RAISING STEAM
EDITOR
STEAM APPRENTICE CLUB MAGAZINE
Barry Sumsion, Kearline Graphic Images, Fairoak House Bruiness Centre; Church Road, NeW]lOrtNP19 7EJ Tel: 01633 262197 Fax: 01633 259089
CHAIRMAN, STEAMAPPRENTICECLUB
John Durling, Hawthorn Cottage, Stubwood, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire ST14 5HX Tel: 01889 591188 (between 08.00 and 21.00 hours only please) VICE-CHAIRMAN,STEAMAPPRENTICE CLUB
Elaine Massey, 21 Down Close, Northolt, Middlesex UB5 6NS Tel: 020 8248 6570 e-mail: elainermassey@aol.com
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY
John Cook, Dolfarni 1 Church Lane, Kirby la Thorpe, Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34 9NU. Correspondence only. Membership fee £5.00 per annum.
SAC CO-ORDINATORS
Sam Bate, 30 Mowbray Grove, Bishopsgarth, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland TS19 BXA Tel: 01642 897153 e-mail: sambate@lycos.com.
Graham Chaffer, 32 Jubilee Way, Storrington, West Sussex RH20 3NZ Tel: 01903 745921 e-mail: chaffer.gang@ic24.net
Duncan Croser, 16 Tripps Hill Close, Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks HP8 4JZ Tel: 01494 875443 e-mail: duncan.croser@btinternet.com
Steve and Donna Taylor, 17 Smith Crescent, Coalville LE67 4JF Tel: 01530 832695 e-mail: steve.tailor@btinternet.com
The Editor welcomes any contributions of articles, shorter items or photographs for inclusion in future issues. All material submitted is voluntary and payment cannot be made for any material published. The opinions expressed in the magazine, with the exception of Club announcements, are those of the contributors and do not indicate the views of the Club as a whole. All items are held copyright by the contributor and the NTET.
Please send your contributions to the Editor at least five weeks before publication. Typed or e-mailed articles are preferred but not essential. If handwritten put any names of PEOPLE, PLACES or ENGINES in BLOCK CAPITALS. If you require any part of your article (eg photos) returning please say so and enclose a stamped addressed envelope. Enclose your name, address and (if Apprentice) age with any contribution.
The Editor reserves the right to amend or refuse contributions, and will attempt to correct spelling and grammar!
The Magazine is normally published during the early part of January, April, July and Octobe1: The Club accepts no liability for failure to meet intended publication dates.
The Steam Apprentice Club is a section of the National Traction Engine Trust. NTET is a Registered Chwi.ty, No. 291578. Registered in England No. 1302197. Registered Office: 4 Church Green East, Redditch, Worcestershire B98 SET.
Typesetiing and Artwork by Kearline Graphic Images, Fairoak. House Business Centre, Church Road, Newport, South Wales NP19 7EJ Tel: 01633 262197 Fax: 01633 259089 email; kearline@aol.com
Printed by The Whitehouse Press Ltd, 14~16 The Marina Business Park, Harbour Road, Lydney, Glos GL15 5ER
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Following last edition's parting shot, here we see the fiywheel side of Richard Willcox's 5nhp Burrell single. This is Burrell No. 1941 and is believed to be the only 5nhp single Burrell in existence. This engine was at one time in the King's sale at Bishop Lydeard in unrestored condition. Richard was unsuccessful in bidding for the engine at that time, but on hearing that it was again on the market, now in restored condition, he was successful in obtaining the engine. The engine is an early Burrell of 1896, complete with cast iron chimney (which imparts a lovely crisp bark to the exhaust note!). Whilst to most of us the engine is in good restored condition, Richard who is very particular about the accuracy of engines in his ownership, intends eventually to make some changes to make this engine more correct with regards to its original appearance. A couple of things he mentioned to me are that the smoke box is too long and the boiler bands are too wide - not something we all would worry about but he likes things to be right and I think is to be applauded for this - after all it is following generations who will benefit from our heritage items being presented as they were intended. The observant may notice the wooden mounting plinth upon which the engine's nameplate was mounted. It had recently carried the name 'Thistledew' (maybe an anagram of 'This'll do'?) but originally the engine didn't carry a name and therefore it was left with its former owner. Whether you agree with Richard's approach or not it is a very 'pretty' engine and was much appreciated by all present at this early 2001 steaming.
FROM THE EDITOR
Well I've hung on as long as I could waiting for some contributions for this edition, but unfortunately to little avail. I appreciate that last year many of you were starved of rallies and therefore had little to report but surely some of you have been doing something interesting during all that time and during the recent winter period. So regretfully this issue is a little thin on words. Fortunately we have a few pictures to show you and your Chairman, John Durling has now amassed a number of people who have volunteered to be SAC Co-ordinators up and down the country, which should mean that better representation of the Club will be available at rallies and special events. If you have any queries or anything useful to suggest, please get in touch with your nearest co-ordinator - see the inside front cover for details of who they are and where to reach them. And please, please, please let me have some contributions from you, whether it be letters, articles or pictures - don't forget if you don't like putting pen to paper, you can always put something on the e-mail at kearline@aol.com. Preferred formats are 'Word' for text documents and pictures should ideally be sent as jpegs. Please mention Raising Steam in the title of your documents so that we have some idea of what we are about to open!
Barry Sumsion, Editor
THE CHAIRMAN'S BIT
Following on from the last issue of Raising Steam, now apparently known as the 'Morning Star issue', I don't have too much to report in terms of progress with the Aveling. She is now properly back in steam, having already been out four times this season and it is still only the middle of April. The latest 'outing' was for the SAC Driving Day at Klondyke Mill, where 10 Apprentices had the pick of 6 engines and their drivers for a full day of driving. They didn't even have to light engines up, as the day coincided with the visit by the Boiler Inspector to witness the hot tests of most of the engines on site. This meant that all engines were lit up by 7:30 and the Apprentices didn't arrive until about half past nine. Now to Club matters.
By the time you read this all of the Driving Days will have been and gone. The Bedford Steam Engine Preservation Society will have entertained over 80 of you and nearly as many again will have been to the other venues. I always feel that this level of activity is encouraging; how many clubs can claim that over one third of their members take part in the same events? Can I say a big Thank you to all of the people who put these days on for us and also to all of you Apprentices who go, have fun and make the days work.
We are still trying very hard to find places and enginei, to hold driving days in the parts of the country where there are currently 'holes'. Watch this space for details of activities at some of the rallies, this mny he the way to go in the northern areas.
For the older and more experienced members there iH still time to book a place on the NTET Driving Course, being hold nt. Ilonmii,ih Open Air Museum,
Co. Durham on the weekend of 11th/12th May. Give me a ring if you want to know more.
This time last year I told you that we were working on the Log Book scheme. It is now well and truly up and running. If you have been on one of the Driving days, you really need to have a log book - contact Elaine Massey for details.
Don't forget that when you are visiting places where engines might be lurking, take your camera. We need good pictures for use in Raising Steam and also I hope for a good selection for the Dorset Shield Photographic Competition. There must be someone who can challenge Robert Bance and Will Hadland for the number one spot!
Here's to an enjoyable season, with a full rally programme once again. The rally list included with this magazine shows (by a black diamond) which rallies are giving free entry to SAC members. Make the most of this generosity.
I hope that I will see many of you out and about this year.
John Durling, Chairman.
Are you a bit of a wiz with the computer? If so please see the article written by Boz Oram. We need someone who enjoys playing on computers and knows a bit (and would like to learn more) about web sites and the net. We are looking for people to use the new web site, but more than that we are looking for someone to run it. Drop me an e-mail and let me know what you think.
John Durling.
SAC DRIVING DAYS IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND
We are able to offer more Driving Days, this time in the north. Tim Holt -Cumbria Steam Gathering, 26-28 July and Stuart RichieChester le Street, 13-14 July are running SAC days at their rallies this year. The Cumbria day will be on Friday 26 July and at Chester le Street both days will be Driving Days. The arrangements are the same as usual, the cost is only £5.00. Please give John Durling a call or e-mail to find out more.
Opposite: One of the few contributors this time is Robert Bance who has sent in a couple of digital photos - thanks Robert. Doubtless he will be sending in full details when he sees them in print, but how about others having a go at telling us what these engines are - the location is pretty obvious, but write and have a go anyway.
IS THIS A BIT RADICAL?
The Steam Apprentice Club is quite unique! First of all, it is a Club that has only the younger generation, totally as its members, it is sponsored by the grown ups of the preservation movement! (which can't be a bad thing) Oh and another thing - it is the only Club that is devoted solely to the preservation of historic vehicles! Now that's a thing to be really proud of, especially you as you are part of it and its future.
Let me tell you where I am coming from. I am a 45-year-old preservationist who started with traction engines in about 1959! Well in fact it was my pop, who had bought a 7hp Fowler traction engine that he called "Black Diana" (No. 11491 Dreadnought). Well all I can say is that when I first saw it; I was petrified of the thing! What was this iron monster that belched smoke and steam, made the most horrendous din and was quite frankly- a demon! Well it turned out to be quite friendly in the end, and because of it, I went to Beaulieu, where the Montagu Motor Museum was (now the National Motor Museum), Appleford where Arthur Napper, the founder of the preservation movement, had his rally and the Finkley Rally just outside of Andover in Hampshire. I met loads of children the same age as me. In fact we terrorized all of those grown ups (oops ought to be a bit careful here as I am one of the grown ups now!) and did some of the most horrendous things. Maybe one day I'll write about some of them, but I ought to mention that when I got caught, there was always hell to pay! Yes those days were great. The movement was just starting, books were still written by people who had actually used the engines for a living, there were the rest of them who had no idea at all except that they wanted to preserve all of the heritage for future generations.
For those of you who have had the opportunity of being part of an "apprentice day", you'll know how much work goes into these fantastic engines. In fact you'll know that the same thing goes on around the country and a lot of hard work goes into just putting a traction engine at a show. That's without doing the rebuild job in the first place! Well it happens all over the world as well and they want to see what we do.
I, along with Linda run tours throughout the country as well as overseas and we are uncovering plenty of brilliant places to go and see, however we also know that it can be expensive to do trips. We are therefore thinking up ideas with the SAC to give you some places to go to, but at a fraction of the normal cost. There will have to be sacrifices though. Maybe staying in a Youth Hostel! (In fact I hitchhiked around the world a few years ago and found them to be fantastic.), maybe to have other grown-ups to join us (sorry about that!), but above all to make it possible for many of you to go to special places in this country as well as on the continent. All we need to do is hear from you via
Here we have another digital picture from Robert Bance. From the name of the file it appears it was taken at Old. Warden. Details for next time please?
John Durling. We think that the first trip ought to be a fun one and local to this country. However, the next one could if the first is successful, go overseas!! (you'll have to have your own passport for that one). Good or what!! As I said, all we need is to know whether you want to go on a trip together, so all you need to do is give JD a call, or send him an e:mail.
Now on another tack ....... .
Linda and I are keen to promote the preservation movement to the widest possible audience. Now you and I well know that the most successful way is to use the World Wide Web. (Sorry I don't know the modern terms - I guess it's called "The Net"). Now you can see that I'm not too proficient with modern stuff- mind you Linda is! Check out our web site www.glajd.co.uk, though and see how ours works. I'm really proud of it. That's not quite what I wanted to say though ....... Now a while ago I just kept on at Linda about what's happening with the preservation movement and how things just aren't shared. It was just moan, moan, and moan, all the time from me! Well she just got fed up with this whining, and decided to get another web site called www.preservationist.info!
It was now my opportunity to actually give something back to the hobby that I really loved to bits. But now I had a dilemma! I couldn't work out how to use it successfully and efficiently. Well, I spoke to Ian Durling the other night, while his pa was out of the country in New Zealand (talk about grown up latch door kids!) and he was so enthusiastic about it that I thought that we could use the thing for the SAC for you all to interact with it. Write articles, do diagrams, ask questions, get addresses, clubs, societies of other groups together. In other words - let you start steering the preservation movement! Show the way forward with modern ways and the rest will have to follow. Remember that you can interact at school as well - especially when the teachers know that it is also going to educational.
How does that sound? You can have links, pictures, pen friends around the world, all manner of things to just show these people how involved you are in the preservation movement.
What do you think? Again let John Durling know. Remember that this Club can only go on with your support as well. This might be the way forward, but you will have to let us know.
You can of course use John's email john.r.durling@uk.transport.bombardier.com or mine, which is boz@glajd.co.uk but we need your input and response.
With all good wishes
Boz Oram
INSURANCE
A few notes regarding SAC members and insurance.
Before you let an unknown youngster onto your engine please ask to see their SAC membership card.
If you insure your engine through the NTET policy with Footman James, or the previous policies with AON, you are covered to allow SAC members onto your engine. This works because you have invited the person onto your engine. Obviously, if someone just climbs onto the engine without your permission then they are not covered. This will probably apply to any other third party policies too. There is no specific Club insurance for SAC members.
Regarding driving, a SAC member of 13 years old and over is allowed to drive or steer an engine on a rally field provided that a licensed and competent driver (over 21) is on the engine with them, in a position to take control. Walking alongside is not good enough! (see also the other stipulations in the NTET Rally Organiser's Code of Practice).
If you insure your engine through another company, you should check with them before you allow an Apprentice (or anyone else) onto your engine.
This note is for guidance only and is not a statement of law.
SAC March 2002
The above note shows the advice available to engine owners from the NTET regarding allowing SAC members onto their engines. If you approach an engine owner with the intention of asking if you may be on his engine for any reason, please make sure that you are carrying your SAC membership card so that you may show it if asked to. If you are at a rally where an SAC representative is organising you onto engines, I think it is safe to assume that they will know if an engine owner holds the appropriate insurance. If you approach an engine owner 'off your own bat', then tactfully asking if he is insured with the NTET scheme, seems like a good idea. It is in yours and the engine owner's interest to make sure of those facts - but please, whatever you do, be polite! Not mentioned here is the fact that membership of the SAC does not give you the right to board an engine, it is for the owner to invite you aboard and furthermore there are rallies where the rally organisers do not allow 'under age' drivers/steersmen to be on engines at their rally even if you are a SAC member!
And here is everybody's favourite engine again - 'Evening Star'. This photograph was sent to Chairman John Durling and is of his engine at the start of the recent Driving Day at Klondyke Mill. It is John's most appropriate way of delivering coal to the participating engines, made even better by having Apprentices do the hard work. Ian Durling and David Job are on the engine whilst Martin Treanor, Jake Tweedy, Noel Willis, Daniel Smith and Daniel Harvey are 'coal merchants' on the trailer.
The 2002 Steam Apprentice Club Photographic Competition
The annual photographic competition is an on-going one, and starts almost as soon as the last one has finished, so let's have as many of you as possible entering your best photographs that you have taken this year. Engraved medals and other prizes will be presented to the winners. The best overall entry will be presented with the Dorset Trophy and will receive a book donated by NTET Sales.
Rules
1. Entry to this competition is restricted to fully subscribed members of the Steam Apprentice Club (SAC).
2. Each member's entry will consist of three photographs, preferably 6" x 4" prints, colour or black and white, and should have been taken during the period 1st August 2001 to 31st July 2002.
3. Entries must be sent to the Secretary of the SAC at Hawthorn Cottage, Stubwood, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire ST14 5HX, to arrive by Friday 16th August.
4. All entries must have the following details on the reverse of the photograph: name, address, age and SAC membership number; place, date and details of the engine or subject. (It is better to write these details on a piece of paper and then stick this on the back of the photo.)
5. Copyright in all entries will remain with the SAC member submitting the photographs and the organisers promise that prints will not be used in any manner or display other than in connection with the 2002 photographic competition. (A selection of entries will appear subsequently in SAC magazines.)
6. All entries are to include a suitable stamped addressed envelope to ensure photographs can be returned. The organisers promise to return all entries if this rule is adhered to.
7. Entries will be displayed at the 2002 Great Dorset Steam Fair in the NTET tent. All entries will be returned after display and/or publication in the magazine.
8. Prizes and engraved medals for First, Second and Third places in each group will be awarded. The best overall entry will receive the Dorset Trophy shield, to be held for one year.
Judging
The judges will be looking for originality, composition and technical ability. Photographs do not have to be of traction engines, but other subjects must clearly be related to the traction engine movement. The judges' decision on all entries will be final and members are asked to accept them in a spirit that will bring credit to themselves and the Steam Apprentice Club.
GALLERY
This is the first of what I hope will become a regular feature of the magazine. I hope to be able to visit a number of engines on days when they are available for reasonable photographs and take basic details of the engine's history etc. As many makes and types of engine as possible will be included, but it will depend on the co-operation of owners and on the time available by them and myself It is intended that this series will help you to recognise makes and types of engines, particularly details of engines which will help you identify their make and purpose. I will be providing photographs and notes myself but if you feel you can contribute in much the same way please do so!
The first engine is a Foster, the property of Richard Willcox and I was able to take some photographs on a recent 'open day' at his premises held on behalf of the Road Locomotive Society. Richard has subsequently supplied details of the engine.
Here we see a three-quarter front view of the engine - Foster 5nhp single cylinder traction engine No. 14568 'Matilda'.
The Foster showing the gear side. She was built in 1919 but not sold by Fosters until 1926. There was a general optimism among builders after the First World War and many engines were built and put into stock. The (boom' in sales simply did not happen. This engine was sold to Shaw Brothers, agricultural and rolling contractors from Farley in Shropshire. (Farley is believed to have been swallowed up in the Telford new town development.) Shaw Brothers had 3 traction engines and 3 rollers, and 14568 was the only engine bought new by them. They kept the engine until 1952 I 53 when it was sold into preservation via Messrs Nash of Wolverhampton who were dealers. The engine went to Chris Lambert of Horsmonden and was included in his sale in 1955. It was with Francis Grover of Amersham until his death and then with a farmer in the village of Chipperfield for 22 years. Finally it came to its present home with Richard Willcox after a short time with Jeff Shackell of Witney. Richard has now owned the engine for 8-9 years. The engine appeared in the 1950s film 'Gone to Earth' which is about fox hunting and seems to be repeated about every 5 years on TV. The engine is unusual in having a foot-operated fiywheel brake, which is very useful when driving the engine solo. Richard owns a number of traction engines, but this Foster is definitely his favourite, due to its ease of operation and general good behaviour! and he has often said that if he were to dispose of his collection this is the engine he would keep. My thanks to Richard for his time showing the engine and giving me this information. - Ed.
WHAT A WEEKEND!!!! Bedford SAC Driving Weekend 2002
104 apprentices: 16 full size engines : 4 miniatures
When we arrived on Saturday morning the engines were already in steam, with most of the apprentices busy.
Paul Worbey of the Bedford Steam Club and the chief organiser gathered all of them together at about 10 for a quick talk about the weekend. Following that it was on with the driving and fun until lunch which was provided and cooked by the Steam Club. The apprentices all tucked in hungrily to a meal of jacket potatoes baked in an old fashioned style potato baker. Driving fun continued after that, interspersed with some colouring for the younger ones if they needed a break, and an identification quiz of engine parts. Some of the engine owners had trouble with one or two of those!
The variety of engines available was challenging. The miniatures included a 3" scale roller, a 4" scale Burrell, half scale bus and wagon. As for full size engines we had the Showman's Burrell Scenic Ex-Mayor, a Sentinel, Foden, agriculturals, tractors and rollers, I can't name them all !
Several of the children began to flag in the late afternoon and steaming finished at around five. Sadly rather than camping I had to go home and I gather I missed rather a raucous and joyful sing song ..... .
After trying to crowbar my own tired apprentices out of bed at 6.15 on a Sunday we got to Bedford in what I thought was plenty of time - around 8am. I hadn't reckoned on the staying power of these very enthusiastic apprentices on site who were already up cleaning and polishing, and already had fires lit in some of the engines. The next two hours were wonderfully chaotic trying to
cook a shovel breakfast for 104 apprentices, enginemen and organisers. The recipe you ask? - 25 lbs bacon, 14 dozen eggs, 190 sausages, three cases of baked beans and a case of tomatoes, not to mention the loaves of bread and gallons of ketchup!
Playtime then until 2, with the apprentices determined not to miss out on any engines and to get sections of their new log books completed before the end of the day.
At 2 Paul called in everyone from the engines, they were all presented with certificates for completing the weekend and dispersed after a group photograph.
Well done Paul and many many thanks again to the Bedford Steam Club for such a wonderful time. Watch out for a report of the weekend 1n the Old Glory magazine.
Elaine Massey Vice-Chair SAC
The pictures show a selection of engines and apprentices at the Bedford SAC Driving Day. This report and pictures from Elaine are very 'hot off the press' as the event has only just happened as we go to press. - Ed.
UPSIDE DOWN CHAIRMAN!
If you are stuck in the middle of a British Winter, with cold and rain outside and all the engines tucked up until spring what do you do?
Go to somewhere that has both sunshine and engines - New Zealand of course.
In February Fiona and I set off for a 27 hour journey • to Christchurch, officially to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Because we have played host to several of the Kiwis when they have been over here, we were told in no uncertain terms, that we must spend some of our holiday staying with them and visit one of their rallies. Because of the distances between major towns and the fact that there are only 3.5 million people in the whole of New Zealand, there are not that many rallies to choose from, so we timed our visit to coincide with the rally Kirwee, just outside Christchurch. This rally was basically a tractor and harvest rally with about a dozen engines, just enough to make it fun.
I was given the use of a Burrell 8 NHP 3 speed single -quite a handful !
On the Friday before the rally I turned up at the yard of Dowell McLeod, the owner with our host Ian Clark to prepare the engine (she doesn't have a name). Dowell had been called away to do some work on the West Coast and therefore Ian and I had the Burrell to ourselves.
One thing I was told I mustn't do was any cleaning! Dowell likes his engine to look like a working engine! (I did wipe the paintwork down with some diesel because I couldn't drive her about quite as dirty as she was - but no brasswork)
For a big engine she steamed up quite quickly and by 12 o'clock we were ready to hitch up the load. This consisted of the galley (living van to you and me) and the coal trailer. In total the train was about 65 feet long (about 20 meters).
We pulled out on the road to Kirwee and then stopped to fill the tanks. In that part of NZ they have water races at the side of the road. These are small streams which flow by the side of the roads for watering animals. They flow all the time and are very clean. It makes finding water very easy.
Then to the driving. The roads in the Canterbury Plain are straight, wide and empty. Driving a large engine like this is simply wonderful. No one shouts as they drive past because no one is held up, just smiles and waves. It was about 15 miles to the rally and this took a gentle 2 hours. Pulling on to the rally paddock (i.e. field) and finding out where we should set up the galley took nearly as long - no one seemed to know what was happening.
That evening we went home to Ian's house.
In the morning I arrived at the rally and had the Burrell all to myself Ian had a motorcycle rally to marshal and Dowell was still fixing a crane on the West Coast.
I found all the tools needed to prepare the engine and filled up the bunker. The coal in NZ is like dust compared to ours; the biggest bits are smaller than
a hen's egg!
Still, by 11 o'clock everything was simmering nicely and I set off to explore the site. The rally was celebrating 100 years of International Harvester and therefore the paddock was a sea of red. I have no idea how many tractors were there!
The steam side of the rally was much like ours used to be 30 years ago. Not much to do and no one telling you where you can go and where you can't.
I had a lovely day just pottering round and chatting to the other engine owners. I also got a drive of an 8 NHP McLaren and a 9 NHP Marshall single: now that really is a handful !
On the Sunday Ian and I gave driving 'lessons' to adults and rides to youngsters for most of the afternoon.
At about 5.30 we hitched up the galley and trailer and set off back to the yard - the name of the yard is Thetford! Due to starting out with a dirty fire she struggled to make steam at first and I had to pull up several lumps of clinker before the fire would burn properly. This wasn't as big a problem as it might be with a UK engine as this particular engine has a 'Colonial' firebox, which means it is about 5 feet long. Plenty of grate area, even if some of it is blocked with clinker. We arrived back just before dark and put the engine to bed. The end of a lovely day and a brilliant weekend.
This had to be the end of steam for this holiday - apart from a quick look at the Kingstone Flier (a 4-6-2 loco on a preserved line at Kingstone) so that we could travel round NZ and see some of that beautiful country.
We intend to go back, and next time we will spend more than 3 weeks!
Here's John on that big Burrell single - lucky devil! Notice the sheeting rail (seemingly common on engines down under) and the belly tanks - uncommon on an agricultural engine.
