I took the piston out and chose to insert a 6 B.A. socket grub screw through the retaining nut into the piston head. This solved the problem, but for peace of mind I had to take out the other three pistons and treated them alike. I might add that frustratingly, these were all tight when I got them out! Nothing is easy and to get the inside pistons out the front buffer beam had to come off again, which made this work again rather drawn out, as at seventy-six years of age dexterity is lacking and much of the time was spent on my hands and knees looking for things that I had dropped. Not to mention the bouts of cramp that manifest at most inconvenient times!
My ‘King’ running at Kingsbury Water Park during the evening of the Standard Gauge weekend double heading with John Hancock’s modified ‘Hall’ class. I didn’t see this myself, as my visiting time had to be limited.
Another test run was made possible by the good friends that I have at Wythall just before the spring Bank Holiday, and finally, after just short of eight years’ work, my engine ran faultlessly. There were no further derailments, even when she was well loaded. She took the fifty-foot radius curves in a spirited fashion. Little doubt, I was delighted.
The ‘King’ ran on several open days at Wythall totally reliably, so when I was asked to take the engine to Kingsbury Water Park Railway for their Standard Gauge Weekend I was very happy to attended.
Unfortunately, the day was spoiled by the front bogie derailing in two places on the very long circuit. The Echills Wood Society members were very co-operative; they checked the track alignment, but no other engine was experiencing any difficulty as the track was very well maintained. The engine ran for the day, but great care was necessary over certain areas. This I felt was unsatisfactory; there was obviously still a problem with the engine.
Once back in the workshop, I made new leaf springs for all the driving wheels, which I felt could be the only thing left at fault by being too inflexible. A friend gave me ample scrap industrial bandsaw blade and this drilled and sheared very well, so no annealing was necessary. I made the rear springs with extra leaves, as on the full size. A jig was made and I attached some scales so that I could get some idea of how much weight was distributed on each axle. All has been well since this final modification.
Trevor Shortland has his first driving and firing instruction from James Gorton.
Brian Chapman, ex-B.R. fireman (kneeling), instructs a potential new driver on the society’s Hunslet.
CHAPTER TEN
The trustees of the Birmingham and Midland Omnibus Trust secured a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. No one may have applauded this as much as myself, I knew that this dedicated group would use the money wisely and honestly. The museum site was to benefit enormously.
The saying goes that there is no such thing as a free meal and whilst the museum staff had already been giving guided tours around the exhibits and workshops, an agreement with the Lottery Fund was to take on an educational role. The implications for our society as regards having school visits were that rather stricter guidelines had to be adhered to. Certainly in respect of health and safety, child protection, risk assessment, insurance, etc.
I had my railway memoirs published in 2007 and what some folk read into what I had written often left me speechless. It was therefore not surprising as to how the museum official guidelines would now be interpreted by many. Understandably, there was some anxiety amongst the membership of the Elmdon Model Engineering Society regarding these new measures. Our meetings then got bogged down repeatedly over these issues, regrettably at the expense of the advancement of our hobby. Concerns regarding accusations and litigation were to continually arise. Issues that never normally crossed those of a healthy mind now brought discontent.
Also, the Echills Wood Society had now got their wonderful track up and running at Kingsbury Water Park. I regret that this became an attraction for some of our key members and the Wythall site was to lose their loyalty. We also had members pass away and a number of failing health issues from our aging membership. For me the drop in numbers was, without doubt, distressing.
Regular school visits to the museum now became a staffing problem with regard to running the trains during the week. Supervising children boarding and leaving trains needed adequate staff, as did keeping a lookout for those children dragging their feet on the track, or leaning to catch hold of nearby vegetation. Nevertheless, we did have some lovely and successful days and the children went away delighted. Nonetheless, this was only credit to a dedicated few.
All societies have their ups and downs and I was asked to take on the chairman’s job at a very bad time; there was no other contender. I agreed, as my heart was in the society, but I had some reservations as my wife’s health was also failing, therefore my loyalties were now really at home.
My initial priority was to attempt to increase the society membership. I wrote items and sent photographs to several railway magazines appealing for volunteers. I felt that our membership had now to take on some folk who were not model engineers, but had some interest in railways. Every letter I wrote was published, including two appeals written to the Stephenson Locomotive Society ‘Journal’. I also made appeals to the periodicals ‘Engineering in Miniature’ and ‘Model Engineer’. My sincere gratitude extends to all those editors.
Again, I wrote to every local free newspaper, surprisingly none were good enough to publish. However, I then wrote to the ‘Birmingham Mail’, now expecting little. To my surprise, my letter got headlines on the ‘Readers’ Letters’ page. This brought some eight volunteers to our gates; again, I was delighted and most grateful to the media.
Our society policy has always been that we never ask anyone to become society members until some six months have passed. This gives both parties a chance to know what to expect.
My personal expectations were perhaps for the society to eventually become self-supporting, so that subscriptions could be kept to just tea money. I didn’t feel we could ask people to volunteer and then ask them to pay for working!
In all, the membership increased by 20%, therefore the following year we were comfortably able to cover the educational visits. Sometimes, the trains had to cope with some sixty young children from some schools. The bonus was that I now made some wonderful new friends and I also had members willing to take on all tasks, including the mowing!
I also made four more bogies for some coaches that we could not use as they were unreliable. This gave us the option of longer trains for the school visits, or an extra train on museum open days.
We also took on some excellent young people, who were not only interested, they learned to drive a steam locomotive very quickly. Some were also very keen to become model engineers; this was more than I could have ever have hoped for. Whilst not all were academics, they were all a credit to good parenting and had ample qualities to carry them comfortably through life.
The society decided to purchase another locomotive; both the ‘Hunslet’ and ‘Black Five’ were heavy to handle at quiet times. We felt that a small type 0-4-0 ‘Hercules’ would be ideal for the younger members to operate and could quickly be steamed when necessary, therefore maintaining an interest.
Viewing a potential purchase, I was taken by some extraordinarily good engineering which to some degree clouded my judgement. The engine was also finished to an excellent standard and we did see the ‘Hercules’ steamed. Minor issues did manifest themselves on viewing, but these were mainly blocked pipework, which I felt could soon be sorted.
The first two of four new bogies. The axles are stationary and the individual wheels have their own ball races.
Back on the Wythall track the engine developed one problem after another; pipework repeatedly blocked, or was subject to leakage. We were reluctant to remove the tank tops because of ruining the paintwork, but when we did we found that the tanks had been assembled with silicone sealer, particles of which were getting into the pipework. In fact, the work was a total mess. All the pipework had also been soft soldered.<
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When the manifold developed a leak, I found that a 3/8" x 32 thread had been put in a 3/8" x 40 threaded bush. We also had to dismantle the steam chests in an effort to stop the valves bypassing steam. These appeared to have been assembled unfinished, not the sort of thing that the good engineer who had obviously worked on the engine initially would have done. Even the water gauge glass had been sealed with nothing more than silicone sealer; the handles also came off several steam fittings held on by frequent use of ‘Loctite’. This work cost me hours of time and it was obvious now that possibly the original maker had passed away and the engine bought and assembled by someone out to make a quick profit. In addition, more time was spent making a new driving truck for the engine.
Young Elmdon Society member Reece Greenstreet makes certain another axlebox doesn’t seize on the club’s ‘Hercules’.
The engine did finally come right and ran all day passenger hauling on one open day. However, on the last run of the day one of the axles seized; consequently, the wheel quartering moved resulting in many further hours of work. This too was down to a mechanical issue, not neglect of oiling by the drivers in charge.
John Turburfield, lifelong engineer and engineering college teacher, gives Reece Greenstreet a few pointers.
This experience taught me a great deal. Buying from the internet, you have to be sure that any engine has been a regular runner, not just someone’s work assembled by a third party for a quick sale. Otherwise, anyone who is unable to do work on an engine themselves would find this very expensive and demoralising.
The first year that I was chairman our society experienced the first working profit, which was very encouraging. We had also begun to equip the workshop, as I had negotiated with one of our honorary members the purchase of his milling machine. The vender, Len Perks, was also someone who had my every respect; he had been in charge of the Joseph Lucas tool room at Great Charles Street, Birmingham. He was sometimes able to demonstrate to me in his workshop some tool room methods and dodges. Expertise that never failed to leave me open-mouthed. He was indeed a very extraordinary engineer.
Thomas Kelly starts some work on my old 1955 Myford ML7.
The milling machine came with any amount of tooling because of Len’s generosity, which was a wonderful asset to the society’s workshop.
The second year of my chairmanship also brought excellent financial results. Two of the younger members also began to build locomotives; this was the start of progress I had always longed for, which was to see young people having hands-on engineering experience.
Benjoseph Hubbard examines the new 6" lathe in the Elmdon Society.
The younger members also had gone much of the way to improving the society’s further increase in takings. They turned out to help to run trains during the week and on school holidays. This good work also advanced the society’s relationship with the museum trustees, which had been fraying due to lack of interest of our members during earlier times.
My good friend Len Perks sadly became terminally ill and I negotiated the sale of his 6" lathe, which had been little used. Again, this came fully tooled.
Just after, I found it necessary to hand the society reins to the very capable hands of a good friend, John Turburfield. This was due to deteriorating circumstances at home. John had the excellent backing of the society secretary Richard Shale and the committee, so I was comfortable with that.
My bandsaw, a very useful gift from my late friend Len Perks. Regrettably, it is yet to be used.
Len Perks also very kindly gave me his industrial bandsaw just before he passed away. This machine, I restored in my workshop as it would be a great asset. Regrettably, it has stood there in silence, along with my other machinery, for many months now.
My wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease three years ago and the progression of the illness has been heartrending. Iris was an avid cook and the only time I was allowed to touch saucepans was when they were in the sink. I was diagnosed as coeliac long ago when gluten-free was pretty well unheard of. Iris coped with my diet so well that I rarely knew any difference. That is, unless we ate out and the only item I could have off the menu was a cheese jacket potato and salad, no dressing! Therefore, to avoid time spent looking down the toilet pan I have had to learn culinary skills very quickly. Similarly, domestic and nursing skills have become relentless and again, haven’t come easy. However, my wife came with a lifelong guarantee of care and I will never renege on that, she will always remain so very special.
The Mettle for Metal Page 10