A narrow guage nut

Hi all

My name is Colin and I live in Bexleyheath, Kent.

I don't have any engineering projects on the go at the moment, but that may change at anytime.

I am a life member of the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Trust in North Devon, due to various personal issues which have come up over the past year, I am taking a short break from work before I get back into doing something for a living, my background has always been electrical engineering and maintenance and I have always been interested in how things work be it by steam, water, air, diesel, petrol or what ever it may be.

I am out of the loop at the moment when it comes to engineering, but I hope to improve on that in the coming months.

I will no doubt ask some very simple questions which I should know the answer to but have forgotten all about it, I do at the moment spend to much time on the internet chatting away to other railway modeller/engineers and looking up information on a wide range of subjects to help out with other heritage railway enthusiast's as well.

Well I think that is enough about me for now, I have by the way started a new thread about a local model engineering company from years ago called Dick Simmons and Co, so if anyone have any information about that company I would love to know more about any of the locos they may have built all those years ago.

Regards

Colin Rainsbury

Welcome to the Forum Colin, I'm a fellow narrow-gauger. There is some serious knowledge on here and people are often very happy to share it.

Regards,

John,

Welcome to the Forum Colin, I've seen the Dick Simmons thread. He also designed some locos, I think Ajax is the best known.

Neil

Thanks Guys,

I have most of my life though about who Dick Simmons was, it is only now that I though I had better find out more before it is gone for ever, Bexley Library services are currently running a program to fill in the various bits of Bexley history.

While I have more experience of the model railway side of things, I think it is just as important to remember the engineering side of the area as well, Maxim Guns at Crayford, Fraser and Chambers at Erith, BICC at Belverdere, there are more but I cant recall the names at present.

Colin

Colin

How about CA Parsons turbine manufacturers in Erith. Huge site closed in 1970

Jonathan

Thanks Jonathan,

Their name was on the tip of my tongue, some massive engineering companies from the area now all gone.

What I will say is we still have a few engineering companies but none as big as those of the past, we do have a few motor engineering companies dealing with various motor sports and other motor engineering specialist in the area, but the whole engineering base has changed.