No 167 January 2021 2½” Gauge Tich John Pickering www.n25ga.org Your contacts in the Association are :- PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENT Paul Wiese Des Adeley Tel: 07813-595415 Tel : 01722-718463 Email : [email protected] CASTINGS SERVICE DRAWINGS SERVICE & ARCHIVIST Brian Kerens John Baguley ‘Hycroft’ 7 Albert Drive, Deganwy, 121 Western Road, Mickleover, Conway, Gwynedd. LL31 9SP Derby. DE3 9GR. Tel : 01492-592046 Tel : 01332-515284 Email : [email protected] Email : [email protected] MEMBERSHIP & RENEWALS TREASURER Rob Postlethwaite Simon Fish 23, Bedford Crescent, 104 Westenra Avenue, Bristol. BS7 9PP Ellesmere Port, Tel: 01179-513513 South Wirral CH65 3AZ Email: [email protected] Tel : 01513-561246 Email : [email protected] NATIONAL SECRETARY TRANSFERS SERVICE John Baguley David Smith Tel : 01332-515284 Tel: 02084-626799 Email : [email protected] Email : [email protected] BOILER TESTER - SOUTH BOILER TESTER - NORTH William Powell (Dorset) Steve Eaton (Nottinghamshire) Tel: 07852279964 Tel: 07790761235 Email: [email protected] John Baguley (Derbyshire) Tel : 01332-515284 SOUTH EAST & WEST RALLIES MIDLANDS & NORTHERN RALLIES William Powell Steve Eaton Tel: 07852279964 Tel: 07790761235 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Steam Chest Editor & Construction Booklets Cedric Norman 1 Litton Close, Belper, Derbyshire. DE56 1EW Tel: 01773-822408 Email: [email protected] This journal is produced for the Members of the National 21∕2“ Gauge Association. If you wish to distribute or reuse any of the content, please seek permission. Page 2 January 2021 Contents Editorial & Internet Link 4 Membership Notes 5 Rugby Rally Report 2020 6 Members Letter 10 Boiler Development Experiment - Part 1 12 Diary Dates 18 My Appreciation of Peter Shaw 18 Narrow Gauge Steam in 2.5” Gauge 19 Boiler Cradle 24 A 2½” Gauge Tich 26 How the Crab Came to Being 30 The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Locomotives 34 Lynton and Barnstaple Railway to build ‘Yeo’ and ‘Exe’ 37 SLSLS Small Gauge Festival Report 38 Peter Shaw Obituary 40 Elevated Railway Expansion Joint 42 Elaine 45 Tich 2.5” Update 46 Membership Renewal Form 48 Closing date for next issue of Steam Chest 1st March 2021 Keep them coming and do not be put off if they are not in the next issue, as I may have to carry some over to the next Steam Chest. January 2021 Page 3 Editorial Welcome to a New Year. This edition contains some rare items, yes rally reports. Sadly only one in the UK for 2020, but we can hope that 2021 sees an improvement. Interestingly we seem to have had quite a bit on Narrow Gauge locos for this issue, which coincides with the current association project. Despite all the lockdowns, the officers have continued to work in the background to provide a stable and prosperous future for the association. John Baguley has been busy working on the computer drawings for the Lyd project and is making substantial headway. Simon Fish is working tirelessly to maintain our finances whilst keeping students connected at the university and together with Rob Postlethwaite they are registering all the membership renewals. Brian Kerens has continued to supply castings, so we look forward to more working models or “small locomotives“ as LBSC would say. Sadly this year we have lost member No 42 H.C. Woodford who died in July, and member No 678 Peter Shaw who died in October. But our membership remains healthy, as do our finances. Personally I would thank you all for your contributions which have enabled us to put together a full magazine once more. I have been working with the printer to get the publication out early January, so my hope is that this has paid dividends. Cedric Norman Internet Link GNR / LNER Class C1 and C2 steam locomotives Learn about the history of these express passenger locomotives in this Sole Survivor. www.railadvent.co.uk/2020/10/gnr-lner-class-c1-and-c2-steam- locomotives-sole-survivor.html/amp Thanks to Simeon Jackson for this find. Page 4 January 2021 Membership Notes Thank you to all those members who have paid their subscription so far, I hope the rest will come in soon so we do not have to spend time chasing up late payers, a renewal form is in this Steam Chest. The virus has changed life so much this year and meetings of all sorts have been cancelled, to counter this we have tried to develop the idea of country groups that we have in North America and Australia with regional groups in the UK. As you renew you will get a note about this, these are informal regional groups to allow member to share ideas and perhaps meet together at some point. To keep to data protection members have to agree to join and only names, email/phone number and town/city will be shared; the first list will be issued in December 2020. So far a few members have joined, if you want to contact fellow members let me know, with the small number joining the group will be for the whole of the UK. We have had one new member 1525 John Dickson, Terregles, Dumfries, Scotland 1526 Terry Thorpe, Sandiacre, Nottingham, England 1527 Alfredo Navarro, Switzerland 1528 Dennis Kitson, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England I hope you are all keeping well and we look forward to seeing all those finished projects when life returns to normal , remember to send in photos etc. to the Steam Chest editor so we can all see what you have done. Robert Postlethwaite Membership Secretary January 2021 Page 5 Rugby Rally Report 2020 We live in changing times, so when one rally after another was cancelled due to Covid-19 the Rugby Model Engineering Society offered us a date in September as we cancelled the running day in July. There is no doubt that this venue seems to be our most popular rally and so we accepted not knowing what the future held. Sadly, as time passed, we had to make the decision to cancel all the other running day events for the year and as September 13th approached it was touch and go as to whether we would proceed. The weather forecast was good so we decided to go ahead with the day expecting limited numbers of people. As the day approached the government announced that from Monday the 14th the group size would reduce from 30 down to 6 people. Fortunately for us, the restriction came the day after our event and we had a very sunny and pleasant day for running steam locomotives. About 20 people turned up on the day with eight locos taking to the track and a number on static display as well. As usual Tim Smith was first out with his Black Five, quickly followed by Will Powell on his Atlantic. Les Skinner was making ready his West Country Page 6 January 2021 Class, as was Ben Pavier with his 80 year old Fayette. Des Adeley prepared the Dyak and was soon on the track with the steam valve blowing off. There was some eager anticipation as we waited the arrival of John Baguley as several locomotives were in need of steam test certificates being renewed before they could take to the track. I had brought along my Atlantic which had run for the first time last October as a brass clad loco, but was now fully painted. Several people asked why the number 1970, which I explained that it was the year we got married and our 50th anniversary had been on Sept 12th, the day previous. Simeon Jackson prepared the Black Fay for its steam test and was soon blowing off on the track as well. Everyone was aware of the regulations regarding safety and the association had advised members beforehand that access to the steaming bays would be limited to maintain social distancing. The club house was closed but there was access to a toilet, which was a much needed facility. The folding chairs came out of people’s car boots as they set out to relax and enjoy the day despite having to maintain sufficient space between them. As there was no club house facility the thermos flasks came out along with the sandwiches around lunch time, but for John there was little respite as there were around three locos requiring steam tests and Brian’s Caliban needed a full boiler pressure test. Interests in the Lyd project was gendered by the presence of the part completed chassis that Des has been working on with John Baguley developing the drawings on CAD during lockdown. January 2021 Page 7 Simeon had brought along his newly made rolling road which went on display and Chris Grant had his Duchess in resplendent red on one of the tables, there was also an A1 chassis to be viewed. It was great to see different locomotives facing the challenge of this particular track. Some maintained steam pressure easily and circulated without issue, whilst others found the challenge a little more severe. Initially as I raised steam to 50psi, but then I had a leak from the bottom gauge glass union nut, which was a pain. I had changed the sight glass during the week and being cautious I had not tightened it enough, but as it was issuing boiling water and having experienced a sight glass failure at Stockport last year, I decided to let the fire and pressure drop before attempting to tighten. Fortunately all went well so once my steam test was Page 8 January 2021 complete I took to the track and the climb away from the start took its toll on my steam reserves.