N
ORTHERN
VIEWS
ISSUE No 252 … September 2012
Clubrooms and Running Track at Heritage Park,
SH14, Maunu, Whangarei.
3rd Sunday Running . . .
Well the weatherman promised us a miserable Sunday with heavy rain and possible
thunderstorms . He was right but the timing was late and to our advantage whereby
all the promised crap came after we had just finished running for the day.
The customer queue rapidly grew after 10 am and was at near record lengths for
most of the day but at about 2 pm as the threatening weather clouded things over
the prospective passengers must have decided that it was perhaps more prudent to head for home. The
first raindrops hit about 3.15 pm. Roger L brought his loco with him from Kerikeri but an unforeseen
problem pre-vented him from taking “Edward” for a trot. We were using all the available trollies and
the club’s two petrol locos to keep the patrons happy, these along with Roger R’s “Shay” and Rankin’s
“Q” class steamers. It would appear that there was a “dud” bag of char that we had started to use and
this affected the steaming quality a bit but after we changed bags the problem disappeared. We sure
could have used some of those trollies we are in the process of constructing. Our estimates of
sausages and sliced bread required were a little shy of the mark and required a quick trip down to the
Mad Butcher. Jacqui, as usual, did a
sterling job and dispensed just on
200 sausages. The “Big Railway”
was pretty busy as well and were
offering jigger rides on their new
section of track as well. The good
attendances we have had of late
would appear to be the result of
NGUNGURU
WESTERN HILLS DRIVE
plenty of roadside advertising. CLUB HAPPENINGS
Next General Meeting: Thursday, September 27, 2012.
Clubrooms, Western Hills, 6 pm [Clubrooms open at 5.30 for coffee]
3rd Sunday Running — August 16, 2012.
Mid-week Workdays: Mostly Every Wednesday.
Extra Running Days This Month:
NONE ADVISED
THESE WORK IN WITH
MUSEUM “LIVE” DAYS AND
OTHER EVENTS
QUIZ — Where is it?
SMILE
?
For answer see Page 4.
Other Club’s Events:
Hawkes Bay Model Engineering Society: 50th Anniversary Open Weekend. 6th & 7th
October 2012.
New Plymouth Model Engineers: 60th Birthday Bash. 20th & 22nd October 2012.
Havelock North Live Steamers: Open Weekend. 19th-22nd October 2012.
River Edge Park Miniature Railway: Anniversary Run. 15th & 16th December 2012
Over the Rails — By Roger Reynolds
With the weather not the best for working outside it has been good to work on the new trolleys which are
progressing well. Most of the components for the bogies have been made and ready to be fitted when the
wheels and axles arrive. Neville has now finished all the wheels and next he will be machining the axles.
Work is now well under way with the steel underframes. The handles/backrests have been bent and are
ready to be fitted to the box. Lex has now completed the 20 couplings required. We will be having the ride
boxes pre-cut when we can check the measurements of the under frames. The painting of the basement is
going well with Ian, Rankin, and Don all giving a hand.
The club is working on a new website; it will have the same Domain name. We will let you all know when it is
up and running again.
Sunday 19th was our normal running day. It was good to see such a great turnout of members to help with
the riders, with well over 700 rides given it was all trains out, and all available trolleys in use. Just goes to
show Neville’s signs are working well for the club! The weather was good but not as was forecast, mind you
that night it bucketed down. It was also good to see most of the tables around the railways being used by
the public with their picnics. There appeared to be many new riders with several I spoke to saying that
they did not know we were open. How much advertising do we have to do? The sausages were being bought
at a great rate. Thanks to Jacqui and her helpers.
LIST OF CLUB OFFICERS
President: Roger Reynolds. Phone (09) 438 7911. E-mail; [email protected]
Secretary: Colin Smith. Phone (09) 438 7861. E-mail; [email protected]
Treasurer: Herb Smith. Phone (09) 438 1214. E-mail; [email protected]
Club Postal Address: Whangarei Model Engineering Club, P.O. Box 10233, Te Mai, Whangarei 0143
Newsletter Editor: Ian Mison. Phone (09) 434 3125; Fax 434 3126. E-mail [email protected]
Club Phone: (09) 438 9520 (Available Running Days Only).
Page 2
WEBSITE: wmec.org.nz
Ekppp
Northern Views
Wednesday Workdays
By the Editor
1/8/12: Everyone was in the basement working hard on the trolley construction.
One group constructing a jig for trolley frames and cutting the angle iron for the
frames and another welding up bits and pieces. Two-thirds of one wall of the basement has its new coat of paint. Bob Smith has put up some more shelving to try alleviate the mess on the bench, and the “Gumboot Trophy” has been finally mounted
on the wall upstairs.
8/8/12: Not many on deck today. The weather was not conducive for outside work.
Consistent rain has probably washed out some of the track but it’s been too miserable to check it out. Underframes for the new trollies have all been welded to jig
and the basement walls continue to get lighter.
15/8/12: Weather still **^%#. But work in the basement on the trollies proceeds
apace. Still painting the walls. After a huge sudden downfall and consistent heavy
rain of late the track has been inspected for slips and washouts. Thankfully none was
found.
22/8/12: Full steam ahead in the basement. All new trolley subframes are nearly complete and construction of the headstocks and couplings is under way. A double charter today using two trains was
handled by those present and this consisted of about 50+ children and adults from two schools in the
north.
29/8/12: Not a bad day although rain is promised. A good attendance figure and everyone was kept
busy. Some were busy having a good look at the sample car without the box removed. This being to take
photos of the frames behind the box. Others busy welding the drawbars on to the headstock and painting a few of the other parts ready for final assembly. It’s going to be a great sight when the production line gets underway. It appears that all the wheels are finished and the next step is to put the
bearings into them and then put them on the axles.
August General Meeting
Not the best of attendance numbers but those who did enjoyed a talk from
member Mike Bradshaw on his experiences as general manager of the Bay of
Islands Vintage Railway. As most of you know the railway has been through
several hard times in its lifetime but now seems to be surging ahead. Mike also
gave us an insight into his time as chief engineer with the railway on Tierra del
Fuego, an island at the bottom of South America where the temperature in summer rarely passes 12°C
and is down to –20°C in winter.
Tierra del Fuego, in Patagonia, is the largest island in South America and is separated from the mainland by the Straits of Magellan and governance of the island is split between Argentina and Chile. Mike
told about having to replace all the wheels on the carriages because they kept falling off the rails. The
problem was found to be the flanges that were worn almost razor thin. They tried to get wheels from
Buenos Aires (1473 miles to the north), but the foundry there couldn’t
or wouldn’t make them and how they ended up making 70 odd disc wheels
in the Argentine Naval Base on the island using an old propeller shaft
that had apparently been lying around since the first world war.
Mike has also worked with the Ffestiniog Railway in Wales and was on
his way back to New Zealand with wife Shirley when he got side-tracked
here for a few years —
Shades of Harry Belafonte and the West Indies, eh!.
Northern Views
Ekppp
Page 3
ANSWER TO QUIZ ON PAGE 2:
The Corinth Canal is a canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts
through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnesian Peninsula from the Greek mainland, thus
effectively making the former an island. The builders dug the canal through the isthmus at sea level; so no locks
are employed. It is 6.4 kilometres (4 miles) in length and only 21.3 metres (70 ft) wide at its base, making it
unusable for most modern ships. It now has little economic importance. The canal was first mooted in classical
times and an abortive effort was made to build it in the 1st century AD. Construction finally got underway in 1881
but was hampered by geological and financial problems that bankrupted the original builders. It was completed in
1893, but due to the canal's narrowness, navigational problems and periodic closures to repair landslips from its
steep walls, it failed to attract the level of traffic anticipated by its operators and is now used mainly for tourist
traffic. There are several high-level bridges across it and at one end at sea level the roadway bridge is
submerged to allow the passage of ships. Clearly seen in the picture are the gaps in the walls of the canal left
by landslides over the years. Garratts and Sand
I have managed to find on the internet some good
photos of the old Sudanese Colonial Railways. This is
another rail system that has become not even a shadow
of its former colonial self. Sudan Railways declined
greatly during the 1970's and 80's and now only handle
a fraction of their former traffic. Sudan’s railways
were lighter than those of Southern Africa. 60lb per
yard rail was the heaviest used. The largest locos in
the Sudan were the Garratts. However the track in the
Sudan was in poorer condition than in Southern Africa
and it was generally covered by sand. The Garratts
were not a success there. Locomotives running at
speed would stir up the sand, and in the case of the Garratts the front unit would stir up the sand, and
there would not be enough oil on the motion, etc, of the rear unit to dissipate the sand. The oil and sand
would mix to become a grinding paste. As a result the rear unit of the Garratt needed more maintenance
than the front unit. The white metal slipper sliders would have needed replacing after every run, both at
the Port Sudan shed and the Atbara shed. Not surprisingly with this heavy maintenance expense they were
withdrawn after only a few years of service and sold to Rhodesian Railways. Newsletters Received . . .
Title
From
Blast Pipe
Keirunga Park Platform
Model Torque
Piston ‘n’ Prop
Rails ’n’ Sails
Steamers and Dreamers
The Dam Tram
The Micrometer
Wheels & Floats
Valley Model Engineering Society (Inc)
{ Hutt
Maidstone Model Engineering Society (Inc)
E.B.O.P. Society of Model Engineers (Inc)
Havelock North Live Steamers (Inc)
Hawkes Bay Model Engineering Society (Inc)
Marlborough Associated Modellers Society (Inc)
Southland Society of Model Engineers (Inc)
Manukau Live Steamers (Inc)
Waitakere Tramline Society (Inc)
Auckland Society of Model Engineers (Inc)
Tauranga Model Marine and Engineering Club
Dated
July-August 2012
”
”
August 2012
Summer 2012
July 2012
August 2012
Aug/Sept 2012
June/July 2012
July 2012
August 2012
July/August 2012
THESE MAGAZINES ARE AVAILABLE TO READ IN THE CLUBROOMS FOR APPROXIMATELY 1 MONTH
Page 4
Ekppp
Northern Views
New Locomotive Under Construction
There is a new 7¼’’ gauge locomotive under construction by one of our club members.
It is based on a Lima 2-6-0 with a few extra ideas added by the builder. Yours truly was allowed access to photograph this machine which, hopefully, will be mobile by the end 2013.
The boiler is all steel and has an easily removable superheater.
Work has just recommenced after a dormant period.
This period was taken up with a shifting of house and
a lot of club work in getting things ready for the convention that was held at Whangarei last January, and
now involvement in the construction of 10 new trollies
for the club. Some of the components for these trollies were done in his workshop at home.
Here are some pictures of the beast.
A front/side view showing the snifter valve.
Above shows the loco’s general configuration.
The last three photos show the easily-removable superheater arrangement.
The first shows the superheater installed, the second shows it removed
and the third shows the superheater element design itself.
Northern Views
Ekppp
Page 5
The Laws of . . .
Law of Mechanical Repair - After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee.
Law of Gravity - Any tool, nut, bolt, screw, when dropped, will roll to the most inaccessible place in the universe.
Law of Probability - The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.
Law of Random Numbers - If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal; someone always answers.
Law of Variation - If you change traffic lanes, the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now.
Law of the Bath - When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.
Law of Close Encounters - The probability of meeting someone you know INCREASES dramatically when you are with some
one you don't want to be seen with.
Law of the Result - When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, IT WILL!!!
Law of Biomechanics - The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.
Law of the Theatre and Sports Arena - At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle, al ways arrive
last. They are the ones who will leave their seats several times to go for food, beer, or the toilet and who leave before the
end of the performance or the game is over. The folks in the aisle seats come early, never move once, have long gangly legs
or big bellies and stay to the bitter end of the performance. The aisle people also are very surly folk.
The Coffee Law - As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until
the coffee is cold.
Murphy's Law of Lockers - If there are only 2 people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.
Law of Physical Surfaces - The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor, are
directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet or rug.
Law of Logical Argument - Anything is possible IF you don't know what you are talking about.
Brown's Law of Physical Appearance - If the clothes fit, they're ugly.
Oliver's Law of Public Speaking - A CLOSED MOUTH GATHERS NO FEET!!!
Wilson's Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy - As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making
it, OR the store will stop selling it!!
Doctors' Law - If you don't feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor, by the time you get there you'll feel better.
But don't make an appointment, and you'll stay sick.
Latest from Czech Republic
CZECH REPUBLIC: CZ Loko has rolled out a prototype dieselelectric locomotive for shunting and light mainline duties.
The Class 744 Bo-Bo loco has asynchronous traction motors
and a 1 MW Caterpillar 3508C engine meeting the EU Stage
IIIA emissions standards. Maximum speed is 100 km/h.
The 72 tonne locomotive has Siemens alternators and dynamic
braking; it can be fitted with remote control equipment or
automatic couplers.
A 1·55 MW version with a CAT 3512 engine is under development for the 1520 mm gauge market.
Page 6
Look Mum!! There’s Barbie
A cry that is often heard at the station when
some youngster spots “Barbie” in the cab of Santa
Fe. And even more delightful happy sounds when it
is discovered or pointed out that “Ken” in is the
driver’s seat.
The same rain that grows weeds for the
pessimist waters flowers for the optimist.
Ekppp
Northern Views
General Pics from Around the Site
PHOTOS ABOVE:
Northern Views
1 . Constructing the subframe jig.
2. Subframes for the new trollies being cut to jig.
3. The old freezer (sans compressor unit) on its way
to “freezer heaven”.
4. The band saw getting plenty of use of late.
5. Finished subframes for the new trollies all stacked
awaiting further assembly.
6. ALL ABOARD! A boarding scene at the “Big” railway station.
7 . A not often seen shot of No 5 running light engine.
Ekppp
Page 7
Northern Views
IF UNDELIVERED PLEASE RETURN TO:—
Whangarei Model Engineering Club Inc,
P.O. Box 10233, Te Mai, Whangarei 0143.