It's been a busy couple of months in the workshop so, as ever, the website updates have suffered as a result. You may remember from the last news page that a new machining centre had just arrived, leaving me with four huge manuals to read and a workshop to rearrange. Filled with enthusiasm at shuffling everything around, it seemed like a good time to knock down one of the toilets to make a little kitchen, put a new hot water system in, install a security door inside the lobby which I've been meaning to do for the last eighteen months and replace the windows in all three units given that the old ones were looking pretty motheaten and winter is a-coming. Oh yes, and read all the manuals...

What started as a couple of small jobs ended up occupying me, Dal the builder, Brian the decorator and Graham the electrician for about a month - however I have now got draught-free windows and hot water on tap in both the kitchen and workshop.

I'm starting to get the hang of the new mill, it still seems to take twice as long to set up as the Bridgeport but then works at four times the speed when it's going. The speed the table rapids between points on the job was a bit intimidating to start with, now I've got used to it the Bridgeport looks positively pedestrian.

The only problem with having a new machine is it makes all the old ones look, well, a bit old. Having seen how much the software had come on in seven years between the Bridgeport and the new VMC, I took the plunge and ordered a new lathe to replace the recently acquired Triumph. It's a similar sized machine, D1-6 spindle, 2500rpm top speed, but a fully-enclosed, CNC version. First time in my life I've bought a new lathe, it arrived on Tuesday morning and hasn't even got a wire on it yet. Mercifully it comes with one slim manual rather than the four phone books for the mill.

More about the new lathe

As always, having an experienced man driving the crane makes the job very easy - our man unloaded the lathe and positioned it within an inch of the marks on the floor in about ten minutes flat! 

I have had several enquiries about the railway in recent months (mostly along the lines of "is it finished yet?"). Since summer it has languished somewhat, however I am hoping for some progress over the Christmas break.

I haven't been entirely lazy on the permanent way front, going up to Scotland for a week helping Martin with his new railway. He'd had a digger in for the week before I arrived, theory was we just had to throw a bit of stone in the ditch, whacker plate it down and put some boards along the side. I've never had so many blisters in my life! His line is built on ground which is mainly stones with some thick tree roots thrown in, it was like jungle warfare getting a hundred yards up the garden. However, by the end of the week we had a flat and fairly level path and a couple of panels of track down, sufficient to put his Tinkerbell on. In the weeks since then he has progressed apace, taking delivery of a superb engine shed and getting some ballast down (which is easy for him living three miles from a quarry who can deliver him super looking stuff for next to nothing, compared to the crumbly yellow stuff I can get locally - at the moment I'm looking at having to have a lorry load brought in from 100 miles away).

More pictures of the railway under construction

Friend Alan is a "get things done" engineer, an original thinker and just unhinged enough to be constantly interesting - I like him a lot. He comes over to the workshop sometimes, if I'm lucky I get an invite back to his place. He's got a 7 1/4 inch gauge line round the garden, a large oval running round the house and several engines to run thereon. Nothing huge, nothing exhibition quality, but soundly built locomotives that are a joy to drive. David and I were at a loose end one day over summer and managed to wangle a visit over - on arrival the kettle was on and his "Hercules" standing in the yard in steam, so that sorted the next hour out.

He has an abiding fascination with alternative energy (amongst many, many other things), and had recently plumbed up the house with several solar panels which provide all his hot water and a couple of large photovoltaic panels which trickle charge some retired fork truck batteries in the shed, via electronics of his own devising. The day we were there the sun was out in force, so we could look in wonder at the control panel thermometers in his kitchen showing the roof panel and hot water cylinder temperatures.

More pictures

Round the back of the shed, well covered up and stored face down to the floor is a large old aluminium dish he acquired, now fully lined with aluminium foil, with a focus point a couple of feet in front of it. Together we helped him roll it out onto the lawn, whereupon after some careful adjustments to its position and angle he placed a length of four by two at the focus. Within seconds smoke was pouring from the wood, a moment later it burst into flames. Most impressive.

As is often the case with capable people, in addition to maintaining his own railway, building rolling stock, researching and building hot air engines, flying model aeroplanes and building his solar heating system, he's also the engineering brains behind the Evergreen Miniature Railway which boasts a half mile of 7 1/4 inch gauge track (in addition to the raised level 5 inch) and helps look after yet another large railway some distance away.

You wonder where some people get the energy...

13th December 2007

News Archive

September 2007 - Holiday in North Wales, new machinery for the workshop
June 2007 - Station Road Steam at Harrogate Show, herd of Tinkerbells, Martin's railway
March 2007 - Building a garden railway competition, A Workshop in Herefordshire
January 2007 - Miniature lathes and photography, Midlands Exhibition, Churnet Valley Railway, testing small boilers
October 2006 - Updates on part-built and projects
July 2006 - Evergreens Miniature Railway, local 10 1/4 line, collecting the Pacific from Cleethorpes
April 2006 - Progress in the workshop, visit to the National Railway Museum, visit to Woody Bay
January 2006 - Moving to new units, grit-blasting my hands, shiny Romulus
October 2005 - Stamford SME, Sam starts the restoration of "Pendle Witch", Casterton Working Weekend
August 2005 - New workshop, Thurston Pacific back from Cleethorpes
May 2005 - Berkely Light Railway, dodgy boiler certificates, full-size ploughing engines at auction
January 2005 - digging
October 2004 - initial planning for the garden railway
July 2004 - Fowler ploughing engines in Yorkshire
May 2004 - Moving the workshop, a 9 1/2 inch gauge garden railway
Apr 2004 - Holiday in Shropshire & The Severn Valley Railway, LNER liveried Black 5
Feb 2004 - Refacing a Tangye slide valve, new acquisition 10 ton Aveling roller
2004 - 12 1/4 inch gauge Pacific