Dear Apprentice,
. The Club has come a long way in its first two years. We now have 132 members, and we have kept most of the people who joined last year. It Is always a risk with a new club -will the early members actually renew their subscriptions or will we have to start again? Well, very few people have dropped out, and we now have a much better-looking newsletter,.our own Club events, and plenty of offers for rally events next year. Thank you all very much.
(Incidentally, if your subscription is due, please pay it aa soon as you can. It has now gone up to £1.50, because of the increasing cost of postage and other necessities, but it is still excellent value. Just see this month's letters for one view of value for moneyi Please send. subs to the Membership Secretary, Pounce Hall .Cottage, Sewards End,. Saffron Walden, Essex - and please send a postal order or a cheque., __ not loose money or notes, which might get lost.)
Are you thinking of Christmas? We are including the NTEC Sales list with this issue, so that you can ehoose suitably steamy present.a for everyone, and help the club at the same time. As usual, SAC members can buy from the list at Member's prices, as long as your membership card is enclosed with your order.
Now that it is winter and there is plenty of time for writing, can we have something from you? We would like letters, short notes or articles, telling us where you have been, what you have done and what you have seen. The Good Rally Guide will print your rally review, and perhaps. give others some new ideas for next season. And, as you will see later on, we can now print good, clear black and white photos and diagrams. Please send anything you think might be of interest to the Editor, 8 Newburgh Road, Acton, London W3 6DQ. The closing date for the next issue is February 15th.
There are several new items in the newsletter this time, and we are particularly pleased to have an article by a member, Paul Coulson,_ who was lucky enough to go to the sale of Tom Paisley's engines. It is unlikely that a sale of that size will ever take place again~.We also have an article on storing and cross-referencing photographs. This has been written for us by Alan Martin, who is a Vice-Chairman o.f the NTEC, and has a huge collection of engine photographs, many of them very old. There is the first announcement of next year's special SAC event, the results of the photographic competition, and a new competition for Christmas. If you think you can recognise engines! try this oneJ And1 of course, there are the pictures! We won't be filing every issue with pictures, because they get in the way of the words, bQt there should be one or two in each newsletter from now on.
Well, have a Happy Christmas, and a Steamy New Year,
With best wishes,
Margaret Joachim, Ed1~or
p.5. If you sometimes think the typing is a little peculiar, it is because the Editor preserves a 1928 Remington portable typewriterl
Next year's s~ring event, following on from Minster Lovel1 last year, will take µ16.Ce at Weeting, which is in Suffolk, ;-iot far from Thetford. K;:;thryn .!:-'Arrott, who is an SAC member, has very kindly arr~nged.for u~ to visit the farm where she lives, to see a variety of en~1nes 1n action. There will be steam th~eehir.g and rolling, and other .?eneral purpos? activities, and t~erP sh~u~~ he plenty of op~ortunity to ins~ect and drive the various en~ines. At least eight en~ines are ex~ected, so it should be a super day.
The event will be on Sunday, April 26th, from 10 am. to dusk, so remember to put it in your 1981 diary just as soon as you get it!
This is the first time that one of our members has organised an event for us, and we are very grateful. By the way, Kathryn's father is a member of the Road Locomotive Society, and their members will be seeing the same engines at Weeting on the Saturdaywe have the whole of Sunday to ourselves.
Full details of the event, how to get there, and tbe engi~es ycu will see, will be in the next neNsletter. You must let us knoN if you Nill be coming. There will be a form to send back next time -please rerr:ember.
~FJr.'!:~S TO THE ~DITOR
Th.ere are two letters ef iat.ereet thia time. The first is trom America, in response to our appeal for pen-friends which was printed in the Iron Men Album:
I was interested in your letter published in the moat recent edition of the Iron Men Album.
Being an English enthusiast I am of course well aware of the eistence ot the NTECApprentice Club, and by way of introducing myself would refer you to an edition of 'Steaming' published in the. spring of this year, in which you will find an article that I wrote abou~ Steam in the Eastern States of the U.S. Should you find that you have a copy of the Iron Men Album published at about the same time, you. wilLfind an article written by Gerald Lestz about my steam activities. The cover photograph is ot my Fowler Road engine, which is currently located at Great Shelford, Cambridge. A photograph of this engine also appeared in the September 1979 issue of Steaming.
Although I do not fall into the category of •young American steam enthusiast• I should be happy to try to answer any of your young members• questions relating to American traction engines, steam meetings etc.
David Gray, who wrote this letter, lives at PO Box 7, Woodbury, Long Island, N.Y. 11797. So -anyone wantin~ details of steam over the water, get in touch. I hope that some penfr1end offers will come in soon, now that our letter has appeared.
The other letter is from Richard Froggatt, and I will quote parts of it. He says: •
I still think that steering the Z7 was worth my £1. How about a drive for next year's £1.50? (Richard was lucky enough to get up on one of the Fowler Z7 ploughing engines recently brought back from Mozambique.) As a thought for future newsletters, do you think you could organise an adverts page for apprentices to advertise, say, se.cond-hand bookat rally
programmes, Steaming, etc? I also read the book review with interest, and hope you will continue with this worthwhile sect.ion in the.. future.
Thanks, Richard -and what a good idea. An advertisement section will be started straight away, in this very issue, in fac~. After that, it will be up to the members to keep it going.
!2.§~HOTOGRAJ:HIC GOMPETITIQ!:!
We were rather disappointed at the small entry for the competition, so unless I am deluged with letters ins is ting that it keeps going.,._ there won't be another one next year. We only received four pictures, so we are not awarding prizes for all the clasaes. Inste~d th~re is one overall winner, and a smaller prize for the beat pnoto or an avprentice.
NTEC Sales Stand vouchers will be sent to: Brian Allison, whose winning entry showed D. Harding's Marshall tractor at the Horsham rally, and to Paul Coulson, who photographed a very well-known Apprentice on a bicycle. We understand that the Membership Secretary usually uses four wheels, not two~ •
WE CAN'T PRINT COLOURPHOTOSBUI'.......... .
Here are Alun and Sylvia Berth-Jones, Ian Storey on Michael's Fowler Z7 at Rempstone this summer. printed in World's Fair on August 16th, together about the Club.
and Michael Davies
The picture was with a long article
STORINGANDREFERENCINGNEGATIVES
QL.Alan Martin
There must now be many members of the SAC who have started. a photo collection or engines they have seen at rallies etc.; may. I the.re.fore make two pleas to such membersi
First, so far as your prints are concerned, do make a point of writing on the reverse of each print at least the place where and the date when you took each photo as well as some brief details such as the make and, if possible, maker's number, of each engine. It is surprising how, after a few months, one has to think hard to remember accurately the 'where' and 'when' of a particular photo. Do therefo.re make. a point of writing up the details as soon as you get your prints.
Secondly, store the negatives carefully for future use. After all, who knows but in a few years from now your prints may welL be mach sought after by other members! Nowadays most reputable photographic processors return your prints and negatives in cellophane envelopes or holders. Keep the negatives in these envelopes, and store them in a suitable 'cabinet• such as a shoe-box, with a tight-fitting lid.to keep out dust and. light.
A simple index of your negatives, for easy access and retrieval in the future, can be made by numbering each cellophane envelope with. spool and print numbers, and entering the full details in a stiff-covered,. lined exercise book obtainable from any decent stationers. As an example, your first spool might contain eight negatives of which only five were related to engines, so your negative envelope would be numbered 1/1-5, and. the notebook would give the details as follows:
Lovell,
Of course, if you want to extend your references in the notebook, a suitable cross-reference could be instituted on similar lines under makers' headings, e.g.
BURRELL
o-f engin~ 3458';75efiance
Note that sufficient space should be left between entries in this suggested cross-reference for future negative numbers. of the same engine to be entered.
Finally, these simple suggestions can obviously be extended under further headings, but at least these will help you to start a system which sho1;1ld make it easy to trace, at any time, negatives which are .to be used again. I wish you all success with your photography; no doubt others more expert than I will be giving you other hints in the future.
!?.L_Paul Coulson
Wednesday, October 1st. was the dl:zy of the sale of the entire collect-ion of steam traction en~ines once owned by Mr. Thomas Brownlee Paisley, of Holywell, Cambridgeshire.
We arrived at Manor Farm at approximately 9.30 am. As we entered the gate I could see the line-up of slumbering giants. Not only were there steam traction engines in the field, but there were also two living vans in very poor condition, and two old steel trailers badly in need of restoration. But perhaps the most unusual item in tbe field was a German field gun. Next we came to the workshop containing tools and spares. From there we went to a marquee where the auction started, with the sale of a Beyer-Garrat locomotive plate for £50.
The locomotive plates varied in price from £170 down to £30. The highest price paid was for an 1883 Blackhawthorn and Co. plate which sold for £450 -at least, that was the highest until the l.ocomo.tive splasher plates came along. One worded 'Hatfield House' sold for £850, and the other, worded 'Leicester City', sold for the staggering sum of £2400.
The sale then moved on to the 'traction engine miscell.aneous' section. This included a amokebox door ring from a Burrell road locomotive (£250), and some old lamps, ranging from a cast-iron one from the top of a railway gate (£35), to four 'various' lamps selling for £15.
At about 2.30 pm. everybody moved outside to the slumbering g.i.ants, where D.J.Middlemiss gave a short speech: 'Let us, before this entire collection of steam traction engines is dispersed, remember the_ late Mr. Thomas Brownlee Paisley, the owner of this unique collection. We have here today some exceedingly old and rare engines.' The sale of the engines started with a Clayton and Shuttleworth portable build in 1922, which sold for £1150. The cheapest engine of the day was a rare Burrell_ portable completed in April 1890, which only made £&00.
From here we moved to the only pair of Burrell ploughing engines left. Both had been partially restored bys.A. Burgess of Haddenham, and they were sold with a trailer and all the remaining parts. They fetched £3500. As the sale continued, engines by Marshall, Davey Paxman, Fowler and Fowell were sold. The Fowell engines were built at St. Ives, Cambridge, which is only a mile from Holywell. This was the largest collectlon of Fewell engines in one ownership, as there are only seven left, six in England and one in Ireland. •
The only engine not belonging to Mr. Paisley was the Savage 4h.p. compound lighting set belonging to Mr •. Middlemiss, of Godmanchester.
The first Showman's was the Foster 'Admiral Beatty', sold for £42000. The only engine not sold was a rare Farmers Foundry portable, which.. was withdrawn at £6500. The Aveling and Porter Showman 'Samson' went to a new home for £2700. Perhaps the most unusual engine was the 'Mighty Emperor'. This land leviathan is a Burrell crane engine which started its life asa short-canopied showman built in 1876, but was taken back by the makers and converted to a crane engine f~r their own use. This engine was sold for £23000. Beyond 'Emperor' lurked three rollers by Wallis and Steevens, Marshall and Robey. This latter was used into the late 1960s to build roads for modern transport.
The two derelict living vans went next. One, a Fowler, sold for £100, and the other, a Stagg and Robinson, fetched £110. The field gun mentioned earlier went for £1350. We then went to the workshop where several stationary engines and steam pumps, together with steam spares and tools, were rapidly sold. And so ended a most memorable day, when 319 engine plates, 26 steam locomotives and 42 assorted lots raised the grand total of about £317,375. And I have a unique catalogue!
CHRisrMAS COMPETITION
Here is something to start a discussion round any steam enthusiast's Christmas dinner-table. Study this picture carefully. (Yea, we know it is the picture on the front of the Membership lipplication form - that wasn't the question!) It was drawn by Geoffrey Wheeler, the well-known engine artist, but it is a rather unusual engine. In fact, it is a •compound' engine. What we want you to tell us is: which bits of this engine are from which makes? (For example, you might decide that it has a Fowler chimney and an Aveling smokebox door.) Then, liat the various parts and their makes on a sheet of paper.
Send your entry, complete with your name, age and address, to: The Editor, 8 Newburgh Road, Acton, London W36nQ. to arrive before January 15th. There will be at least one Sales Stand voucher prize, depending on the number-of entries we receive.
DO iOQ WANT OR HAVE YOU GO"r?
(This is the new member's advertisement column - j us_t send in detalls of your wants, or of what you want to sell or swap, and we'll print them.)
ANENGINE OWNERnear Aylesbury wants reliable and regular help with the maintenance of his engine. Contact the Membership Secretary,. Pounce Hall Cottage, Sewards End, Saffron Walden, Essex.
REWARDS-see yourself 'in printJ Send articles, book and. rally reviews, notes and news to the Editor, 8 Newburgh Road, Acton, London w3 6DQ.
SAC BADGESare still available at only 65p. from the Editor (address above).