— A Publication of the 7Ji Gauge Society No. 43 Winter 1987/88

Established 1945

Designs on the 7 %" gauge

BRIDGET - Designed by Ken Swan in 1961. 0-4-2T Walschaerts slide valve gear. O/A length 37", height 1 7%", width 13". Coupled wheel 5" dia., Trailing wheels 4y8" dia. Cylinders 1 %" x 23/4". Grate area 20.3 sq. ins. 1 20 psi working pressure. Weight in working order 181 lbs. Drawings RV26 25 sheets.

DART-G.W.R. 14XX 0-4-2 Tank locomotive designed by Martin Evans in 1982. A popular compact design in 15 sheets L.O.961. Construction series in the Model Engineer Vol. 147 onward.

ELIDIR - 0-4-0 "Hunslet" saddle tank loco designed by Alan Ruston in 3" scale. Full size prototype operating on the Llanberis and Bala Lake Railways. Cylinders 2'/," x 2'/2", Stephensons slide valve gear, O/A length 37", height 26", width 17%", wheelbase 101/,". Drawings R.V.58. 12 sheets.

HERCULES - An 0-4-0 Freelance tank locomotive of massive proportions designed by Fred Stone. With outside cylinders and Walschaerts slide valve gear. Often built as an 0-6-OT but giving much satisfaction in either form, Drawings R.V.35, 9 sheets of clear concise details.

HIGHLANDER - Martin Evans'version of the ubiquitous 4-6-0 Stanier "Black Five". A very popular and successful design for the 1' /2" scale metals with a strong following. Drawings L.O.39, 18 sheets is the first step to owning one of these most attractive locomotives. Construction series in The Model Engineer from Vol. 131 to 133.

HOLMSIDE - An 0-6-0 Saddle tank locomotive based on an N.C.B. colliery locomotive, designed by Martin Evans. Outside cylinders with inside Stephensons slide valve gear. An uncomplicated design for easy transportation and good performance. Drawings L.O.949, 10 sheets.

(ESSIE - An 0-4-0 version of Ken Swan's Bridget'. Drawn to the same high standard but with a shorter wheel base. Drawings R.V.45, 20 well detailed sheets.

KING GEORGE V - C.W.R. 60XX Class 4-6-0 designed by Trevor Shortland. The most accurate and comprehensive set of miniature locomotive drawings commercially available today giving you all the details of the Collett masterpiece at your fingertips. Backed up by the finest set of castings available anywhere. Truly the acme of miniature locomotive design and casting expertise. Complete sets of working drawings R.V.46, 2 7 magnificent sheets.

PADDINGTON - G.W.R. (B.R) 0-6-OPT 1 5XX class in 1 '/2" scale designed by David Adams of Harrogate. With outside cylinders and outside Walschaerts piston valve gear this design is an accurate portrayal of these highly regarded and frequently modelled locomotives. Drawings R.V.59, 26 sheets of well presented detail and information.

ROMULUS - Roger Marsh's well known and highly regarded freelance narrow gauge 0-4-0 Well Tank loco. Fitted with Hackworth valve gear, the design is of a simple but rugged locomotive which can be modified to suit the requirements of the individual builder. Drawings R.V.52 consisting of 18 sheets.

1%'ITHt GAUGE PASSENGER CAR BOGIES - These dual gauge bogies have been designed by REEVES Technical Dept for long continuous service with the min imum of maintenance. Hand or vacuum operated braking system to all wheels integral on each bogie. Choice of five types of wheel bearing with heavy section Grey Iron castings. Drawings R.V.69.4 sheets.

Prices of drawings and castings for these designs are to be found in our catalogue, together with details of 66 more locomotive designs in Gauge 1,3'/2"&5"gauges.

TheLargest Stock of Model Engineering Supplies in the Work 154 page illustrated catalogue price £1.50 post free UK.

Overseas Surface or Airmail, post extra. COUNTER SALES or WORLDWIDE MAIL ORDER SERVICE. Retail C o u n t e r Hours : M o n d a y - F r i d a y 8 a m - 4 p m Saturday 9 am-12 .30 p m

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A Publication of the 7H Gauge Society — y

EDITOR: Dr. M.A. Taylor, 112 Sutton Park Road. Kidderminster, Worcs. DY11 6JG. (Kidderminster 0562 69342)

SUB EDITOR/ PRODUCTION: R. Green, 60 Western Road, Gloucester, GL1 5AX.

ADVERTISING SPACE IS AVAILABLE IN THE NEWS Full Page: £30.00 Half Page: £20.00 Quarter Page: £12.00 Supply Camera Ready Copy Typesetting chargeable. Circulated to every member of the 7'/t" G. Society and available to the trade and public. ****** CONTRIBUTIONS WELCOME Although every care is taken of submitted material, there can be no firm guarantee that use can be made of it and no responsibility be taken for damage to photographs or other material received. Should photographs need to be credited in print, this must be specified at submission. Having said that, material is most wel­come and it is unlikely that Croblems would in fact arise,

ut with items going through several hands between Author and final print we can make no guarantee. For preference, typed double spaced on A4 paper. Photographs and draw­ings are preferred for 'fa page size, landscape format

From The Editor's Desk . . . Well, that wasa record hum-dinger of an A.G.M., that so many of you recently attended at Hemsby, was it no t . . . ? It likely will not be matched, and I think future hosts of the A.G.M. must not strive to do so. Each in their own particular way will be successful, and must not be measured by attempting world records.

My personal congratulations to Leo and Bonnie Whisstock, and Jean Villette, from Barfleur, Northern France, all our very worthy Charles Simpson prize-winners, announced at the A.G.M., and popularly received by the members present. I feel also, the presentation of the "News" on art paper was similarly appreciated by many of you.

The Committee, all in buoyant mood, with an obviously successful Society year behind them, did overlook one important achievement, that went forgotten and unannounced, and that was to say the annual subscription for next year would remain at the present ten pounds, yet again(!) So please let Bonnie and Leo have your renewals in good time, not forgetting the S.A.E., thank you.

The Committee do hope you all enjoy the Bumper Xmas issue of the News, and wish you all a Peaceful and Happy Christmastide. Here's to 1988!

The Editor received and still enjoyed reading . . . Two issues of the Halton MR Journals (Nos. 9 & 10), The

Pinewood Express, The Therfield School Newsletter, the East Herts Miniature Railway News, The Maiden ME Society's "Roundhouse", from Ohio, the PA. & W. "Scoop", vol. 2, issues No. 1 and No. 2, and lastly but by no means least, "Ratlines" from the Eskdale line in Cumbria.

Many thanks to all these groups of enthusiasts, and to Jean Villette for his 1\ Gauge Map of Northern France with proposed tour to visit all the French members, s'il vous plais.

PRESS DATE: for the Spring 1988 Issue will be 10th. January, 1988.

Mike Taylor

'

n ) THE 7'/4in. GAUGE SOCIETY J Anyone wishing to join the Society, apply to the Secretary.

^ ^S Annual Subscriptions due in February each year are £10. New U.K. members, as above plus initial registration fee of £1 ,(K). Payments can most conveniently be made by Bankers Standing Order. Overseas Subscriptions £10 remitted in Sterling please.

Executive for 87

President: Dr. Brian Rogers. Worcester (0905) 52397.

Chairman: Eric Doyle, "Newfield", Grange Road Bromley Cross, Bolton, Lanes. BL7 9AU. (0204) 51899.

Secretary: Bonnie Whisstock, 149 Surbiton Hill Park, Surbiton, Surrey, KT5 8EJ. 01-390 1747.

Treasurer: Leo Whisstock, 149 Surbiton Hill Park, Surbiton, Surrey, KT5 8EJ. 01-390 1747.

Editor 7i Gauge NEWS: Dr. Mike Taylor, 112 Sutton Park Road, Kidderminster, Worcs. DY11 6JG. (0562) 69342.

Sub. Editor/Production: R. Green, 60 Weston Road, Gloucester, GL1 5AX. Trade Liaison Officer: D. Witheridge, Blue Riband House, Parkland Estate, North

Road, Hemsby, Gt. Yarmouth, Norfolk. NR29 4HA. (0493) 730445.

Insurance Secretary: Malcolm B. Beevers, 64 Bullar Road, Bitterne, Southampton, Hants. S02 4GS. (0703) 334044.

Committee Member: D. Burwell, 'Merlin', 4 Leighs Close, High Heath, Pelsall, Walsall, WS4 1BY. (0922) 693252.

Committee Member Jack Meatcher, 45 Marks Road, Wokingham. RG11 1NR. (0734) 790359.

PLEASE . . . ! When submitting matter to be considered for publication, be sure that it is typed on A4 sheets, widely line spaced. This makes life a little easier for your Editor, Production Officer and Typesetter!

FRONT COVER

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal takes the train at Stoneleigh (Echills Wood Railway), whilst officials take the strain on possibly the first royal train on the 1\ Gauge. (Photo by kind permission of the Birmingham Post and Mail).

BACK COVER

Ken Willamson's diesel shunts the goods train of S.A.R. wagons on the Bowhills Railway near Worcester, built and owned by Douglas Outwin, Summer 1987 (photo M.A. Taylor).

2

SWANLEY NEW BARN RAILWAY

'Standing room only' the A1 with a full train awaiting 'The Road' at Lakeside station.

A dream of over three years ago became a reality on 3rd May with the official opening of this Railway in New Barn Park at Swanley in North West Kent. Despite a gale and the failure of the microphone at the critical moment, the Mayor of Swanley duly proclaimed the Railway open and three trains of invited guests pulled away from Lakeside station to the accompaniment of fanfares and rousing music.

This was the start of a hectic day when the service was maintained by five visiting engines in addition to two resident locomotives. Since then the Railway has operated on Saturdays, Sundays and daily during School holidays except when the Heavens opened!

The Railway originated as a joint project by the Town (Parish) Council and a franchise holder who provided the equipment and expertise. That arrangement existed during the early formative years of the railway but eventually proved to be unworkable.

The disbandment of the embryonic partnership created a hiatus. However, the Council was anxious to continue the project and agreed to fund the whole of the capital expenditure. It recognised however, that it could not alone provide the locomotives or personnel. From this problem arose a unique and viable solution -the creation of a volunteer workforce with the expectation of them, eventually, forming an Association or Society to manage the installation.

From a nucleus of volunteers, christened "The Magnificent Seven"(!) grew a team of some two dozen enthusiasts many of whom were, fortunately, from a much needed discipline or profession. The Council appointed a Railway Manager who co­ordinated the activities of the volunteers and from the autumn of 1986 work proceeded apace. The Council prepared the cuttings and embankments and

3

volunteers laid the track. Similarly, such joint workforces built stations, a signal box, fixed fences, and level crossings. On some occasions the other requirements of the Park took precedence; on other occasions the needs of the railway predominated but in both cases the combined efforts of two enthusiastic workforces helped each other to bring work to completion.

As will be seen from the plan the layout consists of a balloon of over 900m of running line with New Barn Halt midway serving the Car Park. The Railway thus has a dual purpose. In addition to round trips, it also provides transport for families and their "impedimenta" between the Car Park and Lakeside where the Boating Lake, Cafe, Paddling Pool and Play Areas are located. This in turn leads to an "evening peak" and the issue of both single and return tickets from the traditionally equipped Booking Office.

No lack of passengers! Deltic copes easily with a full load of happy customers.

The topography of the Park is hilly for a railway and even with a ruling gradient of 1 in 70 with one stretch of 1 in 50 falling, the line is either in a cutting or on an embankment for most of the way. Alongside the line are numerous beds of flowers, trees and shrubs, whilst in springtime daffodils give a mass of colour.

Lakeside station is fully signalled with 2 aspect colour light signals, motorised points and track circuits worked by a 35 lever Westinghouse miniature lever frame. One of the volunteers being a computer expert, a computer takes the place of relays for interlocking and controls. This winter it is planned to complete the installation of the automatic signals with telephones all round the line.

The largest building in the railway complex is the train shed, at 90 by 18 feet. This is a prefabricated concrete structure containing four roads set into the concrete floor. Two of these emerge at the other end of the shed onto a loading/unloading apron where a second turntable gives access to the workshop, converted from an existing

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farm building. The workshop is equipped with Colchester Triumph and Bantam lathes, one horizontal and two vertical milling machines plus drilling and hacksaw machines.

Al and Deltic outside train shed.

Locomotive stock at present on site consists of an LNER Al Pacific "Great Northern" with three cylinders operating conjugated valve gear. Its early history is hazy, although it is believed to have been built around the 1940s by a miner. This engine is on loan to the Council together with a 10 HP Mardyke Diesel Hydraulic "Deltic" owned by one of the volunteers. A Pfifferbahn Battery locomotive is owned by the Council.

Apart from 3 "compartment" coaches, the remaining coaches are "Echills Wood" style sit-astrides on bogies with link and pin couplings built competely in the workshops. Construction of additional coaches and luggage wagons has commenced in readiness for next year as it has been found that the existing stock is insufficient at peak times.

New Barn Park can be reached from London via the A.20 and the B.2173 (Swanley). A new stretch of the A(M)20 is currently being constructed. It is due to open in the Spring of 1988. Until then, and perhaps after opening, it will be necessary to leave the A.20 at Sidcup prior to the first underpass at "Frognalls Roundabout". The original A.20/B.2173 runs alongside new road to "Crittalls Corner" roundabout and thence to "Ruxley Corner" Roundabout where Swanley signposting exists. The B.2173 leads to "Hickorys" (ex "Bull at Birchwood"); then left to Birchwood Road, first right to Leydenhatch Lane, fork right to New Barn Road, 400m on right - double mesh gates at group of buildings.

From the M.25 take junction 3, (B.2173 Swanley) to mini roundabout, right to

6

second mini roundabout. Ignore main road to left, straight on to Swanley Lane. After "Woodman" public house on right take second left at crossroads at bottom of slope to New Barn Road, 400m on left - double mesh gates at group of buildings.

M.20 from Kent take B.2173 (Swanley) to mini roundabout and as above for M.25.

The Railway is open for passenger traffic Saturdays, Sundays, Bank Holidays and daily during School holidays between Easter and October. At other times trains can be run by prior arrangement.

Visiting locomotives are always welcome at any time - but please first telephone Steve Johnson, the Railway Manager, 0322 65855/66363. Coal, diesel, oil, etc. are available free on site.

A1 just easing off the turntable with safety valves lifting indicating a good head of steam.

Non Members reading this NEWS — bear in mind that the 7'/»" G Society is more than just this publication' (My members gel the special News ofSociety Events and Trade information as this is issued separately to the NEWS, Events are published in<the News AFTER they have taken place

So join up and get the lull benefits'

7

AN A.G.M. APPRECIATION by Don Witheridge

A very happy Christmas to you all from the team at Hemsby, and Best Wishes for a good year in 1988 with success to your projects in the coming year, whether building a loco, making or improving your railway, in running your railway with perhaps an open day in mind to invite your friends along. I hope my Trade Topics over the past year and your visits to my railway will have been helpful and given encouragement to even greater heights of achievement.

The Blockbuster 14th A.G.M. of the 1\ Gauge Society with the three day international steam weekend at Hemsby is a week behind me as I write, all is quiet at Parkland Central Station, this time last week it was hard to find a place to stand. All records were broken for such an event, 44 locomotives of a wide variety in intensive action packed running over three days and a late night run, we had the coaching stock too, so that every few minutes packed passenger trains were leaving Parkland Central Station to the delight of everyone, I did my best not to run light engines but of course some escaped. 1 must mention the wonderful selection of scale goods wagons, they made up complete goods trains and what a fine sight the 7.20 am goods made leaving Parkland Central on Sunday morning.

Members attending was an all time record, many of you making your first attendance at an A.G.M. and you brought your families along too, how you all joined in the fun and made an extra holiday in Norfolk. The meeting went very well, I know you were all pleased to see the Charles Simpson prize awarded to Leo and Bonnie Whisstock, and for the first time a second prize was awarded to a very deserving Jean Villette, he made a very moving speech to us all. A super dinner followed the meeting, my limit was supposed to be about 180 but 220 sat down to dinner and I know some more wanted to come.

As host to this fabulous event may I say thank you all for coming to Hemsby, I tried to meet and make you all welcome but there were lots of helpers to make that blockbuster go like it did, a big thank you from myself and all of you to all the helpers, the signal box crew who kept the trains running at such a fast pace and in safety, Sir Fred and the station yard crew, no mean task to change over all those locos and pack them in at night, the ladies of the refreshment shed led by your hostess, my wife Eileen, Ken and his family for the super buffet on Saturday, what a marvellous job they did to feed us all, Leo and Bonnie for their untiring efforts, Peter and our staff for looking after your accommodation, my son Mark who was in charge of the grass cutting, the super track you ran on was the work of my son Donald with a bit of help from me.

How about that Friday night run in the dark, it was fantastic and how you loved it, I have never seen anything like that before, the stations with the lights on and the signals shining brightly, there was a moment of terror when an engine derailed by the engine shed and cut the bonding wires on the point throwing the signal box into confusion.

Sunday morning my dog Sandy was poorly so I took him to the vet, he is better now, I think he wondered what had happened to his railway, all those people. However, with this and the sheer volume of traffic in Central station it was afternoon when I steamed the Flying Scotsman, I put my Pullman Orient Express coaches into platform one, I suppose this was really the moment for me, the event was by then an

X

outstanding success, I tried to relax and backed the Scotsman onto the train which was soon full of passengers, the green light came up on the gantry, I very gently pulled back the regulator and we pulled beautifully out of Parkland Central to a standing ovation, I will remember that moment forever, didn't she look Graceful.

I know many of you did not get a ride on the Orient Express with the Flying Scot working away up front, there will be another chance on Sunday May 29th at the annual Spring Bank holiday meeting on the Blue Riband Line. It was great to have the Duke of Gloucester here for the first time and with the promise of a return visit.

Final thought from me on the A.G.M., what an excellent standard of driving there was all weekend, a credit to the 7} Gauge Society, I still have a railway after it all, these are my thoughts and the full story will be told in the news.

Len Hough has made a video film of the A.G.M. I have not seen it yet but thank you Len for all your hard work. I was so busy that although I had all my cameras ready I just did not get a chance to use them, so this is an appeal for photos of the A.G.M. weekend.

ENSURE CORRECT MATING by Jack Meatcher

How often, when discussing a particular part of a loco, do we say, "First class workmanship, look at that finish. It's beautifully machined". In fact, we come to think of a fine finish to a bit of lathe work as the same as good engineering. In most cases, it is. However, it is not always so. Flanges sealed with gaskets are an example.

The well known gasket manufacturers, James Walker & Co. Ltd., produce a technical leaflet which contains some valid and useful information on the subject of flange face finishes. They say: "It is a fallacy that perfectly smooth flange surfaces are ideal, for although the gasket is then spared the necessity of compensating for imperfections, there is considerable danger of failure at pressure through inadequate "grip" between gasket and flanges. Conversely, too deep a serration on the flange surface can result in an unacccptably high percentage of the available compressive load being absorbed in making the gasket material flow into cavities on the flange face."

The recommended finish is spirally grooved (or Gramophone record) finish. A series of concentric grooves also provides the correct serrations but will not greatly improve performance.

There are a number of British and International standards defining flange face finishes, and these indicate that, for pressures up to 600 psi, a serration depth of 0.002in., a serration pitch of 0.030in., and a 0.063in. tool nose radius are to be recommended. For some of the flanges on narrow gauge locos, these figures are appropriate. Obviously, for smaller locos and flanges, some scaling down is necessary. I do not have figures for the latter, but provided the principle is observed, then joint leakage can be minimised.

<>

National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh ECHILLS WOOD RAILWAY

Visit of H.R.H. The Princess Royal 31 August 1987

Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal's schedule includes a visit to the Railway at 3.05 until 3.15. The Railway will be closed to public running at 2.50. From this time, the welcoming party is to be on the departure platform, and is to consist of K. Blackham (Chairman of the Railway), A. Dowdeswwcll (Controller on duty), G. Webster (Departure platform assistant) and J. Rogers (Passenger Guard). H.R.H. will be brought on to the platform through the EXIT gate.

Members of railway staff not on duty may be present at the station, standing on the back road, opposite the platform.

The locomotive due off at 3 pm ('Winifred') is to remain at the station until 3.15, and the locomotive due on at 3 pm ('Colsyn') is to come to the station by 2.50.

It is by no means certain that H.R.H. will wish to travel on the railway, but we must be prepared to provide a Royal Train, in a proper professional manner, should she desire to do so, and the following procedure is therefore to be carried out:

1. 'Zulu' (driver J. Liming) will be the locomotive for the Royal Train, and is to be taken out of service as soon as 'Colsyn' arrives at the station. 'Zulu' is to back on to the train at the arrival platform and draw it forward into the departure platform, where it is to be cleaned throughout by the Controller and his assistant. The cleaning must be completed by 3 pm.

2. The Pilot Engine, 'Red Damsel' (driver D. Walters) is to cross over on to the arrival line and draw forward, stopping opposite the station building.

3. The Controller is to write out tickets for both directions of travel of the Pilot Engine.

4. If H.R.H. accepts the invitation, the Pilot Engine is to be despatched at once, and travel to Echills Wood Signal Box and wait there. The passage of the Pilot Engine is the signal to staff on the line that the Royal Train is following in about 2 minutes time.

5. When the Controller receives Train out of Section' for the Pilot, the Royal Train is to be despatched, carrying the staff.

6. The train waiting in the arrival platform is to draw forward into the departure platform when the Royal Train has left, but must not be loaded until H.R.H. has left the railway.

7. When the Royal train reaches the wood, the Pilot Engine is to return to Harvesters.

8. The Pilot Engine is to stop immediately clear of the slip, and set back into the top of the shed spur, clear of the points.

9. On the return of the Royal Train, 'Zulu' is to remain coupled, with the train brakes applied, until H.R.H. has left the train.

NOTE: The times quoted above may vary, depending on advance notice of the progress of H.R.H.'s schedule. The Royal train's journey time is taken to be 4J minutes.

David Walters General Manager

31 August 1987

10

THE STORY OF A TREE AND A MAN NAMED FRED by K. Stewart

Reproduced from Million Miniature Railway Journal No. 10 — August 1987 — by kind premission of the Editor — JOHN GOULDEN

We had been at Hemsby since Saturday tea time and has carried out the usual inspection of the track to discover what improvements had been made since our last visit. We noted that last years shunting neck had now been extended along the main line, a point inserted and now two roads ran into a magnificent new storage shed wherein resided the blue and white super coaches of the Broadsman set, and sundry other items which were too many for the older sheds near the turntable. Two additional sets of points had been inserted in the main line, one between the signal box and the bridge and the other at the side of the shed near the roadway where the curve had been too tight for Don's Black Five. At the time of inserting this pair of points the opportunity had been taken to ease the curve so that now the recalcitrant Black Five will perform although the 'Flying Scotsman' resolutely insists on running 'out and back' from the bay platform.

Quiet study revealed the purpose of those two sets of points, they were to form an alternative route by-passing the shedyard, and further study revealed that standing right in the path of any track extending the stub and the point was THE TREE!

THE TREE was a poplar, which had seen some twenty summers and the same number of winters. Since our last visit it had been severely pruned so that now it was about twelve feet of trunk, it's head decapitated, but nonetheless still vigorously growing with a mass of small side-shoots hugging the trunk as they reached for the sky. Decapitated and pruned it may be, but it still appeared a formidable obstacle guaranteed to stop any rolling stock finding the point blades not set for the mainline.

On Wednesday morning, Fred, the man, was resting some of his weight on THE TREE, supporting himself by pressing his right arm against the trunk. Fred is a man of more summers — and winters — than THE TREE. Grey of thatch he may be, but he was full of vigour, his energy and strength putting younger men to shame. A perfect gentleman, he was also a very nice bloke, as anyone who has met Fred Beacham will confirm.

Fred seemed to act as a magnet and we were joined by others of the gang to hear his pronouncement that it would have to come out before the track went anywhere. This was quickly followed by the suggestion that we take a bit of time out from our running time to do Don a favour by removing the offender. Don junior then appeared and was acquainted with our intentions. He was quite pleased at the prospect of saving him a job when we'd departed, informed us that it was a poplar, did we know the root formation and whatever we did "be careful because some of the signal wiring was in that area". We called Colin, the signalman into the conference for his advice, but all he could say was that he only attached the signal wires he didn't bury them, Don had done that himself.

Don had now to be informed of our intentions and quizzed regarding the location of the missing wires. Don was quite happy to have THE TREE removed but was unsure of the location of the missing wires, so the work was started by Tony and Peter gently using a trowel each, as though they were working on an archaeological dig. After carefully delving some six inches downwards the wires appeared and were quickly traced back to source. Colin was again consulted and now informed us an orange wire, now visible was

11

a temporary measure and not to worry about cutting that, but please don't cut any other wire.

While Colin was expounding on his wiring the two trowels had been replaced by spades and a fair size hole had developed. The next question was, did anyone know the root formation of a poplar tree? I related my experience of forty years ago in that there should be two main roots, like the fangs of a tooth, going straight downwards and a spread of side roots possibly reaching as far as the turntable, which would be strong enough to lift flagstones. Sure enough we found three side roots, each as thick as a fair sized wrist, and after digging down some four feet and widening the hole to enable the saw to get to work, cut the main downward root. With four of us pushing and heaving down came THE TREE, and six of us carried it out on to the grass by the bridge.

The next question was "had Don got any spare soil we could use to backfill the hole". He had, and he'd got some bricks we could break up for hardcore. A barrow was produced and a team formed itself to dig out the spoil, barrow it to the site and lay it where required. Like magic a heavy concrete roller appeared and an embankment began to take shape. Jeff Stubbs found a radius arm which had been used to open out the curve which still foiled the Scotman and, with general agreement that this was the minimum radius acceptable, started to peg out a route. His first attempt needed the removal of three great hawthorns and was quickly abandoned. A suggestion was made that the curve was moved across to miss the main part of the first hawthorn by coming straight off the point. It worked and the first part of the problem was solved, but Jeff didn't like the line into the point at the shed end. I take pride in that it was my suggestion that he peg from the shed end, not the signalbox end and lo and behold, success. The route was now confirmed and all that was needed in the arborial field was to severely trim one bushy hawthorn, Don approved the route and Jeff and I put the first line of pegs in using a plank and a spirit level to show track centre and a level for spoil and ballast.

The diggers now reported that they'd just about finished grubbing out spoil. Don reported another source, rather diffidently because it was a fair distance away, about 150 yards beyond the tunnel but by now the working gang had increased, as others saw there was a job to do, and when Don junior produced a mini tractor and trailer it was all hands to the pump. By now the site was a hive of industry. We still kept five or six trains on the circuit but there were always three diggers filling the trailer with spoil. Nick from the Harrow Club performed yeoman service as tractor driver, dropping his loads exactly where required for others to spade it into place. Bricks were laid to form the edge of the trackbed and other bricks and tiles broken between the two lines to form a hardcore bed.

We had a night running session on the Wednesday night, so work was stopped with both arms of the embankment reaching out towards one another we waited for another day.

Thursday was a repeat of the previous afternoon. Gradually the arms of the embankment stretched towards each other and talk turned to when we were intending to insert the golden screw. Four o'clock on Friday afternoon seemed to be the bookie's favourite and work on actual track construction was commenced, mainly because someone had had the foresight to pickle some sleepers in creosote. The constructors did a fine job assembling four full lengths of track on Thursday and a fifth before breakfast on Friday and a sixth soon afterwards, just leaving a six foot make-up piece.

The signal light changed to green, and a white direction indicator pointing to the left sprang into view. Fred opened the throttle and moved off and it was then that "His

12

Majesty King George the Fifth" decided that the new route was not for him. He stood on his dignity and insisted that if he were to continue beyond that point it would be along the old route and not the new. Fred and his helpers moved his Majesty backwards and forwards but no matter how we tried the King refused to swing his front bogie wheels to the left, insisting on riding up over the point blade to go straight on up the old route. As an example of sheer cussedness on the part of a piece of machinery I have never seen anything like it before.

Fred accepted defeat with as much grace as he could muster grinning away as he refused the offer of assistance to replace his tree as the King seemed to prefer it.

TRADE TOPICS by Don Witheridge

L. C. JAY & SON LTD. Founded during 1920 are contractors to the Admiralty, War Office, and Atomic Energy Commission.

They have now supplied all castings for Don Young Designs for a number of years. Additionally five Martin Evans designs are covered together with two of their own 71 designs.

The 7j designs include 'Dart', a GWR 1101 class Dock Tank (ie an update of the 'Midge') and a class 7 B.R. Britannia.

This last locomotive has become very popular and some 50 plus sets of drawings and castings have already been supplied. It is interesting to note that this included customers in Sweden, Holland, Canada, Australia and the U.S.A.

The firm are prepared to carry out machining to order for wheels and cylinders for any locomotive and for the Britannia only, sets of fully profiled and drilled main and rear frames and machined sets of coupling and connecting rods.

Patterns can be made from customers' drawings and they have already supplied patterns and castings to a number of professional model engineers both at home and abroad.

Amongst their other supplies are Ph Bronze and Cast iron round continuous cast bar together with Gunmetal rods and stick to suit customer requirements.

Trolley wheels for both 5" and 7} gauges are also available and nameplates can be supplied to suit both these gauges. Aristocraft scale coaching stock

You will have seen two Aristocraft scale coaches at the A.G.M. in Hemsby, they do look good with standard gauge locomotives and are very good value, I gave you the prices in No. 41 of the news, I am sure Rob Hall will have a waiting list. Latest news from Rob is that the coaches can be fitted with vacuum brakes, more on this and prices in the next Topics.

13

AJ. Plastics, Bird Commercial Buildings, Birmingham Road, Stratford-on-Avon. Phone 0789-295963

John Lingard who runs A.J. Plastics is making plastic water tanks fabricated in high grade polypropylene at very reasonable prices and within a few days of placing an order, for the larger locomotive or tender a plastic tank has several advantages, especially when it can be made to suit a particular application. I had one on show at the A.G.M. and I can recommend you to John, he is a one man business and will give you good service.

Camden Miniature Steam Services Now available — drawings and parts for 7J gauge private owner wagon, see the advert

for more details and prices. With the large number of scale goods wagons at the A.G.M. I am sure some of you may like to have your name on one and would make a good project for 1988, bring them to a meeting and make up a train.

Please keep on feeding me with information for future Trade Topics.

CREW HERITAGE MINIATURE RAHAVAY by Tony Hayward

On a visit to Crewe Heritage Centre in July, 1987, a few days after the official opening by H.R.H. The Queen Elizabeth, the Crewe North site looked marvellous. There were many full size locomotives present, including the now resplendent 'Duke of Gloucester', but unforunately and disappointingly, there was no miniature line. The site had been prepared, ballast laid, but no railway!

This seemed to be a unique opportunity to promote our society and gain more recruits. The site managers, Mr Peter Barnard and Mr Tony Mosley were approached and offered my 300ft long 7iin. gauge track, with three locomotives to operate thereupon.

On behalf of Crewe Council they accepted this offer. Although it meant a daily trip of 120 miles for me, the prospect of 16 days in steam

was a boyhood dream come true. My Class Five, 44871, 'Sovereign' was especially appropriate, at the prototype's birthplace, in 1945, Crewe, being a mecca for train spotters in those days, (Yes, your editor was there). On our first day of operating, we had help from members of The South Cheshire M.E. Society whom we cannot thank enough, and in particular Albert Meredith who ended up in charge of 'Himley Queen', the 0-4-2T, and Garvis Upton, an ex Crewe North driver who took charge of the Black Five, having handled the real 44871 many times in his career. In fact The South Cheshire Society operated the railway for one day in the second week, whilst I went to collect the 5in. track from Crewe, M.E.S., thus adding 150ft. of track from the Gate albeit of two gauges. We met many ex-Crewe North workers, and many of our Society members who came to Crewe to relive Crewe's Steam heritage.

I have now been asked to help organise a permanent 7iin. gauge railway on this site, and anyone interested may contact me, Tony Hayward, 7, Baslow Close, Lower Farm, Bloxwich, near Walsall', West Midlands, WS3 3SQ, and telephone 0922-400389.

14

Tony Hayward (left), with his Class Five 44871 (Sovereign) at Crewe North August 1987.

A MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY AND TREASURER

We would like to thank the Society for awarding us the 1987 Charles Simpson Prize. It is indeed an honour and until just before the A.G.M. a total surprise. The secret had been kept not only by those who nominated us but also our fellow Committee Members. 1 think 1 speak for all previous and future recipients of the award when I say we do what we do because we want to NOT because we have to. We will endeavour to continue to do our best for the Society and you the members. We have made a lot of friends through our Society activities and hope that you too have enjoyed the comradeship that exists in the 1\ world. We also extend congratulations to Jean Villette from France who was also awarded a Charles Simpson Prize for his sterling work on the Continent. Perhaps we may see a U.K. and Overseas Award each year. We will have to discuss this in committee.

Leo & Bonnie Whisstock

15

RADIAL AXLES FOR FOUR WHEELED ROLLING STOCK by John W. Price

Many of us are familiar with the Cleminson system of radial axles on 6 wheel coaches, with each axle on a separate frame. The centre wheel set being slid sideways on a curve pivoting the outer axles via linking bars so that all axles would be radial and steer the coach around the curves. This system went out of fashion as bogies were introduced permitting coaches to be made longer.

The problem for me with the Cleminson system was that the coach had to have 6 wheels. The system that I have developed can be used with 4 wheel rolling stock, and is to a great advantage to those of us who wish to build long wheelbase 4 wheel vehicles and yet have small radius curves. An added advantage is that with radial axles, friction on curves is reduced to a minimum, making them easier to pull around curves than bogie rolling stock.

This radial axle system was designed by noting that the tow-bar between the tram and the coach must reach a point where it is tangential to the curve. If at that point it was divided and replaced with 2 rigid close fitting buffers and if all buffers were on the same given radius for a given radius of curve and if the tangential central bar of the radial axle bogie could bisect the two-bar before the buffers then this towing buffer bar could be used to control the radial axles. Each pair of axles could be kept at opposing angles to each other by a pin through the central bar midway between the axles into a slot in the other central bar coming from the other radial axle bogie.

The heads of the buffers are radial, the radius of which is equal to R- + 332 inches. Why 332? This is best explained when considering the truck seen at the 1986 A.G.M. This has a 25 inch wheelbase, is 54 inches long ovcrbody, and has a 9 inch gap between it's body and a vehicle of similar size, and is designed to go around a 108 inch radius curve, the smallest on my line. See Fig. 1 for calculations.

As can be seen, the central bar which is connected to the single axle bogie bisects the 8 inch long buffer bar only 0.586 inches from the buffer face. This was considered a good point to put the connecting link pin which goes through the short towing bar and out to the underside of the buffer where it extends through the forked ends of the central controlling bar. It must be mentioned here that the radial axles must only be controlled from one end of the vehicle so a shorter link pin should be used at the other end. To prevent these pins from coming out on the journey a short screw thread is used in the lower plate of the buffer, I used a M10 thread, because I have taps this size, on j inch dia. pins. These are then turned down to i inch dia. for fitting through the fork ends. The top of the pin is bent over at about 45° to provide leverage.

With the buffers held rigid to each other allowance must be made for the forward-backward rolling of the vehicles due to the irregularities of the track. The buffer bar must be able to move up and down in it's pivot.

Alternative arrangements We can now look at how the above calculations are affected with a different size of

vehicle as with the coach shown in my previous article. This is 72 inches long with a 30 inch wheelbase, see Fig. 2. It can be seen that the buffer bar is considerably longer at 14 inches, pivoted at 27.44 jnches from the centre of the coach and the central bar, which is

16

FIG I

RADIAL AXLE PIVOT--BUFFER BAR

27.0

23.5

12.5

CENTRAL CONTROLLING BAR

BUFFER HEAD

^R2_+332

CONNECTING LINK PIN

I082 - I 2.5s +23.5 2-8 2 = I 1 v '

332

I.E. I082 +332= I 1996 OR RADIUS2 +332 INCHES

9 9 6

F IG 2

JJP^

V

fe^r— s^^^fH

\ \

l"=UsSE^^S

3 6 . 0

2 7 . 4 4

„ 15.0 „

C ^ S ^ E = i L .

Lll ii^n

\ \

/ /

feab^-^-J

/ /

/

!

/

^ <

>' i

'4s*

x/R2 +332

l 0 8 2 - l 5 2 + 2 7 . 4 4 2 - l 4 2 = l 1 9 9 6 v ,_ )

Y 332

17

welded to the single axle bogie, bisects the buffer bar at a point just under the end of the coach.

At this point a removable pin is placed through cither buffer bar and into a slot in the end of the central controlling bar.

My tram, although not possessing radial axles, also had to be adapted to control the radial axles on the adjoining vehicle, the calculations are shown in Fig. 3. The tram is 60 inches long on an 18 inch wheelbase. 1 had to provide new pivot points for the buffer bar at 23 inches from the centre of the tram. The buffer bar being 10.77 inches long provided the right dimensions for effective operation.

332

I have also been able to use these calculations to enable my new electric trammer loco and also my proposed bogie coach to control the radial axle rolling stock.

One point to remember is that each radial axle vehicle must be controlled by only one other. Any attempt to do otherwise would result in derailment with bent control gear.

The buffers have been made to be compatible with the centre buffers found on many 7j inch gauge railways having a centre height of 4j inches. My radial axle stock can be run with other non-radial stock providing that the radial axled vehicle can be controlled by either another radial axle vehicle or a vehicle specially adapted to control the radial axles.

Faults and emirs etc. Like many things, we find that nothing is perfect. If we substitute a different radius in

the initial calculations as shown in Fig. 1, we find that as the radius of the curve is increased the central'control bar bisects the buffer bar a little further from the head than

IX

the position chosen, I rounded this figure from 0.586 inches to 15mm. For example, if I had used my other radius of 138 inches then this figure would be 0.654 inches, and if the radius was 10 times the original this figure is increased to 0.761 inches. The central controlling bar dimension varies only by a few thousands of an inch over the whole range yet this is the one with the slot in it. Since the radial axles are only required for small radius curves and the angular errors are so small I am sticking with the dimensions calculated for the 108 inch radius for the pivot points. The main point for me is to always keep the 332 inch difference in the calculations.

Another thing I noticed was that just before the towed vehicle enters a curve the

19

radial axles radiate the wrong way. This is caused by the towing point on the leading vehicle being thrust outward beyond the centre line of the straight as it enters the curve so affecting the control of the following radial axles. This is soon corrected as the leading vehicle moves further around the curve, the towing point crosses the centre line of the straight track and then operates the radial axles correctly, as this happens momentarily and the angles of misalignment are only slight I feel that this small fault in the system can be tolerated.

I also found that no matter how accurately I thought I was making the parts, errors did creep in, especially when welding up the buffer. It was almost impossible to weld the head square to the towing bar and I found that instead of the buffer heads being tightly clamped together there was a bit of slack, but I suppose that it is better than being too tight and not being able to couple up. But any slackness would only affect that one vehicle and again being only slight can be tolerated.

Advantages What have been the advantages of using radial axles? First of all has been the cost, the

savings in having only half the amount of wheels, bearings, springs etc. is quite considerable. It also gives us the opportunity to build the small narrow gauge four wheel coaches and goods vans or some other light weight rolling stock. One could even model a pair of rail buses. Another advantage is the almost lack of friction of radial axle stock, my coach rolls away around the slightly inclined 9 foot radius curve as though it were on a straight piece of track. With correctly profiled wheels the flanges hardly ever touch the rails as was noted at the 1986 A.G.M.

With these two items of rolling stock, radial axles have been an answer to my own peculiar problem. Although there have been other systems of four wheel radial axles, such as on some trams, I have never seen any information as to how they worked or were controlled, which is why I had to develop a system of my own. I have a small railway with tight radius curves and had to be certain that the axles would radiate properly on the curves.

I do hope that this information will be of some use to those who have similar problems to my own.

MEMBERS SALES AND WANTS

Members advertisements are published free (if space permits) subject to the prov­iso that items offered for sale are genuine used goods and not, in any way, in competition with our fee paying advertisers who support this journal.

FOR S A L E . . . 71 Gauge HIGHLANDER CHASSIS, plus Copper Boiler and completed tender. £3250 Tel: LINCOLN 720407 R.J. Ferrett Member No. 862

SET OF four drawings for inside valve gear and crank axle arrangement, cylinder details plus inside and outside cylinder castings for S.R. "Schools" 4-4-0 in 7] gauge. Also patterns available for castings for an unrebuilt S.R. "Merchant Navy" 4-6-2 in 71 gauge by Bassett-Lowke. No drawings available. Sales only to cover initial costs therefore limited. Details from 021 779 2593. B-ham.

20

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY at Pettitts Fcathercraft Bird & Animal Gardens at Recdham, Norfolk. Concession to supply and run 1\ Railway. Pettitts is situated midway between Norwich and Great Yarmouth and attracts approximately 120,000 visitors between Easter and October. Interested parties please write to Mr. T. Kay, Pettitts Crafts & Gardens, Reedham, Norfolk, NR13 3UA.

News from the COMRIE Railway, Perthshire, in Scotland Notes from Bob Smith, Member No. 356

I have been meaning to send in a few notes for the News for ages, giving details on the railway here in Comrie. Things do happen North of Hadrian's Wall!

The railway was originally laid down by the previous owner, member, Peter Walker, and is a 900ft. circuit with H.D. Alloy rail. I took over three years ago and slowly I am building a longer route using 121b/yd steel rail, but it will take a year or two, yet, to complete the «ths of a mile circuit. The terrain is very difficult, with the whole line either on embankments, or within cuttings with over-bridges, with 1 in 50 grades, about half-way so far.

We have five resident locomotives, also one under construction, and one under repair, all of them are narrow gauge models.

I enclose a few snaps of the line to interest members, since I never seem to get round to taking any photographs myself.

A little do was held last year, and it is hoped to have a regular get together for club and Society members each September. Please make a phone call beforehand, and members would be welcome, with or without a locomotive. Tel: 0764 70586.

Bob Smith

The 2-8-0 'Rio" working on the 1/50 grade.

21

The 'Rio' blowing for the top road crossing which will eventually have proper 'Yankee' crossing signals, here the grade is 1/25.

The 2-8-2 'Rio' in one of the rock cuttings amid pleasant wooded scenery at Connie 1987.

22

A view of the 'Depot' surrounded by very rugged terrain.

THE HEAP REBORN - PART 2 by A. Dowdeswell

(The first part appeared in Autumn 1987 News)

Brunei's rebirth had arrived, for better or for worse. The thinking behind hydraulic drive, using variable displacement pump units, is that on starting a train from standing, a high torque and low speed is required. As the train gets rolling the torque requirement drops away and more speed is required. These are the characteristics of a hydraulic drive unit. The unit obtained was a Danfoss self contained drive box, it has an input shaft matched to take the drive from an industrial engine of 5 HP output, with a maximum speed of 3,500 RPM. The engine required is the type found on power lawn mowers, rotavators, concrete compacters and a host of other industrial equipment. They are manufactured by Briggs & Stratton, Honda, Lombardini, Faryman and others. They are all dimensionally similar the only difference seems to be that each manufacturer insists that their engine is better than the rest.

The locomotive was stripped down completely from the cab front forwards down to the frames and rebuilding started with a clean slate.

I obtained an old Briggs & Stratton 5 HP engine, a used Danfoss unit and a car alternator for the electrics. The output shaft on an industrial engine is the equivalent of the gearbox end of a car engine, so a dynamo could not be used because it would be running backwards. Thus giving plus polarity where minus should be and vice versa. This was outside my limited electrical knowledge so an alternator was used because it does not mind which way it runs, and the plus polarity always comes out of the same place. I could handle this. It may seem an overkill just to run a 15 watt head lamp, a cab courtesy light and an air horn but it works. Alternators being the

23

clever creatures they arc, just freewheel taking no engine power when the battery is fully charged.

A large baulk of timber (ex E.W.R. footbridge step) was bolted across the frames as an engine and drive unit mount. (Shades of canal boats). The engine was bolted at the front with the Danfoss in a mounting cradle snuggled in behind, lined up and bolted down using the good old 8mm stud and two nuts technique. The alternator was bracketed and balanced over the top of this lot. Toothed timing belt was used to link these three bits together. 1 to 1 ratio, engine to Danfoss unit and l{ to 1 speed increase to the alternator so that it ran fast enough to start charging.

A 12 volt battery was bought for the electrics. A word of warning here. It seems that guarantees on car batteries arc not valid if the battery is not bought for a car. So if anyone needs a battery for railway purposes get the same type as is fitted in your car, the guarantees sometimes have your vehivle registration number on them. An added advantage is that you can swap batteries over and give them both a fair life.

Back to the bodge (?) in hand. The output drive of the Danfoss was connected to the old, second reversing lay shaft which I had left in place under the cab floor, this allows the transmission to be disconnected from the wheels using the spline and dog clutch when hand pushing the loco around. New bonnet sides and lids were made from 16 gauge plate and the loco started up! It sounded like a jet plane crashing.

Sound deadening material was glued over all the areas of the bonnet that were available. Bubble pack, undcrfelt, rubber underlay and carpet were fitted according to how much space was available. The engine was started up again. It now sounded like a jet plane crashing behind a cushion. After some discussion and a number of caustic jibes I took the plunge and bought a new Honda G200 5 HP engine. This fitted straight in the place of the old Briggs & Stratton, apart from the air filter which sticks out of the front of the loco. Start up and running was a success.

The loco would roll along slower than a tortoise or scamper along happily. Now was the challenge. "Let's nail a train on the back". This was done, the engine was revved up and the control handle moved forward.

The Danfoss wheezed to itself and the train just sat there. It appears that the Danfoss unit was shot, it would only move the loco on its own. Some one said, "Let's swap it for the new unit that we have for the proposed club loco". The swap was made and, eureka, it pulled a train, the only thing was it sounded as if there were a group of banshees loose under the bonnet.

Eventually Roy Bailey (he of the pipe and deep thought) worked out what was wrong. Danfoss units are available with clockwise or anti-clockwise input shafts dependent on whether they are to be driven in line or adjacent to the power unit. The club unit was a clockwise input and I needed an anti-clock input. Then the railways good fairy woke up from her slumbers. Malcolm Graham one of our members asked if it was possible to refurbish the old unit which I had dumped in the carriage shed and he was now holding in his hand. I replied that the old unit was on my garage floor at home. No one knew where this third unit had come from, so either they breed in captivity or as Paul Daniels says "That's Magic".

Another swap later and success at last. After 18 months stagnation the Heap was pulling trains again.

Ian Wildblood found some useful vacuum pumps in London. These are rotary vane 'Gast' air motors, but if they are driven off the engine they suck all the air out of the brake pipes a treat. I can't understand all this talk about the difficulties of fitting vacuum equipment to I C Loco's. From my experience if you can find something that uses air to, drive it, then usually if you connect that drive to the loco

24

engine then it will suck air through. Even diesel transit vans have a vacuum pump for the brake servo.

I have fitted vacuum brakes to the locomotive, because, I found myself stopping trains on the coach brakes, uncoupling, running onto the turntable, applying the vac brake handle and running off the other end of the table because the loco was only piped not fitted.

Vacuum Brake System fitted on Brunei.

1. Quick Release Reservoir Pressure. 2. Brake Release Valve.

3. Brake Control Handle 3 position. 4. Vacuum Limit Valve. 5. Train Pipe Gauge.

6. Non Return Valve. 7. Brake Cylinder. 8. Loco Brake Isolating Valve.

Brunei does not run as quietly now as it did with the original motorbike engine, but the control characteristics for lugging loads and shunting stock are excellent. As it is the railway shunter, this is ideal.

I did hear mumblings about fitting a water pump on the end of the vac pump shaft, putting a cistern of water on the bonnet lid and a spray bar on the buffer beam for weed killing sessions on the permanent way but I got out of the way before I opened my mouth to say something I would regret.

So if you can use an electric drill, a spanner, a hacksaw, have access to a lathe for wheels and other small items, and you are "Game for a Laugh" then you can have a locomotive that can do some useful work.

As the man once said. "GET ON AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT"!!!

25

Some quieter moments at the A.

26

G-M. as seen by the Editor's camera.

27

14th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AT HEMSBY

Before writing an account of the Annual General Meeting of the 7i Gauge Society, I would like to quote an old English saying "from little acorns big oak trees grow". Well that's my impression of the Annual General Meeting this year, they started small and this year have shown that they can grow into large ones.

Having arrived on Friday afternoon, I walked down to the engine shed and Parkland station to find numerous engines and it was evident that it was going to be a meeting to be remembered. Walking into the station area amongst the smoke and steam I spotted many familiar faces from far and wide, and I soon got into deep conversation about our favourite topic 'miniature railways'.

Saturday morning started early with drivers anxious to get as much running time in as possible for their engines. The station became a mass of people as more arrived during the course of the morning, with the number of engines running, queues were kept down to a minimum but kept the yard foreman, signalman and their staff very busy. With the number of engines running we all had a little extra time to rest ourselves ready for the evening formalities.

'The Highwayman' was the venue for the A.G.M., we were welcomed by Eric Doyle and the meeting got underway. The Committee were voted back for another year and an additional member was added, Jack Meatcher. The reports were read and the position of the club, these were accepted by the members. The venue for the next A.G.M. was announced, it will be held at Jim Haylocks' Moors Valley Railway in September, 1988. The Charles Simpson Award was given jointly to Bonnie and Leo Whisstock for all their hard work for the Society over the last few years.

A second Charles Simpson Award was presented to Jean Villette from France who promotes our Society on the other side of the Channel, publishes his own journal and also writes articles for the American magazine 'Live Steam'. Jean gave a short acceptance speech in which he invited members to visit him and other railways in Europe, he kindly provided maps showing the location of all the 1\ gauge tracks in Europe. The meeting was closed and we all settled down to a very good meal, after that everybody departed to rest themselves ready for Sunday.

Sunday started with a hive of activity around Parkland station with people crowding around taking pictures and vidcoing the days events. It would be impossible to name all the engines that were there but making some exceptions, Bill Kirkland's Pacific Blue Peter, Mike Schuman's Malet called Kyra (which took over a period of six years to build), John Liming's Lawley called Zulu and John Adams' Duchess chassis were present.

The engine that attracted my attention was a battery electric that was in Don's garage numbered 20014, as I never saw it running or found out who owned it, perhaps if anybody has any information on the engine they could let me have it.

Unfortunately the weekend came to a close and everybody began making their farewells and preparing for the journey home. On behalf of myself and everybody who attended the A.G.M. I would like to thank Don and Eileen for having us all 'invade' for the weekend, thanks also go to all the ladies who kept the flow of refreshments running, the staff in the yard area who kept the engines running and lastly many thanks to all the members who made special efforts to bring their engines to the A.G.M. and helped to make it such a success.

Many thanks to everybody involved and hope to see you in 1988 at the 15th Annual General Meeting of the 71 Gauge Society.

Derek Burwell

28

LOCOS AT A.G.M., HEMSBY 1987

Black Five 5428 Stirling Single No. 5 Bridget King George V Romulus Tram Holmside Wren "Peter Pan" Bl Bushbuck G.W.R. 1366 Black Five "Queens Edinburgh" Battery Shunter Dock Authority LNER K. 3 Black Five 45253 Jaipur State Railway Dolgoch Topsy Electric — Steeple Cab Highland Railway 4-6-0 G.W.R. 1366 Waldenburg A.2 "Blue Peter" Wren "Duke of Wellington" Duke of Gloucester L & Y 4-4-2 Darjeeling No. 9 L.N.W.R. Precursor 4-6-OT Stanley Bo-Bo Electric Mallet "Kyra" — Sipad No. 2 Edward Thomas 5in. on converter Wren "Rosemary" 2-6-4 T Bridget Gustav Maxi track Battery Electric Jenny — Petrol Loco Jessie Hawthorne Leslie Laulie 4-4-0 "Zulu" Electric Loco Alpha Black Five (Maroon) Black Five G.W.R. Dock Tank Holmside

Luc Tennstedt, Belgium + coaches John Adams + coach + Duchess chassis John Harris + coach Fred Beacham + coaches Dave Holden Dave Holden D. Lugg + wagons Graham White Jeff Stubbs J. Bond R. Carter J. Nicholson M. Johns Geoff Stevens Gerald Cox F. Wheeler John Drury Ray Pantrey Cyril Chandler R. Penny Hugh Beacon W. Kirkland Tony Gosling Vaughan Cherry P. Robinson D. Pell John Goulden + wagons Ray Copley Ray Copley + wagons M. Schumann R. Thompson A. Foote A. Budge Ken Butler P. Mash + coach P. Mash Ken Swan Terry Robinson R.K. Hall John Liming Doug Kempton Ron Heugh + wagons Ken Houltby John Dobson Dick Stockings Ron Mitchell

+ resident locos — 3 electric 5 steam

29

CORRESPONDENCE (Correspondence is wlecomed and published as the opinion of the writer,

not necessarily of the Editor.)

FAIRFAX CA 94930 Dear Dr. M. A. Taylor, Subject: Wheels, Fixed or Free This refers particularly to articles in No. 38 by Rodney Weaver and Lindsay McDonnell and subsequent correspondence, in which there has been no mention of the L/V ratio or of work by Baldwin on this subject, which resulted in a U.S. Patent for an axle assembly with one wheel, or both, carried on individual roller bearings in the hub.

The major consideration, I think, is that on the majority of our tracks (with the exceptions of a few point to point lines such as the Arboretum Central in Walsall) the amount of curved rail encountered by the average train is very very much more than the amount of curved rail on a full size railroad on an average journey.

In full size railroading the additional cost of free wheel assemblies does not have an economic return on investment because of the conditions referred to in the above paragraph. However, on our curved tracks carrying heavy passenger traffic from public running there is a distinct advantage from lower curve resistance and reduction in wheel wear. It appears to be a matter of what proves economically justifiable.

Under special circumstances main line railroads, particularly the SBB and BLS in Switzerland have had great success with the inter-connected bogies on the system originally developed by Herr Loosli of Brown-Boveri Oerlikon. The results of this have been that locomotives so fitted on the Gotthard and Loetschberg grades now require profiling of the tyres on tread wear as opposed to the previous more frequent profiling required because of flange wear.

Studies were made in the early '70s by Canadian Pacific in the possible use of this system on the unit coal trains operating through the mountains to the west coast, and I believe are again being studied by the Canadian National for similar service.

The L/V ratio came to the fore at the Track-Train Dynamics Conferences held by the Association of American Railroads some twenty years ago, and with the development of computers and modern instrumentation, vast amounts of scientific and practical knowledge concerning the inter-reaction between wheel and rail has been accumulated.

Basically there are two forces on a wheel that affects its ability to safely roll down the track. These are the vertical force applied to the wheel set from its own weight, and the weight of the car above applied to it through the suspension and the journal boxes.

The lateral force is a combination of many forces and is further discussed below, but at any time the lateral force acting on a wheel divided by the vertical force approaches 1, there is imminent danger of the flange climbing over the rail. If the L/V ratio exceeds 1, derailment is inevitable.

30

The sketch shows the situation on a full size railroad where in addition to the coning of the wheels the rails themselves are tilted toward the centre line of the gauge, (this is exaggerated in the sketch).

Under normal circumstances, particularly when a car is stationary or moving at slow speed on well maintained straight track, the vertical force on each end of the axle is equal and because of the coning of the wheel and the tilt of the rail, if any, there is an equal lateral force resulting toward the centre line of the gauge.

Both lateral and vertical forces vary tremendously at speed due to imperfections in cross level of the track, rail joints, switches, rock and roll in the car, etc. There is also variation due to slack action resulting in excess forces on the couplers or buffing gear, particularly important on curved track. However, at this point I will confine these comments to the more simple effects as they concern "wheels fixed or free".

As soon as a loaded wheel set under a car begins to move the lateral forces resulting from the vertical load and the coned wheel cause the wheel set to take a central position with equal clearance between the flange and the rail on each side.

Rolling a wheel set, not under a car, does not give a true picture of the behaviour of the wheel set when it is doing its job. First, the load is very small, and second, the wheel is free to take a natural position on the track. It is not constrained by the wheelbase of the bogie or a 4 or 6-wheel car. Third, because the load is small, on entering a curve there is no inertial lateral force from the car which would tend to increase the lateral force toward the outer rail of the curve, particularly where the curve is either not correctly super-elevated, or the spiral is either non-existent or inadequate.

When a wheel set has one wheel properly constrained against wobble and is mounted properly in a truck or car, the fixed wheel will turn the axle as it moves along the rail and the resultant lateral forces described above will centre the wheel set on the track because the free wheel will be turning with the axle on account of both wheels traversing identical and equal distances along the rail.

If a curve is encountered there will only be relative movement between the free wheel and the axle at such time as the cone of the wheel and the tilt of the rail do not make up for the difference in length traversed by each wheel.

31

However, there are several factors that change this. The string lining effect of the drawbar pull on the couplers increases the lateral forces towards the inside rail, which would put the smaller wheel diameter on the outer rail and the larger wheel diameter on the inner rail. This condition has been verified by innumerable well instrumented and documented tests. This condition is most prevalent at slow speed on heavy grades with maximum tonnage trains. When you consider that the normal working stress of an American coupler is 250,0001bs. and that many trains are worked to and even above this figure on heavily curved mountain grades, the resultant forces towards the inner rail of a curve are very high.

In the very early days, wheels on tram roads and early industrial railroads were frequently loose. The bearing was frequently the cast iron wheel hub on a wrought iron axle. The conditions under which they worked rapidly created a very loose wobbly wheel, and it is certainly improper to compare this with a wheel properly loose fitted on an axle on which the other wheel is solid mounted. The normal bearings of course being outside the wheels.

The majority of our 7J — 71 gauge railroads make at least one complete circle on runs of less than one mile. Most full size railroads on an average run make considerably less than one complete circle every hundred miles.

Experiments have been made in full size with completely independent wheels without an axle, and these have all ended in failure. For proper operation the wheels must be constrained by mounting on an axle, and the best results where free wheels were used, was to have only one wheel of the assembly free.

The comparison between an NYC Hudson climbing a 1 % grade encountering 65 ft. radius curves which appears to include a reverse S curve as against a Romulus sized locomotive on a grade of 0.6% and reverse curve of 56 ft. minimum radius is interesting. But claiming that the latter is a worse condition than the former appears a little far fetched. Maybe there is a misprint somewhere.

Grade resistance is well established at 20 lbs. per short ton (2,000 lbs.) per each 1% of grade. Curve and rolling resistance for 75 gauge have never been established to the best of my knowledge, and I do not think the full size figures would apply. A reverse S curve of 56 ft. radius would have very little more curve resistance than a 65 ft. radius curve, but the 8,000 lb. Echills Wood train which works out at 4 short tons would require to merely balance the grade a drawbar pull of 48 lbs., while the Vancouver train would require a drawbar pull of 80 lbs., which is 52% more if the train were the same weight.

It would be most interesting if we were able, if we could, to establish rolling resistance and curve resistance for 7J gauge. There are some excellent 5in. gauge test cars. If a 1\ gauge car is not available, maybe one of these 5in. gauge cars could be used on multiple gauge track.

Average figures for starting resistance, rolling resistance and curve resistance would be really valuable.

Perhaps we could get curve resistance for both fixed and free wheels. There is an old saying, "one good test is worth a thousand expert opinions".

A great deal has been learned in recent years on the subject of Track-Train Dynamics.

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Some of the old held theories have been proved wrong and others confirmed as good and reliable with modern testing and instrumentation. There is still much more to be learned. I personally, have spent my entire working life in engineering on a major U.S. railroad where, before my retirement, I was the Track-Train Dynamics Officer, which accounts for my particular interest in this subject.

GORDON B. ADAMS

BURNABY - CANADA Dear Dr. Taylor, I would like to reply to the article "Wheels: Fixed or Free" by Rodney Weaver, which I have just read in my good friend and member Gavin McCabe's copy of the News. I am on holiday in New Zealand and thought I should write before I return to Vancouver, B.C. so that you can publish it sooner. You should have received a letter from me a couple of months back with more information on this item of fixed/free wheels but I don't have my computer files here to check that letter. So I will respond to the concerns expressed by Rodney and you might use editor's licence to combine them:

In the Summer issue of the News, Rodney Weaver expressed his concerns regarding the British Columbia S.M.E. gondola cars that have one free wheel per axle. I would like to reply to some issues he has raised. Rodney wonders whether we measured the results of our freeing of one wheel against a valid standard. The standard we used was that we could pull another car on the curved sections of 1 % grade and that we found that the curved steel rail did not shine up after a few laps but took as long as the straight sections did. We also know that after 5 years of operation we are getting less flange and tread wear and we have not had one derailment due to wheels moving or getting loose. No wheels have shown enough wear of the axle to require maintenance, and that after running 110 days a year and we have 120 axles modified. Our cars have scale cast sideframes and not the old style diamond sideframes, so they do not flex as Rodney has suggested. The trucks (bogies) probably suffer from a small amount of parallelogramming as do the fullsize. We cannot do much about that and even if it is happening it is not causing us problems, and since we are making MODELS not freelance wagons, we have to stick with the design and hope to make modifications that will improve its efficiency. Since this modification is a retrofit to existing trucks, the idea of freeing a wheel per axle by using bronze washers for side thrust held on by an E clip, is an easy modification on any truck. We use 1200 series double row self-aligning bearings and they roll as free as any trucks I have seen. Now I don't dispute Rodney's claim that the self-steering type truck that the full size railways are starting to use may not also work very well in model practice too. However, our tracks are usually less than ideal in that they may not be canted inwards 2 degrees and the rail profile is not correct. The wheels are usually cast iron and these tend to wear a groove fairly quickly before apparently work hardening and staying that way. This happens on aluminium rail too. So the self-steering characteristics may not be so much benefit in models unless tracks and wheel profiles are all up to specs.

Rodney was comparing figures on the loads pulled by our respective engines so I will quote ours so that more complete comparisons can be made. Our New York Central 'Hudson' has 3in. bore x 3.5in. stroke piston-valved cylinders with lOin. driving wheels running on 120psi. At 80% efficiency the starting tractive effort comes out at 3021bs. The load we usually pull, 10 cars with three passengers per car, averages out at

33

approximately 60001bs. plus another 7501bs. for the caboose, conductor and propane box car for an all up total of 67501bs. Our track has a reverse curve on 65ft. radius on 1% grade. This is not the maximum load for this engine but it is a load that the engine can start easily on the grade in adverse conditions. Rodney compares an 80001b. load on a 0.6% grade. I would point out that a 1 % grade would impose a load 2.78 times greater (inverse of .6 squared) than on a 0.6% grade. That means the 80001bs. load on 0.6% is equivalent to 28781b. load on 1% grade. So I think the cars run very freely indeed and would doubt that much would be gained even if we could modify for steerability. I can assure Rodney that our cars run very freely before modification, right up there with the best fixed wheel designs and on curves they now run almost as freely as on the straights. The trucks have a roller on each side of the bolster and this takes the weight of the car with the centre pin just acting as a pivot and this allows very easy movement for the trucks going into curves. The reason I wrote the article in the first place was to inform model engineers on how easy a conversion it is and what good results we've had. Everything I have stated has been proven out over 5 years or more and it works. Rodney Weaver is to be complimented in trying to advance model technology even more, but there is a difference between model engineering and experimental engineering. He is building freelance narrow gauge trolleys and we are keeping to ljin. scale trains. As I said before, those who wish to modify a truck or car to our design will find it quick and easy to do and is welcome to assess its value against their own standards. We found it worthwhile and safe with no drawbacks at all and I stand by my comments in my original article. I still recommend the changes wholeheartedly.

Happy steaming

LINDSAY MCDONNELL

HYTHE Dear Michael, As a friend of the late Alex Schwab's for 40 years, 1 read his obituary by Tom Smith, with especial interest. I note that some of my photographs are used as illustrations and, solely in the interests of accuracy, I feel that 1 must point out that the caption under my picture of the double header in quite inaccurate.

For many years, in the 50s and 60s, I went over to Saltwood every Spring, sometimes with one or two of the R.H. & D.R. drivers, to help Alex, when he took his locomotives and rolling stock out of Winter storage and test-ran everything, to ensure that all was well for the Easter holiday. Usually I took a few photographs on these occasions, so that AJex had fresh post cards for sale each season. Occasionally, we double headed, so that we could test the two engines at the same time and the picture of Saltwood double header you published, was taken on one of these test runs on 25 March 1961, the drivers being Alex on MAID OF KENT and Alf Lewis of Antique Models of Hyth, on TROJAN.

I must admit, that like Alex's sister, Helen, I felt quite upset when the steam engines left Saltwood and the railway lost much of its appeal to me after that but I still received long reports from Alex about how the battery locomotives were performing. To see this railway, once an inspiration to so many, at present, as I did yesterday, is a very sad experience.

GEORGE BARLOW B.E.M.

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HYTHE, KENT Dear Dr. Taylor, Thank you so much for sending me the 7} Gauge Society magazine with the obituary article about my brother, Alex Schwab, written by Tom Smith. I thought it was excellent and I do appreciate it very much. Tom Smith is being most kind and helpful about disposing of the railway. It is all very sad when something as old as this has to be broken up. With again very many thanks, and all good wishes.

Yours sincerely, HELEN SCHWAB

KINVER, WEST MIDLANDS Dear Mr Taylor With the greatest of respect I refer to J.P. Dobson in spring issue on a simplified firebox wrapper.

From first appearances of the sketch no problems should arise from such a simple forming and flanging operation, but stop and think for a minute (or two) about what is "really" involved with this apparently easy bit of "Copper Bashing".

Firstly it is taken for granted that we are discussing 1\G Boiler construction for which I hope you use din copper. Now set your minds "Athinkin" about material thickness and physical size of this piece of (probably) tsin thick copper plate, yes you've got it "weight". In some boilers the firebox wrapper can weigh up to 40 lbs or more. Now having managed to roll the radius (after annealing of course) comes the challenge of "double flanging". Have you ever tried flanging copper one way let alone two. In order to generate the tight radius and reverse flanges up to the centre line of the barrel, a former and pressure plate would be required to support the copper in its correct shape which adds even more weight having clamped it all together, .try throwing the lot onto the bench or into a vice if you have got the strength or a vice big enough to hold it whilst you "bash it". Having got this far the flange will not go over in one pass so now "knock it down" and anneal the copper. Put it all back together again, have another go (2nd time) and more than is likely anneal yet again to get the "corner in".

During the course of these events don't forget to dash outside the shed everytime you anneal the copper (a) to cool off (b) to check the felt on the roof hasn't melted, run down into the spouting and clogged up the down pipe. Its not so bad for me as I have extractors and a 16 ft high roof and even then when working on large boilers the temperature at ceiling height has reached 120°F!

Your idea Mr Dobson deserves credit for without fellows like you progress would never be made but there's no comparison between paper and copper, and I would suggest sticking to conventional methods in this instance.

Yours respectfully, JOHN M. ELLIS

(THE MODELMAKERS BOILERMAKER)

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ANDOVER, HANTS Dear Editor, Reading "These you have loved' No. 5, by John Davis, on 'Royal Scots', brings back so many happy memories. My first drive of a 7« gauge locomotive came through the kindness of my friend, Mr. Jack Lillington, who lived at Andover at the time, and he owned No.486, a Southern H15, recently rebuilt by Mr. Peter Beale.

As a 15 year old lad, I used to cycle 8 miles to Over Wallop, 3 evenings weekly to sec the building of Mr. Barnett's Royal Scot. 1 was a junior member of the Andover, M.E. Society. John's description of Mr. Barnett, the 'Colonial' home, the workshop, and the 63ft well, I remember the well water was very refreshing. Mr. Barnett occasionally took me in his £100 Ford to the Eastleigh factory. John mentions exciting times for a young lad who had never before ridden in a motor car. I travelled with the Barnetts to many shows, fetes and carnivals, and recall the lemonades and crisps after helping to drive the engine. The rule was to take one hour to raise steam, to allow steady expansion of the plates.

Over the years I have collected 40 photos or more, of the building, trials and running, up to the latest ones at The Great Cockrow Railway.

I sometimes meet John Davis to chat about those Royal Scot days, and about Mr. Len Willoughby's locomotives, particularly his 1\ gauge 'Britannia', which I saw in the building and during shows.

Regards. REG WILKINS

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KENILWORTH Dear Mike, First of all, Ken Blackham may produce for your attention one or more photographs of the Royal Train operated by the EWR on Bank Holiday Monday. I do not know whether this is a first for 7J gauge; it probably is as far as the Society is concerned. A gauge of about 7in was popular for demonstration purposes even in the earliest days of railway locomotion, which makes it just possible that Prince Albert rode on 7jin or something near it when he inspected Arthur Parsey's model compressed air locomotive at a Royal Society function in 1849. Anyway, Alan Dowdeswell was Shift Controller for this event, so we feel that he should be the one to provide an account of same. My contribution was to draft the Special Traffic Notice. (Editor's Note — reproduced elsewhere in this issue.)

If 1 may add a little to John Davis's article on the Royal Scots, the delay between appearance of the full-size prototype and of Greenly's version was of purely commercial origin. Greenly did not design anything as big and complicated as this unless he had a customer for it, and Norvin Rinek was the first to ask for something more modern than the Immingham. His request doubtless followed the visit to the USA of the full-size locomotive. Norvin Rinek made small aero-engines, and there is I believe an example of same in Leeds Industrial Museum.

Lindsay McDonnell's statement that the Burnaby Central Railway operates wheels that have worn hollow is most surprising. These are in effect double-flanged, and if they are a close fit to the railhead I am not surprised to learn that they do not hunt. But I do not believe that such wear can take place without a significant increase in rolling resistance over a modern "worn wheel" profile correctly applied. And if the wheels have worn hollow, what happens at points, or a change of rail section? Purely as a matter of interest, close-fitting double-flanged (loose) wheels were used on the original Penrhyn Railway, whereon tests showed them to have extremely high rolling resistance!

The use of tapered treads and canted rails was at one time believed to confer a form of pendulum stability, but this myth was exploded very early on. The correct principle of a tapered tread running clear of the railhead except for point contact at or near the root and railhead radii was known before 1840. Who discovered it is a mystery, but it may have been Dionysius Lardner. Given a correct railhead profile there is no need to cant the rails, and the taper applied to the tread has long ceased to have any relation to the cant or otherwise of the rail. In full size practice, loss of wheel profile is serious anc wheels would be marked down for reprofiling at the first hint of wearing hollow.

Since writing my last letter on the subject, we have had the experience of operating five-car trains at Echills Wood, with loads of up to 25 adults. Thanks to variations in our coal supply, we know that a Romulus with 451b/sq.in on the clock can handle such a load at normal speed. I have also witnessed a 5in gauge Mountaineer tackle with apparent ease a 22 passenger load on a dual-gauge track with gradients and curvature at least as severe as those of the Burnaby Central. If the performance quoted in Lindsay's first letter is anywhere near the maximum of which their Hudson is capable, the inference is that their stock has a higher rolling resistance than is normal on British lines.

37

There is only one yardstick of wheelset efficiency, and that is the rolling resistance; nothing can have lower resistance than a pair of wheels travelling the most direct path without skidding. I have yet to be convinced that loose wheelsets in 7{in gauge are any better than they are in 4ft 8lin, whereon they were abandoned 150 years ago.

Regards RODNEY

SURBITON Dear Mike, The enclosed photograph was given to us at the A.G.M. with a £5 cash prize for the best caption. The person wishes to remain anonymous and all captions to be sent to us. These will then be discussed at the Committee Meeting. As this photo is connected with the A.G.M. venue, we hope you can find room for it in this issue of the News. Thanking you.

Yours sincerely, BONNIE WHISSTOCK

To Members of the 1\ Gauge Society... On behalf of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, I would like to thank you for supporting the raffle at HEMSBY on Saturday, the 26th September 1987. The amount collected came to a total of £46.20. Thank you all.

GRACE ADAMS

38

RHOS-ON-SEA Dear Mike Having read Rodney Weaver's letter in Issue 42 of the 71 Gauge News, and in particular the adjustments he made to a Romulus valve gear, I felt it necessary to consult the early drawings and calculations produced jointly with Roger Marsh and used when building the original locomotive.

I accepted the comments made by Rodney in his earlier letter (Issue 39, page 22) but felt he rather overstated the point. His reference to designing a "proper gear for Romulus" should, in my opinion, have read "alternative" as the Hackworth arrangement is as appropriate to Romulus as Walschaert's is to a Class 5.

The Romulus design launched by Roger Marsh was supported by a short series of construction articles published in 71 Gauge News, written by myself and backed by my having built several locomotives to the method described.

The valve gear geometry from my original notes shows the angle of the motion to the horizontal centre line to be 1°56' and the backset of the weighshaft, in order to set the centre line of the valve gear at 90° to the centre line of the motion, at 0.18568 (;Mn). It is noted that the current drawings show this dimension to be tsin and therefore an error exists here. I have spoken to AJ Reeves, who own the design copyright, on this matter and exactly when and where the error crept in is not immediately apparent. However, the error does not drastically affect the performance as several locomotives are known to have been built as per the published drawings and with good valve settings they perform satisfactorily.

The eccentric rod centres, which Rodney suggested had a 0.056in error calculate at 5.568in which is of course 0.057in shorter than the 5.625in deliberately shown on the drawings. It was considered that it would be easier to remove metal from the big end face, rather than inserting shims should it be found necessary. This is where I became totally confused. Rodney's earlier letter did not define the error as positive or negative. The fitting of a shim 0.056in thick would in fact make the eccentric rod 0.113in too long, assuming of course that the rod centres were 5.625in in the first place.

The recalculation of the theoretical length of the eccentric rod with the weighshaft backset at jUn comes out at 5.574in, a mere 0.006in which would not be considered significant if the valves are set correctly.

Rodney's description of setting the valves by having die block pivots exactly on the axis of the weightshaft with the cranks on dead centre is accurate and complies exactly with my construction article (Issue 15, page 11). The axle box when set to produce this condition defines its normal position. It is appreciated that it may differ slightly from the geometric centre line of the motion but it is equally unlikely that the cylinders will be set at exactly 1°56' anyway.

I trust that this letter will restore some confidence to those who are building the locomotive. I have been questioned several times and always stress the point that if the axle box is set as described before adjusting the valves the locomotive will perform as well as the design allows, which in many cases is admirable.

GEOFF OUGHTON

WOKINGHAM, BERKS Dear Mike, Just a note to say how impressed I was with the 'New Image' News. The art paper gives a sparkle to the photographs, and indeed, the whole magazine. Under your Editorship, The News has taken another step forwards, and maintains its position as the pre-

39

eminent magazine for the 1{ Gauge enthusiasts. Through the News, may I bring attention to an excellent American mag., called

Modeltec. Clint Ensworth in Ohio, kindly sends copies to me, which is the American M.E., but it is printed on high quality paper with excellent photographic reproduction to 74 pages. It covers model engineering projects across the whole range of interests, there being a strong 7} and 7j gauge bias. Modeltec's address is P.O. Box 286, Cadillac, MI.49601. Subs rate is 27.50 dollars.

I was interested to read Rodney's letter responding to John Dobson's letter in the Summer issue. I also arrived at different values using Martin Evans' and Henry Greenly's formulae. I have considered fitting Walschaerts' valve gear to my Romulus, for some time and have amassed a fair amount of literature, including Prof. Dalby's book on valve gears, but on Rodney's advice used Greenly's approach. I have sent a copy of my calculations to both of the aforementioned, hoping a set of dimensions can be agreed and published. I will still have a problem, because I've shortened the stroke of my Romulus to 3.10in. This is because, when boring the crank-pin holes on the faceplate, the eccentrically mounted wheels would not go through the gap, and I was more interested in accuracy than the theoretical reduction in power due to the shorter stroke. (I have a Myford ML7).

Referring now to the exchange of views on 'Free Wheels', it occurs to me that perhaps the Burnaby Central Railway benefits because their wheel treads arc parallel while those benefits are not so apparent when the wheel treads are tapered. It appears that wheel behaviour can be significantly influenced by subtle changes in profile. After all, British Rail have seen fit fo use computer analysis to design the optimum profile. Looks like a 'horses for courses' situation and whatever the theoretical considerations, if you are happy and it is safe — do it!

Once again, a great issue of the News, full of interest. Well done all who contributed. Best regards.

JACK MEATCHER

WINCHESTER, HANTS Dear Sir, I have found the 'These you have loved' series by John Davis, most enjoyable. It is interesting how many locomotives in 7i gauge have a history that can be traced back so many years. Possibly a similar list could be compiled of other classes. The L.N.W.R. 4-4-0 is one that springs to mind.

I believe that not long ago, I saw the 0-4-2 'Diado', mentioned in John's article. I was informed by a helper that the owner lives in the Staines area . . . can anyone please confirm?

As for the 'Royal Scots', I know of several not in John's list, although I know he is aware of two of them. 1. The most well known example is the 7j gauge one at Burnaby, Vancouver. I believe

this was re-gauged when imported from the U.K. 2. Eric Smith, our late insurance secretary, had one when we last met. 3. Mention is made of Jack Lillington's 'Lion', but I also believe he can confirm that

another example was operated during his time at Wellington Park. 4. Another is located at Liss, Hants, but this is a recently completed example, hardly

ever steamed, but the owners' name has been noted and passed on to John. 5. At Hollycombe, near Liphook, also in Hampshire, they have a Bassett-Lowke

example but/with riveted boiler, which is on permanent loan. The owner lives in the Coventry area.

6. Near Amesbury, in,deepest Wiltshire, another part-built one is owned by Mr. Wilkins.

40

Perhaps John's series will encourage owners of older locomotives to send in details of their history with photographs. (Hear, Hear! . . . Ed.).

I am certain there are plenty of articles waiting to be written, or even letters.

D.E. COTTLE

0-4-0 to 0-6-0 by Frank Smith

How to extend an 0-4-0 Hercules chassis to an 0-6-0 Tank Loco or 0-6-0 Tender Loco

This all came about as a friend of mine had an 0-4-0 Hercules chassis in his workshop for the last twelve years going spare. As I have run my 0-6-0 Hercules on his track several times I was asked to extend his chassis and make it into an 0-6-0 Glasgow and South Western Railway Loco.

The photo of my loco can be seen in the Winter 1985/6 No. 35 7J News. The first thing I did was to check things over to make sure that it would work when I

reassembled same, having dismantled the chassis the first thing was to shorten the chassis by 2iin. at the rear end, (don't throw the off cuts away as these are the templates for drilling the ends of the new ends to be welded on).

Now to extend the chassis by welding on a piece of mild steel plate 5sin. x approximately 8jin. long, only weld the top half as the cut comes in the cut out for the horn block, place the end of your cut off in position and redrill the hobs for the buffer beam angle and cut to the same angle on the plate.

The overall measurement for the frames is 42jin. The centre to centre of the rear wheels are 11 in. and when fitting the new horn blocks you will have to grind the top two webs away to allow the boiler to expand when fired.

The reversing lever was repositioned towards the rear by 5in. and the gunmetal bracket will have to be dispensed with and a new bracket prefabricated from angle iron and fixed on the inside of the frame because the wheel will not allow it in the new position.

The coupling rods are no problem to extend, I pressed the bronze bush and making sure to mark same to the coupling rods, then cut a sin. slot a third of the way in and silver

41

solder a tongue into the slot to make the knuckle joint, then file out the hole for replacing the bush.

Both chassis are the same length for the Tank and Tender locos, for the tank loco I reduced the smoke box by liin. by cutting Uin. out of the centre and welding the two pieces together again and the barrel of the boiler was extended by 2in.

For the tender loco the boiler and smoke box are standard, I did shorten the chimney by jin., this I did by cutting off the top and sleeving the barrel into the top.

Drawing for the Fowler Tender can be obtained from Milner Engineering, the tender was made the same width as the Hercules.

The extra wheels, horn blocks, axle boxes and axles can be obtained from A.J. Reeves of Birmingham.

The Tank loco should be on the 7iin. stand at Wembley next year.

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BUILDERS OF FINE LOCOMOTIVES CHECK V A L V E S 3/32 Pipe s c r . 1 /8 P ipe s c r . 5/32 Pipe s c r . 3/16 Pipe s c r . 1/4 Pipe s c r . 5/16 Pipe s c r .

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GLOBE V A L V E S 3/32 Pipe s c r . 3/16 x 40T

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£ 2 . 5 1 £ 2 . 7 7 £ 2 . 9 4 £ 3 . 6 0 £ 4 . 4 9 £6. 11

£ 4 . 4 0 £ 4 . 8 0 £ 4 . 8 0 £ 5 . 0 0 £ 6 . 4 5

HOURS OF OPENING CLOSED M O N D A Y S T U E S D A Y - F R I D A Y 9.30 -S A T U R D A Y : 9.30 - 1.00

I N J E C T O R S A . 30 o z s . ( I F p t s ) pe r m i n .

Feed /Wate r Pipe 3/16 Steam Pipe 5/32 S c r . 5/16 x 32T

B . 80-120 o z s . ( 4 - 6 p t s ) pe r m i n . Feed /Water Pipe 1/4 S t e a m P i p e 1/4 S c r . 7 / 1 6 x 46T

C . 160 ozs (8 p t s } pe r m i n . Feed /Wate r P ipe 5/16 Steam P ipe 5/16 S c r . 9/16 x 26T

M E C H A N I C A L L U B R I C A T O R S

H" 2" x

i H "

U" 2" ( T w i n Ran

£ 2 0 . 8 8 £ 2 0 . 8 8 £ 2 4 . 6 7 £ 3 7 . 9 5

19 ABINGDON ROAD, KENSINGTON HIGH STREET,

LONDON W8 6AH TELEPHONE: 01-938 1982

PECO HEAVY DUTY "7V4" NARROW GAUGE TRACKAGE

COMPONENTS Heavy duty flat bottom dural rail in 15ft lengths.

Sleepers - 17" long, 2 x 2" section in Keruing hard wood.

Baseplates - plastic, prevents the sleepers going out of alignment.

Fixing screws-40mm (l9/i6" long).

Fishplates - mild steel.

Nuts and Bolts in hardened steel.

Quotations on request from: PECO, BEER, SEATON, DEVON EX12 3NA. Tel: Seaton (0297) 21542.

46

CamdetuMiniatu roSteaitvService?, NOW AVAILABLE!

DRAWINGS AND PARTS FOR A

71" GAUGE PRIVATE OWNER WAGON

A superb new design, by Glyn Dando, for a typical 7 plank private owner wagon of circa 1923 - variants can be produced by modifying the superstructure.

The kit includes wheels, axleboxes, buffer stocks and a brakeblock ring in cast iron PLUS coupling hooks, axleguards ('W irons) and brake 'V irons in laser cut mild steel; these la t ter items are to size and only require a small amount of work to fit.

Prices Drawing £3.25 1 Kit £97.25 2 Kits £186.00

Prices INCLUDE post & packing and V.A.T.

Still Available!

Our popular STEEL rail is still available and, at 18mm high, gives a very close scale track for standard gauge 7?" gauge locos, but one which will take all but the heaviest narrow gauge engines.

PRICE varies with quantity, but on reasonable amounts is currently £1. 55 per metre, plus V. A.T., ex-works.

Practical CHAIRS for use with our rail, and also similar section aluminium rail, are available at £24.00 per 500 or £44.00 per 1000, plus V.A.T., ex-works.

INTERESTED? Contact us at:-

13 HIGH STREET. RODE. Nr. BATH. SOMERSET BA3 6NZ. Tel: 0373 8 3 0 1 5 1 (Visitors welcome by prior appointment)

47

J.H. HETHERINGTON &C0. LTD. Lamp Manufacturers Since 1856

MINI'LAMP Overall Height - 33A",95mm Body Height - 2%" , 67 mm Width & Depth - 2%" , 60 mm

Standard Rear Fixing Bracket with Inside Clearance

Dimensions of %"X3/1 6 "X1"

22 mm x 5 mm x 25 mm

Head or Tail Lamp

A strong functional lamp, hand made the traditional way with all joints soldered. The front aspect is a 1W, 32 mm bulls eye lens showing a clear light which can be changed by the insertion of the red glass slide, which is neatly housed within the lamp. The lamp has been primed and stoved twice for a durable gloss finish.

Check dimensions to see how it measures up on your locomotive.

Available now in White or Black.

Price per lamp £16.50 plus £2.47 V.A.T., and postage UK £1.00. Remittance with order for prompt despatch.

Overseas Customers No V.A.T. Add postages: Surface Mail £3.00, Air Mail £6.00.

PO. Box 234,109 Sydenham Road, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, B11 1 DB. Tel: 021-772 1745

48

DON YOUNG <7i... GAUGE) DESIGNS R H Y M N E Y R A I L M O T O R

and T U G Fate decided that Don would be

Member020 in the 7£ in. Gauge Society, so where better to

start than with a design of that Continental wheel arrangement.

Scaled up from the already successful 5 in. gauge version,

Frames are 25-f-f in. overall, Wheels 5 j in. diameter,

Cylinders 1 j in. bore x 2y in. stroke, Boiler barrel 7£ in. o.d.

and Weight approx 170 lb. The TUG illustrated is by

Alec Hadfield M I N I and M A X I L U C K Y 7 Don's f irst Narrow-gauge design aimed at the American market, I t proved interest in American Steam to be worldwide. MINI was arrived at by moving the wheels of the 3£ in. gauge version outside the frames, to give an engine about 5 ft. long with useful 2 in. bore cylinders, whilst MAXI is an almost 1/3rd true scale version of the proto­type weighing in at over a t on !

M A R I E ESTELLE Thanks to the magic of the name of Walt Disney, and the skill and

artistry of animator Ollie Johnston in fashioning his

3-foot gauge MARIE E from a Porter saddle tank, Don has a winner on his hands! Frames

are 28 in. long from 1 in. x { in. BMS bar, Wheels 5 in. diameter,

Cylinders 1f in. bore x 2{ in . stroke, Boiler barrel 6 in. o.d.

and Weight around 170 lb. The example il lustrated is by

Danny Daniels and Brian Lee.

I L L U S T R A T E D C A T A L O G U E - Featuring 33 interesting and varied Designs from 2 j in. to 7? in. Gauges. L O C O M O T I V E S LARGE & S M A L L - T h e Quarterly Magazine for the Steam Enthusiast. 7^ in. Gauge is wonderful ! , but to confine one's interest is to miss out on much of the excitement of the Steam Locomotive. LLAS is Don's attempt to convey some of this excitement in an informative but informal style, which is f inding much favour. JOIN LLAS AND JOIN IN THE FUN!, a 1986 subscription being £7.25 U.K., £7.75 Europe and Overseas (Surface Mail).

DON YOUNG DESIGNS Bardonela, Adgestone, S a n d o w n , Isle of Wight P036 OHN

Te lephone: Isle of Wight (0983) 406200

44

L. C. JAY & SON LTD. Norfolk

NR3 3AU 19-21 Oak Street, N O R W I C H ,

Telephone - Norw ich 628798

STD 0603 628798

7 j " G A U G E

Castings for "Dart" by Martin Evans Ex Stock

£200 complete set

Castings and Drawings for G.W.R. 1101 Class Dock Tank Ex Stock

Castings and Drawings for B.R. Class 7 "Britannia" Machined Main Frames, Coup l i ng £ Connec t ing Roads £ Wheels

avai lab le fo r t h i s Locomot ive. Complete set o f Cast ings

Main Frames

Coup l i ng £ Connec t ing Rods Machin ing Unde r taken for any Wheels

3" " JASON" Lathe avai lab le

ENQUIRIES WELCOME

S . A . E . fo r l is ts please

itf aitney

^pii^Sitc

P E N T N E Y P A R K

R A I L W A Y

(7J" Gauge)

B r i ng your loco on holiday to Nor fo lk . Almost 3000' of scenic rou te . Vis i t us for the day , or stay a while on the

park

* A A Award Winning Park *

0 Heated Swimming Pool 0 Ch i ld ren 's Play Area

° Automated Laundry

° Games Room

° Grocery Shop

° Free Hot Water

° Brochure Avai lable

A47, PENTNEY, KING'S LYNN, NORFOLK. Te l : Site - Bryan and Hilary Webster

(0760) 337179 Railway - David Neale (0760) 21314

50

Nearly Finished GOING AROO/V^

F U N . . . and FROLIC... A CTIVELY . . . the leaves fall A.R.O.U.N.D. .. L OCOMOTIVES . . sigh.ssss . . LUGUBRIOUSLY. . L OVELY AUTUMN . . . TIME TO SNUGGLE D.O.W.

Our list is still free— fors.a.e.

s z o

'A FITTINGS FOR SEVEN

3/sin. pipe 5 / i6 in , pipe Vain pipe 3 / i6 in pipe

KITS OF FITTINGS for... "HIGHLANDER" "HOLMSIDE" "HERCULES" "DART" " R O M U L U S " (shortly)

ask for free list (S.A.E.)

EXTRAS Fourways — Crosshead Pumps Extended Handles Extended Spindles

FIT FYNE FORT FITTINGS

we too are completely loco!!!

Cylinder Drain Cocks over 30 difrtrenl items Lubricators in Tanks single, twin triple M ' a s q 2 x V/i" (Hercules) Watergauges Plain, single vl two vl three vl

Highlander {with and without blowdownl Holmside"

Globe Valves—Angle—(threaded flanged) — Female. Double Female. Male . Inline Flanged. Flanged Floor Mounted Safety Valves Express Tank Modified Tank

Hercules Highlander . Holmside", Rob Roy 3 / i s " Ini VI

Highlander .

Dart Tich", Manifolds IK) I D = Va" Ini VI

Holmside" Whistle Turret Hercules Vertical LBSC 3 or 4 take offs Valves Slowdown. Blower. Check. By-Pass. Control. Globe. Pedestal. Safety. Tender Water, tniector. Water Injector. Whistle Washers. Adaptors. Syphons. Bushings. Unions. Nuts. Cones Bulkhead Unions. Blowers, etc.. BOM Spanners Pumps . Tender, Freestanding. Crosshead, Axle, Polypenco. Nickel Silver and Packed Gland rams AND ot course WHISTLES

ZZZZZZZZZZEALZZZZZZZZZZEALZZZZZZZZZZEALZZZ

The Steam Fitting Specialists._. NEW LOCATION, CLARENCE BOATYARD, EAST COWES

ISLE OF WIGHT P032 6EZ U.K. Telephone: 0983-293633

TAKE YOUR LOCO ON HOLIDAY TO NORFOLK, VISIT THE BLUE RIBAND LINE IN HEMSBY, GREAT YARMOUTH.

"One of the Most Exciting & Action Packed Holidays You Will Ever Spend" J u s t o v e r t h r e e q u a r t e r s o f a m i l e j o u r n e y o v e r o n e o f t h e m o s t i n t e r e s t i n g 7V4Jn. g a u g e r a i l w a y s

S P E C I A L A N N U A L R A I L W A Y E V E N T a t H E M S B Y S p r i n g B a n k h o l i d a y w e e k Steam hauled trains run every day for the whole week, a great get together of steam and railway enthusiasts by popular demand.

OPEN FROM EASTER TO THE END OF OCTOBER PARKLAND BUNGALOW ESTATE is pure magic to the many 71/i" gauge enthusiasts who have already made a visit, four acres of paradise to train lovers, a super railway set in beau­t i fu l surroundings wi th accommodation in first class luxury detached brick bungalows for the ideal family holiday. My brochure wil l give you fu l l details of the bungalows and the layout. You can run your loco at times to suit your holiday plans, but if you love railways then you wil l enjoy this holiday even if you have no loco of your own. All rides are free so the children can have unlimited rides, and there is a play area for the children. You can bring your dog on holiday too.

LOCOMOTIVES ON SHED

STEAM No.4472 Flying Scotsman, No.51 57 L.M.S. Class 5 Glasgow Highlander, James 0-4-0 Romulus, No.15 Llanrhaeader 0-4-0 Narrow Gauge, No.7 Stirling Single.

ELECTRIC No.86685 Tina Lorraine Class 86, No.E7053 County of Norfolk, No. E7044 0-4-0 Cromar-White.

COACHING STOCK Five L.M.S. Stanier Carriages, Four Cromar-White Compartment Type, Three Cromar-White Pullmans to match the County of Norfolk.

For more details and brochure con tac t : - Don Witheridge 480. Phone 0493-730445, Blue Riband House, Parkland Estate, Hemsby, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. NR20 4HA.

52

THE ONE OFF AND COMMERCIAL SPECIALISTS

ALSO SUPPLY

• 71/4" gauge track in two sizes • Points, crossovers, etc. • Alloy and steel rails • Bogies, rolling-stock etc.

• Steam, diesel and petrol locos • PassengerRailwaysto3'0"gauge • 3V2" gauge scale Snowtrack • Models of all types

NEW AND USED LOCOMOTIVES FROM STOCK PURCHASE AND PART-EXCHANGE

SEVERN-LAMB £e~T^"b"m"ed , Model makers and engineers Cromar White Railways Miniature railway engineers Western Road, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, CV37 OHA. Telephone (0789) 293878

53

Produced by Rainbow Advertising & Marketing Ltd., Cheltenham.