May club evening 2025.
A warm and dry day, nice for May and travelling and parking was easy. I counted about thirty of us including two visitors who saw and acted on our social media advertising.
Chairman mentioned our visitors and opened the evening with club business and next month's club evening visit to the Puffing Field. We are currently not using the track until tipping rail safety precautions have been sorted. Although the 45mm track is available it was decided to wait ‘til nearer the day as to whether to abandon the puffing field trip and have a ‘bring-and-show’ evening of members models and work in progress at our usual venue.
Look out for an email to all members regarding the decision.
With that our Chairman, also speaker for the evening, launched into his progress over the last 4 years with his Stirling Single revival campaign. I won’t go through the evening step by step as all can be seen in the review of the images of work and planning shown on the screen.
Mike reviewed how the part-built loco came to him and the progress he has since made, in building, fabricating and designing the small parts needed to be part of the final assembly. As most of the engineering time was spent learning new practices and adapting, where necessary, to more modern solutions. It had been an interesting project still with a few years left to go.
When working on a long-term project then dividing the work up into individual tasks is the only way, and as he mentioned, his own skills over the last few years have improved enough to make him critical of previous work. Another learning point is to be confident when looking at plans and not to accept methods suggested when better ideas and materials are available.
The evening was divided up into the little sections of the parts that were needed for the loco and it was very interactive as Mike queried, and asked if this was the best way to make or deal with issues. He also was in contact for advice on problem areas and a case in point was the difficulty in soft soldering the splashers which were quite large and difficult to heat using a soldering iron. The advice came from Tony to use a heat gun which supplies hot air at soldering temperatures (350 - 400C). The soldering then went very well.
There still some very real problems left to solve and not covered within the plans. The designer leaving the builder to resolve these himself! I was quite taken by the design of a working whistle, the actual sound was to come from a hidden one, with a dummy one emitting steam when it was sounded. It was amazing to find on the Internet intricate and detailed information on the design and construction of a steam whistle.
There were lots of pertinent questions and discussion of a problem, with the membership taking part, and it is the format that the club like to follow with an interactive subject. We all look forward to seeing the loco in steam! There was a solid round of applause from the membership and we started to clear up for going home.
During the evening the general format is to have some work or items for disposal on the tables at the back which is also a source for comment and general discussion. Visitors are welcomed and asked where their interests lie and we try and find them a member with similar interest to make the evening more enjoyable.
Jack and Neil, as always, supplied the tea/coffee and biscuits, a little earlier than usual to fit in with the timing of the talk and we have a band of helpers who set the room out for chairs etc. Thanks go out to all that made the evening enjoyable. Keep an eye out for where the meeting will be held in June.
Regards to all, see you next month and any ideas for subjects to have on the back burner for 2026 would be welcome.
Roy Verden 15th May 2025