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25/05/12
Alan reports that his Big Boy wooden wheel moulds, which took over 40 hours to make, have now gone to the foundry for casting.
For enlarged images click here, hereand here.
And a casting.
18/05/12
Have you noticed the link to our new N Gauge Section?
21/04/12
Two postings in one day is a bit over the top but I've just come across a utube video of last years exhibition and thought it worth having a look. click on this link.
21/04/12
Well this is a turn up for the books, the photo competition winner was, me.
 
click on picture to go to photo competition page.
10/04/12
REMINDER
The photo competition is on the 13th of April. Lets make it a good one!
05/04/12
Great news Bill has recovered his engine. The police advised that on the 15th March officers from the Barnet Borough executed a section 26 Theft Act warrant at an address in Milling Rd Edgware.
The locomotive was found in the hallway.
Strangely it appears that no arrest has been made or charges laid against the occupier.
Bill thinks it stinks, saying Mr Gxxxxxx seems to be getting off by stating it was bought in good faith.Doesn't being in possession of stolen goods mean anything nowadays!
Although Bill was advised of its recovery this information was not to be disclosed while investigations were ongoing.
11/03/12
Harrow club member Bill Speller has had his excellent 5" scale Britannia locomotive stolen from his garage overnight.
It was taken without its front buffers, sliding roof section or tender hand pump and valve covers.
A picture of Bill on his engine at Frimley.
His engine will be logged with The Lost Models Directory on the Model Engineering Clubs & Societies - U.K website
www.Modeleng.org.[WEBSITE]
09/03/12
New Northolt 00 gauge portable layout first report of progress from Paul Turner.
the layout so far . the early stages of board construction (ie the first two boards) were done by the team of David , Ron , Thomas etc.
the pictures enclosed are of the leg construction on the main board . initially they were meant to be trestle type but were changed to fold down.
Its the early stages showing that the cross braces need to be completed.
The final third board and support legs are to follow.
Some adjustment to the final height will have to be done with adjustable legs and the current baseboard height of 110cm which I think is too high. (ok for me 6ft +)
29/02/12
Today the Wednesday working party got to see the newly liveried 9f which was built by Alan our chairman and finished in about 2004 . It changed hands three years ago, and when being ran at Ascot SME by the new owner, Trevor, suffered a boiler failure.This mean't it was out of action and required a substantial strip down.
It was a fair while before a session was arranged around Alan's with me and Trevor. The boiler had a great deal of preparitary cleaning, with a bit more on the day before the front tube plate was repaired with comsole.
With the engine in bits this gave Trevor the opertunity of repainting it in BR green and rebadging it as Evening Star.
As expected with a large rebuild it has some issues to resolve, abeit nothing serious. It shall be a welcome return to the club stable and hopefully some stints of public running.
24/01/12
2012 is well under way with our usual stand at the London Model Engineering Exhibition, Alexander Palace.
All went well with Alan and Luigi marshaling on all 3 days with lesser contributions from Bob,Philip,Herb,me, Dave and guest appearance from none live steamer Geoff.
I was only disappointed that the display cabinet was a bit thin on oo gauge items which meant one of the 4 shelves were vacant. But that could not have been much of a detraction as we achieved a 3rd prize from the club stands competition. This is voted on by all the contributing clubs, of which there were over 40, so we were all quite chuffed. For pictures of the stand click here,
hereand here.
Receiving the award picture 1andpicture 2.
13/10/11
Our Club Secretary Colin Thomson has provided an update on the OO gauge track layout so have a look.
Thanks Colin .
Last Friday we had the club AGM. There was the usual business to get through with three of the committee
posts changing hands.The chairmans report,one of the 3, commented on the 10 years of his stint in which the club steam locomotive Butch had not been available for use.
Although we had great expectations this year we had steam leaks from both its steam chests and timing issues which needed part dismantling to correct.
It will be ready for next year.
On Saturday the live steam section had its usual, but unusually late, visit to Swindon. The North Wilts Model Engineering Society again made us very welcome.We all had a good time in spite of my own problems due to leaves on the line! This caused by leaves being trapped in the leading edge of a set of points when changed.They were just bulky enough to allow my wheel flanges to pass behind instead of in front of the rail causing a derail.The second time I have suffered a broken drain cock valve on a steam chest cylinder this year. With a bit too much steam leaking from the broken valve a return to the steaming bays were necessary to provide a temporary but effective repair.
24/08/10
This months public run was a fairly low key event with my Brit and Philips Deisel electric providing the motive power. We had a reasonable turnout of customers which kept us on the go but allowed time for the odd cup of tea.
Alan flagged me to proceed with caution as Philip had some sort of problem,so as I approached stopped while his passengers disembarked in the station.I then found I could not find traction to get going.Just at the point I stopped the track dipped just long enough to take the weight of my driving wheels.
So another bit of track maintenence required.
Otherwise the Brit seemed to be running very well. That is except for something rather strange. Lu pointed out something amiss with my new pipework on the cylinder drain cock. Over the last few weeks I had made new cocks as they had not been made to drawing and were never that reliable. The short length of pipe on the front cock and its retaining nut had come off and was hanging by the strap connecting it to the rear drain pipe. On inspection the pipe and each facet of the nut had been scored.
Logic indicates it must have ocurred through contact with the front wheel of the pony which is nearly an inch away but directly level with it. That could only have happened by those front wheels derailing and in doing so hitting the nut so that it unscrewed then rerailing itself.
All without me noticing.
15/08/11
THE CLUB EXHIBITION IS LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY. Take a look exhibition link. and come along.
08/08/11
I don't know where it goes but another couple of months seems to have slipped by without an update.
The major features for the live steam section being our July visit to minitraindesmarais in France and our annual visit to Amnerfield miniature railway last Saturday.
To keep costs down for our French trip, seven of us piled into Dennis van for the 3 day excursion and went Portsmouth to Le Havre rather than the nearer port of Cherberg.Day one and a 3am start to get to the ferry terminal the hour and a half required before sailing. One of the first there but one of the last to be loaded then the ferry had an engine problem so we were late docking.The weather was not great either raining on our traveling days but giving us a good day for playing trains in the middle.
We were made very welcome by Malcom and his family. Had a great time on the railway and provided with super accomodation food and drink.
The plans to extend the 0.6 mile railway looks well on its way, disappointing for us 5"gauge users as it is only for 7.25". None the less a return visit has to be on the cards.
Have a look at this website to give an idea of the place. It has some pictures of us as well. click on this link.
A tour of the railway can be found on U tube atclick on this link.
Amnerfield was as usual a delight to go to. It was just a disappointment that only five members managed to make it.The four engines had a good outing. Lu's Halton Tank ran the best it has yet,improving its steaming ability enormously. This was mainly due to Lu sealing its smoke box prevously for potential leaks. It was tending to run its water tanks dry so a larger reserve has got to be in the planning for the future. This could be combined with a longer driving skate, as I found sitting so near the engine did not give you any view of the state of the fire.
06/06/11
A very pleasant day for our visit to Vale of Aylesbury on Saturday. Started a bit cool but turned out just right. We had 4 engines in steam and Dennis brought his diesel (electric).John needed a steam certificate before he could run so that was the first order of the day. Well, after getting a mandatory cup of tea of cause.
The brit gave me a couple of problems as steam pressure was raised. The whistle valve was stuck open again. With a new pin and ball previously fitted I immediately knew it was because I had not lubricated the pin. A squirt of oil and a threatening gesture with a tac hammer remedied that. The second was a steam leak from the top of the clack for my left hand injector, which was equally self inflicted.I had adapted it, in my ongoing attempts to stop it from failing due to lumps of lime scale being drawn out of the firebox.( it is mounted just above the foundation ring)My latest was to fit a fine stainless mesh tube over its outlet.What I had not done was to but enough tape on the top thread and left it not fully tightened down. So another easy fix.
Lu with his Halton Tank was the first on the track of our group followed by my Britannia. I went around to the station only to hear that there was signalling problems. Something that was to be a hassle until about 2pm. On my second circuit I caught up with Lu in the siding at the far end. He seemed to be suffering from indifferent steaming.Having built up pressure he was unable to get back on the main line because of the traffic on it. Me at the time, having preference on the signalling system.
Dave took over the Brit for a while before I took on two passenger coaches and guards truck to give it a bit of work. It ran well for the afternoon with only its inherent problem of slipping when starting away from the signals where there was an upward slope.
Roy took over driving late in the afternoon without incident even though the fire was by now somewhat clinkered. His Saint had come off earlier with an injector and a lubricator clack problem.
Dennis had a bit of a run. His driving truck springing appeared to be a problem and he wondered whether pulling a passenger truck might resolve it. Dave had a go and it was decided that a new set of springs were needed.
John had a oil clack problem so could not run until the boiler pressure was released so that he could clear it. He did not get going until quite late in the afternoon but was pleased that it now ran okay. This in spite of missing out on the bbq.
25/05/11
A fair bit to write about since my last entry. This missive perhaps delayed by my not wanting to admit to a few minutes of inattention on my part at Saffron Waldron causing two derailments.
Both happened at the end of a very enjoyable day, up to that point, for me and Lu. Both engines ran well although Lu had an early derailment due to a lump of coal stuck between the 5inch rail and the trailing edge of the moving point rail. Jim had checked out the track using a 7&1/4" diesel which was, of cause, not effected.
The first of mine occured as I was following a reasonable distance behind Lu. Coming up to a bend before the station there is a button to allow the driver to switch the points, so you can enter the station either side of its island platform. Concentrating on pressing the button without stopping I did not realise that Lu had not cleared the points.--Oops--. Hence Lu had his second derailment of the afternoon. Getting into the station it was noticed that his front bogie axle was bent. Both then thought to call it a day as it was 4pm. I decided to go around one last time to run down the fire. On passing Jim on the station I advised him of this and promptly derailed on the exit points. Fortunately no damage done.
Roy had an even less auspicious day. Getting into steam it was found that his regulator was stuck open so could not run. It had only just been refitted with the installation of the saints new boiler and had been refurbished.
Subsequently it was found that a small difference in the boiler length kept the regulator faces apart and was soon remided.
Lu found that a modification had been done to the front bogy to fit ball races. As the races had a smaller internal diameter the axles diameter was reduced to fit. The wheels were then sleeved to fit the smaller axle.
Also a weld had also been used to repair a break in the flange. With it necessary to remove the wheels from the bent axle the one with the weld promtly fell in two halves. This was due to a pre existing crack running from the weld to the axle. From the colouration you could tell it was old and likely to have ocurred when the flange was damaged.
Hence a straight forward repair becomes somewhat problematic trying to source wheel castings that doesn't seem to be available.
Luckily the club has some solid wheels already made up of the right size as a temporary solution.
We have since ran for a wedding party at the community centre using my Britannia and Dennis and Philip's diesels.This was followed the next day by our May public run using the same locos.Both I feel it necessary to add without incident.
22/04/11
Boiler testing day saw the usual raft of successes and failures. Well not failures of boilers but failures to be able to complete either the hydraulic or steam test.
My boiler on the Brit was due for its 4 year hydraulic. Thought I had all the bases covered! but no, the whistle clack leaked so much I could not get up to pressure. Not a great problem but needed blanking off before we could proceed. So that was that! Well not quite. My regulator gave its usual trouble!!! Being of the plumbing ball type it always leaks heavily when cold.
It achieved the test pressure but some of the water leaked back through a couple of tubes. It needed a careful look to ascertain that it was nothing more serious.
I was not the only one with a whistle clack problem. Philip suffered the same thing but he had to remove the cab roof and pressure gauge to get at the valve before the test could be completed.
The Saint was not so lucky. The wet header was leaking badly and will need the smokebox off to rectify.
Dennis had 2 engines for test but due to a lack of a suitable fitting, to take the test rig, only managed to get one done.
That's what went wrong now for the good news.
The Halton Tank got going quite quickly. Seemed to run around with little problem so a good running season is in prospect.
Our new boy on the block is King James 1. After a bit of head scratching to get the water into its empty boiler {somebody left the pump at home} it achieved its first steam certificate. Picture here.
For more photo's copy and paste this link. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nmrc/sets/72157626562434038/
17/04/11
The first public running of the season is now "under our belt". A fairly easy affair with only a few customers. With an unusually late Good Friday this year we had to resort to running deisel outline electric engines only.(Good Friday is our day for testing the steam engines boilers and equipment for their safety certificates.)
Our club loco Butch is to be tested so should, after 10 years or so, return to running duties.
But I digress.One of our earliest patrons today Danny has given us a write up on his website. click on this link. His website also points to the Northolt/Greenford Park which is just outside of our gates. Danny was talking about the boating lake something I did not know existed over there, but should be well worth a visit. I have been looking for somewhere to steam a model which needs some fine tuning well ok major tuning to get it running reliably. A very shallow pond so that it can be easily recovered seems to fit the bill perfectly.
07/04/11
The events section has been updated for 2011 so have a look.
15/04/11
The Modeling Competition section has been updated for 2011 so have a look.
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