Raising Steam 2013 Vol.27 No.1

Raising Steam

Steam Appr entice Club

Editor

Nanette Durling , 19 Mill Lane, Barton under Needwood, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire DE13 8HE Tel: 01283 712818

sac raisingsteam@ntet co uk

Chairman & President

John Durling , 19 Mill Lane, Barton under Needwood, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire DE13 8HE Tel: 01283 712818

sac chairman@ntet co uk

Vice Chairman

Elaine Massey, 21 Down Close, Northolt, Middlesex UB5 6NS Tel: 020 8248 6570 elainermassey@live co uk

Membership Secretary

Sue Cook, Dolfarni, Church Lane, Kirkby la Thorpe, Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34 9NU

membership@ntet co uk

Membership fee £10 per annum

Webmaster

Nick Bosworth, 9A St Wilfrid’s Road, West Hallam, Ilkeston, Derbyshire DE7 6HG

Tel: 01159 309868

sac webmaster@ntet co uk

SAC Co-ordinators

Joe Black Tel: 07595 466353 joe@seddonandblack co uk

Emily Drury

ecdrury@hotmail co uk

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

Matthew Lund Tel: 01329 832462

matt lund@engineer com

Kevin Munn Tel: 020 8573 9180 kevinsteam1@btinternet com

Barry Sumsion Tel: 01633 671798 barrysumsion@gmail com

Helen Tyrrell Tel: 01793 751830

helen@thetyrrells org Burrell Project Co-ordinator

Hugh Dyson Tel: 01353 667150 hugh dyson@inbox 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 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

Produced by Kearline Graphic Images Ltd, Fairoak House Business Centre, 15Church Road, Newport, South Wales NP19 7EJ www.kearline.co.uk

Fr om the Editor

Nanette Durling

H i , I h o p e y o u a l l h a d a w o n d e r f u l

Christmas. I had my usual trip to the Isle of Wight the week before Christmas to v i s i t m y f a m i l y, m y g r a n d c h i l d r e n w e r e very excited. I managed to be rostered

t o w o r k a l l d a y C h r i s t m a s d a y. I t w a s

e n j o y a b l e , e s p e c i a l l y w h e n I a r r i v e d home to find that Liz, my daughter, had

c o o k e d a w o n d e r f u l r o a s t d i n n e r

f o l l o w e d b y h o m e - m a d e c h o c o l a t e

p u d d i n g w h i c h i n c l u d e d a l o t o f f r e s h cream and Maltesers.

As you will notice your magazine has a new layout. We have decided to have t w o s e c t i o n s . T h e f r o n t s e c t i o n w i l l

c o n t a i n t h e u s u a l i n f o r m a t i o n s u c h a s my piece, the Chairman’s Bit, your rally reports and photos, and of course other

n o t i c e s . Fo r t h e b a c k s e c t i o n y o u w i l l

n e e d t o t u r n t h e m a g a z i n e o v e r T h i s

s e c t i o n w i l l c o n t a i n m o r e t e c h n i c a l

a r t i c l e s , s u c h a s r e p o r t s o n e n g i n e

r e p a i r s i n c l u d i n g p h o t o s , t e c h n i c a l activities, and of course progress on our Burrell project. We are hoping that this

n e w d e s i g n i s m o r e i n t e r e s t i n g f o r y o u

a l l . We w o u l d l i k e y o u t o w r i t e t o u s saying whether you like the new design

o r w h a t y o u t h i n k w e c o u l d c h a n g e o r

i m p r o v e o n I f y o u h a v e a n y i d e a s w e would love to know.

I t i s i m p o r t a n t t h a t y o u r e a d t h e Driving Day ’s page and make sure that

y o u b o o k e a r l y f o r a p l a c e . We d o n o t

l i k e t o d i s a p p o i n t y o u b y s a y i n g y o u r

ch o s en D r i v i ng D a y i s f ul l . It wo ul d be

n i c e i f y o u c o u l d w r i t e t o m e s a y i n g

w h a t y o u d i d , h o p e f u l l y w i t h s o m e pictures. Don’t forget if you do send me a s t o r y i t w o u l d b e h e l p f u l t o h a v e e n g i n e n a m e s , m a y b e o w n e r ’ s n a m e s and most importantly where you were. P l e a s e d o n o t s c a n y o u r p i c t u r e s o n t o your letter, sometimes the quality of the picture is not good enough to be put in the magazine. The best way to send me pictures is by e -mail or on a disc I am hoping to be at lots of rallies this year so I may manage to get to see some of you. I may not be at Banbury rally this year as I have booked an African Safari H o l i d a y w i t h J o h n i n J u n e . I a m v e r y excited, especially as most of the Safari will be spent in tents with the animals. I h a v e e v e n b o u g h t a n e w c a m e r a to photograph the lions, elephants and giraffes!

Fr ont Cover : Lyons Tea Sentinel lor r y (Nippy), also at Bedfor dshir e Steam and Countr y Show. Photograph – Charlie Scouller.

The Chairman’s bit...

John Durling

Christmas is now behind us which means that we’re looking forward to the new season. I hope that Santa was good to you and you got what you wanted: I don’t suppose that many of you got a new engine though :)

You will already have noticed that this magazine is a bit different to the ones you’ve been used to; we hope that you like it!

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

As usual at this time of year we’re planning the driving days; the booking form is elsewhere in this magazine. You’ll notice that a couple of the driving days that ran last year are missing this time, Flookburgh and Stanton Drew It’s always a shame when the people who offer their time and engines have to pull out but we hope that we can find other venues to fill the gaps We must of course say a big thank you to the people who volunteer

New Appr entices

The SAC welcomes the following new members

James Ayre, Stroud

Tom Beck, Metheringham

Callum Conway, Clanfield

Morgan Derbyshire, Shefford

Benjamin Harvey, Seething

Andrew Leib, Rickmansworth

George Maskell, Harlington

Jake Maskell, Harlington

to run these courses for us: we’d be totally stuck without them!

In the Technical Section you will see articles from Josh Menear and George Balsdon who won The Jack Beeby Cup and The Technical Achievement Award respectively for 2012. These were awarded at the NTET AGM which was held in Tavistock in Devon.

Congratulations to both of you! To the rest of you SAC peoples this shows that you don’t have to come from an engine family, or have loads of dosh, to win one of these. Just be good at what you do!

You’ll see in Nan’s section that we’re heading off to Africa in the summer –quite an adventure for us. I wonder if we’ll come across any steam out there? We’ll keep our eyes open and let you know what we find

Here’s hoping for some sunshine and good rallies this year I look forward to seeing loads of you round the circuit!

Dominic Mathews, Andover

Jenson Peddie, Stotfold

Marcus Samuel, Bishopstoke

Ashley Simmonds, Horndean

Callum Sloggie, Muddiford

Jeanie Walker, Milnthorpe

Jonathan Williamson, Hemel Hempstead

The perfect opportunity to get some first class instruction in traction engines and engine driving 11/12 May 2013 at Astwood Bank

SPECIAL PRICE FOR SAC MEMBERS

Steam Appr entices get a gr eat discount on the normal price

age 13-15 = £60 age 16 – 21 = £90 for the two days Inter ested?

Joe Black at :Weston House, Calver hall, Whitchur ch, Shr opshir e, SY13 3PE Tel: 07595 466353 Email: joe@seddonandblack.co.uk

Steam Appr entice Club

2013 Driving Days

Horsham, West Sussex

30th March

Dee Searle

Old Warden Park, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire Fengate Farm, Weeting , Brandon, Suffolk

20th and 21st April

Paul Worbey

Dee kindly did a driving day last year and is now back for more! Plenty of engines to try.

This is the biggest of the SAC driving days. Apply directly to Paul Worbey for this venue as the Bedford Steam Engine Preservation host this event. Caravanning /camping space is available.

13th and 14th April

Richard Parrott

Stithians, Cornwall

Stithians, Cornwall County of Salop

4th May

John Sawle

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.

Being run on the showground at Stithians. First of two SEPARATE days WESES are running as demand last year was high

5th May

John Sawle

24th August Stephen Milns

Tinkers Park, Sussex 21st September Adrian Vaughan

Being run on the showground at Stithians. 2nd of two SEPARATE days WESES are running as demand last year was high

Being run on the Saturday before the County of Salop Rally

Well established now at Tinkers Park set in East Sussex own roadway so can operate in all weathers.

To apply for any of the driving days use the form included with this magazine. 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

Mailbag

Write to us!

Ti n k e r s Pa r k

Dear Editor,

Once again, another brilliant day at Ti n k e r s Pa r k M y t h a n k s t o e v e r y o n e

w h o o r g a n i s e d t h e d a y a n d t o N i c k whose engine I drove The weather was

p e r f e c t t o o . T h e o n l y t h i n g t h a t w a s n’ t

g o o d w a s t h a t i t e n d e d a l l t o o s o o n I now look forward to next year. I would l o v e t o d r i v e o n e o f t h e s h o w m a n’ s engines next year.

Thank you once again.

Kieran Barnett.

B e d f o r d s h i r e S t e a m S h o w

Dear Editor,

We m e t y o u a t t h e O l d Wa r d e n

Show and we said I would write a piece

f o r t h e n e x t m a g a z i n e – h e r e i t i s w i t h some photos attached

I r e a l l y e n j o y e d t h e E s s e x C o u n t r y

Show at Barleylands in early September

T h e r e w e r e q u i t e a f e w e n g i n e s

i n c l u d i n g M o o n l i g h t M a g i c , a Ruston-built steam roller. Unfortunately,

I w a s u n a b l e t o r i d e o n t h e e n g i n e s a s

y o u n e e d t o b e 1 3 a n d o v e r a n d I a m only 11 at the moment.

I n t h e m i d d l e o f S e p t e m b e r, i t w a s

t h e B e d f o r d s h i r e S t e a m a n d C o u n t r y

S h o w a t O l d Wa r d e n Pa r k , n e a r

B i g g l e s w a d e . T h i s i s a l w a y s o n e o f t h e largest shows in the East of England and is worth visiting . There I saw Moonlight M a g i c a g a i n a n d I a l s o s a w W i n i f r e d , which is one of my favourite engines –she is a Marshall compound locomotive.

A n o t h e r e n g i n e p r e s e n t w a s t h e wonderful Iron Maiden She is a Fowler a n d f e a t u r e d i n t h e f i l m T h e I r o n Maiden – she is a showman’s engine and was built at Leeds. I have attached some p i c t u r e s o f t h e B e d f o r d s h i r e S h o w

T h e s e e n g i n e s a r e T h e I r o n M a i d e n , N i p p y t h e Ly o n s Te a l o r r y a n d a H o v i s bread lorry.

Charlie Scouller, Age 11, Hatfield, Hertfordshire

G e t Te c h n i c a l !

Back Cover : Wallace at Bocconoc, still a lot of work to do, including a full r epaint befor e too long, but this can now be done in the winter, while we enjoy playing in the summer. Photograph – Geor ge Balsdon.

The big day, the first lighting as an almost complete engine, though still lots and lots of work to do! Photograph – Geor ge Balsdon.

The Technical Achievement Awar d

Geor ge Balsdon

When I was told that I had won the Technical Achievement Award I couldn’t believe it, never did I think I would have t h e s k i l l s n e c e s s a r y t o e v e n b e nominated for the award, let alone win. Winning the award has not only been a highlight of my year, but also helped me in my application for university, as it has s h o w n m y a b i l i t y i n t h e w o r k s h o p , something particularly important for the M e c h a n i c a l E n g i n e e r i n g c o u r s e I h a v e applied to study. I have since been asked to write a few words about what I have done that led to me receiving the award.

I n 2 0 0 6 I w a s l u c k y e n o u g h f o r m y f a t h e r t o p u r c h a s e G a r r e t t 4 C D No. 31210, now named Wallace, at an auction, in need of what turned out to be a very large amount of work including a new firebox, tubeplate and a cylinder block, with a complete rebuild of all the motion work as well as lots of fittings to m a c h i n e a n d f i t i n t h e p r o c e s s . A t t h i s point I had only basic skills when it came to the workshop, mostly with hand tools. Due to time constraints (and the amount of work needed) the engine was stripped d o w n a n d s e n t t o a f r i e n d , S i m o n Caudwell, for him to continue the work, along with Lew Lewis, with Dad and me going and helping whenever we could.

I s t a r t e d o u t d o i n g a l l o f t h e l i t t l e , s i m p l e j o b s , s u c h a s g r i n d i n g a l l o f t h e stay heads off ready for the stays to be r e m o v e d . I s p e n t m y t i m e i n b e t w e e n jobs watching what either Simon or Lew were doing , helping where I could, but mainly just learning as much as possible

a l o n g t h e w a y W h e n t h e n e w f i r e b o x and tubeplate went back in there was a whole new range of skills for me to learn. I was able to help with a wide range of jobs from tapping stay holes, to heating the rivets and fitting them, to expanding i n t h e t u b e s i n . I r e m e m b e r e x p a n d i n g the tubes in particular, it was the hottest day of the summer, made even hotter by having to work in the tight confines of a Garrett firebox!

O v e r t i m e I n a t u r a l l y w a n t e d t o d o

m o r e a n d I w a s l u c k y e n o u g h f o r m y

D a d t o b u y a l a t h e a n d m i l l f o r t h e workshop at home and for him to teach

m e t h e b a s i c s o f m a c h i n i n g I s t a r t e d with the simple components such as the b r o n z e r e g u l a t o r ‘ p u c k ’ a n d v a l v e r o d

g l a n d s t u f f e r s , g r a d u a l l y t e a c h i n g myself new skills Whenever I did come

a c r o s s a p r o b l e m ( a n d i t s t i l l h a p p e n s

n o w ) I h a v e f o u n d t h a t p e o p l e w i l l

a l w a y s b e w i l l i n g t o g i v e a d v i c e , i f y o u just ask politely

When the Garrett returned home it

a p p e a r e d t o b e v e r y c l o s e t o b e i n g steam-able, as it turned out it was going t o t a k e o v e r 1 0 0 0 m o r e h o u r s o f m y time, at weekends and evenings during the week, to finish it. A very wide range of jobs were completed during this time, just a few of these being listed below:

• The fabrication of a new balance pipe between the tender and belly tanks.

• The fabrication of brake shoes from scratch.

• The fitting of a system to disengage the gear driven pump.

• Various brass oilers including the big ends and second shaft.

• Fitting of the lagging

• Machining of various fittings and specialist parts such as nuts and bolts. A l t h o u g h i t t o o

t

m

,

workshop I enjoyed and I think this is the most important aspect of working on any s t e a m e n g i n e , a s w e l l a s b

i

b l e t o h a v e p a t i e n c e w h e n t h i n g s g o w r o n g , particularly when it comes to machining . Not only have I learned many new skills

t

many new friends.

written just goes to show that you don’t n e c e s s a r i l y h a v e t o h a v e t h e m o s t advanced workshop in the world to win the Technical Achievement Award. You don’t even have to have a specific set of s k i l l s , o r b e p a r t o f a n e n g i n e o w n i n g f a m i l y, y o u j u s t h a v e t o h a v e t h e

e n t h u s i a s m a n d , m o r e i m p o r t

n t l y, t h e willingness to learn.

E d i t o r ’ s N o t e : G e o r g e s e n t l o t s o f

p h o t o s w i t h t h i s a r t i c l e ; t o o m a n y f o r inclusion here! The rest can be seen on the S AC website.

One of many new nuts made, this one parted off fr om the hexagonal bar behind. Photograph – Geor ge Balsdon.

Making the fir ebox for ‘K ate’

Kevin Munn

Meanwhile at the boiler repairers they had been getting on doing the work on the boiler. The stays had been removed and cleaned out and the threads re-cut to the next size up. The inside of the boiler had been de-scaled which then showed some cracking around the throat plate. This is not uncommon on Aveling engines caused by the stresses and strains the boiler takes at those points. The fix, if the cracks are not too deep, is grind back and weld up which is what they did. They cut out the part of the back plate which was too thin and inserted and welded a new part in and cut off the smoke box and welded on a new one Next was of course the new box itself

Nowadays you can have a new box welded up, but I decided to have the conventional method of manufacture, a riveted box. In the attached photos you can see the new and old box next to each other, what a difference! The photos also show the box with the foundation ring temporarily attached to ensure it fitted okay around the box and the top of the box with the holes in and threaded for the crown stays. Not a lot of words in this latest part of my story as I think the pictures say it all. To be continued...

Editor’s Note: More pictures of the work covered by this ar ticle are on the SAC website

Burr ell Build Diary

Matt Lund

Days six to eight of the Burrell build

s a w t h e S A C h a v i n g a s t a n d a n d b u i l d

e v e n t a t t h e S a n d o w n Pa r k M o d e l Engineering Exhibition from the 2nd to the 4th November. At Dorset we got the f r o n t w h e e l s a n d s m o k e b o x b u i l t a n d the spectacle plates roughed together so t h e a g e n d a f o r S a n d o w n Pa r k w a s

building the tender and rear wheels

As those of you who worked on the engine with us at Dorset will know, the first thing for the Friday apprentice team was plenty of filing to take all the burrs (sharp edges) off the plates of the tender and wheel spokes and by the end of the d

to just check the hole alignments

Saturday we had two teams running , o n e w o r k i n g o n p u t t i n g t h e t e n d e r

t o g e t h e r a n d t h e o t h e r w o r k i n g o n t h e rear wheels The tender team took the

r o u g h e d t o g e t h e r t e n d e r a p a r t a n d applied sealant to all the seams to help

k e e p w a t e r i n t h e t e n d e r a n d u s e d t h r e a d e d r i v e t s t o h o l d a l l t h e p l a t e s together; by the end of the day we had a complete tender.

T h e r e a r w h

m o r n i n g u

b e t w e e n t h e w h e e l r i m a n d t h e t w o T rings. After a lot of filling and sanding o n e w h e e l r i m w a s r e a d y t o b e m a d e into a wheel by the end of the day and that was the job of Sundays apprentice team so by the end of the weekend we h a v e a t e n d

w h e e l t o g o w i t h t h

smoke box and horn plates.

The next work session is booked for t h e M o d e l E n g i n e e r i n g E x h i b i t i o n a n d Alexandra Palace in January.

Jack Beeby Cup

Josh Menear

In November I was fortunate enough

t o b e a w a r d e d t h e J a c k B e e b y C u p a t the NTET AGM at Tavistock.

I h a v e b e e n i n v o l v e d i n s t e a m

e n g i n e s s i n c e b i r t h a n d h a v e b e e n a

S t e a m A p p r e n t i c e s i n c e f o u r y e a r s o f

a g e . W h e n I w a s b o r n m y Pa p a w a s nearing completion of his 3” Fowler A7

A g r i c u l t u r a l E n g i n e S i r D i c k a n d m y

p a r e n t s w e r e b u i l d i n g t h e i r f i r s t

m i n i a t u r e a 4 ” B u r r e l l A g r i c u l t u r a l

Traction Engine The Chough. I used to sit on my Papa’s engine, that lived in their

C o n s e r v a t o r y ! A n d w h i l e i t w a s stationary I used to pretend I was driving it to the shows

When I was four my parents took me to my first driving day at Dingles Steam

Vi l l a g e , i t w a s a n a m a z i n g p l a c e . We

d r o v e 6 0 m i l e s t o g e t t h e r e a n d w h e n

w e a r r i v e d R i c h a r d S a n d e r c o c k s a i d t o

m y p a r e n t s y o u c a n c o m e b a c k a t 4.30pm to collect Josh, Dad was gutted as he wanted to stay! I had an amazing

t i m e a n d a l t h o u g h I c o u l d n’ t d o v e r y

m u c h t h e y s t i l l g a v e m e a c h a n c e t o

d r i v e a n d s t e e r ( o n a b o x ) a n d t o b e around full size engines and experience them for the first time. I looked forward

t o a n d a t t e n d e d t h i s e v e n t e v e r y y e a r unt i l i t f i ni s h ed a f ew yea r s a g o . It wa s such a shame that it finished as I really enjoyed being around the different sorts of engines and people that were always there. Since then I have been attending

t h e S t e a m A p p r e n t i c e E v e n t h o s t e d b y

t h e We s t o f E n g l a n d S t e a m E n g i n e Society. This is usually the first weekend in May and again is a really good event, h a v i n g m i n i a t u r e a n d f u l l s i z e s t e a m engines in attendance.

On 28th December 2005 we bought Burrell Roller 4040. We had some work to do at home to create a new driveway a n d e v e n t u a l l y 4 0 4 0 w a s l o w - l o a d e d home from Dingles in February 2006. I couldn’t wait to get her home and start the rally season with her. We road For ty F o r t y t o m o s t p l a c e s a n d a t t e n d m a n y l o c a l s h o w s t h r o u g h

the furthest being Torbay Steam Fair.

I n 2 0 0 7 D a d d e c i d e d t o b u i l d

a n o t h e r m i n i a t u r

, t h i s t i m

a 4 ” McLaren Road Loco based on No 1652 Boadicea. He finished this in 2011 and its first outing was Trevithick Day 2011 w h e r e i t g a t h e r e d a l o

o f a

f f t h e g e n e r a l p u b l i c We n a m e d t h e engine Murphy after our dog .

At the shows, I love looking after the engines and am lucky to be able to have the luxury of having a miniature and full size engine.

Being a Steam Apprentice is one of t h e b e s t t h i n g s . I t ’ s a g r e a t w a y t o become involved in engines if you don’t have one yourself, enables you to meet e n g i n e o w n e r s a n d m a k e n e w f r i e n d s who have the same interest.

T h a n k s S A C f o r

the cup.

Happy Steaming for 2013!

Josh driving ‘Murphy ’ 4” McLar en on our annual Christmas r oad r un with our own Bur r ell 4040 in the backgr ound.