NEWSLETTER NolO June 1981
Dear Apprentice,
'Sumer is icumen in, lhude sing cucku', says the old song. Well, there wer.en't many cuckoos at Weeting; nor was·there much in the way of summer, but those who went had an excellent time, thanks to great efforts by Kathryn Parrott and her parents, and various friends. One of the mem~e~s.who a;a brave the weather has written an account of the day's act1v1t1es which appears later on, as does the held-over article on the Model Engineer Exhibition. Another member has written about steam threshing, and there is some additional material about the Paisley Sale. It is very much a 'members' own' edition this time; well dohe, everyone.
The main point of my letter this time is to tell you about some fairly important changes that have taken place. The NTECelects part of its main committee every year, and some changes usually take place on the various subcommittees of the club. As you know, the S.A.C. ia run by a subcommittee of the main club, and as a result of these elections, and various other events, some of the original S.A.C. committee have left. John Wharton, who was the treasurer, has now become chairman of the Engine Owners subcommittee; we liope with one of our founders in that position that we shall still be able to meet and work with engine owners, at rallies and elsewhere. Eric Fillmore, who was the S.A.C. chairm?n, is now a Vice-<~hairm1?-nof the NTEC. So Sylvia has taken over as chairman, and she w11f continue to act as membership secretary for the time being. So, any corresoondence about tne club or about renewing your membership, should be sent to Sylvia. Piease note, as well, to.at she has changed her add.::'ess. The new address is: Mrs. s. Berth-Jones, 101 Mill Lane, Sawston, Cambridge CB2 4HY.
Sylvia has done an enormous amount for the SAC. She was in the original group of NTEC members whoinvestigated the possibility of , having a separate club for young people, and she has been thorough;ty involved with the SAC ever since it started. We are very grateful that she can take on the extra work as well -particularly when she is just 11011ing house.
Unfortunately, for a combination of reasons, this will be the laat newsletter that I shall be able to produce. Having done the job for two and a half years, I think it is certainly time that somebody else had a go. I have enjoyed doing it, and it has been very exciting to see the club grow so rapidly. The newsletter has inproved too, from the first stencilled pages to our present glossy production which can take photographs and drawings. And it has been very encouraging reading all your letters -particularly the ones which say h?w much they enjoy the newsletter! Thank you a.11 very much for your articles and letters. It has been great fun, too, meeting you at rallies and SAC events; I hope that I shall still be ab.le to get to some of these. In fact, the only thing that has not improved has been my typewriter, which was very old before I started on these newsletters and which is now very nearly extinct.
So -my best wishes to all of you, and lets hope that the weather is kind this summer, and we get good rallies and lots of opportunities to work with the engines.
Margaret Joachim,
Editor.
Every January, thousands of model enthu3iasts gather in London for the Model Engineer exhibition. My father used to enter scale models o~ ships, so I used to be a frequent visitor. This year Sally Robinson, Apprentice number 126,. managed to go twice; here is her description.
I made two visits ·to tbe exhibition; the f'irs t was on New Year's day, following a New Year Steam-in at Kew Bridge engines. The steam was provided by Ivan Fear's Marshall portable no. 86161, to a kind of calliope made from assorted whistles. This Nas played by pulling on lengths of binder twine spaced through railings. On New Year's day, Denis Brandt provided a "steam bus 11 to and from the exhibition, in the form of his Foden no. 13488.
Inside, I went round the locomotives and ships. Some notable models were: a Metropolitan Vickers electric locomotive which was, I was told by a fellow member of the builders, SME, made almost entirely with hand tools, and Tim Watson's 2mm. scale Kintley 0-4-0 T engine. It was almost unbelievably small, probably assembled under a micros.c.ope. I • rather liked T.H.Hawkins' Aveling and Porter 0-4-0 wr tramway locomotive no. 807. The model was not particularly detailed, but I have a soft spot for tramway engines now that I have done some restoration work on 'Blue Circle', the one on the Bluebell Railway. The model had coupled wheels and chain drive. (Blue Circle is virtually a traction engine).
Of the ships, I best remember R.Castle's l/48th scale 'Steam Coaster Garmoyle', 1904. This model was se·t on a rough. sea and was - realistically daubed with grime. The crew had grimly set faces, and the whole was a welcome change from the 'dry dock' presentation of so many ship models. Another l/48th scale model was a transverse section of HMSVictory, which was carefully rigged and stowed with cargo. It also revealed the modelled joints in the hull. Not with the ship models, but in the general engineering section, was a very beautiful model of 'The engines and paddles of the Steam Packet Red Rover', built to l/16th scale by R.Jarvis. The engines were side levers with sandwich beams, i.e. each side with two layers. In this same section was a model of a Boulton and Watt beam engine of 1788 and itij haystack boiler. The engine details WPre excellent ana there were also discoloured bricks and scale tools rouna the boiler. One further model with 'atmosphere' was a military diorama called "All Clear'', l/76th scale. This consisted of two standing houses and a crater. There were slippin~ and chipped tiles, cobbles, lace curtains painted on the broken cellophane windows, and of course, shreds of wallpaµeri fireplaces and the impression of stairs on the remaining party wa 1.
I like the way some neople scratch-build spaceships from waste material. Two ingenious examples were 'Hans Solo's Millenium Falcon from Star Wars', and 'Space Tug Cerius II'· One model was slickly made from parts of other plastic kits like Tamiya jerrycans and shock absorbers stuck on for surface detail on the craft. It was uniformly sprayed matt grey. Millenium Falcon had a more impressionistic approach, with bolder cardboard slabs and scorch marks painted on. I rather liked a l/300th scale scratch-built Sci-Fi Battle Fleet for wargaming.
The larger scale Traction Engines were predictably Plaistow's "Bill 11 Burrells and one A.llchin "Royal ~hester" which wa~ t>uLJ.t ~y B~i tij_b h Aerospace trainees. There were also some smaller M1nn1es and a 2inc scale Aveling and Porter class AD road roller which won G.W. Ackland the Aveling Barford trophy!
The loan models included some fine old 2½inch gauge locomotives, and virtually the whole output of Cherry Hinds. Sadly, these models were not displayed to best advantage, as they were too far away.
You may well have seen glimpses of L. Wa6 ner•s l/50th scale ~oncorde and C. Houthnessen's half-size church clock in Perspex on the News. These won the gold medals in their sections. Concorde was hal.f cut away to show every strut, tank, pipe and seat in her. It was breathtBkingly comprehensive. The perspex clock made bold use of an alte.·native material. The pendulum was a perspex rod to a thick-walled cylinder filled with swarf. The weights >Here on a white nylon rope instead of chain. I waited for it to strike the next quarter. The strikes had trans~arent paddle air brakes and rang chromed chime bars.
I enjoyed the Model Engineer Exhibition because I like technical things. w~ favourite steam engines are Traction Engines, but it is a good thing to look at a wider variety of other things. Apart from the models there are, of course, the trade stands selling tools and materials at reduced prices.
Thank you, Sally. It is certainly a first-rate show, and well worth a trip to London at a time of year when not much else of interest is happening on the steam scene.
DO YOU WANTOR HAVEYOU GOT....
ENGINE DRIVEH'S HAT required, in good condition. Please contact Michael Dodgson, 35 Fens Crescent, Hartlepool, Cleveland, TS2S 2QN.
In answer to the above, (though it is rather a long way from Hartlepool), Collector's Corner, the railway relics shop next to Euston Station, usually has a supply of 'greasy hats'. They sell all sorts of railway badges, timetables, and even real station name plates, as well.
FREE EN'fRYTO RALLIES IN 1281 - PROVISIONALLIST
As far as we know, the following rallies are prepared to offer free entry to Apprentices, providing that they show their membership card at the gate. (You may find other rallies which will do this as well; it is always worth asking the stewards.)
For full details of each rally, see your Rally List.
Anglesey, 16/17th
i~: HMS Sult.an, 6/7th
South Tyne (Hexham) 13/14th
Claybrooke 20/2lst
Stamford 27/28th
iuly: Chadshunt 1b/19th
Augu~~: Elstree 15/16th
Egbam and Thorpe ~9/30th
Bramham Park 29131st Quexpo 29131st
Stourpaine and Morecambe Bay rallies are also willing to let Apprentices in free• I do not have the exact dates for either of these at the moment. '
(I know that one or two of these are already over, but it may be useful as a reminder for next year.)
RALLIES, 19bl
We expect to bold Sunday morning sessions for Apprentices at the following rallies this year:
Banbury, June 28th; Rempstone, July 12th; Bicton, July 19t h; Roxton, September 20th.
The procedure is the same at all of them; find the SAC flag (usually near t~e NTEC Sales Stand), and Sylvia or another helper will find you an engine owner to work with for the rest of the morning. All sessions run from about 10.30 a.m. to about lp.m. (although many apprentices have stayed with 'their' engines for the rest of the day])
At other rallies, if the NTEC Sales Stand is there and the staff are not busy (very important), they may be able to introduce you to an engine owner. Please be polite about this, and if they are surrounded by hordes of people all buying books, it is obviously not the right time to ask , th~m. They will alway~ be happr to say hallo, and you can get member's prices on some of their goods if you show ~'our SAC card when buying them.
Our ex-treasurer, John Wharton, says that he will be pleased to meet any Apprentices who go to tbe Fairford rally (August 22/23), and he will introduce them to engine owners.
So we have managed to arrange quite a good selection Qf thinga to do for you this year.
More on THE !:AISLEY SALE, by Richard Froggatt
I don't want to correct or repeat anything already writt·en by Paul Coulson; I only wish to add my comments to those he has already made. The supposed 'spares' which were sold as such "Kere mainly made up of items removed from the engines for restoration, and not yet I'eturned. At least one ploughing engine was sold without its whistles, and others were s0ld without makers' plates.
Also, not all the engines at Manor Farm were offered for sale. Mr. Paisley's long wheelbase Sentinel DG waggon which is on pneumatics was neither offered for sale nor on show. It was possible to see it, however, as it was in the shed containing several steam engine patterns.
Although the collection was unique because of its rare makes, it was also unique from the point of view of engines with unusual features and histories. The Burrell portable had been running at some point with leaking tubes, for 16 of its 2d tubes had been blocked off with wooden plugs, The Burrell ploughing engine no. 776 still had its original boiler made in many pieces and riveted together. The Marshall GP had been built especially for a left-handed owner, and later had a feed water heater fitted. The pair of Fowler ploughi:ig engines are said to have gone abroad. Admiral Beatty (Foster showman) was in steam at Stourpaine the weekend before the sale. Samson, believed to be the only Aveling and Porter showman's engine, has a bolt holding the dynamo on. which prevents the smokebox door from opening fully. The Wallis and Steevens Advance roller is reputed to be the second of its type to be built, and the Robey tri-tandem roller is supposed to have helped build the Ml.
Altogether some very interesting engines. But I am pleased in a way that they were sold. There was speculation that a museum might have been created ~ith the collection, but that would have meant the engines being 'stuffed and mounted'. It was a very good da_y ot1t, as proved by the car park which would have done credit to any rally at the height of summer.
HELP US TO RUNTHE S.A.C.
Up to now, the SAC has been run by a small group of people, all of whom have been on the Executive Committee of the National Traction Engine Club. We have decided, now that the SAC is well-established ahd successful, that we should widen the range of people who are involved in its organisation. Lots of parents already seem to get mixed up in SAC activities -they bring Apprentices to the events, we see them watching enviously from the sidelines, and they often tell us how much they wish there had been an SAC when they were children. Some parents contribute enormously by providing engines or fields or expert help for our events -Weeting is a case in point.
There are a number of jobs which have to be done, all of which so far have been undertaken by three people. Membership queries and renewals must be dealt with, there is rally and general correspondence, someone has to look after the accounts (and the moneyi), we need helpers at our events and at rallies, and the newsletter must be edited. So far I have never had to write specially for the newsletter -there have always been more than enough articles to fill it.
If you think one (or both) of your parents might be interested in helping with the Steam Apprentice Club, it would be a good idea to show them this article (if they haven't borrowed the newsletter already!) None of the jobs take up enormous amounts of time, but the ... all have to be done regularly. You do not have to be a member of the N'fEC to help us, just interested in helping young people to learn more about steam. If you are one of our older Apprentices, say 18 or over, and would like to get more involved, we can find plenty for you to do, too.
Anybody who does want to help s hoi.lld please get in touch 'Ni th the SAC Chairman, Iwlrs. Sylvia Berth-Jones, at 101 Mill Lane, Sawston, Cambridge CB2 4HY, or, if you see her at a rally, talk to her then. We promise not to overwork you, but we wil.l give you a useful job to do.
GENERALREMINDERS
SlJ13SCRIPTION NEEDSRENEWING?If you last paid before the end of June, 1986, and have not paid since then, send your card, and £1.50 (or a stamped, addressed envelope if you want to hang on to the card for getti.ng into rallies) to: Membership Secretary, 101 Mill Lane, Sawston, Cambridge, CB2 4HY.
BEAurIFUL BLUEANDGOLDSAC BADGESare available for only 65p. from the Membership Secretary, 101 Mill Lane, Sa·nston, Cambridge, CB2 4HY.
THE S.A.C SI'EAM DAYAT WEE'rING
They do say that the only thing between East Anglia and Siberia is .the Ural Mountains. They were not doing too good a job of keeping Siberian weather out of Britain at the end of April, and the day of our steam event at Weeting was probably the worst of the winter. Quite a number of members from the north and west of England were literally snowed in, ana some of those who made it had some fairly hair-raising journeys. I came up from London, where the weather was perfectly reasonable, and listened with amazement to the weather reports for different parts of the country; the weather stayed fine until about ten miles from Weeting, when it started to rain. And continued for the rest of the day, with a short break at lunchtime, and an unremitting, penetratingly cold wind. But. some 20 apprentices managed to turn up, as did all the expected engines and a very keen reporter and photographer from
the Eastern Daily Press, and a very good, if damp, time was had by all. We asked Brian Allison, who came up from Sussex, to write a report on the day; here it is.
WEE±Ifilh_SUNDAY APrtIL 26th.
This year's SAC event was held at Fengate Farm, Weeting, Suffolk, by kind permission of Mr. R.N. Parrott. f{egrettably, unlike last year, the weather was extremely ..inkind, and at trie start it was raining heavily. Most of the engines were already lit up, but because of the weat~er they had to remain sheeted until well into the morning. However, SJlvia BerthJones ~nd Margaret Joachim soon got the Apprentices out from the shelter of their cars and onto the field, and soon people were milling around inspecting the engines and talking to the owners and drivers.
The event was split between the meadow and the stackyard. The following nine engines were in the meadow:
Burrell showman's tractor 'Peter Pan', 1912, no. 3433, reg. AHOlO8, owned by Mrs. K. Salmon.
Tasker showman's tractor 'Little Jim II', 1920, no.1822, owned formerly by~~. Tom Varley but now by Mr. J. Reed. This is thought to be the only Task2r showman's tractor in existence.
Clayton and Shuttleworth tractor 'Apollo', 1926, no. 49008, reg. W)861. This was the last Clayton and Shuttleworth to be built, and is owned by Mri. K. Salmon.
Burrell tractor 'Century', 1877, no. 748, reg. CF3667, driving one of the few Burrell drums left in existence. Both engine and drum have worked in the West Suffolk area all their lives, driven by Mr. J. Thompson and Mr. G. Rivett who have known the set since their working days together.
Burrell convertible, Devonshire type, 'S~itfire', no. 2626, reg. • TB3717. This and the above engine are both owned by Mr. H.N.Parroct. It was the first time out for this engine after returning to Norfolk from Lancashire, where it spent the previou3 78 years. It was originally owned by Issac Balls, of Kirkham.
Marshall traction engine, 'Britannia', no. 72808, reg. AH5979, owned by Mr. G. Thompson. 'rhis engine drives a Marshall drum, and has spent most of its working life in Norfolk.
Burrell road roller 'The Leader•, reg. PW3993, now owned by Mr. J. Wright. It spent all its working life at Thetford with the Doran brothers.
Aveling and Porter roller no. 5161, reg. CT69O2. This roller was new to Bolsover UDC, then it passed to the Carrick brothers of Ashwelithorpe who used the roller until 20 years ago, when it was bought bJ its present owner, Mr. R.N. Parr0tt. It still does __a,few days' commercial rolling each year. This roller dates from l·:1O2.
Burrell road roller no. 3388, reg. TB3718, built in 1912 and now owned by Mr. N. Playford. Like the Devonshire engine, this -Nas originally part of Issac Ball's fleet.
'Peter Pan' was generating for its organ and lights, and 'Little Jim Il~ was generating for its own lights.
In the stackyard there were a further five engines, (and a huge barley stack which it was unfortunately too wet to thrash).
Burrell traction engine 'Hosemarie', 1907, no. 4088, reg. VF9646, seen driving a racksaw bench converting farm timber to posts. This engine was bought by the owner's grandfather when he (the owner, Mr. B. Freeman), was two years old.
Burrell traction engine 'Dreadnought', 1907, no. 2948, reg. NOl06, owned by Mr. R.N.Parrott. This engine was set to a Marshall drum; the straw produced was used for thatching.
Marshall convertible 'Laura', 1890, reg. EB6519, owned by Mr. W. Moorfoot and driven by Mr. J. Barrett. Mr. Barrett restored and converted the engine (from a roller), it was demonstrating chaff cut.ting with a Clayton and Shuttleworth chaff cutter.
Ransomes portable no. 27271, built in 1918 and seen driving a small saw bencb. It was originally bought by Sir John Agnew for his estate at Rougham, near Bury St. Edmunds, and is now owned by Mr. J. Bryant.
Ruston and P~octor traction engine 'Rusty', no. 34987, reg. ·AH5654, built in 1908 and ovmed by Mr. H R. Wyeld, who has restored it from a completely derelict state. It was to drive a Ruston seed huller. It was interesting to note that on show was one of the oldest Burrell engines ('Century•), and ul.so one of the newest -'Rosemarie'. The latter was completed after the Burrell works at Thetford had closed.
Just after one o'clock the rain eased suf.ficiently for the Marshall to start. Once all the Apprentices had been called together, chaff' cutting began, followed by sawing, powered by 'Rosemarie'. There was a slight interruption while a number of the Apprentices went off to have their photo taken by a local press photographer. Soon after this there was a break for lunch, which we were able to eat in a dry barn; Mrs. Parrott very kinaly provided hot drinks, (and food for the enginemen and some lucky Apprentices}.
After lunch there was a film show in the barn, which had been arranged at rather short notice because of the weather. There were slides of the Fowler Z7 rescue from Mozambique, and of last year's SAC even~ at Minster Lovell, and films of a number of the Weeting rallies. 'rhe day concluded after tea, when Alun Berth-Jones presented a ~ot plant to Mrs. ?arrott, with thanks from the SAC.
On behalf of all the Apprentices present I would like to thank S_ylvia Berth-Jones and Margaret Joachim for arranging the event, and Mr. and }nrs. Parrott, Kathryn, family and friends for the tremendous effort they put into a magnificent display, and for such a fine array of engi~es for the apprentices to see.
Thank you, Brian, for an excellent report. On behalf of Sylvia and myself, I should say that the Parrott family organised the entire event; all we had to do was to let the Apprentices know about it! But it was a first-rate day, with as good a selection of engines as you will see at many rallies, and we were very luck-J indeed to have been able to go.
Gracious - another-eight ;,a5~e issue~ Keep those articles coming in and all the newsletters can be this size. Finally, we have the first part of a long article by Neil Smith.
A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS ON Tli,.::iESHI.t.m
Q.'l NeiL§mith
It is not known for how many centuries flails were used to extract grain from the husk, but it is mentioned in the Bible, so it is fairly certain that the practice had been going on since very early in man's history. Attempts were made to make the work easier, one of the earliest being in 1636 by Sir John Van Berg who patented a thrasher, a machine with several flails operated by cranks. This attempt was followed in 1711, when one Hohifrieda made a thrashing machine~ Michael Menzies tried in 1732, Winlaw in 1785, Meikle in 1786/9, Vlilloughby in 1792, Jubb in . 1795, Wardropp in 1796, Lee in 1802, Barling in 1842 and Garrett in 1852. But the first really successful attempts that we know about took place at about the midole of the 19th. century. Engravings of t~1e machines of that time can be seen today, and although we may smile at the crudity of the machinery concerned~ it was quickly developed into the threshing machines that dominated farming until the combine came into almost universal employment.
Getting the power to drive those early machines was a difficult matter. In some cases a fast-flowing stream might be used, for our forefathers were well-aquainted with the waterwheel as a source of poNer. But this was not often the case, and the 'horse ginny' method was evolved. However, once steam had been harnessed it was soon found possible to build a boiler and engine which could be constructed in a compact form~ hence the stationary engine arrived. '
True enough, the steam stationary engine was more expensive than any other method of f)owering threshing machineF.f, but once the engine was fitted with road wheels it could be moved by horses. The 'portable', as we know it, was much more acceptable. With the portable and the threshing machine both on wheels, the set of tackle could be moved from farm to. farm, and the whole business of threshing by flail was go~e for ever. It must have been a ,great boon to everyone 1nvolved at the time, but the corning of steam power did not eliminate the dirty, hard and dusty work which has always been connected with getting the grain from the husk. Indeed, it is still possible to see a modern combine envelo·9ed in clouds of dust, though the driver is usually sitting in an enclosed and airconditioned cab.
From the middle of tbe l)th. century, and for the next thirt.;' years, the portable was widely used in Britain, and almost ever.f engine builder offered them in their catalogues. They had a wide range of power ratings, early on in single cylinder form, and later there were examples of double cylinder types, together with a few compounds. But for threshing the simplicity of the single was preferred. Depending on the size of machine involved, the portable might be of 6, 7 or 8 nominal horse power, with the smaller sized engine to drive a drum of 40 11 type, while the 7 would cope quite well with a 54" drum. The same 7 would cope with a chaff cutter too, but an b did it better if there was a lot of cutting to be done. With horses in wide use there was always an overwhelming demand for chaff, so threshing and cutting was a regular job on every farm. Hence the 8nhp portable was a popular size.
This sounds like the sta!'t of a very i nteres ting series; i.hank you very much, Neil. I wonder what else Hohifrieda did?