This is not the first article about building a steam model. So many people are or have already done that. They are far more competent and skilled than I am. Instead, this is more of an attempt to document how I got started and my story about the hobby, hoping to inspire others as new to this as I am. It is April 2021; I am in the very early stages of building a model. I have thought about the model for a long time and done as much research as possible within the confines of being unable to travel much due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions that have been in force for most of the last twelve months.
I must confess to being a "newbie" to the world of model engineering. l have looked at articles in "Model Engineer" and other similar publications, in awe of the things that have been built; the dedication, skill, quality and attention to detail are incredible. Now, reaching the end of my working life, I needed something new that would be interesting and challenging and help keep the brain active. There needed to be more things to do. There is a garden to develop, we moved house about two years ago, and the garden of the new house was a building site for many more years than that. So, what to do and where to start were some questions that kept going around my mind.
I was confident building some steam model was something, so long as the momentum could be kept going, but where to begin? As a youngster and adult, I had 'played' with Lego and Meccano and built Airfix and Tamiya plastic model kits. Later in life, when our children had grown into young adults, I had restored a few motorbikes and enjoyed riding them, but the house move and the need to downsize had seen the small bike collection sold. I remember hearing an old saying at some point - the only difference between boys and men is the size of their toys!
The early part of my working life had been spent in mechanical engineering, serving a four-year apprenticeship back in the mid-1970s and spending several more years post-apprenticeship working as an engineer in a factory before leaving the factory floor and becoming a designer and project manager, helping build new manufacturing facilities. A fifty-year working life had taken me from the above apprenticeship to running a tiny software development company in many countries worldwide. My birthplace was in Kent; our home is in a remote part of Northumberland.
For more years than I mentioned, I had been aware of the Model Engineering Show held every year in London, but for all sorts of reasons, it was in January 2020 that I went along to the one held at Alexandra Palace. Little did we know then how the following months would turn out with a global virus pandemic.
Although I had expected a much bigger exhibition, what was there was very interesting, and I saw many things and daydreamed that I could do something as exciting.
Before attending the MES in London, I bought an old Stuart Models S50 steam engine from a well-known auction website. The box containing the engine duly arrived, and with a great deal of trepidation, I looked at what had been purchased. Several very knowledgeable people have created 'how to' videos on YouTube. There are many dire warnings about buying from pictures and descriptions on auction websites, and this was what I had just done. My box of 'bits' looked surprisingly complete; a gentle turn on the flywheel proved that things that should move and things meant to be stationary did remain static. However, there was a slight concern that the cylinder contained a piston! The stated aim (to my long-suffering wife) was to 'restore and sell the steam engine' for at least as much or more than was paid for it.
Also, there needed access to a workshop where stuff could be done now. Restoration of this Stuart engine would have to be done on the kitchen table with hand tools only. A workshop was going to exist soon. Our builders created a suitable space, creating our new garage adjacent to the house. I promised to use only a tiny part of the kitchen table and put things away at meal times!
The people at Stuart Models sold me a set of drawings for the engine, and a start was made. The foremost job was to remove the dried-on fluff, grease and oil to reveal what was there. Once the dried grease and fluff were gone, it was possible to see what was there, and it didn't look bad; connecting a compressed airline to the inlet showed several air leaks from around the cylinder. However, getting the engine to turn with a blast of compressed air was possible.
To make a long story short, after stripping, cleaning, fitting some new gaskets, painting and rebuilding, a working engine ran on compressed air at a relatively low pressure.
So now, what had I learned, and what would be my first proper project? I liked this type of model very much, but it was small and fiddly for me. It would not be such an enjoyable experience working and machining tiny components with lots of small BA threads and nuts.
The way forward was to build something more significant, with plenty of detail, and I was drawn back to the models and the photos I had taken at the MES in January 2020. About the same time, I had read some articles about and by Pete Rich and some of his model locomotive designs. I was particularly interested in attempting to build a Victorian Armstrong 4-4-0 locomotive at a 5-inch scale. In an ideal world, one could visit some model engineering shows and contact a local society of model engineers. However, one UK/English Covid lockdown was in full swing then. Trying to research was limited to scouring the internet and finding people prepared to talk to you on the phone. Ultimately, I was put off trying to build one of Pete's designs as 'they are very complicated for a novice builder'. So, back to the drawing board to speak for another set of dreams in the armchair! Then, there was a break in the lockdowns, and our daughter visited us. On a day out with her, we went to the Beamish Museum near Durham, which was close to our home.
We came across a miniature railway running a few steam engines that looked very interesting (see the picture at the top of this story). Talking to one of the teams running these locos, I found out that these were 7 1/4 inch scale models of 600mm narrow gauge Orenstein & Koppel locomotives. The engines at Beamish were a 0-4-0 with a pinion drive, designed for rack-type railways. The models themselves had been designed and built by Ken Swan, someone experienced in developing and designing model steam locomotives. Besides the 0-4-0 rack engine, Ken also created detailed designs for an O&K 0-6-0 locomotive. This was a much better bet, so back to the research. As luck would have it, there was a short break (October 2020) in one of the lockdowns in England, and a visit was arranged to meet Andy Clarke at Polly Model Engineering for a chat and to see the O&K 0-6-0 that Andy was currently building.
I was impressed with the model that Andy was building; he also explained that two others were being made at the same time, and one of these was up here, just a short distance from where we live. Unfortunately, once again, due to the restrictions of the pandemic, contact with this builder has not been possible. Hopefully, this might be possible in the not-too-distant future. When I looked at the model Andy was building, it was clear that because the scale and the original locomotive were a narrow gauge, much detail could be incorporated without the detail becoming tiny items.
There were many steps involved in realising building any model locomotive for me. Firstly, there were other options than the kitchen table! The garage and workshop space at the rear of the garage were nearing completion by our builders, and as soon as possible, I started creating a couple of benches. One bench would be a workbench with a vice, and the other would support a bench-mounted mill. I drew up some plans for a bench design, ordered wood from a local builders’ merchant and got to work.
Two benches later, one with a vice fitted, it seemed like time that a start could be made. From Poly Model Engineering, I purchased a set of plans for the Koppel 0-6-0 and, a little while later, the first in a batch of components and metal that would form the model's frame plates and chassis. There was a short delay for the components and metal to arrive, giving plenty of time to study the Koppel plans.
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