I went to his home after the clock was up and running and was greatly impressed by the work he had done, and I was particularly pleased that this joint effort had finally materialised. After all, I really hadn’t thought that this project could possibly be ‘rocket science’, but this brush with genius did turn out to be rather more than humbling.
CHAPTER EIGHT
My time at the Wythall Museum was not entirely limited to maintenance of the miniature railway engines and coaching stock. I was a firm believer that to draw in visitors, the museum site did need to be attractive, therefore I spent many hours doing the gardening. There was an awful lot of grass to be cut; it was also necessary to service the mowers. I spent more than fifteen years mowing, more or less single handed. In the growing season, to keep on top of things took all of my time two days a week. Wet spells made this work very difficult once the grass got out of hand. I did carry a pedometer at one time and I found it had recorded eight miles at the end of the day. So with this exercise I didn’t need to spend time at the gym to keep fit!
This was work I enjoyed and nothing gave me more pleasure than seeing the whole area looking good. There were one or two disappointing moments when thoughtless people drove heavy vehicles over the lawns, but that was something I had to live with. Often folk see no further than what they are personally interested in.
My work was not entirely selfless; I worked with many other dedicated people with similar ambitions. Seeing families picnicking with children did give us all great satisfaction at the end of the day, as did seeing the railway busy. Giving my time meant more to me than donating money to any charity. Whilst I am generous from time to time, making monetary gestures never gives me a lift. I cannot get round the thought that my money could go towards paying the people that accost you to sign up for a direct debit in the street, or knock on your door when you are in the middle of a meal. There again, there is the chance that any money donated could go to fuelling the car of some executive now living a lifestyle that would have shadowed the aristocracy of my younger days. However, most of us volunteers were aware that we really were making a difference and folk were enjoying our efforts. The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Trust Museum is a registered charity and I have every respect for the trustees and the nucleus of key stalwarts that organise and work on restoration projects. Running an operation with only volunteers can only be an enormous challenge. Whilst the miniature railway that Elmdon Model Engineering Society built is now a great attraction to the museum, I have never lost sight that our society are guests of the trustees and the collaboration between both entities is to be admired. It’s also heartening to know that all the funds earned go to improving the museum site and the restoration of our heritage.
I updated my Myford ML7 lathe for an excellent used Super Seven and this was a huge improvement to my workshop, having higher speeds and greater accuracy. My ML7 owed me nothing, so I donated this to the society in hope of eventually starting a comprehensive workshop for younger members. Unfortunately the lathe was to get little use for a long time, which was disappointing, as comments regarding health, safety, and litigation came to the forefront at meetings.
My 5" Gauge ‘Speedy’ had remained in my workshop unused for a considerable time and one of the younger society members was showing an interest in buying it. I was reluctant to sell it at this stage, as the boiler was now some forty years old and was built to bygone methods. Whilst it did still comply with a hydraulic test, I did not feel that if I sold it I would not want it continually brought back for repair. After consideration, I purchased a new commercially made ‘Priory’ boiler and generally overhauled the engine. The young purchaser preferred that it was painted in B.R. colour black. Initially, I had painted it as it would have been if these engines had remained in Great Western ownership. We all have our idiosyncrasies!
The society ‘Hunslet’, made at Sandwell Engineering College evening classes, does a circuit on our lovely venue at Wythall.
During my time working on the reboilering project I was also still working on the Harrison wooden clock. I then received a telephone call from friends at the Bromsgrove Society asking if I wished to purchase a large amount of components for the Trevor Shortland designed 7¼" Gauge Great Western ‘King’. One of the long serving members of the Bromsgrove Society had sadly passed away and their society members were entrusted to clear his workshop. It took but a few seconds for me to realise that I was now too old at seventy years of age to take on a possible ten-year venture. I therefore turned down the offer. I had also not got the machine capacity, as regards only having my Super Seven; then there were the logistics of the project and the cost of such large undertaking.
My 5" Gauge ‘Speedy’ reboilered and in B.R. livery following a general overhaul.
A short time later Dave Grainger brought some of the ‘King’ castings to show me; I really was impressed and photographed them. As smitten as I was, such a project was out of the question for me, it would be unfair to my wife to take large sums of money out of our joint account so late in life. However, I did say that I would bring the sale up at our next society meeting in hope that a member would buy, or it would become a society joint project. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a surprise to me that the offer was rejected; the society was already beginning to struggle with numbers, age, and skills.
A few weeks later I had another telephone call from Dave and I was given another chance to buy the components. The price was now an offer I could not refuse and I was flattered that they felt that they would sooner the castings went to a good home, rather than a dealer who would make a vast profit.
Shortly after, the Bromsgrove members delivered the parts to my home and I was quite astounded at the materials accompanying the delivery. Included was the frame steel for both the engine and tender, the drawings, spring steel, and a number of the original wooden patterns. The day of the delivery remains well to mind for another reason, as when my wife came home from shopping, she remarked, “What is all the old iron doing on the garage floor?”
Giving the future project a lot of thought, I felt that my 0-4-0 ‘Thomas’ would now also need to be sold, not only for financial reasons, but for space. I decided also to start work on parts that I realised would be fiendishly difficult for me, mainly the crankshaft and the forging of the main frames to clear the leading bogie wheels.
I spent a long time studying the drawings and was amazed at the amount of detail they contained. I could only admire the work that the draughtsman Trevor Shortland had put into them. It seemed every rivet had been accounted for from the original locomotive.
If I was going to go forward and attempt to build this engine, I really wanted it to be a practical runner on the Wythall railway. A decision now had to be made as to how detailed the engine should be to be practical. Regular boiler tests would be necessary and some regard to simple boiler blanking had to be considered. I had taken a spell as the society boiler tester and regulator valves, etc., became a persistent issue to holding hydraulic pressure. It was obvious to me that putting 8BA hexagon bolts on a number of flange pipe joints in the smokebox was not practical. So, a number of changes would have to ensue, purely for practical reasons, whilst preserving the aesthetic look as much as possible. Eventually, the work on the crankshaft went surprisingly well. One of our club members had got hold of some offcuts of some extraordinary quality steel used in C.N.C. work – this turned like a dream. In fact, I was later asked if I had ground the crankshaft bearing surfaces and this really wasn’t due to my expertise.
The crankshaft mounted in the B.S.O. Dividing Head for milling the wheel keyways.
All the parts were machined as to the drawing, the whole issue was then set up on the dividing head mounted on the miller to get the quarters right. So the initial hurdle was over and I hadn’t torn my hair out!
The main frame metal had also been selected very wisely; this drilled and cut extremely well. It did take a very long time to mark the main frames out and check my work. T
here were countless holes, all of differing sizes, so I was very anxious to get this right.
I cut the chassis metal out with a hacksaw on my workmate; this did take a while, but I took it well in my stride with a drop of oil on the blade occasionally. Where possible, I mounted the frames on the miller to save an awful lot of filing. Nevertheless, there was still a great deal of hand finishing to be done.
Where the main frames were forged to form the arch was also the bearer of the mounting of the bottom of the inside cylinder block. So this really did have to be accurately done. Not being confident that I could forge this out without ruining the whole thing, I decided to cut this frame section out and braze in the wheel arch once I had milled it out from solid. Yet I still feared that I might encounter some frame distortion, because of the brazing heat.
The sawing took a while, but I took on other jobs in between, like the frame cross members and drag beam. Again, the basic chassis construction was the second job to go well, which was confidence boosting. However, another obstacle had to be cleared and I realised only too well that much of the work would not be accommodated on my Super Seven, particularly the driving wheels.
With both my earlier locomotives sold, I made inquiries as to what would be the cost of a boiler and a Warco 6" lathe. My Warco machine has since proved well worth the money; it has also impressed me greatly. Although I have to admit I was a little afraid of it initially, it was a big step up from a Myford. There was one disappointment, and that was that I did have to wait for the lathe to come from China after purchasing it from the Fosse Way Exhibition. It was also delivered on the day the Seven Trent Water dug the road up outside our home, making single-line traffic necessary! The lorry also arrived during the school run, so we were pretty unpopular as the unloading obviously continued for some time.
The main frames sawn out, drilled, and cut out to insert the bogie wheel arch.
What a difference this purchase was, in contrast to buying my first lathe. This machine was fully equipped, although I did invest further in a coolant system. This was a good idea, as I could also fit the pipework to suit my Super Seven and the miller. At times, an awful lot of metal had to be moved; keeping the cutting tools cool, I felt, was necessary. It did also prove to enhance the finish on the work, particularly the poor quality steel we all sometimes always encounter.
Turning the first of the cast iron driving wheels dry had me coughing up like a coal miner and in addition, the dust brought on a dreadful migraine. The next purchase was a face mask and filters! However, the new machine was lovely and stable, and did rather more than ‘tickle’ the metal.
The axles were keyed at 90 degrees, therefore the wheel centre bores had to have keyways to match.
The mainframe with the wheel arch brazed in.
The wheel bores were keyed by planing the slot out on the miller. A jig was made that fitted tightly into the bore. This core plug was slotted and held the cutting tool in line. Winding the tool down on the miller, as if drilling, took out of the metal for the slot a little at a time.
I then had to make a second plug jig to fit the bore and keyway. From this jig I bored all the crank pin holes in relation to the bore keyway. When the wheels were eventually pressed onto the axles the cranks should therefore all be set at right angles. This system did work perfectly, so when the side rods were later fitted the wheels rotated full circuit without binding anywhere. This turned out to be easier than quartering small loco wheels on a quartering jig.
Around this time the most amazing coincidence occurred on one of the Wythall Museum running days. I noticed an elderly gentleman taking a keen interest in the society’s ‘Black Five’. As the society is always on the lookout for new members, I approached him and asked him if he did have an interest. He then told me that he was a keen model engineer at one time, but had sold all his equipment some years earlier. He then said that he had in fact scaled down the drawings for a 7¼" Gauge Great Western ‘King’ class locomotive after cajoling the Swindon Drawing Office for the original diagrams. However, he went on to say that he had since sold the rights to publish his work to A. J. Reeves, a model engineers supplier at Marsden Green. I now quickly realised that I was talking to Trevor Shortland, the draughtsman of my drawings. I therefore made him aware that I had not long started work on his design. As the conversation continued, I explained that I had purchased all the drawings and castings from the widow of a gentleman who resided in Bromsgrove. Deep in thought, he then remarked that he had sold all his equipment to his ex-employer who lived in Bromsgrove. We both then realised that I had indeed bought all his belongings, which had lain untouched in this man’s workshop since 1986!
The set of wheel patterns made by Trevor Shortland.
The wheel counterbalance plates.
I invited Trevor to my home and it was quite an emotional experience for him to see his original project. The wheel patterns were there along with many other items which were all his work. He explained that all the castings had been made in foundries around Birmingham; one had been a few minutes’ walk from my home. I must have known the foundry owner by sight, as he would have had to pass my home on a daily basis to get to work. One consignment of spring steel was still wrapped as it was delivered and on opening it we found a delivery note to his home dated 1963. This was the beginning of a long friendship and I was later to be extremely grateful for Trevor’s incredible expertise.
It will be noted from the driving wheel patterns that the wheels would be cast without counterbalances. As with full-size practice, I therefore had to attach these weights to the wheels after the turning was finished. Making two plates for each driving wheel did turn out to be a drawn-out procedure. Also when these plates were attached to the wheel the gap had to be filled with lead. I also had some reservation about distorting the wheels as the molten metal was poured in, although this concern was later found to have no foundation. This may have been because Trevor informed me that the wheels were cast in Mianite.
It was out of the question for me to attempt to make a boiler of the size required for this locomotive. The commercial quotes I received did vary by as much as £3,500. One builder said he would make it, but it would have to have a parallel barrel and it would be necessary for me to get the aesthetics right with the boiler cleading. Trevor Shortland had by this time made a number of visits to my home and I can’t imagine what he would have thought of that! He had maintained an incredible knowledge of the drawings and already made it immediately known if I had not got anything right.
I had earlier been with Ron Scott to collect his ‘Speedy’ boiler from Swindon Boilers, and was impressed by their work. Their quote was also the most competitive, so it made sense to me to accept it, and what better place could I get a ‘King’ boiler from than Swindon!
In a comparatively short time the boiler was ready and society member Barrie Chalmers took me in his van to collect it. Barrie being an ex-Western fireman, we decided to make a day of the trip for some nostalgia. I also took my video camera to do as much filming of 6000 ‘King George V’ as I could for future reference. It had now been more than fifty years since I set foot on a ‘King’ footplate, a very long time to rely entirely on your memory. I was delighted with the workmanship on the boiler; the firebox outer throatplate was forged as the original would have been; having no butt joint to the barrel really impressed me.
The detailed set of drawings now made a great deal of repetition work necessary, there are thirty-two spring hanger bolts for the engine and tender. Onto this component goes the same number of spring cushions and washers, nuts and lock nuts, plus male and female spherical joints. A total of one hundred and ninety-two components in all, so this was not a project for anyone with a short attention span!
The boiler, weighing 74kg on the day it was collected from Swindon.
The leaf springs were also a drawn-out procedure, which seemed to go on forever. It was also pretty disappointing at a later stage when I found after trials that they lacked the nece
ssary flexibility. It was not anything that Trevor Shortland could have predicted at the drawing stage, as the final weight of the engine would only have been an educated prediction. I eventually got hold of some used scrap industrial band saw blade; this would shear and drill without difficulty, yet it was tempered to perfection.
Trevor Shortland never came to my home empty handed; he always brought reams of data, the majority regarding the valve gear. He also bought a full mock-up of the valve gear made to the dimensions on the drawings. This made it possible to watch the valve events when a handle was turned; all very cleverly marked out in degrees. This worked faultlessly and a feeler gauge could be inserted at the point when lead steam was taken, indicating that it was all extremely accurate. We had hours of discussion over this.
Trevor Shortland’s lovely pattern for the blast pipe casting. I could have put it on our mantelpiece and just looked at it!
It was on one of Trevor’s visits that I indicated that I would like my engine to look as the engines looked in their final years, the time when I worked on them. That is, having a double chimney and a mechanical lubricator. Whilst Trevor had been a draughtsman at Longbridge, he was also a time-served pattern maker and had spent many years in this trade. So I was extremely grateful when he said he would look into what was involved. I had already purchased one double chimney casting, but regrettably this looked rather like the original chimney fitted to the first of the Hawksworth ‘County’ class.
The Mettle for Metal Page 7