Tag: Steam Engine

Elmer’s Metric Standby Engine

Journeyman

I have added two new pages detailing the construction of my version of Elmer’s Standby Engine (No. 19). Elmer Verburg designed many small engines and published his designs in a book “Elmer′s Engines” in 1989. The book is out of print but I have seen copies available through Amazon for £200.00 up. Fortunately most of the book is available online from john-tom.com.

Elmers Metric Standby Engine
Elmers Metric Standby Engine

All of the original engines are designed with imperial measurements and the Standby Engine is quite small so I up-scaled it and redrew the plans using metric measurements. I slightly altered a few bits but essentially it follows the original, just a bit bigger. The re-drawn plans are available in the article as a PDF and can be printed onto 4 A4 sheets. I got a bit carried away with the photos and there are about 70 of them so I split the build over two pages so that download time isn′t too slow. I also experimented with HTML5 video for the first time and added a short clip at the end showing the engine running. The two new pages are in the Models tab of the menu which has, to say the least, been sparsley populated since I first set up the website.

Elmers Metric Standby Engine – The static bits.
Elmers Metric Standby Engine – The moving bits.

Budapest Transport Museum

Journeyman

Should you happen to be in Budapest with a few hours to spare then it is worth taking a look at the Közlekedési Múzeum  Budapest Transport Museum. Set at one corner of City Park it has some interesting exhibits ranging from full size locomotives to model ships.

Clayton Steam Engine
Clayton & Shuttleworth Portable Engine

One of the museum attendants was explaining the portable engine to me and I mentioned it was made in England, “Ah!” he said, “But the horse is Hungarian.”

Some of the larger exhibits including a rather good paddle steamer engine complete with paddles are set in the grounds where there is a small cafe should you be in need of refreshment.

There are many large scale locomotive models in cases which are great to look at but difficult to photograph. There is however no restriction on photography. There are a few working model railway layouts and plenty of interesting railway related items. Most of the information labels are in Hungarian with a few english translations here and there.

A few more photos of mine here – Nautical Ramblings.

Kempton Steam Museum

Journeyman
Triple Expansion Engine
Kempton No.6 Engine

I visited the Kempton Steam Museum yesterday and was mightily impressed by this engine. One of two engines built in 1928 to pump drinking water to London. The engines are some 62 feet (18.9 m) high and weigh in at 1000 tons apiece. One engine would pump 19 million gallons (86,375,710 litres) a day to the households of London.

The engines finally stopped pumping in 1980 and sat unused for many years until the Kempton Great Engines Trust was formed in 1995 to create the museum and preserve the engines. The No.6 engine has been fully restored and runs regularly under steam. Its partner (No.7) does not run but you can get a guided tour from top to bottom (not good if you have problems with heights). The picture is taken from the top gallery of the the No.7 engine.

The engines are run once a month so check on the website for running days. Kempton Steam Museum. The museum is well worth a visit and the Metropolitan Water Board Railway Society is busily restoring the narrow guage Hanworth Loop and this can be visited on steaming days. Hampton Kempton Railway. There is plenty of onsite parking and refreshments are available on steaming days.