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Wirral Steam Wirral Steam Journal of the Wirral Model Engineering Society October 2009 Issue 43 Registered Office: The Sidings, Royden Park, Frankby, Wirral, CH48 1NP Track: ROYDEN PARK Editorial On the morning of 4 th September 2009 I awoke feeling rather disgruntled and peeved. Not just for myself but on behalf of all those who put in time for the Society be it as committee, working party or running the railways. I was the only one to bring a siege machine the previous night. The lack of interest in this by members was overwhelming. At least I got to take the whisky home and John M could make use of the polystyrene that I had bought to use as targets. The committee was heavily critiscised last year for its lack of inclusiveness and its focus on railways to the exclusion of other matters engineering. It would appear that those most critical actually don't really care. I have little idea of whether the Journal is well received or not. Is its content appreciated and appropriate? I lack input from you, the members. Thanks are due though to those who came to our Club Night this week (15 th Oct) for their input. I enjoy producing the Journal. It is however a considerable expense in paper and ink to produce. A number of members seem keen to receive their Journals electronically. Please see ‘Contact the Editor’ for more details . More feedback on whether or not I'm doing a good job would be appreciated. I am the editor and shouldn’t have to write the articles. Apart from some notable exceptions I have had no copy from members. I know I am not alone in feeling this way. I'm sure that those who have virtually worked full time this year at Royden will wonder whether the membership appreciates their efforts. More positively we are running the Santa Specials again this year. Dates are Sat/Sun December 12 th & 13 th , 19 th & 20 th . 12.00 to 16.00 hrs. Your help and support of this major activity would be greatly appreciated. Help will be required in setting up and taking down as well as running the trains and manning the Grotto. A speadsheet detailing tasks and 2 hour time slots will be posted at Royden and brought to evening meetings. Please contribute where you can. Ed - 1 - In this Issue • Committee Minutes • N.A.M.E. • A Whiff of Garlic • George Stephenson • FCB2 an update • Contact the Editor • News • Quotes and Humour • Programme Committee Minutes 8th July 2009 • Decisions on new doors at Royden still to be finalised. A decision on keys would then be made. • A policy covering maintenance of buildings and equipment needs to be drawn up. Chairman agreed to draw this up once issues have been highlighted. • Chairman demonstrated some potential pages for a Society Web Site. He also agreed to get some costings. • Malcolm Edge was in the process of overhauling electrical sockets in sheds and workshop. ( a great job and thanks to Malcolm. Ed .) • New passenger trucks had been tested for the raised level track. The stirrups needed lengthening. • Instead of a number of society visits next year it was proposed that we should have an open weekend inviting neighbour societies. The date suggested was the weekend 10 th /11 th July 2010. (The Chairman subsequently realised this would be the 10 th Anniversary of the Official opening of the Ground Level Track – a good excuse for a celebration ). 2nd September 2009 • Alan Banks agreed to establish a web site with a domain name and web hosting for a period of two years. • A sub committee was established to plan the Santa Specials. • Following a risk assessmnet of the ground level track, all stock movements should be under the control of a locomotive capable of operating the train brakes. Stock should not be put away until the last member of the public had left the site. The end of day operations should be under the control of one person, preferably the signal operator. • The new rolling stock for the raised track seemed to operate well. - 2 - The Northern Association of Model Engineers - N. A. M. E. The Wirral Society’s history records that in August 1963 its headquarters had moved to the Castle Hotel, Chester Street, Birkenhead. We had joined NAME and decided on a society badge. So for 46 years we have supported and attended meetings of the NAME. NAME was established in 1945 at the instigation of Mr R O Harper, the then Chairman of Eccles and District Model Engineering Society. The Association was re-established in 1964 when it was agreed that in future the affairs of the Association would be handled by a member society for a period of three years. The member society provided the principal officers and arranged one exhibition during their period of tenure. Inevitably there have been changes, the Officers no longer come from a single society but it is hoped that one day this feature may be re-instated should a host society be found. The democratic principle is that the delegates run the Association, each Society having a delegate eligible to vote at meetings held in the Autumn and Spring, the latter combining the Annual General Meeting. Officers meet as required and communication today is usually by e-mail. However, meeting agendas and minutes are posted to Society Secretaries for distribution to members. Insurance cover remains a mainstay of the Association with cover specially tailored to meet society requirements. The Association receives commission from its Broker, Walker Midgley and this helps to keep the affiliation fees small at 25p per member annually. In turn, interest free loans remain a feature of the NAME and 23 member Societies (including Wirral) have taken advantage of the loan facility since 1990. From 1998 the Association has been involved with National meetings which included the Health and Safety Executive. This lead to the establishment of the Miniature Railways Liaison Group. The Group has drawn up a number of guidance documents. The most notable being the 'Passenger carrying miniature railways - Guidance on safe operation', HSG 216. This was followed by the introduction of a national Boiler Test Code, implemented in 2006. The group's work continues and the recent updating of the Test Code has been issued in 2008. It is anticipated that where national issues impact upon the hobby through the NAME there will be a voice for member societies. The NAME set up a boiler register and currently there are around 6000 boilers on the data base, of which one third carry current certificates. There is talk of integrating with a European scheme to ensure that 'missing' boilers are detected where possible. - 3 - With 116 affiliated societies the NAME has grown over the past 64 years and WMES can be proud of their early involvement, we are number N13. However we must be careful that the apathy that so often exists in the hobby does not discourage society members and societies from being involved. One delegate and one observer are entitled to attend the NAME meetings which, as previously stated, are two per year. The Society could offer to host the NAME for a three year period should there be any enthusiasm for the future. The agenda for a typical NAME meeting covers: Finance and loans; Insurance report; legislation items; boiler issues. Also included could be the organising of Narrow Gauge IMLEC, the Northern Rally, New Societies and Exhibitions. Minutes from the NAME meetings are available from the Secretary and the delegate. Currently the NAME would welcome support from members of member societies at its rallies - the dates for which are posted on the notice board at the Park or announced at meetings. Finally, it is worth noting that NAME works closely with the Southern Federation of Model Engineering Societies, the Midlands Federation of Model Engineering Societies and the 7 ¼" Gauge Society on matters that affect the hobby. Frank Stephen A Whiff of Garlic: News from SW France The recent visit of some members of WMES to us in our rural fastness of Carahaut reminded me that it is a while since I wrote for Wirral Steam. Although quite a lot of work has been done on the track and the shed, there still remained some 16 metres of permanent way to lay and, unfortunately, those last few metres were to be heavy-gauge aluminium. But even then, after re- routing the track for aesthetic reasons, there still remained 17 metres to lay. This is pure Alice in Wonderland mathematics, but involves stretching a point. Literally. We hope it will turnout....... So yesterday I went to our local steel-stockholder, and bought what is called ‘chant’: a sort of drawn mild steel half-box section, in this case 40mm x 20mm x 4mm thick. It doesn't have sharp edges, and the profile is almost that of the vignoles rail which makes up most of the circuit. Since I don't have bending rolls here at Carahaut, I have found that these 6m lengths bend quite neatly for broad radii by my pegging them across the open workshop door, then gently falling against the exposed section. I enjoy this much more than during my working life, where I was frequently expected to fall on my sword. Those of you who have looked at SWISS VAPEUR PARC will see this section used throughout, with very tight curves. The Swiss are quite heavy, too, but I am sure they have rolls. The garden – we inherited a field – is close to being tamed, and the corners have decorative shrubs, whilst the long climb to the level crossing across the drive is flanked by cherry trees, from which we have had tens of kilos, and at - 4 - the bottom by a plum tree, which has done well this year, with over 70 kilos of plums.
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