Summer fun, but stay safe...
Events enjoyed and to look forward to, but some sobering advice to hear too...
Four packed pages rounding up the club action this month, reflecting just how busy the scene has been over the past few weeks, evident in the many magazines and newsletters sent into EIM Towers and the pictures arriving from our various correspondents (Yes – we are getting some pictures sent in at last!).
We start with the 7¼” Gauge Society and it is no surprise at all that the summer edition of 7¼ Inch Gauge News features on its cover a picture of chairman Frank Cooper, presenting awards at the Society’s Nottingham Mini Gathering on what proved to be his final duty before his untimely passing on 3rd May.
In the magazine Society president Brian Reading pays full tribute to Frank, commenting that he “was a great asset not only for our Society but to model engineering interests in a variety of fields – he worked extremely hard on behalf of our Society and his contribution was so wide it is difficult to start in trying to record all that he has achieved.”
Brian adds that it must not be forgotten that Frank was also chairman of the Northern Association of Model Engineers, and “on occasions, such as at model engineering exhibitions, was able to juggle the two (or more) hats with conspicuous ease .... Frank will be greatly missed not only by our Society but also the whole world of model engineering and heritage railways.”
Carriage safety
Elsewhere the 7¼ Inch Gauge News publishes the latest advice issued by the Health & Safety Executive concerning open vehicles used on passenger-carrying miniature railways, and it is advice that every club operating trains for the public needs to read and act upon.
The advice follows an incident on a line in 2021 when a member of the public got their leg trapped between the carriage they were travelling on and the raised track the train was travelling on. The HSE investigation concluded that there were no suitable guards installed to ensure the limbs of passengers could not extend into the dangerous entrapment area between the moving carriage and track. And a further potential entrapment point was identified between carriages when trains round curves in the track, reducing the space between vehicles on one side.
The HSE has insisted that manufacturers and designers of passenger-carrying miniature railway stock (on raised or ground-level track) should ensure there is no potential for entrapment points. Operators of railways should appoint a competent person to assess their stock and if they feel it is capable of trapping passengers should take the vehicles out of service until they can be rectified. The HSE also advocates continuous instruction, inspection and maintenance regimes for anyone operating such stock.
What is clear from all this is that clearly our operations will be watched closely in future by the authorities – you have been warned...
Fire risk
Continuing the safety theme and a very serious incident that shows that smaller-scale locomotives should not be treated any less carefully than larger passenger-carrying examples. The Gauge 1 Model Railway Association has issued urgent advice following a fire at a UK model engineering club track.
Fuel leaking from a locomotive at
a steaming bay ignited and was doused using water from a nearby container for boiler water. When the leak continued to burn a similar container was picked up to douse it, but this container was full of not water but alcohol – the resultant fireball resulted in the air ambulance being called and three victims being taken to hospital with serious burns.
We can no doubt expect further action from the HSE following this incident, but meantime we implore all operators of gas or alcohol-fuelled locos to take a look at the advice – it’s on the Federation of Model Engineering Societies website at https://fmes.org.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2022/05/g1mra-safetyadvice-may-2022.pdf
Turning to brighter things – correspondent Phil Barnes has been in touch to tell us about the first fete in three years at the Ingfield Special Needs School near Billingshurst in Sussex, held on 18th June and featuring the use of the 101/4-inch gauge Ingfield Manor Railway. “Having very few public running days these days, the railway was well patronised,” Phil says, adding that the day featured a few firsts. “It was the first time that the new extension had been used by the public at a fete, it was the first time that two ‘Royal Scot’ 4-6-0s had double-headed public trains, and most importantly, the first time that the newly refurbished Disabled Access Vehicle was in traffic, which saw much use by the residents of Ingfield School.”
The railway fielded 12 steam locos plus a diesel and a battery electric loco and some 53 volunteers were rostered to support the operation – impressive in these times of much pressure on volunteer resources. All the monies raised from ticket sales and donations were passed to The Friends of Ingfield School after the event.
Good to receive a bumper edition of the newsletter from the Stockholes Farm MR in Lincolnshire, bolstered by a whole lot of activity at this 71/4-inch gauge line. Notable achievements include the completion of the second section of the decorative wall that we pictured in the May issue, made entirely of wine bottles – apparently finishing this section required 140 bottles, which must have been fun to source...
Other recent major achievements at Stockholes include the creation of a carriage store – the majority of the stock previously stored in the tunnel on the main running line has been moved into the new store and duly filled it..
The cover of the latest COSME Link from the City of Oxford SME boasts a patriotic picture of a large union jack flag flying over the track, the club being one of many to join in the celebrations for Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at the start of June.
Appearance bonus
In his column Oxford chairman Denis Mulford comments that it is good to see the track busy with running days well attended by both members and public. “I really do not think that we realise how well we are thought of,” he says on chatting to visitors over the fence and adds that one regular park user commented how nice the area looked after club members had cut the grass, a tribute to Oxford’s gardeners and the track and building maintenance teams. A reminder for us all – a tidy and attractive site does much for our standing in what are often public areas used by a wide variety of visitors.
Denis does sound a word of warning, however, concerning dwindling membership numbers; “True we are at about 100 members but we could do with some more younger members coming along who want to get involved in the various projects we have planned.” Very true words – I know this column sounds like an old record at times but attracting new members, particularly the next-generation model engineers, is crucial to ensure the future growth, in fact survival of our vocation – they are out there if you make an effort to find them...
By the way the Platinum Jubilee proved a disappointment for some, notably the Lincoln & District ME, the club’s latest newsletter reporting that a very wet weather forecast for Sunday 1st June led to a Jubilee event being transferred from the North Scarle playing fields, where the club has its track, to the village hall; “This ended our plans to participate with train rides...”
Better news from Lincoln sees
plans to trial public running on the second Saturday in the month, starting on 13th August – let’s hope it goes well. Meanwhile the club’s new station has recently been officially named – Jacqueline Sutherland of the Lincolnshire Co-op was given the honour of unveiling North Scarle
Halt, the Co-op’s Community Champions fund having paid for the new station with its overall roof.
Regular readers will know that the Welling & District ME has found a new home at Hall Place & Gardens in Dartford, after being forced to vacate its Falconwood site owned by National Grid in May 2021.
Society members have been busy building a new permanent track, infrastructure and clubroom but unfortunately delays in connecting water and electricity to the site has forced repeated postponements of the commencement of public running, with there now being concerns that there won’t be any public days in 2022.
Excellent effort
Writing in the latest Welling magazine editor Tony Riley comments, however, that the club should be pretty proud of itself; “Thanks to the efforts of many club members – several of whom have joined us since the move – just one year and one day after leaving Falconwood we were able to resume regular club running on Tuesday afternoons at our new track. I think that is pretty impressive”.
Meanwhile work is continuing apace and the front cover of the magazine shows the new station canopy being erected over the raised track, while members were recently able to enjoy their first AGM meeting in their new home.
We have featured the annual radio-controlled locomotive competition staged by the Bradford ME before in these pages. This year’s contest was held as the June monthly meeting and attracted a trio of entries, including a six-wheeler from member
John Shelton that boasted Formula-1 style front and rear aerofoils!
Each competitor was allowed three laps of the track with each timed. John Coppin entered the only axle-driven loco and suffered wheelspin on getaway, whereas his two rivals, Mr Shelton and Derek Round, both entered locos powered by ducted fans. In the end all three were declared winners – John Coppin for the fastest axle-driven lap, Derek Round for the fastest overall and John Shelton for the fastest in 5-inch gauge, the others being of 31/2-inch. Seems a very fair way of doing things...
Looking significantly ahead right now is the Bournemouth & District SME. This club will celebrate its centenary in 2024 and members are reminded in the latest newsletter that “This is not so far away so now is the time to start making plans, assuming we are going to mark the occasion in some way.” Surely there’s no question that you will? A centenary doesn’t come along very often...
Efficiency expected
Also planning well ahead is the Bristol SMEE. The club has been chosen to host the annual IMLEC competition for efficiency in model steam locomotives next year, celebrating 50 years since the Bristol club opened its Ashton Court Railway. So a small group of members decided to practice for the big event by holding their own internal version, BRIMLEC, actually reviving a competition that was started at the club’s previous Canford Park site in 1971 and was an integral part of the calendar until the turn of the century.
Six runs were made with coal and water use closely monitored and a dynamometer car also involved. Geoff Smith was declared the winner with his recently acquired ‘Speedy’ Simplex 0-6-0 with his son Steve taking the same loco to second place.
The Bristol club recently opened its 16mm scale track with a special event which included a display of models judged by Alan Regan, chairman of the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers. Best model on show was won by Bristol member Iain Holland for his Fowler locomotive. It’s good to see more clubs responding to the ever-growing appeal of the smaller scales.
Meanwhile the aftermath of the pandemic has seen many clubs catching up on delayed significant birthdays and the latest is the Tonbridge ME. The club has issued an invitation to join in the delayed 70th anniversary of the establishment of its track at Brightfriars Meadow in the Kent town – the track which sits alongside a swimming pool and the
River Medway was laid in 1951.
The event will be held on Saturday 27th August and will include a lunchtime barbecue. Visiting locomotives with valid boiler certificate and club third-party insurance will be very welcome and anyone interested in joining the party should advise club secretary Colin Harwood by 13th August – he can be reached on 07950 508222/020 8777 8586 or on tonbridgemes@gmail.com
Another likely to be highly enjoyable special event making a glorious return this month will be the Standard Gauge Rally at the Rugby ME. Taking place over the weekend of 13th-14th August, the rally will feature running facilities for 2 ½ ,3 ½ , 5 and 7 1/4 -inch gauge models. Entry is free but there will be a small fee if you want a ploughman’s lunch – more details are at stdgrally@outlook.com
Looking a little further ahead, the South Cheshire ME will be joining forces with the London & North Western Railway Society on 17th September, for a special steam-up celebrating the centenary of the merger between the L&NWR and the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway to create a much larger L&NWR.
The event will be at the South Cheshire track in Willaston, Nantwich with elevated 2½, 3½ and 5-inch gauges available and potential visitors with suitable locos are asked to contact the organisers via kennethwood2014@hotmail.com. Locos do not have to be of L&NWR origin, and a separate display area will be set up for those who wish to display model locos in smaller or larger scales.
Super Scamp
Regular readers of these pages will know that the monthly newsletters from Rugby are always full of the latest happenings at what is a most busy and active club and the latest editions are no different. My eye was most taken in the most recent edition, however, by the home-build project of Rugby member Rolf Thomas.
Rolf’s ‘work-in-progress’ is effectively a ‘Scamp on steroids’, taking the popular 71/4-inch petrol loco as a basis but powering it by a single-cylinder Petter diesel engine sourced from a cement mixer and driving through a dynamo, control box and motor. No doubt once complete this will be a very powerful loco indeed...
Finally I still find it odd getting newsletters from elsewhere in the world that are marked ‘winter edition’, as we are watching the temperature climb into the high 20s, even in mid Wales where our sunshine is said to be often liquid...
Playing to the public
Typical of this is the latest Smokebox from the Rand SME in South Africa, editor Luker adding that recent months have been so depressing
(South Africa another to suffer in the Covid pandemic) that a funny story is in order – he then proceeds to describe an example of pulling a train full of children around the track with the club’s unsuperheated Lawley loco, which has to be driven carefully to avoid priming, when arriving at the tunnel “that naughty side of me had a lightbulb moment...”
Luker asked the child sitting directly behind him whether they should fill the tunnel with steam, and when she nodded enthusiastically, he crept into the tunnel and then cracked open the regulator with the reverser on full forward. “Sir William did not disappoint... there were screams of joy from all the passengers!” he writes, adding that on arrival back at the station everyone was smiling “from ear to ear”.
Luker concludes; “Those insurmountable world problems we all tend to focus on seemed a little smaller, and I was reminded how a few smiles can change the world...”