The Bristol Model Engineer

Bristol Society of Model and Experimental Engineers

Merry Christmas from BSMEE

The Newsletter No 115 Winter 2016. Incorporating “Our Cog”, the BSMEE Technical Journal www.bristolmodelengineers.co.uk

Editorial From the Richard Lunn Chair Norman Rogers

In the Begbrook report on the recent club As we approach the end of the year my auction I say how I bought a box of assorted thoughts turn to 2017, the AGM and a new grease nipples hoping that some would fit my year in the life of Bristol SMEE. Within this Morris Minor. In the box of bits were also edition of The Bristol Model Engineer you several different sized nozzles to fit on the will find a communication from Roger, our end of the grease gun. I discovered that the membership secretary, concerning 2017 sub- reason I couldn’t get any grease into the trunnions on the kingpins scriptions and this prompts me to say a few words around the time- was because the nozzle on my grease gun did not match the grease liness of paying subscriptions. nipples on the car. I fitted a nozzle from the box of bits and bingo! Trunnions all greased up. It just goes to show what treasures can The (current) handbook states that ‘A person shall cease to be a be found at our club auctions. Member by non-payment of the Subscription Fee within three I have now fitted the new tubes to my 4” Foster traction engine but months from the date when the same shall be due provided that the have been told by my tester that it now needs to be treated as a new Committee if they deem fit may readmit such person to member- boiler and hence needs a hydraulic test to twice working pressure. I ship upon payment of the current arrears of subscription’. usually have trouble with the glands on the water gauge glasses leaking when having a hydraulic test although they don’t leak un- Subscription fees are due at the date of the AGM so that is when der steam. I am always worried about over tightening the glands the three month period commences. Membership lapses if a sub- and breaking the glass. For this reason I have replaced the glass scription fee is not paid before the end of the three month period. with steel rods for the test so the glands can be tightened more. Something to note here is that only paid-up members are covered I decided to change the fuseable plug at the same time and found it by our insurances and that is clearly a major consideration particu- was absolutely solid in the top of the firebox. I made a square drive larly in relation to the railway. Any individual continuing to par- which fitted snugly on the plug, applied pressure with a long sock- ticipate in Society activities when their membership has lapsed et bar and promptly snapped the square drive off the end of the would be placing both the Society and themselves in a perilous plug. The only answer then was to drill out the remains. Working situation and that is something that cannot be allowed to happen. upside down with the engine on car ramps was not easy, also the So please pay your subs promptly, that will avoid an embarrassing firebox is too small to fit a drill into. I looked around for a means or compromising situation arising. If for any reason you have to of drilling the plug and found an old chuck from a Black and delay payment then please speak with Roger in the first instance. Decker drill which is fitted via a ½” x 20 tpi thread. I cut a thread It appears to have been a good year for new members with quite a on a length of bar and screwed the chuck onto it. I could then put few joiners in recent weeks. Looking at the information Roger the bar in the electric drill and use the extension chuck to drill out provides there are quite a few interested in or involved with steam the plug. I managed to remove the plug without damaging the and others who are engaged in aero modelling, instrument making thread in the firebox but it was not an easy job. The moral of the or experimental work. Doing some quick mental arithmetic the tale is to regularly remove the plug to both make sure it is servicea- average age in the club has been reduced by a considerable amount ble and to ensure it can be easily removed if needed. by the recent influx of new members! A warm welcome to you all. I took the boiler up to 150 psi, which is 1 ½ times working pres- However you celebrate, have a great Christmas. Norman sure, without any leaks using the engine’s hand pump and then borrowed the tester’s pump and gauge and took it up to 200 psi. An email from Richard Lunn asking for presenters for the Steam Dave Evans from the MSRVS came to test the boiler with John Road Vehicle evening at Begbrook made me realise how little I Harris as the witness. had done on my 2” Durham & North Yorks TE since the last such The boiler passed the hydraulic test with no problem. As I had a an evening. On that occasion I was able to show the gear blanks I new blanking plug welded in the front tube plate I also needed to had been machining so I thought Richard’s request was the ideal show a copy of the qualification certificate of the boiler maker who prompt for me to be brave and cut some teeth. welded the plug along with the material specification of the new An arbour was needed to mount the gear wheels on; morse taper at tubes. one end to fit the dividing head, the other turned to a diameter of ⅝ The first time I steamed the engine it primed really badly because inch with a thread on the end for a clamping nut. A simple piece of of the oil coming off the new tubes. Having changed the water the work and I found a ⅝ x 26 die in the club workshop which I second steaming had no such problems. booked out to myself. I screw-cut the thread intending to use the Hopefully by the time you are reading this newsletter the engine die just for finishing but to my horror instead of finishing the will have passed a new steam test and will be back on the road. thread it promptly stripped all the thread I had patiently screw-cut. On close examination one side of the die is left handed the other I have been asked by David Giles if there would be any interest in right. Look carefully and you can see this from the pictures below. having a steam road vehicle day at Ashton, probably combined Now that must have taken some making! The actual thread form with a club day. Please let David or me know if you would like to was pretty rough too. support this. My problem was easily solved by reducing the threaded section of the arbour to ½ inch diameter and used a die from my own collec- All that remains is to thank all those who have sent me articles for tion. As for the offending die …… well I returned it to its home in the newsletter including the Begbrook scribes who I have press the workshop but of course it’s not much good without a matching ganged into service and to wish you all compliments of the season. set of taps. I can feel a chairman’s challenge coming on! ——————————————————————— I didn’t get so far as cutting teeth for the Begbrook evening; that A Christmas message from Bernard North. has started since. That might be another story in due course! See page 8 A big thankyou to everyone who helped with the Santa Special. Our ‘new’ Santa Roger Perrin did a grand job ably assisted by his gang of elves. I would like to thank all those who helped with the set-up on the Saturday, the running on the actual day, the ladies in the tea room, the engine drivers and, of course, the clearing up after. Plus thanks to our retired Santa, George Ganley, pictured on the back cover taking a well earned rest. Another event to be proud of from the BSMEE. 2

Railway Manager’s Secretary’s Thoughts David Giles Report Derek Todman

Seemingly in the blink of an eye, my second running season as railway manager has come to an end. I like to be- lieve that I came into the role with my eyes open, but never the less it has been a challenge. On the whole, we had a very successful year, There have been three Committee Meetings since the last Newslet- with several of our long term projects progressing well. Of partic- ter and the main topics discussed are the Society Officers for elec- ular note are the refurbishment and re-equipping of the ground tion at the forthcoming AGM, the Awards to be presented and the level carriages, the ongoing re-laying and upgrading of the ground Handbook update. level track and the refurbishment of the two signal boxes. The Society Officers has been a significant issue for the Commit- tee as there are a number of posts that are lacking a volunteer to fill This means that we now have a complete set of ground level car- the position. This issue has also been addressed elsewhere in this riages with a fully functioning vacuum braking system (although Newsletter. some are still awaiting their new bogies to the very latest design The Awards have now been decided and they will be announced at standard) and a continuously improving ground level track which the AGM so if you want to know who has got what, see you at the will eventually have corrected levels, alignments and transitions AGM and replacement sleepers in a rot-resistant plastic material through- The Handbook update, first draft has now been presented to the out it’s length, which will give a much improved ride for drivers Committee for review and comment. The changes to the Articles and passengers alike. We also have one signal box (Ashton Sid- of Association have now been agreed by the Committee and will ings) completely refurbished externally, including a set of scale be presented to the membership in the AGM calling papers for sized hardwood steps! The main signal box (Ashton Junction) is agreement by the membership at the AGM. The main change is the currently undergoing the same thorough refurbishment, and of way the Society organises itself in the event there are insufficient course we look forward to it’s completion which I’m sure will be volunteers to form a Committee as currently defined by the Hand- to the same high standard. I have also got management committee book. approval to proceed with the manufacture of a fleet of new raised The Committee has agreed the accounts and these will be present- track passenger carriages, with a projected completion date of June ed to the membership for final approval at the AGM. A summary 2018. This is now under way, albeit rather slowly at present. will be circulated with the AGM calling papers, but the detailed figures are available from the Treasurer or the Secretary Other projects include the rolling replacement of sleepers on the The Committee has agreed to purchase another 3D printer. Things raised track, upgrading and enhancement of control systems and have moved on since The Society purchased its first printer and electronic architecture of the signalling system and the seemingly unfortunately it has proven not to be robust enough to be transport- never-ending tasks of painting the fences and bridges and other ed out on loan. The new one is a much more robust design and features. Although general maintenance is not the most glamorous should allow “home” use. of tasks, the rewards for our Society come in the form of compli- The remaining issues were of an administrative nature ments, not only from passengers, but also visitors from other socie- Finally can I remind you if you were presented with a trophy at the ties and members of the general public who stop for a chat at the last AGM, if you haven’t done so already can you return it as soon fence. as possible to Ken Moody or me so that it can be prepared for the next recipient. We have a strong group of Key Persons responsible for the major And further finally on a personal note can I take this opportunity to activities of maintenance and refurbishment of the site, the railway wish you all a Merry Xmas and a Prosperous steaming New Year, and the infrastructure, plus others who give of their time on a regu- if not steaming then building so you can steam. lar basis to help with the myriad tasks required to run a facility such as ours. However, we have some important roles which are still unfilled, and can always accommodate newcomers to our The two pictures below show progress in making the cladding for team. It is unfortunate that in such a large Society as ours we have my traction engine in four parts rather than two as per the draw- only between 30 to 40 people who regularly participate in the run- ing. See also the Begbrook report on page 12. ning and maintenance of the Ashton Court site, but heartening to The scrap two piece cladding is also in the pictures. see that some of our newer members are proving to be enthusiastic additions to the team.

With regard to our passenger hauling activities, total ticket sales are almost identical to last year at 29,242, a drop of only 0.3% in spite of an increase in price. At the last management committee meeting in November it was agreed that the current price would be unchanged at least for another year. Following the success of the ‘Steam Special Day’ and the ‘Diesel and Electric Gala’ these events will be highlighted in next year’s calendar and included in our publicity material. The provisional calendar is now available, and will be finalised in the near future. However, the public running days and club days are not expected to change.

Lastly, I would like to say a huge “Thank You” to all those who have supported me in my role, and that includes the ladies who have manned the kitchen and ticket office so effectively and supplied countless cups of tea to drivers and helpers alike. Let’s hope that in the year 2017 we will have an equally successful time! Looking further ahead, we have been approached to host the Sweet Pea Rally in June 2018. More news on that later, but I am minded to say “Yes”.

BEGBROOK REPORT by Richard Lunn The Ground Level Saturday Gang gets Barrow Road Remembered - Dave Cheesley experimental Wednesday 3rd August 2016 By Peter Pearson

On Saturday 20th Au- Dave Cheesley is a cofounder of the Barton Hill History Group gust a group of rene- which was formed 33 years ago. He talked about the history of the gades who had chosen Barrow Road Engine Sheds interspersed with anecdotes from his the outdoor life instead early days as a train spotter. of Exhibition living The first railway line into Bristol was from the coal mines at Coal- spent a miserable day pit Heath and was the horse drawn Dramway. This was adopted by in the wind and rain at the Bristol and Gloucester Railway and by 1846 became part of Ashton Court Railway the Midland Railway line to Birmingham. The Midland Railway trialling a new solution put in a link from Lawrence Hill Junction to Temple Meads Sta- to stop the Ground tion which meant that Temple Meads Station then served both Level track bends wan- GWR and Midland Railways. dering off over the golf course or turning them- Barrow Road Locomotive Depot was built by the Midland Rail- selves into a lobster- way in 1873, replacing an earlier shed on the same site. The LMS back bend every time Railway modernised the shed facilities in the late 1930’s. the sun shone. This It was Bristol’s last steam shed with 450 men working there at its photograph shows peak. It was closed on 20th November 1965 and demolished in some of the Saturday 1967. In the early days many men living in the Barton Hill area Gang desperately try- worked for the railway. ing to get the track back down in time for In 2005 the History Group presented a 40th anniversary slide show Gordon Cackett’s 80th which was attended by 100 people. In 2015 at the 50th anniversary Birthday Bash later show over 200 people attended the meeting including trainspotters that evening. David and men who had worked in the sheds. ‘Indiana Jones’ Mar- shall is on the left bark- 1962 - 1965 trainspotter memories. Dave moved to Redfield ing orders at John near the railway lines and regularly visited the Guants Ham Park ‘Garden Gnome’ Foley playground next to Barrow Road with his Nan from which he and Phil ‘My legs are could see the engines steaming. browner than yours’ Faulkner, whilst Richard ‘Sticky Fingers’ He started train spotting in 1962 and went there on his scooter at 9 Pearson applies grease to the fish plate recesses. The team were years of age marking the engines off in train spotter books. amply sustained by Phil ‘Ramsay’ Ridgway’s barbequing experi- Barrow Road had a 13 arch bridge going over the railway which ments ably supported by Zoe Toulouse in the kitchen. Peter ‘I’m was part of the No. 36 bus route. in charge’ Pearson could also be seen wandering around kicking There was a wooden door in the side wall of the bridge with steps trees and grumbling incomprehensibly about something or other. going down to the ground. Young lads could stand on the steps in So if anyone else fancies spending a Saturday in the fresh air their pursuit of engine numbers but would be chased off if they working alongside a small band of happy workers to make the went into the yard Ground Level track the finest ride this side of Bristol then please Going past Digby Street and down Days Road led to an unofficial contact Peter Pearson who will be delighted to hear from you. way into the sheds over a wall on the narrow bridge. This route It’s worth it for the jolly banter alone. was eventually blocked by the wall being coated in black oil by the shed foreman to stop trespassers. Dave never used this route as the first time he ventured into Digby Street the local lads tried to steal his scooter. Amongst other engines there were usually 3 or 4 9F’s at the shed and also the occasional Britannia. The main goods carried were coal, chocolate and cigarettes. There were turntables both in the shed and outside in the early days. The carriage shed was demolished in the 1950’s.

1923 - 1948 LMS days. Digby Street was built by the Midland Railway to house railway workers; the size of your house was dependent on the seniority of your job. In 1923 the Midland Railway became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). In the 1930’s the Black 5 engine was introduced and many bridges Oh, and in case you were wondering what the experimental solu- had to be reinforced and the turntable in the shed had to be made tion is that we are trialling it consists of fixing a pair of 3 metre bigger. The 1938 shed improvements included a new 60ft turnta- longitudinal battens underneath the sleepers so that they span the ble, an ash lifting plant and a new coaling plant. 16 ton wagons rail joints. We hope that they will keep the rail ends in alignment loaded with coal were hoisted up the side of the giant coaling tow- and provide a better key into the ballast to resist lateral force. er and poured into the two 75 ton bunkers. Also we lubricated and just pinched the fishplates tight to allow The coaling tower was built too close to the main line and needed thermal expansion movement. This photo shows the experi- modifying to stop lumps of coal hitting passing trains. mental track before we replaced the ballast and David ‘Driller- Small wagons full of ash were lifted up the new ash tower and Killer’ Marshall’s wining entry in this month’s “Who’s got the emptied into it; 16 ton wagons were then loaded with ash from the dirtiest jeans?” competition: tower to be taken away.

1950’s In the 1950’s 4F’s were a common sight and standard British Rail- way designs started coming in.

Beyer Garrets came to Barrow Road shed after working coal trains His machine was the next size up from the one I wanted but he from Nottingham to Westerleigh Yard. They were turned around was delighted with it. Interestingly, he ran Mac3 but had never on the Mangotsfield triangle. These were the biggest engines ever bought the licence. “No need”, he said, “they give you the first to come to the shed. They usually came in at night so were seldom 480 lines free and that’s all I need “. He was one of those clever seen by train spotters. Royal mail trains also came through with nerds who can write their own programs. Now that’s fine for sim- mail bag pick up equipment on the side. The whole train had to be ple jobs but the engraving job in the photo took 6000 lines of G turned round at Mangotsfield to get the pick-up equipment on the code. correct side for the return journey. The trains used to be pushed That brings me to the next point. Impossible to write such a pro- back to Temple Meads with the engine at the back. They had to gram so some software is needed to do it. Once again, it’s down use Mangotsfield triangle to turn round as the tracks were too busy to money. The way I work is first draw the design in a CAD pack- for this to be accomplished anywhere else. age; there are so many free 2D ones on line there is no need to buy Some 0-4-0 pug tanks were used at Barrow Road as Avonside had one; then import this into the software that will convert your de- some very tight curves, one of these engines luckily made it into sign into G code. There is nothing free that I can find on line, and restoration. They also used some Sentinels for the same reason. I use the most popular one which is Vcarve Pro. It is now priced at £470. Still interested? YouTube has all the lessons on how to 1960’s use it. 1961 saw the introduction of diesels but in the early 1960’s there I sold my little Sheerline, complete with ancient computer running were still lots of Black 5’s to be seen. Windows 95, which was bought by a couple of blokes setting up a In 1961 the Evening Post published an article comparing steam new business making bespoke spectacle frames. Perfect for the and diesel. They travelled on ‘The Devonian’ train from Bristol to job. Next sell my massive, noisy, old Chester with three phase Leeds by steam (Jubilee Class) and back by diesel (Peak Class). converter. Perhaps I didn’t ask enough as it sold within a couple Dave’s cousin Mike Cheesley was the fireman. of days. One very large man arrived to take it away. I queried In 1964 the St Philip’s Marsh GWR shed closed and all the en- that he was on his own and the size of machine. “No problem, gines were transferred to Barrow Road which had 110 engines on just me and me two rollers.” Two thick steel bars was all he need- shed the first weekend. ed. He rolled it out of the door and was gone in twenty minutes. 1965 was the last year of Barrow Road by which time steam had Next I sold my 7-¼ ‘Bluebottle’ and ordered the Syil. been replaced by diesel and steam engines to be scrapped were There was just one small problem; it was one inch wider than the stored in the carriage sidings. gap in the fire doorway from the garage to my workshop. The 20th November 1965 was the last day of operation. Officially It arrived on an enormous crate, boxed in plywood. I solved the the 2 last trains to leave the depot were 9F’s with scrap engines problem of the one inch by cutting the door post in half, unscrew- towed behind. Actually 2 more engines came in later but left the ing the bottom section and screwed it back afterwards. Bit of fill- same day. er, touch of paint and perfection. To move it, I bought some furni- ture moving rollers and it rolled quite easily into place. After Closure Gone was the massive tower computer to be replaced by an E-box The Shed stayed empty all through 1966, everything was left be- (9x7x1) running Windows ten. Between it and the mill was a hind including the roster board, repair books etc. small black box; the answer to the flats problem. It’s called a The Somerset and Dorset line still had steam until March 1966, ‘Smoothstepper’ and once working produces perfect curves. with the last engines being stored at Midland Road for a few Should you consider one, then it’s about £100. weeks before going off to the scrap yards. In 1967 the goods yard closed and the shed was demolished but the line to Avonside remained for a few more years. The site remained derelict for about 20 years. Bristol Development Corporation then built the Spine Road, now called the St Philip’s Causeway, which ran parallel with the Barrow Road Bridge which, despite many protests, was demolished in 1993.

During this very interesting talk Dave showed many old photos of the sheds taken from various vantage points over the course of the shed’s history. Fig 1

—————————————————————————— Setting up proved to be too problematic for me, but the company sent along a chap to set up all the Mac3 settings compatible with Experiences with CNC - Colin MacEke the Syil. One or two teething problems later were sorted by the

I admire those blokes who make their own CNC rigs but it’s not for me as I couldn’t wait to get cutting. So I began with a beauti- fully made American Sheerline, rather expensive but there wasn’t Fig 2 much around at the time for beginners. It came with a large box of electronics plus software. The learning curve was expensive in cutters! It being a small machine, used the small FC3 throwaway cutters. I used it for several years and found it perfect to learn on and ideal for things like nameplates and small brass fittings. But it had two short comings. The first was it had its own software and wouldn’t run Mac3 the standard software for most setups. Secondly, the fault that all home made rigs have, namely cutting curves is done with a series of flats. There being 64 flats for 360 degrees. Stepper motors are aptly described but, while 64 flats are OK with small pieces, anything of any size and the flats become quite ap- parent. So what I needed was a better machine running Mac3. Besides, I like big engines and I wanted to be able to cut big steel. I eventually found a make called a Syil which fitted the bill. So I went to see a chap in the depths of Wales who used one to see what he thought. He was a retired engineer who had had his own business and now spent his time making beautiful I/C engines. 5 same man via a computer connection whereby he takes control of for the gear shaft when he reassembled it. my computer from wherever he is in the world (he’s a pilot) and I sat back, talked to him on the phone and watched what he did on Richard Lunn – Foster traction engine boiler re-tubing my screen. Brilliant. Although the Syil is quite big, it is almost silent and as can be seen Having suffered a tube failure at the Thornbury exhibition I had to from the engraving, Fig 1, size is not important when cutting metal. find a way of removing the old boiler tubes as there was no man- The engraving cutter is a 60 degree with a 0.3mm cutting tip cut- hole in the boiler. Having taken advice from a boiler maker I put a ting depth 0.2mm. To show the contrast, the wheel is for a new 40mm diameter hole in the front tube plate. I then explained how I engine, a Baldwin, Fig 2. I wanted to build it in 7-¼ but it worked planned to use a tube cutter to cut the tubes into sections inside the out at 7ft-6in, so I’m trying it in 5 inch which is about 4 feet long. boiler, knock the end sections into the boiler and remove all the The wheels are about 7 inches diameter. I’m not fond of cast iron bits through the aforementioned hole. wheels on a heavy engine as past experience has shown me that our After re-tubing a boss is to be welded in the hole containing a large narrow rails soon wear grooves. Buying spoked, steel wheels is blanking plug which could in the future be removed for inspection probably not possible but it’s perfect for the Syil. or subsequent re-tubing. I will report on my progress at the steam Modern CNC mills are so versatile and with the right software can road vehicle evening in October. carve beautiful 3D subjects. Youtube once again has some excellent videos. Vcarve Pro is what’s called a 2-!/2 D program, for full Kevin Slater – Steam boat tales 3D capability the software is now in four figures. Fortunately I’m not into carving wood. Kevin refurbishes steam boat boilers and told us that he uses a Question is, is it worth spending all that money? It certainly hasn’t Kango hammer to remove the tubes. paid for itself but, as my grandson said,” you can have a business He showed a video of a 15 HP Liquid Fuel Engineering Company with that.” It’s a lot of fun. Of course I could have spent it on holi- steam boat engine where they used balloons on the drain cocks to days and cruises, soon forgotten but I’ve still got my mill. see when the valves were opening. He told us how some engines ————————————————————————— run on river water but this is only for occasional use. For longer BEGBROOK REPORT by Richard Lunn use a condensing system is used to re-use the water in the boiler. Kevin recommends Multitreat TC boiler treatment in steam boat On the table night boilers. Wednesday 7th September 2016 As for the treatment amount? When looking at the water in the sight glass; Lager not enough, Beer about right, Guinness too Chris Castleman – 5” gauge 9F loco. much.

Chris brought the axle and wheels from his 9F 5” gauge loco. The There were not as many speakers as in some previous “on the ta- leading wheels were fouling the slide bars as the slide bar bracket ble” nights but the varied topics addressed led to much discussion was incorrect and the wheels were also hitting the crossheads. In between members and I think it was appreciated and enjoyed by all the LBSC design of 1959 in 3 ½” gauge the frames were too far who attended. apart and had a square axle box. This was not the correct shape, the —————————————————————————— 9F axle box being more rectangular. Chris had to modify the axle BEGBROOK REPORT by Richard Lunn boxes in situ as they were already on the quartered wheels. Chris described his modifications which resulted in the wheels running Club auction correctly with no clashes. Wednesday 21st September 2016

There were bargains aplenty at the club auction. Bob Gates – 5” gauge Jubilee from a Winson’s kit. The first half of the evening dealt with items from a workshop disposal. Kevin Slater was the auctioneer and did a grand job of It was hoped that the engine would be finished by now but it has disposing of most of the lots. I needed to replace some grease nip- taken longer than planned. Sound familiar?? The engine is now ples on my Morris Minor and secured a box of assorted grease assembled. nipples. When I come to look at them in detail I will probably find Bob has been trying different piston rings to get it to run on air. He that it contains all sizes known to man except the ones I need for couldn’t get it to work initially with bronze piston rings on the pis- the Morris. ton valves. He then refined the tolerances to get the timing better. The second part dealt with the items brought by club members and He also found the drain cocks were not opening properly and the for this Bernard North took over the auctioneer’s gavel and also gunge pre fitted by Winson’s would not blow out. Once they were did a grand job. open it blew out the gunge. He changed to PTFE piston rings and it There were some exceptional bargains and also some good prices ran very well in both forward and reverse. It is now ready to take achieved for the higher quality items. apart for painting next spring. —————————————————————————

Alan Hooper – Fly tying chuck Exhibition tea room

The exhibition tea room is a very popular part of the Thornbury Alan saw this at a fair. It is normally used for tying flies and was exhibition and appreciated by club members, exhibitors and traders selling for £12. It is a very useful chuck which clamps to a table for alike. The following letter is from the tea room organisers. holding very small jobs. It is surprising what tools from other hob- bies we can make use of. Lin, Tony & Liz would like to say a huge thank you to everyone

who helped in the Exhibition tearoom this year. All our custom- Trevor Chambers – Foden Steam Lorry intermediate gear drive. ers, old and new, really appreciated our hospitality. The magnifi-

cent sum of £522.40 was raised from their kind donations and this, The Foden was built from a Traction World kit. The intermediate as in previous years, has been presented to the children's hos- drive shaft seized while in use at the Thornbury exhibition and the pice. An acknowledgement of their gratitude is on the Ashton chain had to be taken off to move the engine. noticeboard. It was a busy few days but we still had plenty of fun It took about a week to strip it down to get to the fault. The sprock- along the way. A sense of humour is an essential ingredient in our et was seized on the stub axle. Trevor thought it was lack of lubri- tearoom! Thank you all very much, we couldn't have done it with- cation but it was a design and maintenance problem. Two sprock- out you. ets are held together with six cap screws and one screw had come Lin & Tony Kavanagh loose and jammed forcing the sprockets against the drive flange. Liz Ward Trevor’s lesson; “Don’t spoil the engine for a dollop of thread locker”. Trevor also incorporated an improved lubrication system 6

Beware the metric trap - A confession and words ple and the long eye bolt is used to set the distance from the edge of warning from Phil Bridgway of the sheet.

Recently I had need to remake a part for a spindle I had damaged during dismantling it. The part is an internally screwed collar and it seemed a simple job which I had done before some time ago. I looked at the thread on the part and decided it was imperial so I used a thread gauge to determine the pitch. 26 TPI seemed to be it. So I set the lathe to cut 26 TPI and proceeded to screw cut the part. As I approached the thread depth I tried the spindle but it would not fit so more material was removed. By now I was getting worried “it’s not right” I said to myself. I looked again at the screw cutting setting, I had set it to 28 TPI. They are very close together on the Myford. Start again, make the collar and again screw cut it. This time I Fig 2 made sure it was set to 26 TPI. As thread depth was reached I tried the spindle, it entered but only part way. At this stage I was doubting my sanity with all sorts of reasons why it was not the It only took a few hours to complete and should really simplify way it should be. and speed up the task of producing all those simulated rivets. If A call from her indoors came at this time so the job was aban- different diameter rivets need to be formed a selection of anvils doned. can be made with different sized holes. The problem was however still with me and as my mind crawled David can return the favour when I come to make the wooden over it I knew what I had done. Into the metric trap had I fallen, roof for my traction engine. the pitch was one mm. Do the job a third time and it fitted first Finally, with reference to Phil Bridgway’s metric trap article, I time. Or was that third time? thought the adjusting screw I was going to use was 3/16 BSF. In the days when we had to set up screw cutting using change Luckily I tapped a hole in a piece of scrap material first to check wheels we would check all was well before trying on the job. I it as it turned out to be M5! shall go back to doing this in future. —————————————————————————- ————————————————————————— BEGBROOK REPORT by John Wale MEL Riveter kit by Richard Lunn Industrial locomotives - Pete Evans My elder brother David is making a small loco kit which is made Wednesday 5th October 2016 mainly from thin brass sheet. To simulate rivets dimples are put in the brass sheet which when Pete Evans gave an excellent slide show and talk on the last of viewed from the other side look like rivet heads. Industrial Locomotives between 1964 and 1974. He had travelled He tried doing this initially using a centre punch and dropping a the country from Falmouth to Aberdeen taking photographs of weight onto it to try and get all the rivets to look the same but it mainly steam locomotives in collieries, steel works, quarries etc. was quite a tedious business. He showed just how many industrials were in service and how At the Thornbury Model Engineering Exhibition he came across extensive the industrial railway systems were. The slides showed a kit produced by Model Engineers Laser for a riveter. This is in a great variety of steam locomotives from a number of manufac- reality a “dimpler” to give it a more appropriate name. turers almost exclusively British and interestingly many were The parts supplied with the kit can be seen in Figure 1 and it made local to where they worked. came with a set of instructions and a drawing. The first slide showed a 0-6-0 Peckett built in Bristol, at a colliery near Leicester. The next one at John Knowles in Derbyshire where everything was driven by steam and they had an Andrew Barclay built in 1901 and a Hunslet from 1920, they also had a narrow gauge system. At Leicester gas works they had a 1948 Robert Stephenson and Hawthorn 0-4-0 saddle tank which had covers over the crossheads so that pedestrians didn’t get caught in the works when it crossed the road. Was this the first sign of health and safety? Newlands colliery near Swansea had a Hudswell Clark built in 1947 and at Littleton colliery there was a photo of Littleton No 5, a Manning Wardle 0-6-0 saddle tank of 1922, now at Bitton but sadly not running. Two ex GWR pannier tanks working for London Transport were shown in steam at Neasden. Ironbridge power station had a 1940 Peckett and Stuart and Lloyds tubewoks had two Pecketts and an Avonside. Hams Fig 1 Hall power station Warwickshire, opened in 1947, had a number of RSH 0-6-0 side tanks and some are preserved with one at Bit- ton. Ford, Dagenham had a Peckett 0-6-0 saddletank with the As the kit needed some machining operations and David normal- Ford logo on the side, this was scrapped in 1970 at Chesterfield. ly works with wood rather than metal the construction was en- At Ashington Northumberland there was an RSH saddle tank trusted to me. built in 1954, also a Peckett. At this colliery miners were taken The work required consisted of drilling and tapping a few holes to work in carriages on an extensive railway system. There was and turning the anvil and former. I also milled the base flat to also a picture of a Stockton and Darlington waggon from 1850. provide a datum as a first operation. A Robert Stephenson built in 1891 at a colliery near Beamish David looked through the instructions and drawing and found was based on Martin Evans ‘Holmside’, or should this be the some features that he did not require and I also made some modi- other way round? fications to simplify manufacture. At Wallsend there was an oil fired Peckett built in 1914 for Figure 2 shows the completed tool (except the split pin needs Woolwich Arsenal, on this site they made large anchors and pro- bending). Operation of the tool is pretty self explanatory, the pellers. screw through the handle is used to adjust the depth of the dim- Continued on page 10

Norman gets all geared up IMLEC 2016 Report by Bernard North

This year’s International Locomotive Efficiency Competition was held in July at Urmston which is one of the suburbs of Manchester, not far from the Trafford Centre. The competition has been to Urmston before but a long while ago back in 1985 when we were represented by John Coleman with his 5”gauge Southern ‘U’ Class 2-6-0. Urmston Society of Model Engineers is the home society for the current Model Engineer editor, Diane Carney, and hence it was an obvious choice as a venue, with a little bit of encouragement I understand. The Urmston track is some 2120 ft in length skirting around the perimeter of a local park. There are a number of testing gradients of 1 in 100 around the station area and being built using aluminium rail section makes the selection of a suitable load for the competition a little challenging. Urmston had elected to use the dynamometer car from Leyland which uses one of the Station Road Steam dynamometer units. This system has been used for several IMLEC competitions now and will be the basis for the rebuild of the Bristol Dynamometer Bernard and Norman are looking very pleased with themselves car currently about to commence. as they use the Bridgeport Mill at the Ashton workshop to start This year we were represented by John Whale with his 5” cutting the gears for Norman’s traction engine. gauge GWR Saint ‘Lady of Quality’. John definitely drew the short straw as just before he started his run there was a heavy shower of rain. The combination of rain and an aluminium track is not a good one and John struggled with adhesion for most of his run. This rather put the damper on his run in more ways than one, but he put up a good effort despite the conditions. The competition is fully reported in Model Engineer and the details of John’s run can be found in 14th October issue (Vol 217, No 4545). Amongst some of the other runs over the weekend, a rather spectacular run by a Union Pacific ‘Big Boy’ was interesting to watch. Not the most efficient of runs – it took 15 lbs of coal just to raise steam in the first place, but it did carry over 50 passengers using all of Urmston’s rolling stock. I think he got a lower figure than John – so John wasn’t last!! Alan Crossfield also ran his Duke of Edinburgh award win- ning LMS Patriot with a superb effortless run showing that this locomotive performs well and can take the model engi- This is the first one ‘off the press’ and looking good. neering world’s top award. Jack Dibnah (son of Fred) is a regular attender at IMLEC and No doubt your editor will be hounding Norman for a report on was there running an Isle of Man locomotive ‘Peveril’ with his progress in due course. some typical Dibnah banter. The winner this year was Lionel Flippance running yet anoth- ——————————————————————— er version of his BR Standard 2-8-2 Proposed locomotive. Lionel has won this completion on previous occasions with a An Electric ‘steam’ lorry locomotive to this design and has shown that the ‘heavy weight’ locomotives are the way to better efficiency figures

by better adhesion. Lionel has built two locomotives to this You may have seen the electric traction engines at the Thorn- design and has a third under construction, all slight variations bury exhibition on the Saturday which were brought along by on a theme. This was only the third outing for this particular Ian Jones. Ian is now marketing a kit to transform a mobility locomotive and Lionel wasn’t even sure if it would run scooter into a ‘steam lorry’. As it is driven along water vapour is properly – he won the competition effortlessly. ejected from the chimney in time with the authentic steam nois- There was the usual crowd of Bristol supporters to give John es. There is also the option to retain the mobility scooter seat. If you are interested in getting any further information on these some encouragement and despite the rather wet conditions on kits then visit the web site at www.ians-electric-engines.co.uk or the second day we all had an enjoyable weekend away with email him at [email protected] or phone 07947 fellow model engineers – the regular IMLEC stalwarts from 076988. around the country.

Final prep- arations with a crowd of onlookers – some you might recognise!

Some photographs from IMLEC 2016

John sets off in the rain – note the umbrellas Towards the end of John’s rather wet and soggy run!

50 or more passengers behind the ‘Big Boy’ The UP ‘Big Boy’ set off in fine style

Lionel Flippance with his BR Standard 2-8-2 Proposed Locomotive Jack Dibhah prepares IOM ‘Peveril’ for its run

Continued from page 7 A Sunderland shipyard which built ships up to 15000 tons had ASHTON WILDLIFE REPORT by BSMEE’s a crane tank with Joy valve gear built in 1902, they had 8 of answer to David Attenborough, Gerry Fletcher these at one time. At Reid Paper Mill in Kent they had a fireless locomotive, an Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 of 1917, this would It’s back! Woody, our giant stick insect, (staticus foliageous), run for several hours before it had to be recharged. For the ben- has again returned for it’s annual hibernation and can be spotted efit of several members Pete explained that these locos were from the back-straight of the ground level track. basically a large insulated pressure vessel on wheels with cyl- inders usually under the cab and they got their steam from the plant where they operated, they were used mainly where there were fire hazards. In Newport South Wales there was an An- drew Barclay of 1940 at British Steel. An Avonside 0-4-0 no. 1498 built in Bristol in 1906 was near the transporter bridge and a Peckett at Uskmouth Power Station, also at Newport B a Hawthorn Leslie built in 1932. At a nearby colliery was pannier tank no.7754 built by North British, and an Andrew Barclay was shown working hard on a climb of 1in 40. There was a shot of a rare saddle tank built by the Yorkshire Engine Co. of Sheffield at their Meadow Hall works, now a shopping mall. At Reid Paper in Kent there was a Fireless loco built by Orstein and Kopple in 1907 and at Sittingbourne there was a narrow gauge Kerr Stewart of 1905 and a Bagnall of 1934 with spark arrestors, also a very unusual narrow gauge fireless loco built by Bagnall in 1940, this was shown derailed, a common occurrence. In Wrexham Pete and friends went to photograph a 0-4-0 Peckett and were cruising round slowly But it’s looking rather ashen and elderly this time, so the Friday looking for bed and breakfast when they were stopped by the gang intend keeping a log of Woody in order to twig any future police who offered them B&B in the cells at the police station. changes in it’s condition. It’s tired appearance may just have a After a short break Pete continued with the slide show and ex- dietree cause as it’s long summer of foraging for scarce food plained that he obtained access to the many sites by writing in can’t have been plain sailing. Whilst it can survive on dead and when he arrived he and his friends were given meals and leaves and insects, what’s thought to be it’s main source of nutri- were allowed unlimited access to the locos and were allowed tion, golf balls, have virtually disappeared. Systematically scav- footplate rides and in many cases they were able to drive, par- enged and stockpiled by unscrupulous poachers, these prize ticularly in Scotland where it was almost compulsory. On an- morsels can fetch up to 40p each on the white market! Sadly, other trip to Wrexham Pete visited nearby Gresford Colliery one of our own members is openly active in this dodgy trade, where he photographed a Manning Wardle 0-6-0 saddle tank. shame on you Mike! There was a terrible disaster at Gresford in 1934 when an ex- Woody has always been refirred to as “it”. But is it a he or a plosion killed 266 men and boys, only 11 bodies were recov- she? We’ve always ashumed male, though we could be barking ered, the rest were left entombed in the colliery’s permanently up the wrong tree. However, if female, and with plenty of erect sealed damaged districts. It is Britain’s worst coal mining dis- trunks in the adjacent bushes, saplings would surely have ap- aster and it is thought there was a double shift so that men peared long ago. But alas, no offsprig and only a full root and could go to a football match. At Kersley power station they had branch probe would supplant our presumption for certain. Hawthorn Lesley electric locos built in 1927. In Ayreshire, So we’ll leave it in peace for another season and continue to Dalmelington colliery had six Andrew Barclays one, a 0-4-0 of look after the surrounding habitat as Woody prepares for it’s 1918 was shown in immaculate condition in dark blue NCB winter lumber (sorry slumber). livery with a coal wagon used as a tender. At Burntisland in Fife where they used to make BACO foil there was a 0-4-0 Gerry kindly sent this in as some “light releaf” for the Christmas Peckett saddle tank built 1915, also an Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 newsletter. built in 1937. Nearer to home at Kilmersdon colliery there was ———————————————————————— a 12 inch Peckett driven by Herbie Loader (he has also driven BEGBROOK REPORT by Richard Lunn my Peckett at Ashton) the colliery opened in 1887 and closed Road steam evening in 1973, happily the loco is preserved at Washford. The docks in Falmouth had a Hawthorn Lesley of 1926 and a Wednesday 5th October 2016 Peckett built in 1919 there were also photos of a tanker Serenic in dock for repair and a New Zealand ferry that was later sent This evening was very well supported with eight speakers and a to the Falklands. Pete’s friend had another pass for the next day good attendance from members. in Glasgow so they drove overnight in his Morris 1100 to see a The diversity of projects covered ranged from traditional manu- Hudswell Clark of 1909, that’s dedication. At Waterside facture using drawings and castings, to more challenging manu- Dalmellington Pete spent all day driving their Andrew Barclay facture where no castings were available, through kit builds to the oldest one dating from 1914. The last photograph was taken manufacturing embracing the latest technology. It was a very in 1974 in Swansea where they had 3 diesels which had all interesting evening provoking plenty of discussion. failed so they used their Peckett for two weeks. This very interesting talk and slide show finished at 9.30. Trevor Chambers - Foden steam wagon ———————————————————————— As kits are now more reliable Trevor decided on a kit and has built a 4 1/2 “ Foden short wheel base steam wagon as supplied The “Fosse Way by Steam Traction World (STW). He decided on the short Steamers” at the wheelbase version as it would fit in his existing trailer. Midlands exhibi- In January 2014 he took delivery from STW and bought twelve tion kits at the same time and it took eighteen months to get it in steam. Trevor then showed us a video of the first steaming and he steamed the wagon at the Thornbury exhibition in 2015 without any bodywork.

The first thing he noticed on driving the wagon is that you don’t He used Autodesk Fu- have to flick the flywheel to get started as he did on his Foster trac- sion 360 3D CAD , tion engine. He considered this to be a plus point. which is free package STW recommend a trial fit before painting and Trevor used Craft- for hobbyists, to create master coach enamel. It was brushed on the chassis and sprayed a 3D model of the part. on the body. Although intended for brushing the paint sprayed well He showed how easy it with thinners. Many coats of paint were applied and rubbed down is to create the part in in between which was very time consuming. CAD. He then used the With the chassis painted the back and front axles were fitted, the CAM function, select- oilite bushes were too tight when fitted but this was easily rectified. ing cutter size and The front chassis member had to be removed and fettled to enable speeds and feeds to gen- fitting of the boiler. erate the tool paths. The The cylinder block was fitted with a gasket and lots of “gunk”. A software then simulates successful pressure test was carried out at this stage to 1 1/2 times machining the part. He working pressure. superglued some stain- Lining up the trunk guides with the crankshaft journals needed a less to a scrap alumini- bit of fussing about to get them aligned. The eccentrics were not um plate, let it set, then marked and were originally fitted on the wrong sides. machined the part on The hole in the cylinder cover plate was 15 thou off centre so the the CNC mill. pistons would not move when assembled with piston rods and co- It took 90 minutes from start to finish to make two retaining col- vers. Once again easily rectified with STW responding quickly to lars. any problems. The hubs were also CNC machined but he only needed to model The pipe work was mainly pre formed, just needing a bit of tweak- the shape to be machined, there being no need to completely mod- ing. the injector worked first time. el the detail part to enable CNC machining of the main features. The smoke box was really thick so Trevor machined it to reduce the weight on the front to lighten the steering. STW provided good documentation and isometric drawings for John Harris - Foden steam lorry assembly and quickly resolved any problems. An Axminster touch up spray gun was used for spraying larger John has built a 6” Foden steam lorry from scratch. His previous parts, an air brush for smaller parts. model was a very large loco, but he got fed up of the same old Trevor made a spray booth from an old gazebo and builder’s plas- scenery. He visited the MSRVS rally and liked the road vehicles, tic and an electric heater. There was no fresh air feed so spraying his wife saying they could go to the beer tent, toilets and Tesco in was restricted to about ten minutes at a time. a road steamer. They liked Eric Lindsay’s Foden and decided on a For lining the painting he didn't get on with Bugler pen, it was ok 6” version. for straight lines but not curves. Craftmaster lining stencil tape and The only drawings available were for a 3” version. these were cardboard templates were used successfully for the lining. For let- procured and John doubled up all the dimensions. tering he used vinyl stencils from Instil graphics of Filton. No castings are available in this size and he had to decide on As the wagon was modelled on 1920’s vintage Trevor asked at which parts to cast and which to fabricate. Thornbury museum how many digits would be in a period phone John made a pattern for the cylinder and took it to a foundry in the number and used an appropriate one on the signage. Forest of Dean. John was surprised to find green sand is not used Trevor incorporated some modifications to the roof to make it easi- any more and they use what looks like soot and is resin based. The ly detachable and added a cut out at the back to improve access to moulds fit in box with a five degree taper and sets rock solid with controls. no blow holes in the parts. He made the cores from CO2 sand. The roof members are supplied in laser cut MDF with 6 mm birch John had a friend who wanted castings as well and selling a sec- ply panels for the roof using filler and sanding to make smooth. A ond set of castings funded Johns castings. He was three years mak- calico cover was then fitted with PVA glue. The calico was ing patterns in a twelve year project. Plywood and MDF was used stretched, tucked it in at the corners and allowed to dry. for other patterns. The rear body work was different in various prototypes. Trevor He had to modify his horizontal mill to add a power feed to the Y didn't like the rear end chosen by STW but found a timber wagon axis using a 12 volt motor powered by a car battery. at the Great Dorset Fair which he used for a prototype. The rear He showed showed some very impressive videos of machining the body incorporates extra water tanks made by Taurus of King- cylinder. swood. The bores were fitted with cast iron liners fitted with Loctite 620, Trevor took the wagon to the South Cerney steam fair. It is differ- this gives time to position the liner before it sets. It was £143 for a ent to drive than the traction engine but he is learning fast how to tube! fire it. He machined his own gear teeth for the chain wheel sprocket. The bevel gears were cut professionally but all other gears were cut by Steve Smith - “CNC and superglue”. John. He used a slitting saw to remove some material from each tooth before using a gear cutter. All the gear cutting was done Steve inherited a part built Alchin traction engine model from his manually, One of the gears had 96 teeth cut at 1 hour per tooth! grandfather. It is based on the 1925 engine Royal Chester, a single John used Ford fiesta wheels on the back and hubs from a Metro cylinder, 7 HP engine. It is a well proportioned model prototyped with trailer wheels on the front. Hydraulic brakes are fitted on the by Bill Hughes in 1957 and serialised in Model Engineer in 1 1/2” front with a band brake on the rear. scale. Many have been built in the following years. The cylinder is bolted to the boiler with threaded blind holes to First Steve showed a very impressive 3D model of the engine. His reduce the chance of steam leaks. engine was half built when obtained with no history which means The steering wheel was machined from a solid disc of steel by he is having to check all the existing parts for accuracy. He has milling and turning creating what appeared to be 5 cwt of swarf. been working on the wheel hubs and found the castings from The built up crank shaft is held together with Loctite and pins. Reeves are not very good quality, some castings were smaller than John made his own lubricator from box section steel and valves the finished parts. He is amending drawings to suit the available from buses which were used to deliver oil to bearings. materials and it is proving to be a more complicated project than He says the most difficult parts to make in the whole lorry were originally thought. This is his first forte into model engineering. some wooden roof members with compound contours. He brought the rear hubs to show us and asked how we would Like Trevor’s wagon calico is fitted with PVA for the roof top. make the retaining collars for the drive pins. The answer was main- The wagon is now in steam after 12 years and runs very well with ly to fabricate by hand. He then showed us how he made these Jill still waiting to go to Tesco. parts.

Peter Whistler - Wheel riveter He couldn't keep the fire going when he first used the engine and resorted to an electric blower which he made himself. He used a Peter brought along the wheels from his traction engine. He told us car heater motor and a brake disc for the rings. The plastic fan that in his younger days he used a hand drill in a vice to turn a fly- melted on the engine and he changed to a metal fan from a 12v wheel but has moved on since then. dynamo and added a guard to stop damaging his fingers. Now in later life he wanted to make a traction engine and saw He showed a video of the engine running up and down the lane some castings on eBay but chickened out at £700. next to his house. He finally decided on a 2” scale engine from MJ engineering. He He was happy to make the engine from a kit as it would have tak- wanted to use thick wall tube to turn the wheel rims. He found suit- en too long to scratch build. able gas pipe but needed to buy 100 metres, which would give plenty of opportunity for scrap (Derek take note). A friend then Norman Rogers - Gear cutting made the rims for him from solid. The wheels Norman made a general observation that traction engines and needed riveting which steam wagons need larger machinery and facilities than locos. sounds easy in the books He has a 1920’s Mills lathe which he has used to build several but is not so easy in locos and is now making a 2” Durham and North Yorks traction practice. engine. Peter wanted to use a He has had the gear blanks for some time and now needs to cut the mechanical system ra- teeth. ther than hammering. He He has made a mandrel to hold the gear rings. This has a morse bought a hydraulic taper at one end and the other end is sized to fit the bore of the crimping tool on eBay gear ring with a thread to hold the gear blank. for £40 which gives 12 He ruined it when threading as the die he was using was found to tons compression. He be part left and part right handed! Norman rectified this by making made an adapter to fit on a smaller thread. the crimp tool to enable it to be used for riveting. Derek Todman - Boiler cladding On the rear wheels access for riveting is diffi- Derek is making a 3” Fowler A7 traction engine and is now work- cult because of the dou- ing on the cladding for the 7” diameter boiler. ble flanges and he made He used wooden stringers for the cladding depth held on the boiler a shaped dolly to suit. by double sided tape. He said that 5/16 rivets Sheet steel from a filing cabinet have been set with a was used for the cladding. bigger version of the His first attempt at making the tool. cladding was scrapped as it did- Steel tyres and strakes n’t fit properly. are fitted with steel rivets, the spokes having copper rivets. It has to fit nicely around all the parts on the boiler and as this is Richard Lunn - Re-tubing Foster boiler on view he was not happy with the fit. Having had a steam tube failure on my Foster traction engine at the The full size cladding is made in Thornbury exhibition I am re-tubing it. I played videos showing 4 parts (not 2 as in the model cutting the tubes with a Wickstead internal tube cutter, knocking drawings) with the vertical joint the end sections into the boiler and then removing the cut tubes covered by one of the brass boiler from the boiler through bands. Derek decided it would be a hole I made in the far easier to make and fit the front tube plate. This cladding in four parts. (or four hole will be fitted with a halves as he put it) welded boss when the He has made the front two parts which fit really well and is now new tubes are installed. moving onto the back sections. I also brought some —————————————————————————- parts from the 6” Burrell Gold Medal Tractor I Is it your turn to take the rubbish home ? am making. These were one of the connecting Members may need reminding that rod assemblies and the there is no refuse collection service water gauges. from Ashton Court. Everything we put in a bin has ultimately got to be taken Mike Furber - Traction engine kit build home by a member to put in their do- mestic refuse bin. Please be mindful of Mike has built a 4” Burrell Steam Traction World traction engine this and take as much of your rubbish kit. He says that STW are very helpful and the few problems he home with you as possible. Above all had were very quickly resolved. do not put noxious material in society His main problem was that refuse bins for other members to take STW changed hands during his home. project and he ended up short The refuse bin photographed is in the of the hub caps. He was offered steaming bay. It is lined with thin gauge a set by the new owners but black plastic bags. In order to preserve they were so expensive that he their integrity do not put heavy or sharp objects in that can lead to eventually got them to agree to the bag tearing and the deposit of our refuse in a member's let him have a copy of the car. They will not appreciate it! drawing and he made some More volunteers to take refuse home will be appreciated, even if it himself. is only their own. Thank you. David Ward.

Why is BSMEE a limited liability company ?

It is twenty two years since BSMEE became a limited liability company. A considerable proportion of our current membership would not have been members then and perhaps they wonder why we took the step we did. The intention was to control and limit members’ personal liability in the event of accidents involving other members and the general public. In this article I have tried to explain the whys and wherefores of incorporation in this context. At the outset I should say that the likelihood that events would reach the state considered below is very remote. As far as is known, there are no known cases where an insurance company has not met a claim against an ME club. So we are considering an extremely low probability event but one where the consequences could be serious.

Personal Liability Suppose someone in our club is involved in a serious accident during one of our activities. It is easiest to postulate that it occurs on the railway but any club activity could be involved. Suppose the incident gives rise to a large claim for damages. Our club has public liability insurance for £5M and this should provide sufficient defence in all normal circumstances. It is certain that the larger the likely claim, the more rigorously the insurance company would examine the circumstances. All that insurance companies say is that they will meet claims when an accident has resulted from behaviour that could be regarded as "reasonable", whatever that means. However, suppose, for the sake of argument, they refused to support us for whatever reason. It is not clear under what circumstances this might arise but maybe the "small print" in the policy was violated unknowingly, or maybe an uncertificated boiler was involved or whatever. Under these circumstances, the claim would have to be met by the club. In the case of a large claim, it is very likely that the club would have insufficient assets to raise the large sum involved and could be wound up. Under these circumstances, every member of the club would be liable in law for the shortfall and could be ordered by a court to pay his share of the claim whether or not they were present when the accident occurred. It would be no defence to say "Well, it has nothing to do with me. I wasn't there. I'm not paying a cent". If the award were made against the club, every single member would be personally liable and refusal to pay would lead to seizure by the courts of personal assets. Assuming 100 members and a claim for £1M, each individual would have a legal liability of £10,000. The same would apply if it were a cricket club, a rugby club or a knitting club. If the club has “members” who pay a subscription and the club was not incorporated, the members would be personally liable for any awards to claimants. It is not only third party injury claims that could lead to this situation, although the sums involved are likely to be largest in this event. The club could be wound up as a result of not being able to meet it's debts, eg. due to fraud, etc. The membership would be liable to pay the debt shortfall from their own pockets. With an unincorporated club, there is no limit to the liability of the members for the debts of the company.

How can personal liability be limited? By forming a private company limited by guarantee. This type of structure is commonly used by charities, clubs, voluntary groups and other non-profit organisations. Well-known examples of large organisations in this category include Oxfam, BUPA and even UKIP. This type of company does not issue shares. Should a large claim result in the company going into liquidation, the liability of each member is limited to a small amount (the "guarantee") which was specified when the company was set up. That specified amount in the case of BSMEE is £1. What would happen if a company limited by guarantee were wound up ? Suppose the same set of circumstances occurs, ie. the insurers refuse to pay, but now the club liability is limited by guarantee. Then the claimant might go to court to seek recompense for the injuries he sustained. From whom would he claim? From the club almost certainly. However, since it is a company limited by guarantee, it is worth only the value of its assets plus one pound per member, a total of a few thousand pounds at most in the case of BSMEE. That would be unlikely to satisfy him so from where else would he seek recompense? There are a range of possibilities here, maybe the owner of the premises where the accident occurred, maybe the local authority if in a public park, and so on. Very likely targets are the individuals whose negligence he claims caused the accident and they could be held to be personally liable. It should be remembered that whilst the liability of the company is limited, that of an individual is not. A member on his holidays or otherwise not involved when an accident occurred would be liable for his share of the damages if the club were not incorporated. If the club were a limited-by-guarantee company, that member would not normally be liable. Note the word "normally" for, if the weekend before he went on holiday he were the chap who forgot to renew the brake shoes on the passenger car involved in the accident, he may be liable as an individual for his role in causing the accident even though he were absent when it hap- pened. In a limited company then, the majority of the membership would not be liable as a result of the actions of a few. The net result of incorporation is that a larger burden of responsibility is vested in the individuals involved, but the financial interests of the company are much better protected. Safety is focussed more upon the individual - we are all responsible for our own actions. This means that safe procedures and practices must be to the forefront of everyone's thinking, but in these days of HSE interest , that shouldn't need saying. NOTE: This article deals only with the possibility of civil claims for damages. There is always the possibility that a post-accident in- vestigation by the Health and Safety authorities could lead to a prosecution (by analogy, after a car accident your insurance company may pay for the damage/injury you have caused but you could also be prosecuted for, say, dangerous driving or bald tyres). This would apply whether you were incorporated or not.

How is a company established? A company is established by applying to Companies House. The application must include two important documents which contain information specific to the body seeking incorporation: 1) Memorandum of Association. This establishes the name of the new company, location of the registered office, the company's objects and members’ liability (the “guarantee”) in the event of winding-up, etc. 2) Articles of Association. These comprise the business rules of the club, eg. management structure, appointment of directors and general committee, AGM business, voting rights, accounts, types of membership, audit, etc. This is effectively the constitution of the club. These two documents form part of the Club Handbook which members receive when they join or when a new edition is published. The Memoranda of Association and the Articles are the final two sections of handbook. Sections 31 and 32 of the articles identify the directors and their tenure of office. At present they cannot be re-elected to the same office after a 3 year tenure. They can be elected to a different role or resume in the same role after a break of at least one year (the so-called “3 year rule”). At present the Society is experiencing a severe dearth of candidates for directorship and this important aspect of Society affairs is the subject of another article in this newsletter.

Don Cordall – Vice president BSMEE 13

The Election of Officials at the Annual General Meeting

The AGM will be held at 7.30pm on Wednesday 1st February 2017. As usual, the election of Society officers will be part of the agenda. These include directors, General Committee members and other non-committee officers. Calling notices for this meeting must be in the post by about the end of December to satisfy the Companies Act requirement that 21 days must elapse between members’ receipt of these notices and the AGM itself. The final nominations for directors must be with the secretary, Derek Todman in a timely manner to allow preparation of the calling papers. Nominations for non-directors and non-committee officers can be registered with the secretary up to 7.00 pm on the evening of the AGM. So although there are thirteen weeks between me writing this and the AGM, there are only about three Wednesday meetings available when nominations can be handed in, and Boy! do we need nominations Every organisation has a few jobs that need doing for it to remain viable. Typically, these involve someone to look after the money, someone to be the point of contact for the outside world and someone to be the general manager / occasional arbitrator. As the range of activities increase then so does the number of roles simply because activities need managing for them to be cohesive. Bris- tol SMEE is such an organisation. By virtue of the activities the Society undertakes it has a number of roles which require volunteers to help run it. Please stop and think about how you can put something back into BSMEE, a Society that you clearly want to be a part of. Don’t sit idly by expecting the Society or any section of it to continue regardless. At the next AGM the committee will need a treasurer, a secretary, a vice-chairman and at least two other committee members, i.e. only 50% of posts are filled if current office hold- ers want to continue. Where would we be if those remaining five resigned and said “If no-one else can be bothered, why should I?” There would be no BSMEE but who could blame them? The railway is also short of administrators. From a membership of over 200 it seems inconceivable that there are insufficient volunteers to do those few essential tasks of administration so that we can all enjoy being members of Bristol SMEE. We are a leading model engineering society that is unique in comparison to most other model engineering societies. First and foremost, BSMEE is a registered charity, a status that is not easily achieved, secondly we have a fabulous facility at Ashton Court and let's not forget our capability of organising a model engineering exhibition that compares, and in some minds exceeds, the standards set by the profes- sional organisations. The Society cannot function ad infinitum if you’re not prepared to take a part. Please, please think again. Please talk to Norman Rogers or Derek Todman about what role you could play. So come on, do something about it, put something back, for you and all your mates in BSMEE.

Don Cordall – Vice president BSMEE

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BEGBROOK REPORT by Richard Lunn the speed of the other roll adjusted by means of the sluice. They would be set at the same speed for sheet or different speeds to Saltford Brass Mill Project - Tony Coverdale make coiled wire. Wednesday 2nd November 2016 One of the key sources of historical information about the mills has come from documents made by industrial spies of the period This was the second talk we have had from Tony and the first few such as Angerstein who in 1754 produced detailed drawings and paragraphs here have been taken from the Brass Mill web site. descriptions of the Avon valley mills. Rolled brass plate was slit, formed into rods, then put in the wire By the mid 18th century, a sophisticated copper and brass indus- drawing bench where it was drawn through successively smaller try had been established in the Avon Valley, producing pans and holes in a plate. kettles, collectively known as hollowware, for overseas markets. Brass rod and wire was used for harpsichords and pianos, crino- Technological advances continued to be made, including, the line panniers to support dresses and dress pins. For dress pins manufacture of brass wire using water-powered rolling, slitting brass was favoured as it didn’t rust and damage the cloth alt- and drawing apparatus, carried out at the Avon Mill at Keynsham, hough it didn’t keep sharp as long as steel pins. Dress pins had and the use of water-powered rolls to produce sheet copper and coiled heads which were clamped onto the pin. brass, carried out at Saltford Brass Mill. Further developments Pin factories in Bath and Bitton used brass supplied by the included the distillation of zinc from calamine ore, enabling ad- Keynsham mill. vances in the production of brass. Zinc smelting was carried out at Crews Hole to a process patent- A key person in the industry at this time was Nehemiah Champi- ed by William Champion. on, who established a new company based at Warmley, which The mills used coal from Kingswood and calamine from Ship- took advantage of improved brass making and manufacturing ham. I have been down Singing River Mine in Shipham and you techniques. By the end of the century, however, market forces had can still smell the calamine in there today. caused the copper smelting industry to move to Swansea, where more plentiful coal was available, the centre of the brass industry This was a very interesting talk with many questions and much to move to Birmingham as the industrial revolution took hold and discussion afterwards. The Saltford Brass Mill is open to visitors Liverpool to usurp Bristol as Britain’s second port. the second and fourth Saturdays from May to October. Having The Bristol Brass Company consolidated its activity on two sites, been there myself I certainly recommend a visit, perhaps we the Avon Mill at Keynsham and the Brass Mill at Saltford, and in could arrange a club outing next year. Also visit the web site at this form continued in operation until 1925. brassmill.com.

Tony provided a lot of additional information about the mills such Some of the examples as; of Brass and Copper One of the reasons for the decline of the Warmley mill was the items made at the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. The hollowware pots were mills which Tony exported to Africa and carried on the slave ships which were sail- brought along, ing to Africa. Once they no longer sailed the trade was lost and, as the mill had not diversified, it had no market for it’s main products and hence went into decline. The rolling mills were driven by 2 waterwheels, one for the top roll and one for the bottom. One roll would be set in motion and 14 Bristol Society of Model and Experimental Engineers (BSMEE)

2016/2017 Begbrook Events

Date Speaker /event Details st 21 December 2016 Member’s Night: MC: TBA Bring your stick, disc, model, etc. It's your night 4th January 2017 3D printing evening: MC Kevin Come and talk about your 3D modelling, slicing and print- Slater ing projects 18th January 2017 Restoring Class 4 Freight: Alan Restoring LMS Class 4 Freight 4123 BR 44123 at the Avon Matthews Valley Railway 1st February 2017 AGM All Members 15th February 2017 David Hardwick Brislington's Newcomen engine house 1st March 2017 TBA 15th March 2017 Spring Auction: Alan Hooper Time to spring clean your workshop 5th April 2017 2017 TBA th 19 April 2017 On the Table: MC TBA Bring your project to talk about and hear about other people's projects rd 3 May 2017 GWR railmotors and a restora- A talk on the background to GWR's use of steam railmotors tion - Peter Jennings on branch lines and the Great Western Society's Steam Railmotor project restoration For details of times and location go to BSMEE’s website at www.bristolmodelengineers.co.uk, click on Club, and select CLUB MEETINGS from the dropdown list. For latest changes to the programme go to BSMEE’s website at www.bristolmodelengineers.co.uk, click on Club, and select EVENTS from the dropdown list.

BSMEE Model Engineering and Model Making Exhibition 2017 August 18th, 19th, 20th at Thornbury Leisure Centre Ashton Events

12th March Pre-season briefing, 19th March Steam up day 20th May, 27th May, 23rd September Private running. 27th July Cludo club visit

Club Days

9th April, 7th May, 18th June, 16th July, 17th September, 1st October

Public running days

26th March, 2nd April, 16/17th April, 30th April, 1st May, 14th May, 28/29th May, 11th June Steam Special, 25th June, 9th July, 23rd July, 6th August, 27/28th August 10th September Diesel and Electric Gala, 24th September, 8th October, 15th October 3rd December Santa Special Membership Matters: Updates to the Membership list

NEW MEMBERS. We welcome the following new members.

Peter Nicholas, 16 High Street, Kingswood, Wotton-under-Edge, Glos, GL12 8RS Tel 01453 845328 Email [email protected]

Richard Hartley, Keith Hayes, Michael Wadsworth, Robert Norbury, Jeremy Booth and David Follows and his Family.

DELETIONS FROM MEMBERSHIP.

Gordon Dando has sadly passed away.

CHANGES OF CONTACT DETAIL.

Roy (Bev) Hemmens has a new email address.

2017 Membership Fees will be due at the AGM and MUST be paid by 1st May. Please read the Chairman’s “From the Chair” article for the importance of paying by this date.

Roger Jay Membership Secretary

BSMEE 2016 Santa Special

The Bristol Society of Model and Experimental Engineers Registered Charity No 1094274 and Company No 2893778 Registered Office 33 Bibury Avenue, Stoke Lodge, Bristol BS34 6DF Printed by: Horders Thornbury Press , 22 High Street, Thornbury, Bristol BS35 2AH