Raising Steam 2010 Vol.24 No.1

Raising Steam

STEAM APPRENTICE CLUB

Editor

Nanette Durling, 19 Mill Lane, Barton under Needwood, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire DE13 8HE

Tel: 01283 712818

sac raisingsteam@ntet co uk

President

John Durling, 19 Mill Lane, Barton under Needwood, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire DE13 8HE

Chairman

Kevin Munn, 56 Blacklands Drive, Hayes, Middlesex Tel: 020 8573 9180

sac chairman@ntet co uk

Vice Chairman

Elaine Massey, 21 Down Close, Northolt, Middlesex UB5 6NS Tel: 020 8248 6570 elainermassey@ntlworld com

Membership Secretar y John Cook, Dolfarni, Church Lane, Kirkby la Thorpe, Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34 9NU Correspondence only

Membership fee £7 50 per annum

Webmaster

Nick Bosworth, 9A St Wilfred’s Road, West Hallam, Ilkeston, Derbyshire DE7 6HG Tel: 01159 309868

sac webmaster@ntet co uk

SAC Co-ordinators

Emily Drury

ecdrury@hotmail co uk

Matthew Lund Tel: 01329 832462

matt lund@engineer com

Kevin Lawrence Tel: 01229 838144 k lawrence@dsl pipex com

Barry Sumsion Tel: 01633 671798 barrysumsion@gmail com

Joe Black Tel: 01748 829601 joe1922@googlemail 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 The Editor reserves the right to amend or refuse contributions. The Magazine is normally published during the early part of January, April, July and October 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 Charity, No 291578 Registered in England No. 1302197. Registered Office: 4 Church Green East, Redditch, Worcestershire B98 8BT

Typesetting and Artwork by Kearline Graphic Images Ltd, Fairoak House Business Centre, Church Road, Newport, South Wales NP19 7EJ

Printed by TSG Creative Solutions, St Neots, Cambridgeshire PE19 8EL

FROM THE EDITOR

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a great Christmas. We went down t o t h e I s l e o f Wi g h t f o r o u r holiday, a little warmer down there but not by much

We went on holiday in September to Formentera, it’s a little island off the bottom of Ibiza in the Mediterranean. Very few cars and very few animals, in fact quite desolate, so we were very surprised to find hiding behind a shop a steam engine. It had been put on show as a permanent exhibit and was almost complete. It is a narrow gauge railway loco but because we don’t speak Spanish we couldn’t find out much about it. It did look like all it needed to be ready to use was some firebars and a pressure gauge. We have said before that it is amazing where steam engines crop up. If you happen to find one in a strange place then please write and tell me, if you could send a picture too then it would be great.

I am still not getting any post through my letter box and without your letters it is very difficult to w r i t e y o u r m a g a z i n e T h e w h o l e i d e a o f t h e magazine was to give you, the apprentices, chance to recall your steam experiences, sharing them with others. Lots of pictures and letters can give details of shows or road runs that you may have not been to and after reading another apprentice’s experiences you may like to give them a try. You may even make new friends through the magazine that you would not have done if you had not visited one of their rallies. So please could you all start writing to me and help the magazine keep going. I know that sending letters by snail mail is old fashioned so send me an email instead! They don’t have to be very long; a short note with a picture or two will be gratefully received.

All this year’s driving days are included in this issue so please make a note of them and any booking details that need to be followed Also remember the NTET Driving Course which the SAC gets discount rates on There’s an advert elsewhere in the issue Make sure you read the Chairman’s bit because he is l o o k i n g f

Banbury rallies this year. I hope that we will meet loads of you during this season.

Nanette Durling, Editor

CHAIRMAN’S BIT

Like many we were saddened to hear of the passing of Mr Michael Oliver, the founder of the GDSF The GDSF has been a staunch supporter of the SAC over many years, a fact recognised last year when they were the first recipients of the Doc Romanes Trophy which is given to an individual, club, or organisation for the support that is given to the SAC. Our condolences are sent to Mr Martin Oliver and family.

In the last issue of Raising Steam I did write about doing extra activities for the older apprentices I did not receive one reply Are we to take it you are just happy we only do driving days? PLEASE let me know.

The SAC committee are looking forward to this year’s rallies and driving days. We hope to have our stand at several rallies this season rather than just at Dorset So, do come along and see us. Hopefully by the next issue I can let you know where. What we will be looking for are apprentices to join us at Kemble in late July/early August and at Banbury in late June to work on engines and drive them into the arena Contact me with your details if you want to help and participate.

At our recent committee meeting we discussed Dorset. This year we will not be arranging for apprentices to be placed on engines. Instead we hope to do something different and will be discussing our ideas with GDSF in the near future. Watch this space!

Though applications are not yet invited please consider NOW possibly entering the annual Technical Achievement Award and/or the Steam Apprentice of the Year (Jack Beeby cup.)

Elsewhere in the magazine are the driving days dates and places with the application form. Please do support these events as lots of people give up their free time to make it happen. Important note for the Old Warden venue:- Please contact Paul Worbey on 07850 195622 for confirmation of the dates before sending your form as at the time of going to print they haven’t been finalised.

Just to remind you that from January 1st the membership fee went up to £10. This is to cover the increasing costs of running the Club. If you have sent, or do send in, the previous fee of £7.50, John Cook, Membership Secretary, will only issue a 9 month membership card.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the rallies this coming season.

Kevin Munn, Chairman

It’s a new year, a new decade and now we have a brand new website for the SAC! The old website has been the same for the past two years, so we thought it was time for an update.

We have a new theme, a new photo gallery, and a much improved contact form and photo uploader so there’s no excuse for you not to send in your photos and articles to us!

You may like to check out the competitions page, where we’re running a monthly ‘Guess The Engine’ competition, or the Activities page where you can have a go at building models from our previous Dorset Competitions. We always welcome guest photos and messages on our message board, so keep sending them in! Maybe you were

given a Mamod for Christmas, if so, tell us about it!

In response to the questionnaire we put on the website last year, we’re putting our magazine Raising Steam on the website for you to download. Because it’s on the Internet it will be available to anyone, so to make it fair for you paying apprentices the magazine will go on the website one issue behind, so this January’s issue will be available on the website when the April edition is published

Nick Bosworth, Webmaster

THESE ARE TWO ENTRIES ON THE SAC

WEBSITE MESSAGE BOARD

–WE’D LOVE TO SEE MANY MORE!

Name: Charlie Henderson

Age: 9

Location: Hay on Wye

SAC Number: 5004

Caption: Cleaning Dad’s BB1 smokebox out

Notes: Here I am cleaning out the smokebox on Dad’s BB1 Fowler ploughing engine Prince 15231. The worst part was he made me have a bath that night!

Name: Lewis Keefe

Age: 11

Location: Shepperton, Middlesex

SAC Number: 4609

Message: My Wilesco showman’s engine in the garden

MAILBAG

Dear Editor, At Dorset Steam Fair I spent two mornings helping clean Morning Star, with some more steam apprentices getting her ready for the afternoon when we got to do some steering. I had a great time.

Matthew Hand age 7 SAC 4325

Dear Editor,

Thank you for making the 30th driving weekend a great success. I enjoyed the miniatures, learnt new skills and maintenance techniques. Overall the weekend passed too quickly! Look forward to meeting at the GDSF

I would have liked more time to complete my training record logbook, but spent too much time preparing and driving.

James Atkins SAC 4683

Dear Editor,

I thought that I would send in a couple of photos of my brother and me at the Bill Target Steam Rally in May 2009 at Winchester

The first photo is me, J a c k , o n m y We s t wo o d tractor trying to tow the very large load around the p l a y p e n . T h e b i g M c L a r e n r o a d l o c o Boadicea had been pulling i t a r o u n d a l l d a y s o I thought that I would give it a go with my tractor!

The second photo is of my brother Harry and me o n m y M u m a n d D a d ’s t r a c t i o n e n g i n e M a r s h a l l 14242 Victoria Empress of India. I hope that you will put them in the SAC magazine. Thank you.

Jack Wakelin Age 12 & Harry Wakelin Age 9

JOE BLACK – NEW SAC COMMITTEE MEMBER

Joe has provided this introduction to himself.

Joe Black has recently joined the committee of the SAC through his involvement with the NTET General Council. He is 23, lives in North Yorkshire and in 2008 he graduated from Harper Adams University College, Shropshire with a degree in Agricultural Engineering.

Growing up in Morpeth, Northumberland, Joe spent many hours on his Dad’s 6 ton Aveling & Porter single cylinder piston valve roller The roller was built in 1922 for Rothbury District Council, Northumberland and spent its whole working life there as Number 35 in the fleet, alongside the 12 ton single cylinder Aveling & Porter Coquet Lass. Rothbury District Council had hired in a smaller engine from Edisons to do some of the work that Coquet Lass was too big for. They liked this engine so much that they tried to buy her from Edisons. They were not willing to sell so the Council bought A & P 10014 new from Avelings

Aveling & Porter No. 10014, named Old Andy, was bought by Joe’s Dad, Andrew, in 1980 from a children’s playground in Morpeth, Northumberland (the town where Joe grew up). He spent six years restoring the roller before taking her to her first rally at Corbridge. Since then the engine has been well looked after and now has all the lagging and motion covers etc which it was missing at its first rally

In more recent years Joe has crewed on two Burrell agricultural engines before going to University and has been involved with a range of other engines in the Shropshire area. Recently he has bought a very derelict 1911 2-speed compound Foden traction engine

which he has just started to restore More details of the restoration will appear in Raising Steam as it carries on (but it’s going to be a very long project).

We are very pleased to welcome Joe to our small group. He has already made a significant contribution to our work behind the scenes and I’m sure he will continue to in the future. Ed

Aveling & Por ter No. 10014 at the end of its time at the playground.

DID YOU GET WHAT YOU WANTED FOR CHRISTMAS?

IF NOT

Ask someone to give you a voucher for the NTET Driving Course on 8/9 May 2010 at Astwood Bank. Steam Apprentices (age 13-15) £58.75, (age 16-21) £88.12 for the two days. Contact Tony Seddon at :The View, Fenns Bank, Bronington, Whitchurch, Shropshire SY13 3PE or Tel: 01948 780599

STEAM APPRENTICE CLUB - DRIVING DAYS

List of venues

Venue Date Leader’s Name Comments

Fengate Farm, Weeting, Brandon, Suffolk.

Old Warden Park, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire

10th and 11th April

Richard Parrott

Mr Parrott has a collection of 4 or 5 engines with others also on site Again they are running over two days. Camping/caravanning space is available.

Bursledon Brick Works, Swanwick Lane, Swanwick, Southampton

17th and 18th April

(To be confirmed)

25th April

Paul Worbey

Stithians, Cornwall

Flookborough Grange-over-Sands Cumbria

County of Salop

1st and 2nd May

23rd July

Graham Chaffer

This is the biggest of the SAC driving days. NOTE: Contact Paul Worbey on 07850 195622 before sending form for confirmation of d

Bedford Steam Engine Preservation h o s t t h i s eve n t . C a r ava n n i n g /camping space is available.

Old brick works now used as a m u

Horizontal engine by Greens of L

Richard Stock

Kevin Lawrence

28th August

Stephen Milns

smaller apprentices

Being run by the WESES on the showground at Stithians

The SAC have the show arena for the day (Friday).

Being run on the Saturday before the County of Salop Rally NOTE No SAC event here in 2011

Tinkers Park

18th September

Adrian Vaughan

Tinkers Park set in East Sussex own r o a d wa y s o c a n o p e r a t e i n a l l weathers

The aim of these driving days is to give SAC members who do not have regular access to an engine the chance to drive one for a day. Therefore, if any course is over subscribed, we reserve the right to offer the places to members from non-engine owning families