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Blast Pipe
February 2015
Notice of Meetings
Hutt Valley MES
Meeting on the first Wednesday,
3 February 2015
at the clubrooms, Petone at 7-45pm.
Holiday Update free for all !
There will be the normal session of
‘Bits & Pieces’
Don’t miss Waitangi Weekend (see below)
Hutt Valley MES Committee
On the third Tuesday, 17 February
at 7-30pm
Maidstone MES
The next meeting will be on Thursday 12
February at 7.30pm
Maidstone Park Upper Hutt
HVMES - Waitangi Weekend
Friday 6 Feb - Sunday 8 Feb.
It is planned to follow the example of previous
years, when a long weekend results, and run from
10am to 4pm over the three days involved and visiting
members and locos will be welcome.
With the clubroom repairs still in progress the
display of models, working and otherwise, will not be
as extensive as in the past and will probably be
situated outside under the verandah.
Catering will
be continuous tea
and coffee with a
light lunch. There
will be a meal after
the run on the
Saturday evening.
It is
anticipated that
there will be
someone sleeping
over to provide
some security over
the time.
No doubt
there will be some
fine tuning of
arrangements at the
usual monthly
meeting the
previous Wednesday
so make that a date
too.
From the — HUTT VALLEY MODEL ENGINEERING
!
!
!
!
SOCIETY INC.
6 Marine Parade, Petone, Lower Hutt 5012, New Zealand
Email address - [email protected]
Website - http://hvmes.com
Patron
- Ian Welch (Mainline Steam Trust)
President - Claude Poulsen
Ph 568-8507 [email protected]
Secretary - Gavin McCabe
Ph 567-4487
Treasurer - Chris Gousmett
Ph 526- 3705
Editor
- Peter Anderson
Ph 232-4533
[email protected]
and the
MAIDSTONE MODEL ENGINEERING SOCIETY INC
c/o 95 Holdsworth Av, Trentham, Upper Hutt
5018
President - Nathan Reynolds
Secretary - Bob Begbie Ph 976-9114 [email protected]
Treasurer - Brian Hawke Ph 528-4938
Patron - His Worship Mayor Wayne Guppy.
Location - Maidstone Park, Upper Hutt
Blast Pipe is printed with one or two pictures in colour. A Pdf colour
version is available on the website (per courtesy Charlie Lear) or e-mailed
direct to members on request.
Hutt Valley MES Notes - Editor
At our December meeting, which seems so
long ago now, we welcomed three visitors and our
new member, Paul Barnes. It was good to have 22
present for the last meeting of 2014.
Toby Wilkinson had a completed Quorn tool
grinder on the table and he showed false modesty by
pointing out some of its faults and things he wants to
improve already. He commented that he used White
Knight epoxy enamel and it looked great. All told it
was a triumph and he was pleased to have it
‘completed’ and working. Congratulations Toby.
Franz Schleicher had a lashed up folio clock
he is working on using meccano, small gears, chain,
and material salvaged from old machines and gear.
It was a fairly early form of clock design with only an
hour hand and named after the folio which is the
horizontal bar which oscillates back and forth
through an angle of about 60 degrees controlling
David Turner had his 3” Case belted up to the sawmill on 19
January, Wellington Anniversary Day. We featured this in the
December Blast Pipe but he has since doubled the length of the
bench.! !
!
!
Photo - D Turner.
*2*
the escapement. It will be interesting to see how the
‘Franz’ model will develop.
Claude reported on the work done around the
site removing growth from close to the clubhouse to
facilitate painting. The
creeper over the tunnel was
not meant to come off but it
was the victim of the strong
wind one day and most of it
was peeled off. Claude had
to take it to the tip too.
While on the
demolishing topic he asked
if we were aware of the
State Theatre being
demolished in Jackson
Street Petone. A discussion
on the old movie houses of
the suburb ensued and we
were then shown a photo of
the exposed roof trusses in
the course of removal.
Murray McKenzie
then got going on his 3D
computer design by
explaining the philosophy
of getting the design right
by checking that it worked
through the computer programme rather than the
evolution system used by creating a working
machine, Mark 1, and proceeding through several
improved iterations to the final model.
He voiced his trepidation at demonstrating in
front of a knowledgable group from his position as a
relative beginner in the field, but he had nothing to
fear as we all had plenty to learn.
The programme he demonstrated with was
AutoDesk Inventor Pro 2011. (Several years ago we
had Peter Gibbs give us our first taste of 3D in a
similarly very
expensive
programme,
“Solid
Works”)
Murray
demonstrated
the
procedure for
design of a
simple
horizontal
steam engine
showing the
ability to
rotate the
‘solid’ design
and view
from any angle and then to operate the moving parts
to ensure clearances etc. Even with his experience
he struck one or two things that were beyond his
knowledge so a simplified approach was used. The
learning curve is fairly steep and one needs to be
keen to put in the time and effort needed.
Thanks to Murray for giving us a glimpse into
the way it is now done.
Right - Franz beside his
folio clock in the
construction stages, as at
the December meeting.
Photos - Anderson
Left - Toby discussing his now completed
Quorn with Peter and John following the
formal part of the meeting in December.
At the Track
As is usual we have found that we have not been
rushed off our feet over the hot summer days but we
still cater for many of our regulars along with a fair
number of visitors to the area. This gives time to enjoy
the company, and to play on our trains. The income
all helps in the maintenance of our facility. The
average number of equivalent rides over 7 recent run
days is close to 77 and a couple of those days were
pretty unpleasant at our site.
Thanks to all those who helped in the running.
On Sunday 25 Jan. I had the first drive of #2970
for a while and was relieved
to find the hand brake
working properly again
thanks to Gavin’s attention
to the ratchet. This was
done back in November so
sorry for the belated
appreciation.
David Turner has been
operating his Case on a
couple of occasions and at
the last one on 19 Jan. he
Murray McKenzie
supplied these computer
generated pictures of the
designed oscillating
engine and the cylinder
component with mounting
holes ports etc.
The computer can show
this in motion too.
*3*
tried out the modified saw mill with a longer bed,
allowing him to cut a ‘log’ of twice the length. This
takes about thirty minutes so he is not spending all
his time resetting the timber on the bench.
Bogie & Track Problems
After a few derailments of EC3 in a lightly
loaded condition several investigations have taken
place. Mounting modifications are to be made to
reduce the tendency to lift the bogie sideframe, and
the associated wheels on the lightly loaded bogie,
when even slight rocking of the load occurs.
Unfortunately on one of the trial runs carried
out on 25 Jan, to demonstrate this fact, the
derailment resulted in the fracture of the DNC cast
aluminium bogie sideframe as shown in the photo.
It all happened at slow speed. The extra stress on
the bogie occurred when a brakeblock on the
derailed bogie fouled a track tie down bolt that
stands fairly high. This pushed
the wheel back causing the
fracture.
John Antliff reports - “So
it has been agreed that the
offending track tie downs close
to the running rails of the track
--- will be removed and the
bottom corners of the brake
blocks will be flattened off on
all our DNC bogies.”
Ticket Nippers Missing
A while back we put into
service two new ticket nippers
to replace the old ones which
were worn to the extent they
only bent the paper in the hole
rather than punching cleanly.
Only one of these is now available in the ticket office
drawer. If you have any knowledge of the
whereabouts of the other new one please let us
know. We like to make clean holes.
While in ‘missing’ mode we draw attention to
the presence of ‘Honesty’ on the title of the cash
container on our surplus table. If you are owing as a
user, or borrower, please fulfil your duty as an
honest member.
Maidstone MES Notes - Bob Begbie
Greetings and best wishes to our members, to
members at HVMES, at Maidstone UK and to our
readers. We hope you all enjoyed the holiday break.
We had good weather in our area and enjoyed the
special event that was undertaken for the Tiny Tunes
Children’s group.
We also enjoyed our club barbecue evening.
There was a good turnout for that. All participants
left well fed. Track running on that evening was
restricted to club members only and trains were run
around our track in both directions. Trains were
parked at the passing loops on our back straight
and allowed to move out of those loops only after
exchange of tablets authorising access to the
section of railway on which their journey was to be
completed. Proper railway procedures were
observed.
The photo above shows the
top bogie centre on the
wagon underframe. The
bolt on the bogie bolster
acts as the king pin and this
mounting is to be given
more fexibility. Note the
bogie has been turned as
the brake cylinder should be
adjacent to the vacuum
brake hose just visible in the
step in the underframe.
Left - The bottom of this
brake block showed it hit the
track tiedown bolt resulting
in the frame fracture.
!
Photos- Anderson
We managed successful and pleasing
scheduled track runs over other parts of the
Christmas, New Year period.
Sunday 4th January saw Brian Hawkes 5”
gauge Railmotor Steam locomotive, Katie, run for
the first time since 1997. Brian was pleased with its
performance. He has added a water tank behind the
drive car with an electric pump feeding to the
locomotive water tender. That has greatly increased
the working range of the engine.
The club locomotive, Tr107 has also been in
Brian’s workshop having the rear springs shimmed
to raise the rear end of the engine and having a hole
cut in the chassis to allow better access to change
engine oil. It is also being measured with the object
of having a front NZR pattern coupling made and
installed.
On Sunday, 18th January we had all the boxes
ticked for a good running day; good weather, a good
supply of motive power and passenger trollies and
operating manpower. The only thing we were short
of was passengers. For some reason there were not
a lot of people in the park. I expect there would have
been some competition from the annual “Wings over
Wairarapa” air show in Masterton.
That was a pity. We had the following visiting
drivers, with steam locomotives, all willing to do a
job, but there was not a lot of work for them.
Blast Pip February 2015
*4*
Brian Hawke is shown with his
Railmotor Katie that has been
returned to service. It was built by
Phil Davis in 1994 as noted from
the name plate.
!
Photos - B. Hawke
➡ Dave Brownlow with his
7½” G Fairlie, S216
ready to run on the
ground level track.
➡ John Antliff with his 7½”
G 4-6-0 John Henry to
run G/Level
➡ Bill Phillips with his 5”G
4-6-0 Springbok,
Gazelle to run on our
elevated track.
Those visitors were
certainly most welcome.
We thank them for their
offers of assistance. We
are sorry there was not a
bit more work available.
Peter Anderson of
HVMES visited, this time
wearing his competent
person’s hat, rather than
as newsletter editor. Peter
reviewed our progress in
making ready for a formal
inspection of our facility,
the necessary prerequisite
to enable our application
for registration of our
activity. We thank Peter for his help in that direction.
We were able to show him anti-tipping guides
we are making to ensure stability of passenger
trollies on our elevated track when running on steel I
beams that are used in three places to support that
track.
We have been helped publicise our operations
for 2015 by the Upper Hutt City Council who publish
a calendar which they distribute to all homes in
Upper Hutt City. For 2015 they have included a note
of our planned running days and running times on
the calendar page for each month. That will be a
great help to us. We will have to make sure we get
our run dates and times to council in time for
inclusion in future calendars.
Notice of our scheduled Sunday afternoon
public running sessions is also being published in
council sponsored activities notices in our local
weekly community newspaper, the “Upper Hutt
Leader”. We are sure those notices will help spread
news of our activity and thank council for publishing
those run dates. We really appreciate that
assistance.
We have just received from the Maidstone
Model Engineering Society, UK, their winter 2014/15
newsletter, and are greatly impressed by the note of
how that club maintains contact with two older
people. One lady, Elsie Gurr, just turned 99, still
regularly visits the club, with assistance of a member
and her carer. Another contact, Reg Holdstock, now
in a nursing home, and not long past his 102nd
birthday is visited and kept in touch by
club members. We will be grateful if
MMES, UK will pass our regards and best
wishes to Ms Gurr and Mr Holdstock.
I will be very pleased if I am visited by
members from MMES, NZ, when I am
102. Unfortunately, by that time, visitors
will probably need to be able to cope
with an uncomfortably warm
environment!
Track running sessions
planned before issue of the next
newsletter are:Sunday afternoons1.0 to 4.30pm each
day, weather permitting.
**** Sunday 1st February Team 1
**** Sunday 15th February, Team 2
Our club meeting for February will be
held from 7.30pm
on Thursday 12 Feb
in our meeting
room in the
Maidstone Park
amenities building.
We will try to bring
members up to date
with our
preparations for
inspection for
registration of our
operations. With a
little luck Ross may
have another of his
woodwork puzzles and may even be persuaded to
divulge the secrets of some of the earlier tricks he has
shown. We shall look forward to seeing you there.
Kapiti Summer ‘Blowdown’.
The newsletter published in December from
Kapiti shows plenty of activity planned over the
summer including a Charity run, but there is no
mention of their usual open weekend at this time of
the year. Track maintenance has put it on hold.
It is noted that on Sunday 30 November a plaque
on the KMR
clubhouse
remembering Colin
Burleigh was
dedicated. (For
protection it is
situated inside, and
only visible when
the clubhouse door
is opened).
Colin’s family also
dedicated a seat at
the Seaview side of
the Dell, looking out over Raumati Beach towards
Kapiti Island. The Seaview Track Extension was
fulfillment of his vision for KMR progress.
Colin is remembered with respect and affection
by the club, and the model engineering fraternity for
his tireless work as MEANZ President over 10 years.
*5*
Above - the underside of the new cylinder
assembly for Dart.
Right - The cylinders after fitting in the
frames and the motion is shown below.
!
Photos - Peter Targett.
“Dart” Update
- Peter Targett
Since the last update in the
November Blast Pipe it was time
to tackle the big job of the
cylinders, end caps, valve chest,
valves, valve buckles piston, glands and con rods.
To save on cost I've gone for cast iron to replace the
original gun metal castings. I've also opted for ‘O’
rings rather than cast iron rings. David Brownlow
runs his Fairlie on ‘O’ rings and with the km's he
puts in every year there's no doubt they work fine.
The mounting holes for the cylinders were drilled
using the location of the mounting holes I'd
mapped from the frames. There was a moment of
"I hope this works" but everything lined up perfectly
when installed in the frames. The holes in cross
head slide bars, already fitted in the motion plate,
landed exactly on their holes in the rear cylinder
covers.
Once it was all back together it had to be tried
on air for the first time.
http://youtu.be/IZ7_Q0THENo.
It knocked a bit. The con-rods were fouling
the bottom of the opening in the motion plate and
the valve timing had only been roughly set up. The
motion plate was quickly removed and the 25 thou
taken off the bottom of the opening, and a bit of
time has now been spent on setting up the valves
and pinning everything in place.
Oldest Model Railway
Claude was reminded of his visit to York NR
Museum by a recent quote in Geoff Theasby’s Model
Engineer Club News (#4491, p463)
“The L&Y Railway School signalling display,
a model layout with interlocked lever frames,
block instruments and running electrically
powered trains built by Basset Lowke in 1912, has
been officially designated the world’s oldest
working model railway!”
It was used to teach signallers and
was upgraded with colour light
signals and catenaries, remaining in
use until 1995.
ME Newsletters
With the number of clubs that are no
longer posting newsletters to the
other clubs, keeping in touch with
what is happening around the country
is not so ‘in front of us’. To get a
bigger picture you might like to visit
the website put up by other clubs.
You will find a list of the affiliated clubs with locations,
contacts, and websites that may help in your search on
the MEANZ website, hosted by Palmerston North but
accessible on its own address www.meanz.org/
Railex 2014 - William Taylor
Wellington’s 2014’s Railex in mid November
certainly was an excellent event which operated in the
Porirua Kennel Club premises which provided a much
larger venue than the previous two years. There were
many rail organizations, there including ours, as
represented by Alan Spinks who had ‘Brynglas’ on
display, as well as Murray McKenzie, who had some of
his stationary engines operating throughout the
weekend. I was personally there representing The Hutt
Valley Model Railway Club who were operating their HO
gauge layout ‘Rocky River Railroad’, while the juniors
were operating their own ‘NZ120’ scale layout that is
completely maintained and partially built by them. A few
other notable displays included the “Wellington British
Railway Modeller” club’s ‘N’scale layout with all locos
running with sound decoders and a fully automated
signalling system that was very impressive to see
operating. The Marklin Model Railway Club’s ‘1’ scale
layout was operating over a very large space in the main
room as well as many other layouts. All in all it was a
very impressive Railex this year and it will be interesting
to see what happens in 2015.
Preserved Portable Steam Engine
In 1981 while holidaying at Totaranui I went on a
family walk to Awaroa Inlet and looked for the ‘steam
engine’ left in one of the valleys. At that stage it was a
rusty wreck in light bush, leaning at 15 degrees with tall
grass and growth all around it.
Blast Pipe February 2015
*6*
5”G 4-4-0 Virginia named Diana has been
placed on Trademe several times by Ross Johnson. It is
again on offer at a ‘Buy now’ of $7000 with trolley etc.
Closing on 5 Feb.
It would be nice if it could be retained in the area! - And if it
does not sell we may see it over Waitangi weekend so you
might get a chance to try it out.
Myford
Super 7
Lathe
Portable engine at
Awaroa Inlet as
presented now.
The single cylinder
inverted vertical engine
is on the end opposite
the firebox of the return
tube boiler. The
smokebox is within the
barrel above the
firebox and the uptake
goes up through the
water/steam space
above.
The DOC history of the
area states “At Awaroa, John Black
used a steam engine to drive a
mill which ground bark.” This
bark product was at the time
used in the process of tanning.
This year I took the
opportunity to pay another visit
and found it had been ‘preserved’
in DOC terminology. Nick
Jarman told me that it was so
close to being barged out of the
area by enthusiasts who wanted to ‘restore’ it when
DOC actioned the improved interpretation of its
presence in the park.
As the photos show it is a rather sophisticated
portable with a complex boiler and vertical engine
configuration. So far I have not been able to find its
design origin, or the builder so please let the editor
know if you can locate any more details.
For Sale Items
Suzuki 250cc 4 Stroke Single Cylinder
Engine, 5 Speed with reverse, Electric Start, Auto
Clutch, Complete with Exhaust, Carburettor and
Electrics. Runs well and would suit a 7½” Gauge
Locomotive Project. $250
Contact Murray [email protected] or 027 262
5950
Serial Number
SK 156874
Manufactured UK
1985, purchased
NZ 1989
Mounted on a
timber top steel
frame stand with
3 drawer cabinet
under. Power
drop out safety
electrics fitted
Worksafe NZ
compliant. Angle
poise lamp unit
fitted.
** 3 Chucks: Pratt Burnerd 3 jaw 80mm, 3
jaw 100mm, & 4 jaw 150mm
** Quick release 2 position tool post with
holders for surfacing, boring and parting
tools
** 3 different size keyless drill chucks MT
for tail stock
** 3 rotating centres MT for tail stock
** 16 piece collet set imperial/metric
** Myford Vertical slide plain type
** Myford Taper turning attachment
** Large quantity of tooling new and
used: Ifanger surfacing, screwcutting and
boring
Sandvik, Iscar carbide surfacing and
boring.
Looking at an offer over $5000.00
Contact Dennis on 04 9705127 or
0223605782
Dates to Note
6 - 8 February !Our Waitangi weekend at BEACH
!
!
Marlborough MES Open Weekend
!
!
Manukau Live Steamers Special
28 Feb - 1 March Palmerston North Locomotion
21 - 22 March Great Manawatu Steam Fair
!
Traction Eng Soc. Maewa, Feilding
3 - 6 April Easter KPR Havelock North
The HVMES run at the track at Petone 1300 to
1600hrs on fine Sundays -- Welcome
Maidstone MES, Upper Hutt, running on the 1st
and 3rd Sundays of the month.