What did you do today? 2023

For anyone who hasn't seen my shed insulation thread then I have finished constructing the roof over the last couple of days. Just facias to install, a repaint of everything and install some guttering then I can start on the inside. Unfortunately work stops play for the next few days

Spent most of the day driving across and down England... just over 300 miles of it. And was amazed to find I could park right outside my home having left it on Friday morning! (It's in a street of terraces built when cars were still for the nobs and celebs of the day.)

Why (the drive, not celebs)?

Saturday at Bressingham Steam Museum - so far away I made a long weekend of it, camping a few miles away. The event in particular was a miniature road steam vehicle gathering; not really a "rally" in the usual sense but the mid-afternoon ring parade, with commentator, drew a satisfyingly large public audience. I asked one owner of numbers in steam and he thought about 35. The engines had number-cards but if there was any published list I did not see it.

Otherwise the engines were driving around the Museum site quite informally, as were a couple of full-size ones though their room to explore was obviously much more limited.

The admission ticket included rides on the impressive 2ft and 15-inch gauge railways, and I took both. It also included rides on the 100+ years old Savages gallopers, but I didn't take that offer.

I was surprised to find - and follow round - a ground-level 7.25 and 5" gauge railway looking a little forlorn among the weeds. Enquiring I was told it had not been used for a while.

Took lots of pics - will load some here when I've sorted them. Too knackered now after that drive home. Yet I have driven practically the same distance there and back in one day, twice - or is three times now, Michelle? - responding to sales ads on this very Forum; the seller living in Norfolk!

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That were Saturday.

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Sunday - a pleasant few hours exploring Thetford. Need I say why?

The Charles Burrell Museum is housed in what had been the paint-shop, and its huge double-doors opening straight onto the street (Minstergate) need a lick of paint themselves, but I suppose it's like any other similar collection - someone has to do it.

I had expected it might be closed on Sunday but a smaller door opened and a dog emerged, leading a lad who said "yes" when I asked if it was open.

Stepped inside. The little ticket-office was in darkness. "Maybe a bit early yet", I thought and followed my ears towards voices. After admiring some miniature engines in front of a full-size Burrell general-purpose engine, I came up behind a sizeable party being told all about Dad's Army, by a gentleman in WW2 khaki with an incongruous high-vis vest; and standing in front of Cpl Jones' butcher's van.

Eh? - I discovered that Walmington-on-Sea is really Thetford-(-Not-Near-the-Sea).

Five minutes later I was politely ushered out along with Sgt. Flourescent and his audience; by the Museum curator locking up. The Museum is open only on Saturdays and Tuesdays (difficult to find volunteers) and I'd stumbled into a town tour of the show's locations. (Some scenes, including the title sequence with the whizz-bangs, were filmed on an Army training-range elsewhere in Norfolk, and the occasional sea scenes borrowed Lowestoft or Great Yarmouth.)

The rest of the day involved a fens walk, trying to spot where the Rivers Little Ouse and Waveney, flow away from each other from points so close that they almost make Norfolk a North Sea island. Fruitless though, as I found the paths don't go near that close point.

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A Plug if such be allowed here:

Courtesy of the Parish Magazine in the pub in Hopton (excellent selection of cask ales and ciders, too!)

August 27th.

Charity Road Run - by 6 miniature traction-engines.

Five-mile circuit based on Theltenham Windmill. Though apparently not on one of the preserved mill's advertised Summer-monthly open days, unless it will be for the occasion.

Donate via Justgiving (one word) .com and search by "steam engine fundraiser for cancer" [research] to reveal it is being organised by Mark Goddard in memory of his sister. The page uses a photograph of, I assume him, driving a 4" (or larger?) scale Burrell TE outside what I recognised as its ancestral home.

I should add I do not know Mr. Goddard, I live some three hundred miles from Thetford and Theltenham; and I found the advertisement by sheer chance, in the Parish News of the United Benefice of Hopton [& several other villages].

While making the Farm boy I needed something to support a piece which overhung the vice so I knocked this little beastie up. Sorry slightly out of focus

Not really model engineering, but went to Chester cathedral to see the model railway built by Pete Waterman and friends. Very impressive, even if all modern outline. Cathedral is pretty impressive too. Finished off with a ramble round the canal basin, the bit of canal twixt the bus station and the basin runs at the bottom of an impressive sandstone cutting. If you're tempted, use the park and ride, the parking is free and plentiful, and the bus is every 15 minutes and only £2 return. SWMBO went shopping, not a fit occupation for chaps.

Well, at the weekend! As promised / threatened, a rather random selection from Bressingham Steam Museum and Thetford.

At the Museum, the Portable is a Burrell SC Compound. The two railways are of 15" and 2ft gauges, their long, rural circuits crossing at two places. The 'Terrier' tank-loco is used on footplate-experience days.

Some may recognise the 6" scale Foster and saw-bench from their operating at "The Fosse". The small red undertype steam-lorry in the parade is battery-electric using mobility-scooter parts. I could not resist the photo of the couple returning with their purchases from the adjoining garden-centre!

Of the two contrasting footbridges over the River Little Ouse in Thetford, the cast-iron one proudly bears its 1829 year; the other is an ingenious, modern, 3-way steel fabrication linking both banks and a wooded island that is part of the town's lovely riverside parks and walks.

Hi Nigel Graham 2, long while since I've been to Bressingham Steam Museum, and the last time I went they still had the Royal Scot and the Oliver Cromwell on static display, along with the GER T26 No. 490 and Granville Southern class B4. 0-4-0T, and one or two others. Don't know how many they still have now though. I they also had two narrow gauge, German engines I believe, which I think may have been 4-6-2's but I can't be sure of that, that ran on their Garden Railway.

Regards Nick.

The two narrow-gauge locos there now, at least easily on display, include those I photographed: the 15"g one built by Exmoor Steam Railway, and the 2' g Hunslet; and two or three others, steam and diesel.

In Standard Gauge are the SR tank, and two from Norway: a German-made 1930s Kriegslokomotiven 2-10-? ( I could not see it fully) and a 2-6-0 called 'King Haaken'. I tried photographing these but they are in a gloomy shed.

The German one was one of four that had been stored in a disused railway tunnel in Norway for decades. A photograph on the information-panel shows it in steam at Bressingham but it is presently shedded out of service.

There was frustratingly little information shown about the Norwegian loco beyond its use in a film.

The sheds also gave glimpses of the back of a small diesel locomotive; but more accessible are the GER locomotive, two Royal Train carriages (no entry, just viewing-platform) and Royal Mail TPO you can enter from steps. .

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Following the model-engineering gauges line round, I encountered a 2ft-gauge siding somewhat away from the obviously-public paths, holding a 2' gauge diesel loco minus its engine, coupled to a flat carrying a locomotive boiler and several ex-quarry, side-tipping mineral wagons. The wagons, perhaps used as ballast-carriers, are on the rails but tipped to prevent rain accumulating in them. My path back, along the model-gauge formation, took me past the 15" g station's fence but no-one worried about my being somewhat "off-piste". (off-piston?)

Photos in order: the Kl and 'King Haakon', the slumbering 2ft g items and part of the 7.25" g installation, and another informal scene bewtixt Gallopers and cafeteria.

Edited By Nigel Graham 2 on 18/08/2023 13:13:15

I made some progress with my new gearbox design - a 5-speed sequential transaxle loosely based on the Hewland series of gearboxes for the motor racing fraternity. I've started off with the differential as I assumed (rightly, as it turned out) to be quite difficult. In fact I found that the easiest way to produce the gear forms was to fire up Fusion 369 and use the "GF Gear Generator" add-in. A really useful bit of kit that I'd not come across before. The resultant gears were exported as STEP files which in turn were loaded into Alibre Atom and manipulated therein by extruding and cutting bosses etc, to suit my application. The STEP files will be used later to 3D print the gears themselves. Here's the guts of the diff when it's exploded:

And when assembled with the pinion added ...........

There's an album to which I will be adding various photos and screenshots as the project progresses - "Transaxle design. The link is here, if you're interested.

John

Hi Nigel Graham 2, thanks for the info about Bressingham, looks like they have put that Kriegslokomotiven 2-10-? in much the same place as The Royal Scot was when I saw it, and they seem to be using the same steps up to the footplate as well.

Those ex-quarry mineral wagons that you saw, could well have come from the company I used to work for many years ago, they had hundreds of them when I first started there in 1970, but slowly reduced in numbers as new conveyors were put in and disappeared altogether after about ten years, didn't really do any maintenance on them myself, as they were done in another smaller workshop.

The two German narrow gauge engines were 15" gauge, Nos, 1662 & 1663 Krupps 4-6 2 named Rosenkavalier & Mannertreu and came to Bressingham in late 1972, but they were on the Waveney Valley Railway, part of which ran along side the standard-gauge track. They were very impressive engines, and there was a 15" gauge exact replica of the Flying Scotsman in the Museum foyer.

They had fifteen static standard gauge engines altogether, four of which were part of the National Collection, of which the GER T26 is one, the other three were Oliver Cromwell, London Midland & Scottish Railway No. 2500 Stanier Class 2-6-4T & London, Tilbury & Southend Railway No. 80 4-4-2T Thundersley, that King HaaKon 7 which is aMogal Class 21C 2-6-0 and was painted green and was in front of The Royal Scot when I saw it. It wasn't the best place to get photos back then, as the shed was just about full up.

The Garden Railway was a 9-1/2" Gauge and had the first Locomotive at Bressingham in 1965, named Princess, built in London in 1947 on the lines of an LMS Pacific Princess Class.

This info is from a booklet that I remember buying there, which was published in 1990 by Bressingham Steam Preservation Co. Ltd. and Jarrold Publishing, and has much more info about the whole site as it was then. It seems from a few photos that I took, it was around the mid 1990's when I last went there, but I can't remember how many times I went.

Regards Nick.

Busy welding a bracket that will fit on top of silenced compressor, be able to swing up and away if needed more work space on top(Large Stainless tray mounted), a small 115 Rong Fu bandsaw I am restoring will fit on top to use occasionall and bolted to the bracket..

Completed the fuselage half molds for a small UAV. Fuselage is 1200mm long, seen are the two halves, the upper showing the two removable joogle tools - makes a under lip in the inner periphery of one half, the other half then slips over that joggle lip and is epoxied in place, forming the carbon fiber fuselage shell.

The molds are fibreglass with a blue gell coat which leaves a smooth finish on the carbon fuselage shell. The molds were made using a CNC machined superwood plug ( looks like the fuselage shape, but in two halves) = with 44 layers of glass/resin on the mold - about 7-8mm thick.

Now to do the wing molds...

I needed to make a second sign to go with the one I made the other week as well as a small one for someone who lost their cat. Between doing these(Waiting for finish to dry) I tried to cross drill two pins for the Farm Boy and being a very small hole I made no progress as I had to take it easy.

I did wonder if it was a case of trying to drill very small hole into stainless steel so have turned some silver steel instead, hopefully try and drill that tomorrow.

Made a 3/4BSP to 1/2" Brass adaptor for a hydraulic pressure-test gauge for my steam-wagon boiler.

I found ToolStation obligingly sells water-mains test gauges, 0 - 11Bar, for a snip under £20. These come with a short armoured flexible tube, and a 3/4BSP union nut.

I could have machined the whole thing, which will screw into one of the safety-valve holes, from the solid and I did screw-cut the smaller thread. I wanted the big thread spot-on to size and profile though, better than I could have made it, because the gauge's union nut is a thin plastic moulding!

So it's in two parts soft-soldered together; the larger being an outlet cut from a scrap plumbing fitting for me by a friend in the trade. A bit like a slice of brass studding with a hole already through it.

.

And afore anyone says anything, I do know I can't certify my own engines! It makes sense though to perform a preliminary test to the MELG specifications to ensure the Club Boiler Admirers won't find anything wrong.

I've still to make an adaptor for the Club's test-set.

Though by the time the whole vehicle is ready for them we'll probably be three editions on - puce-on-yellow, even more confusingly arranged and the certificate of MENSA-level complexity.

Took delivery of a rather large pallet from Warco this afternoon.

Palletways driver helpfully put it where I asked outside the garage doors. The cabinet was in partially assembled form in two separate boxes, shipped on top of the main machine crate & all black stretch-wrapped. together. All parts survived the journey through the pallet delivery network unscathed.

Inside the box is my new toy :

As I suspected, the weight quoted on the Warco website for the GH600 is way out. The crate says 270 kg gross / 240kg net & the 2 cabinets were 24kg and 27Kg net - the heavier cabinet having the shelves & backplates to form the stand. The plate on the machine says 225kg, so around 275 kg for the machine on the stand - and it felt like it !

The stand assembled easily and, with Mrs B's assistance & a fair bit of effort, it is now on the stand but not in final position ( need to sort some feet). Engine hoists are hateful things, particularly on less-than-smooth concrete. Not helped by the machine crate being placed on top of a standard pallet, restricting access to the hoist - but we managed in the end without damage to either of us or the machine. I am rather feeling it now, though !

I have made a start on removing the rust preventative coating, which is similar to the Shell Ensis fluid used at the company I started my apprenticeship at.. Enough applied to be protective, but not excessive & it comes off easily with GT85 & paper towels. I was a bit suprised to find marking blue on the paper towels from the underside of the bed shears - proper fitting on a Chinese lathe ? Surely not ! Cross slide ways on the saddle look to have been scraped as well, and not the usuall half-hearted "oil retention" random scallops type of scraping.

So far the machine is looking good, though there are a few sharp edges on the compound slide that will have to be addressed. Not had it running yet, as the slings are still in place.

It is a much more substantial machine than I was expecting - makes the Super 7 look small given that they have a similar footprint..

Nigel B.

Something like that would make a great reader's tip or 1-page article for MEW you know

Neil

Yet again another side project this time a plate to fit in the mill vice to hold parts which can't be held directly in the vice. This is the start which I did a while back so now need to complete it by drilling and tapping a few holes. This is the second time I have had to come off the Farm Boy build to make a jig or fixture and sure it will not be the last, at least they will also be hand for future work as well.

I will also need to make some small clamps for this as well.

Drilled 45 holes and started the threaded holes on the mill to finish the tapping by hand in the plate and have tapped the first 9 holes still another 36 to finish before making a start on the clamps

The outside of the shed is complete all bar the guttering which is probably what I should be doing in this nice weather but I want to get the 2k epoxy floor paint down and give it chance to cure before I start moving machines around on it

looks a whole lot better than your 13 aug photo

Finally assembled the Humbug in glow form and it runs!!!