps we can then per suade him to reveal a little more about his next model engineering project? www.stalbansmes.co.uk Page 11 St Albans to York: 17th December 2005 Tony Mason

Today steam on the British mainline is a dicey business. Paths are difficult to find, safety requirements have reached over-cautious levels, water is difficult to access and locomotives certificated ‘fit’ for such use are in short supply. So when I saw that the Railway Touring Company had managed to secure the services of that most graceful of steam locomotives, a Gresley streamlined A4 Pacific, to run north to York on 10th December, I jumped at the chance.

My speculative purchase of four tickets with a table, “as close to the locomotive as possible please” , meant I then had to make an appeal at our November meeting for takers for the other three seats. To my relief it was a matter of only minutes before all three seats had been taken .

So it was on a cold, crisp Saturday morning, at just after 7.00am that the four of us assem- bled on platform 3 (the down fast line) of St Albans City Station for the expected arrival of our train. I have travelled on many of these trips and it is unusual for timekeeping to reach the standards of our Train Operating Companies, but after an hour and a half of announce- ments that signalling difficulties meant delay, and toes that were beginning to tingle, we were told the trip had been cancelled due to “staffing problems”. This turned out to be over simplification of the first order.

As I hinted earlier, the rules regarding the operation of steam locomotives on our ultra-safe public rail network are onerous. An operating locomotive not only requires the usual driver and fireman but also an inspector. The driver has to be from an operating company, in this case EWS, and one other person with an interest in some part of the operation can also be on the footplate.

Despite this proliferation of safety personnel, at around 5.00am, as our ill-fated train was marshalling its carriages in West London, it had been allowed to pass a ground signal by a few yards. Apparently the ‘jobsworth’ factor meant that despite all this error taking place so early in the morning, the incident is deemed to be a SPAD (signal passed at danger); the rules concerning SPAD’s are inflexible, the driver is suspended and an enquiry has to be held. A replacement driver could not be found and that was the end to a great day out for hundreds of passengers and enthusiasts! (If Alan Ashberry has the time we would like to hear what the attitude of the LMSR would have been to an incident like this Ed)

This incident was clearly not the fault of the charter company, the Railway Touring Com- pany, and to their great credit they re-scheduled the trip for the following Saturday, 17th De- cember. So one week later we all again assembled at St Albans Station on platform 3; the weather had again been kind to us providing a clear sky and a frosty start. This time, just a Page 12 St Albans & District MES Gazette few minutes late, Sir Nigel’s locomotive 60009 ‘Union of South Africa’ sedately appeared on the right-hand the curve into St. Albans station.

To our delight we had been allocated seats just one carriage away from the locomotive and the pause at St Albans was short, presumably due to the busy line we now occupied. The climb out of St. Albans is up a gradient of 1/176 and 60009 was not happy with it. This class of locomotive had a poor reputation for slipping; they were known as greyhounds but I think this alluded to their speed rather than their weight! It may have been ice on the rails, as it was a frosty morning which caused the wheels to slip savagely for a few minutes before grip and certainty returned. She was then soon away, passing Harpenden at a light gallop.

The journey north to York is almost entirely on the old Midland Railway’s main line, but the access to it involves the use of an interesting link with the Great Western Railway. The train was marshalled at Old Oak Common, then taken westwards on the Great Western’s mainline to Acton, where it picks up a Midland Railway link, bears north across the old LNWR and joins the Midland mainline just south of Hendon. This is normally a freight only line.

Once on the Midland mainline and past Kettering the train took the line to Corby, which is now used only for freight but was built so Victorian travellers could enjoy a speedier journey north . This stretch includes the magnificent Welland via- duct, with its marvellous views across the Rutland countryside. Although built in 1879 Welland viaduct is still the longest railway viaduct in the country, with an amazing eighty two arches.

The journey continued through Oak- ham, Melton Mowbray and then in order to avoid Nottingham dropped south to Syston Junction before return- ing north up the Trent Valley line, past Chesterfield and then onto the old NER line to York.

Apart from the hesitant start, 60009 did not disappoint in any way during the journey, her exhaust beat was crisp and interrupted from time-to-time by the spine tingling chime whistle. Sev- enty six mph was recorded at one point “..just a few minutes late, Sir igel’s locomotive and 60009 was now truly a greyhound. 60009 ‘Union of South Africa’ sedately appeared on the righthand curve into St. Albans station.” The return journey was via Leicester, www.stalbansmes.co.uk Page 13 at night and much more ponderous. We were also now at the ‘wrong’ end of the train, far away from 60009, so it was time for a nap and glass or two of wine. 60009 came off at Leicester and the journey was completed behind a diesel. But of course between times we had visited that shrine of railwayana, York Railway Museum.

60009 approaches Sileby on the Midland Mainline on 17th December 2005 . (this photo courtesy of The Railway Touring Company)

60009 at the end of her trip from Old Oak Com mon to York on Saturday 17th December 2005. She would turn on the York triangle in order to return with the Leicester leg of the return journey. Page 14 St Albans & District MES Gazette Warwickshire, St Albans and Alexandra Palace Exhibitions

There always seems to be a flurry of exhibitions around Christmas time and this year was no exception with the Model Boat Show near Leamington Spa in November, the Model Engi- neer Show at Sandown Park in December, the CMRA Exhibition at the Alban Arena in mid January and then the Model Engineering Exhibition at Alexandra Palace at the end of Janu- ary. As usual the society had a stand at the Alban Arena and Alexandra Palace shows, as seen in the photographs below. The latter was particularly liked by visitors because of the variety of exhibits on the stand, including railway items in three different gauges, boats, sta- tionary engines, a traction engine, internal combustion engines and even a clock.

The club stand at the CMRA exhibi tion in the Alban Arena featured rather larger mod els than were found elsewhere at this show. There was also a work ing model boat as opposed to the static boats found on one or two of the railway lay outs exhibited.

The club stand at Alexandra Palace was admired by visitors for the va riety of exhibits on show. The stand was somewhat big ger than expected because another club had dropped out at the last min ute and we were asked to fill the space! www.stalbansmes.co.uk Page 1515

Lack of space in the December Gazette prevented us from publishing these photographs from Jeff Carter’s visit to the International Model Boat Show held at the Warwickshire Ex- hibition Centre last November.

Above left: These are two 1/12th scale models of the Severn class lifeboat. The highly de tailed model at the back from Speedline Models included an engine sound system linked to the throttle and a colour TV camera in the cockpit to give visitors a coxswain’s eye view. The more plain example was a working model of the RLI test rig for selfrighting. Above right: Another view of the detailed Severn class lifeboat. It even had water pouring out of the engine exhaust/cooling pipes at the stern, but at about £800 it’s not cheap. Below: An interesting and varied selection of boats on one of the club stands. Page 16 St Albans & District MES Gazette DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

2006 February 8th Club ight Auction, with our auctioneer Dan Keen March 8th Club ight D.Abbot ‘Reviewing model boat kits for magazines’ March 12th Puffing Field Morning from 10.30am (subject to weather*) April 8th/9th Large Scale Model Rail, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Fosse Way, near Leamington Spa April 12th Club ight AGM and Models in progress April 16th Puffing Field Morning from 10.30am (subject to weather*) May 10th Club ight Michael Fopp ‘Building a plane in my garage’ May 14th Puffing Field Morning from 10.30am (subject to weather*) June 14th Club ight Mike Crisp ‘Preparation and maintenance of small cutting tools’ June 18th Club BBQ at the Puffing Field (Details available nearer the time) July 12th Club ight Robert Ball ‘Buckingham Palace and its clocks’ July 16th Puffing Field Morning from 10.30am (subject to weather*) August 9th Club ight To be arranged August 13th Puffing Field Morning from 10.30am (subject to weather*) September 13th Club ight To be arranged September 17th Puffing Field Morning from 10.30am (subject to weather*) 30th September 1st October: Annual Club Exhibition at Francis Bacon School October 11th Club ight To be arranged October 13th18th Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Fosse Way, near Leamington Spa October 15th Puffing Field Morning from 10.30am (subject to weather*) ovember 8th Club ight To be arranged ovember 10th12th International Model Boat Show, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Fosse Way, near Leamington Spa December 13th Club ight To be arranged

Club Nights are every 2nd Wednesday each month at Christchurch Centre, New Greens, St Albans and start at 7.30pm. Boating meetings are on Sunday mornings unless otherwise stated.

*Full details and confirmation of Puffing Field events are available at Club Nights.

Model Engineer magazines 1947 to 1957 The society has been contacted by a lady who wishes to dispose of a quantity of Model Engineer magazines. They are in complete volumes from 1947 to 1957 and are in very good condition. Few, if any, issues are missing. Any member interested in acquiring them should contact the editor in the first instance on 01442 832213.

The St Albans Model Engineering Society cannot accept any responsibility for the condition or suitability of items advertised in the Society’s Gazette. Opinions contained in articles are not necessarily those of the Society.