Rotherham & District Model Engineers Society
How to find us:
We can be found down a track off the
end of Park Grove, Rawmarsh,
S62 7JS
Affiliated to Southern Federation of Model Engineering Societies
April 2023 News brief
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Waiting for a copy of the minutes to update this web site.
Program of Works
A number of projects were discussed, agreed and prioritised as below ;-
1)
Vacuum
brakes
are
being
fitted
to
the
driving
cars.
A
member
has
kindly
donated
a
vacuum
injector
and
a
brake
operating
lever
valve.
These
have
now
been
fitted
to
the
Wren.
An
electrical
vacuum
pump
has
also
been
donated
which
will
be
fitted
to
the
Green
Dragon.
This
will
run
off
of the local battery and alternator. We are trying to get this system fully operating during this coming season.
2)
Much
work
has
been
done
to
the
raised
track.
As
you
may
know
it
is
manufactured
form
square
section
bar
and
members
have
been
worried
that this may put ridges in the wheels. The whole track on every gauge has now been ground to give rounded edges.
3)
It
has
always
been
a
problem
when
running
on
the
raised
tracks
with
small
locomotives
that
most
of
the
passenger
trucks
have
to
be
lifted
off
the
rails.
(
the
small
locos
just
cant
pull
the
weight
).
Considerable
work
has
been
put
in
to
address
this
problem
;-
a
section
of
the
track
has
now
been
made
removable
in
the
form
of
a
transporter.
The
raised
track
steaming
bays
have
been
raised
to
waste
level
for
ease
of
use.
To
remove
the
un-needed
trucks
all
you
have
to
do
is
them
push
on
to
the
removable
section
and
move
the
transporter
to
line
up
with
a
separate
raised holding track and shunt them off leaving the track clear to use your smaller locomotives.
4) 7 ΒΌ gauge steaming bays have now been built at waste height next to the turn table.
5) This has now completed the work of updating of the tracks except for ongoing repairs.
6)
We
are
looking
at
adding
signals
to
the
tracks
to
indicate
direction
which
points
are
set
and
also
to
indicate
if
its
safe
to
go.
The
system
will
detect
if
a
locomotive
is
on
the
tracks
farther
down
the
line
for
example
in
the
tunnel
where
it
will
be
out
of
view.
It
is
hoped
that
this
will
provide safer operations and also make it easier to run more than one locomotive on the tracks.
