My first course of action this time around is to offer a big thank you to all the members that I met at Creech. Your welcome is what makes our hobby special and my only failure was not to hop on a train and sample the facility that you have. Ah well, next time a point to remedy.

Lateral thinking – no this is not a note for eggheads and the like but a case of more ways than one to deal with the proverbial cat. Slowly, oh so slowly, I am in the process of building a “Romulus” locomotive and following some advice I read many moons ago in the “Model Engineer”, after the requisite pattern making (I can't afford the sky-high prices charged by the Trade!) I set about making a tender to accompany the said loco. The size of the tender being determined by the frame steel left over from a 6 metre length of 6 mm x 150 mm black mild steel purchased from a local steel stock holder (my Scottish roots do not allow for waste or extravagance). The tender is almost complete, the superstructure formed from 1.5 mm steel sheet.

Now in times past full size locos' tenders or bunkers of tank engine had the raw edge of sheeting reinforced and protected by a strip of beading cloaking same, such as the half round beading mentioned in the last “Notes”.

Now as I have said I am by nature and birth of a frugal disposition and in times past I had a friendly scrap yard that tolerated me poking around looking for goodies and on one of my forays, I espied a bundle of some thirty odd lengths, about 1 metre long, of steel tube about 10mm diameter, or so I thought. Closer inspection revealed that yes it was tube but split with about 1.5 mm gap – and then the penny dropped. No, it was not a manufacturing disaster, but rather the edge protection for 1.5 mm or 16 s.w.g. sheet and I would think old stock no longer used. Today, edge protection is usually some sort of plastic extrusion with a cunning barbed metal interior easy to push on but not to remove. However, to get to the point I thought that it might come in useful and so I popped it onto the scrap yard scales and in exchange for a miserly amount of cash, I became the proud owner of a bundle of split tube. What to use it for I had not a clue but it was one of those things that I thought would come in useful one day!

You know the feeling – you bid for something at the Club Auction and before you know it, it's yours and the character next to you says with a sly and slightly superior grin - “and what are you going to use that for?” Eventually you do find a use and in passing mention to “Mr Sly Grin” the use to which you have dreamed up for your purchase. He immediately takes on a totally different tack and enquires if you might have some to spare as he has a similar situation to deal with—but he would not have thought of that in a thousand years, lateral thinking.

So having acquired this split tube it did occur to me that it might make the finish to the raw edge at the top of the flares of my Romuls tender. A piece was slipped into place and immediately gave a finish that was pleasing to my eye, at least. As I am the C.M.E. Of this job, I gave it a seal of approval. The top edges of the tender body would be finished with split tube, but the next question was “how to fix this edging?” I hadn't a clue, soft solder perhaps – a messy job that I did not fancy – welded maybe but I possessed neither the skills nor the equipment to undertake such a task and so not to be outdone by the situation, I drilled through the diameter at right angle to the slot, first through the outside then through that part of the tender flare within the tube and finally through the inner side, tapping size for M2 countersunk screws. Then countersink the outside surface, poke M2 tap through the lot and make all secure at about 75 mm centres with M2 countersunk screws. Phew, what a job!

However “Percy” what's his name won the day and the job was complete. All that was needed was the screws cutting off flush and the cut ends dressed off with a fine file. A job of tedium not to be repeated if at all possible.

Now did I mention in the last “Oily Rag” that I was designing a simple diesel shunter, narrow gauge and those of you that I had the pleasure of meeting at Creech had a preview of my efforts. Well the cab opening for this design seemed to me to be another candidate for the split tube treatment, but how to fix it?

I have a cousin who is a boat builder (narrow boats for inland waterways) approaching retirement age and would be a geriatric Model Engineer. Unfortunately, totally misguided, being overcome by dark green taper boilered copper capped Greasy, Wet and Rusty engines. However, I digress. During one of my not infrequent visits to his domain and over a large steaming cup of the engineman's best friend, I mentioned my dilemma regarding on how to fix the split tube edging. Well, he floored me completely by an outrageously simple idea. Just push the split tube into place and secure (wedge) in place by temporary means and then with a fine (narrow) cutting disc in a small angle grinder slash across at about 75 mm centres, cutting through to expose the edge of the contained sheet. He then suggested that a quick dab with a MIG welder would effect a permanent solution to the problem, just requiring the weld to be dressed down – job done.

Lateral thinking – you don't know all the answers and sometimes uncluttered thinking makes light work of seeing the wood despite the trees! Give it a try.

Well, we have gone in a sideways mode for long enough so now let’s go forward or at least look forward. The diesel loco design is coming along but I was hoping to have C.A.D. Drawings available but that alas is someway down the line my son tells me, and so it’s sharpen the pencils and do it myself, so please bear with me.

Until next time,

Alan Westby