gazette no. 449 may 2011

Gazette No. 449 May 2011

Mike G looking smug having reeled off yet another lap behind his 3½" gauge Rob Roy 0-6-0tank locomotive at the club puffing session last month. Having had a bit of a troubled pastthis engine now seems to be well sorted and Mike is getting the hang of firing it. With a grateless than 2" wide and 3½"long its not easy to keep the boiler pressure up!

St Albans & District MES

From the Editor - Roger SWell the warm spring weather was well and truly with us in April and what a joy it was to getdown to the lake and up to the track again. My workshop is now at a comfortable temperatureas well so I am trying to make as much progress as possible on my current project (see page13 to find out what it is). I am pleased to say I have received some non-railway articles butthey are not about boats! So if you are doing some boat building why not tell us about it?

Chairman’s Letter - Michael DI was very sorry to miss the Society's AGM last month. I understand that the meeting wentwell, there were many models and that the retiring committee members were re-elected, and Ihope to be able to continue as your chairman. I do very much appreciate all the messages ofyour good wishes and I thank you for your kind thoughts. I am pleased to report that myboiler pressure is improving and my gut is getting back to normal.

The next two months are always a busy and interesting time for the Club with the St.Albanssteam and country fair, the club outing to the Historic Dockyard at Chatham, the RedbournSteam Day and finally our barbecue at the Puffing Field on 26th June.

Club Website - www.stalbansmes.com

ChairmanMichael D - Email: [email protected]

SecretaryRoy V - Email: [email protected]

TreasurerMike G - Email: [email protected]

Committee MembersMalcolm B

Den BJeff CAlan HDavid S

Membership Secretary:Baz B - E-Mail [email protected]

Model Boiler Testing: David S

Exhibition Manager: Terry W

Gazette EditorRoger S - Email: [email protected]

Gazette Deputy EditorTony M

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Secretary’s Letter - Roy VHello to all members. We are well into 2011 now and we have lately been fortunate with theweather having had a very successful Easter Egg regatta. We could have stayed there all day.If the summer stays like this it should be good for all our outdoor activities.

I believe the AGM went very well but as it was a very cloudy evening the telescope viewingof the moon was going to be a non-starter so we got three speakers together very quickly. Iwould like to thank my fellow speakers for turning out at such short notice. The committee isas before which hopefully meets with your approval. We have again co-opted Terry W to bewith us as exhibition manager and our next committee meeting will include planning andpreparing for the club exhibition in September. Please keep the 17th and 18th September freein your social calendar so that you can help on this weekend. (Don’t forget setting up onFriday 16th as well! - Ed)

I thought the work in progress that 17 club members brought in was great to see and yourvotes showed your approval. There were several contenders at the final vote counting butcongratulations to the Medal winners, who are, Jim I with his naval craft and Brian S with hisboiler. We all look forward to seeing the finished models.

We have the exhibition flyers to hand, so anyone who wants some ahead of the maindistribution, let me know. Our next outside event is at Oaklands for the St Albans Steam andCountry Show on 4th and 5th of June. See the back page for this and other attendances.

We have a free St Albans market stall on Sunday 3rd July for the Festival of Life and needvolunteers to help man it and exhibit models there. We were there last year and it is a verypopular event. This is where we found the Mayor, who later came to visit our club exhibition.

On the following Sunday, the 10th July, we hope to be over at the lake in force to show offour marine models working to the public at large. We are planning to run the Radio ControlCup Regatta which is a steering competition. We shall also have another timed event andhope be at the lake all day, so come and find out just how good you are at placing your boatwhere you would like it to be! We will have RC boats with us for the public to try out as welland hope to promote this event on the market stall.

The Club outing on 12th June is getting closer and final payment of £18 per person will beneeded at the May meeting.

The car park at the Christchurch Centre has been getting smaller as building work progresses,so for club nights if you can double or triple up in your cars it will ease the parking.

See you at the May meeting. Sorry to remind you but this is when we start collecting yourhall fees again for the club evenings. Its £1.50 each please.

Regards to all Roy


The April club steaming session at the Puffing Field saw a splendid turnout in glorious warmsunny weather. Six steam locomotives and the club electric were queuing up to get on thetrack. There was one loco failure very early on but, to save his blushes, we will not name theowner. In addition to to the usual 5" gauge runners, i.e. Les’ Speedy, Nick’s Polly, Den’sVirginia and the electric, it was nice to see two 3½" gauge locos in the shape of Roger’sPrincess Marina and Mike G’s little Rob Roy (see cover picture), both resplendent in LMScrimson lake paintwork. Rob Roy has such a small fire it is a bit of a challenge to keeprunning and Mike did have two bites of the cherry during the day. However, when he got itright the game little engine flew round the track very nicely. My only comment is that I hopeMike puts a bit of packing under one or two of the bearing blocks of his driving truck tocompensate for the slight twist in its chassis. Far better than relying on the weight of thedriver to bend it straight! A good time was had by all and at the end just Les and Roger were

left, chasing each other round the track onsome exhilarating non-stop runs that wereonly halted to top up with water. The lasttwo of these were eight laps each - that’stwo lots of 1¼ miles non-stop! Great stuff.

Left: Den with passengers Mike J andcameraman Hugh B.Below left: Les was already smiling longbefore he did his eight lap non-stop runs.Below: Bird puller? Nick’s Polly ran welland attracted a female passenger.

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Boating news from Alan HOn Sunday April 10th we had five members at the lake and four non-members. Roy wastrying out his copy of a toy boat (as seen at the AGM) called ‘Celia May’ from a plan byBasil Harley. For some reason the operating range of his radio control was only about sixfeet, which didn't provide much of a demo. Celia may not!

Sunday the 17th again saw five members. Thistime Roy's ‘Celia May’ performed well thanks to anew receiver. Jim I had his twenty five year oldType 21 frigate ‘HMS Arrow’, (his second buildof a Type 21, also ‘HMS Arrow’, won a medal atthe AGM). Alan P’s Caledonian MacBrayne ferry‘Bute’ was in fine form and is gradually pickingup more passengers and cars. It now has a Mini

(a proper one) and a Beetle (also a properone). Jeff demonstrated his new ThunderTiger fishing boat ‘Catherine’ which heclaims to have bought for his wife.

Alan H had his ‘SS Great Britain’, which is stillwaiting for a decent breeze to test its sailingproperties. His ‘Brave Borderer’ patrol boatmanaged more speed than SSGB and aerated thewater, which he claims is good for theenvironment. Recent weeks have provided goodweather for the lake but a virtual total lack ofwind has meant poor yachting.

Roy’s ‘toy’ boat, Celia May (not!)

Alan P’s ferry ‘Bute’ is a real beaut.

Alan H’s SS Great Britain waiting for adecent breeze to test her sails.


Reconditioning DTI Gauges - Mike JDTI (or dial test indicators) are available second hand but are often sticky (most of minewere). This is simple to rectify with gentle oiling at the correct points. Unlike most clocks, Ifelt that a complete dismantle and service was notnecessary because DTIs are only occasionally used,and also unlike clocks and they were all very cleaninternally. The tools are illustrated in Photo 1 and are:

Superglue, medium viscosityPocket watch oilOil pot (a small lid will do the job)Foldback clip, small vice or similar to hold the DTIWatchmakers screwdriversPegwood or fine toothpickWatchhand removerPliersSmall screw driver (1/8" blade or so).

The only items unlikely to be in an engineers tool kit are the watch hand remover, and thepocket watch oil. The oil pot contains a couple of drops from the oil jar (decanted to preventcontamination) and the pegwood or toothpick is used to apply a very fine drop of oil.

Two types of gauge are covered: thelever and the plunger operated, Photo2. The lever type is the easiest to dealwith: in Photo 3 once the cover isremoved, there is a moving arm andspiral gear. Do NOT lubricate thissince oil attracts dust and forms a verygood grinding paste - clock gears arenever oiled, only the pivots - it willonly need a light touch of oil on thesliding faces, Photo 4.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

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The plunger type needs to be partially dismantled. Aftertaking off the slip ring and glass cover (usually held on byone or more screws) use the watchhand remover to prise offthe hand, Photo 5. It may be possible to use a set of fine prybars - with paper between them and the dial to preventscratching. Interestingly, in this example, the hand appearedto be upside down but was definitely tapered that way andwould not go on the ‘normal’ way. Photo 6 shows what isunder the dial, i.e. a spring to press the dial against theunderside of the slip ring.

Remove the dust cap shown on the left of the dialPhoto 7 and remove the retaining screw, Photo 8.There are two screws to be removed that adjust theengagement of the rack and hold the works in placePhoto 9. Next, the pin that secures one end of thereturn spring has to be unscrewed and thendisplaced as shown, Photo 10, to allow the arm tobe moved right across so that the other pin and thespring can be unscrewed, Photo 11; the rack is alsoshown in this view.

Photo 12 shows the works and the pivot points to be oiled - note that in this case the finalarbor was integral with the main case and needs a drop of oil. Also shown, points A and B,will need a small drop of oil on the arm's bearings. Photo 13 shows the other side and it’soiling points, one of which supports the final arbour - that one deep in the works! The circled

Photo 5Photo 6

Photo 7 Photo 8 Photo 9

Photo 10 Photo 11 Photo 12


screw popped out of the case when openedand is not part of the DTI at all - it must havedropped in there during manufacture! Theother three screws retain the slip ring.

Clean the glass and dial before replacing thehand and slip ring. Re-assembly is the reverseof the dismantling, except that in Photo 14 I

show my method for replacing the hand usingtweezers. Finally, the superglue was used onone DTI to hold the glass in place, either it wasunder-sized or perhaps the acetate had shrunkover the years. Since it has lasted all this timewithout attention I don't think that I will be toobothered if I cannot remove the glass in aboutanother 50 or 60 years!

Photo 13

Photo 14

FOR SALE

Tyzak ‘ZYTO’ 3½"centre lathe

10" between centres,screwcutting withcomplete set of changegears, 3 & 4 jaw chucks,

6" faceplate & driving plate, drill chuck, 2MT,die holder, vertical slide, HP single phasemotor with start/stop box. Also sensitivedrilling machine.

Price: £175 ONO

Apply: 01582 XXXXXX (Redbourn) or 01582 XXXXXX (Harpenden)

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AGM and Work in ProgressWell, as usual, the AGM was dealt with swiftly at the April club night. The committeemembers standing down in accordance with the society constitution were all re-elected andthere being no other significant business we were able to get down to the serious prospect ofstudying the members’ work in progress and choosing the ‘marine’ and ‘engineering’ itemswe liked most. I’m not sure of the exact numbers but it was something like 14 engineeringitems and 6 marine items to choose from. As always it was difficult to choose but there weretwo clear winners. Brian S took the medal for best engineering item with the brass clad boilerfor his 5" gauge ‘Lanky’ locomotive. The arrangement of steam fittings on the backhead wasinteresting and he must have used quite a lot of ‘Brasso’ to polish up the cladding, boilerbands and the dome to that impressive shine! Jim I won the medal for best marine item withhis Type 21 Frigate, HMS Arrow. If this seemed familiar I am told its because it is Jim’ssecond model of this warship. Apparently he produced two home made GRP hull mouldingsmany years ago and made the first into a pre-Falklands version of HMS Arrow. After a longbreak he is now fitting out the second one as a post-Falklands version, the ship having beensignificantly refitted during her life. What members may not have realised is that they are

both scratch built - not fromkits. Well done both of youand lets hope the rest of usstop you winning again nextyear!

Left: The brasswork on BrianS’s boiler was not only highlypolished but well executed.

Below: Jim I’s scratch builtpost-Falklands version ofType 21 frigate HMS Arrow.


Easter Egg Regatta 2011 - Alan H

First, a big thank you to thetwelve members whoattended and competed in ourEaster Egg Regatta onSunday April 24th. It was agood turnout and althoughthe weather lookedthreatening to begin with itsoon settled down to nicewarm sunshine.

Ironically, after so manyweeks with not enough windfor our sailing boats, anintermittent breeze caused afew problems for the steeringevent competitors. Thesteering course was laid outusing our lighthouse, twoicebergs and the floatingharbour, all made by TerryW. It was similar to last year’s but with a nasty reversing task into the harbour at the end. It

proved hazardous enough to allow only one clear round,with six other competitors drawing for second place withone fault each. Most faults resulted from trying toreverse into the harbour, prompting considerable debateon how to improve the handling of boats in reverse.

Roger S was the winner of the steering competition withthe sole clear round using his ex-Allan H steam boat‘Tinca’. Well done Roger. Roy V won the timed runscompetition using his refurbished boat ‘Celia May’ (seedown at the lake) with an error of only one secondbetween his two runs. Alan H was a very close runner-up using one of the club’s ‘have-a-go’ fishing boats‘Lobmaster’ with an error of just three seconds betweenhis runs. Cries of "fiddle" from spectators and othercompetitors not on the committee were heard andignored! (Just shows what experienced skippers theyare? - Ed) These three were presented with large EasterEggs by our mistress of ceremonies, Barbara B, and allother competitors had a small egg as a consolation prize.

Obstacles this year included icebergs, a lighthouse, plainbuoys and dangerous looking spiky mines! Jeff C’s fishingboat negotiates the mines while Alan P’s car ferry ‘Bute’stands off in the background.

Winner of the timed runscompetition, club secretary Roy Vreceives a large Easter egg fromBarbara B.

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Our boiler tester David S came alongto see the fun: maybe he waschecking to see that the course waslaid out to Imperial measurements?

Royal Wedding Day Church Fete at New GreensOn Friday 29th April a merry band of members reluctantly forwent watching the royalwedding to give train rides at a fete organised by Christ Church, New Greens, where we haveour monthly club meetings. Den B, Jake W, Alan B, John D and Brian P did the whole thingfrom setting up to running to packing away. John D kindly provided transport for carting allthe heavy stuff, including the track, to and from the club’s storage garage. Alan and Jake

masterminded the erectionof a gazebo over the start ofthe track, which wasfortunate because there wasone heavy shower in themiddle proceedings. Boththe club’s locos, the electricand the newly repaired‘Chimera’, were inoperation and the afternoonwas a great success. Denreported that there was aconstant queue ofpassengers both young andold all the way throughfrom 1pm to the close ofthe fete at 5pm making foran enjoyable, if tiring, dayfor all the team. Thank yougentlemen for promotingthe club so well.

Jake W stokes up ‘Chimera’ as another load of passengersprepare to board under Guard Alan B’s watchful eye. Are thehigh-viz jackets to fend off unruly children?

Alan H was only two seconds behindRoy in the timed competition but wasstill happy to receive a large Easteregg from Barbara. Alan was theprincipal mastermind and organiserbehind this year’s Easter EggRegatta. Thanks for all the fun Alan


The ups and downs of buying a model steam locomotive.Part 10: Reassembly and steaming- Roger S

Having got the lagging trimmed to size and wrapped around the boiler I then slid the claddingsheets into place, put the boiler bands on, refitted the superheaters to the wet header with anew gasket and four stainless steel screws and put the blower pipe back onto its nipple on thesmokebox tubeplate. Lastly, I dropped the top feed fitting into its huge bush on the top of theboiler, tightened the eight stainless screws (not too tight!) and then put the freshly paintedcover on top. My boiler was now ready to be remounted in the chassis frames.

Reassembly from there was pretty easy: basically dropping the boiler into the frames,reconnecting all the pipes I had prepared earlier and securing the boiler. Previously the boilerhad just been pushed into the smokebox and jammed between the frames at the back. I hadattached a pair of supports to the back end of the boiler which could slide fore & aft withexpansion and thought it best to fix the front end of the boiler to the smokebox to make aproper job of it. These being made of copper and brass respectively it was a simple job with ahand drill and 8BA tap to put a screw in each side and one in the top. The only tricky bit wasfitting the front boiler band because you need size zero fingers to get in there and do up thebolt that tightens it down. There is a step between the cladding and the smokebox so the plainband does not fit too well so I will make up a stepped band some time to make it look morepretty. That was it: reassembled in one afternoon!

The next day a test steaming in the garden on my rolling road went without a hitch, keenlyobserved by a couple of blokes visiting the next door neighbours. Finally, on 14th September

The cladding is on, the top feed fitting is on, the blower pipe and superheaters are fitted andthe boiler is finally ready to put back in the chassis frames. Nearly finished..........

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last year I submitted the Princessfor her official steam test. To mydelight she passed without anyproblems and I enjoyed threesuccessful outings at the trackbefore winter set in.

Finally, I must repeat my thanksto all the club members whohelped in so many ways with therepairs - I could not have done itwithout you. I learned anenormous amount about modelengineering as well as how usefulit is to be in a club like ours.

What’s next? Believe it or notit’s another Princess Marina forrestoration! However, this onehas no tender so I am convertingit into a Stanier 2-6-2 tank engine,inspired by a similar one built byformer club member the late JimS many years ago. Those of youwho came to the AGM last monthwill have seen the chassis framesin the display of work in progress.There is a long way to go on thisproject but after my experienceswith my first Princess Marina feelI have the confidence to see itthrough and there is nothing I amparticularly concerned about.Unless I’m being naive!

Finished! This is what its all about: first steaming at thetrack on 22nd September 2010. Princess Marinaperformed impeccably for a couple of hours, haulingpassengers better than previously.

IF YOUR ADDRESS LABEL WAS PRINTED IN REDTHIS MONTH THEN PLEASE READ THIS!

Baz reports an excellent response to renew membership subscriptions this year but there arestill a few of you who have not yet paid up. If you are one of those members in default youraddress label has been printed in red. Please pay Baz during May (£24.50 full membership or£21.50 concession) or this will be your last Gazette. If you have decided not to renew perhapsyou could let Baz know so we don’t pester you!


Terry W’s Old Photographs - No 11Terry acquired these photographs from a secretary who asked him to take on her late father’scollection. He was called Sam A Webster and he must have been an important man becausehe became a chief engineer for the BR Southern Region. Most of the official photos weredone for his job as inspector of breakdowns, etc, but there were many private photos oflocomotives in general. Additional information was researched by Derek W.

The above picture is of Maunsell U1 class A892. She was built at Eastleigh in 1931. Thephotograph clearly shows the built up buffer beam, the extension accommodating the insidevalve gear for this 3 cylinder locomotive.

Continuing with the rebuilds of the ‘River’ tanks, the solitary K1 3-cylinder 2-6-4T needed tobe dealt with. A890 ‘River Frome’ entered Ashford works after withdrawal and re-emergedas a 2-6-0 tender engine in June 1928 minus nameplates and classified U1. It was very similarto the N1 822 (by now renumbered A822) except for the larger diameter (6’0") drivingwheels; the built-up buffer beam and Holcroft valve gear were retained.

Although this gear had proved troublesome due to over-running of the inside valve causingwear in the various pin joints, the locomotive performed well and merited the addition of afurther 20. Here it was the case that the K1 spawned the U1. For these additional enginesWalschaerts valve gear was specified in the order to Eastleigh and all were completed in 1931emerging as A891-900 and 1901-1910, the renumbering scheme having been introducedduring the construction period. A890 was later brought into line with the substitution ofWalschaerts gear for Holcroft’s.

When new, A891-900 were allocated to Fratton for the principal Portsmouth - Waterloo

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NOTICE BOARDIf you wish to put an item on the ‘Notice Board’ just send it to the editors and, subject toavailable space, we will include it in the next issue of the Gazette. Ed.

Bow Rope Fenders?Does anyone know of a source of supply for bow rope fenders. If you do please phoneBob I on 01628-XXXXXX or email [email protected] Thank you.

expresses on which they performed admirably until the arrival of the ‘Schools’ Class 4-4-0sin 1934 when they were transferred to the Eastern Section. Here, they were often used onsummer relief trains to the Kent Coast. Because of their high route availability they were veryuseful during the 1939-45 War on cross-country troop trains particularly during the Dunkirkevacuation.

The official maximum speed was 70 m.p.h. but O.S. Nock recorded runs where 80 m.p.h. wasattained with loads in the region of 300 tons.

All survived to pass into British Railways stock and were renumbered 31890-31910; all werewithdrawn in 1962-63, only 31893/31894 and 31896, which were sold to King’s inNorwich for disposal, were not cut up at Eastleigh. None survived into the preservation era.

A Final note on Mr Maunsell:In addition to the various Moguls, Maunsell’s work on the Southern galvanised passengerservices with his King Arthur and Lord Nelson 4-6-0s, and Schools 4-4-0s; the various2-6-0s, although certainly less glamorous, matched them for performance and reliability intheir more mundane roles.

In some respects it was a great pity that Maunsell was so constrained by the Southern’scapital expenditure policy which was heavily biased in favour of the drive to extendelectrification. Not only did the constraints stifle his aim for standardisation but the numberof new steam locomotives added to stock during his term of office was considerably lowerthan on the other three mainline companies in the same period. In fact, the average age of thefleet rose from 28 years in 1923 to 32 in 1937. Such was the ragbag state of much of the stockwhen Bulleid took over that he told the Southern Board, "You can replace half your cavalrywith tanks but it doesn’t make the horses any younger."

FOR SALE - A Copper Still!No, not for making hooch but distilled water for boilers, oryou could just re-use of the copper. Price £15

If interested or for more details contactHugh B on 01923 XXXXXX


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

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

2011May 1st/2nd Royal Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet (www.swmee.co.uk)May 11th Club Night: The History of Automata - Martin HMay 14th & 15th The Great Coffee Pot Fest, Leighton Buzzard Narrow Guage RailwayJune 4th & 5th St Albans Steam & Country Show, Oaklands College, Hatfield RoadJune 8th Club Night: Colonies in Space - Jerry SJune 12th CLUB OUTING TO THE HISTORIC DOCKYARD, CHATHAMJune 19th Redbourn Museum Steam Day (and fathers’ day!)June 26th CLUB BARBECUE AT THE PUFFING FIELDJuly 2nd & 3rd Chiltern Traction Engine Club Rally, Prestwood, nr Gt Missenden , BucksJuly 3rd St Albans Festival of Life, in the Market Place. (Club stall to be manned!)July 10th RADIO CONTROL CUP COMPETITION, VERULAMIUM PARKJuly 9th/10th Guildford MES Model Steam Rally & Exhibition 2011July 13th Club Night: Boatbuilding Matters - Mike GJuly 30th & 31st Dacorum Steam Rally, Green Croft Farm, Potten End, Hemel HempsteadAugust 10th Club Night: Royal Clocks - Robert BAug 31st - Sept 4th The Great Dorset Steam Fair 2011, Tarrant Hinton, Dorset, DT11 8HXSeptember 14th Club Night: Canberras and Radar - Roy VSEPT 17th/18th ANNUAL CLUB EXHIBITION AT FRANCIS BACON SCHOOLSeptember 24th/25th Festival of Model Tramways, Kew Bridge Steam Museum (www.kbsm.org)October 12th Club Night: Rebuilding a Panache & Princess Marina - Roger SOctober 14th -18th Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Foss Way, near Leamington Spa, CV31 1XNNovember 9th Club Night: EGM and Members’ PresentationNovember 11th-13th International Model Boat Show, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Foss Way, near Leamington Spa, CV31 1XNNovember 26th/27th Modelling Mayhem, Kew Bridge Steam Museum (www.kbsm.org)December 14th Club Night: Christmas Social Evening

Club Nights are every 2nd Wednesday each month at Christchurch Centre, New Greens, St Albans andstart at 7.30pm. Club boating meetings and other events can be confirmed with Alan H (see inside frontcover). Full details and confirmation of Puffing Field events are available at Club Nights.

CLUB OUTING - CHATHAM HISTORIC DOCKYARDSOLD OUT! The balance of £18 per person becomes payable this month.Please pay Mike G at the May club night or phone him on 01923 XXXXXX toarrange your payment. Note that if you cancel your booking then your depositwill not be refunded unless the seat(s) can be resold. Confirmation of travelarrangements and times will be in the June issue of the Gazette.

gazette no. 449 may 2011

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