STEAM TOYS
IN ACTION
2009
PROGRAMME
FJL CRAMMOND
FOR
LEICESTER
MUSEUMS TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION
STEAM TOYS FOR THE DISCERNING COLLECTOR
MIKE COOKE
OF
COVENTRY
PURVEYORS OF VINTAGE STEAM
TOYS AND MODELS,
ANTIQUE TOYS, DOLLS AND
COLLECTORS ITEMS
SINGLE ITEMS AND COMPLETE
COLLECTIONS
BOUGHT AND SOLD
RING 024 7641 5608
ANYTIME
SUPPORTING STEAM TOYS IN
ACTION SINCE 1991
e-mail: mike@toysteam.com
STEAM TOYS IN ACTION
AT
ABBEY PUMPING STATION
Welcome to the Nineteenth Steam Toys In Action at the Abbey Pumping Station.
THE BIG SHED.
This
building houses the main part of the event
with around fifty collectors displaying their treasures. Many of the
engines will be in steam during the event so be careful what you touch. These
machines can be HOT.
THE MARQUEE.
In the Marquee we have the Collectors Fair with a
number of dealers in steam toys and accessories both new and old. This is
probably the best place in the country to buy new and antique engines, spare
parts, accessories and literature.
THE BEAM ENGINE BUILDINGS
Squeezed in among our permanent exhibits are
assorted sales stands and exhibitors as well as the Museum Sales Desk. Upstairs
on the top floor of the Beam Engine House are the live steam toy trains by such
firms as Mamod, Bassett Lowke, Bowman and Bing. In the Education room through
the Beam Engine House are our usual Home made Refreshments.
THE GROUNDS.
As well as the usual permanent exhibits, Steam
Shovel, Turbogenerator etc. there are visiting exhibits, the site narrow gauge
railway, the Workshop block,m the many Transport items normally stored in the
Big Shed and our boating pool where, if the weather is kind, we will be
operating toy steamboats .
We will not be running the big beam engines today as space in the engine house is very restricted . Do come back on one of our other events when they are working, they are an impressive sight in motion. We do hope to run some of the smaller engines in the Boiler house during the day.
The event is organised by the Leicester Museums
Technology Association, the active support group for the Abbey Pumping Station,
with the enthusiastic backing of Leicester City Council and the museum
permanent staff.
This guide has been prepared and published by
members of the Leicester Museums Technology Association. If you would like to
show your appreciation you will find our collecting box by the exit on your way
out. We hope you enjoyed your visit.
The Toy Steam Railway Exhibition
Up on the top floor of the Beam
Engine House we hold a very successful display of operating Toy Steam Trains.
Originally held as part of the main display in the Big Shed, the sheer size of
the railways and the gradually increasing popularity of STIA forced a move,
first to the School Hall across the other side of Corporation Road and finally
, when the school closed, upstairs amongst the giant steel beams of our
resident pumping engines.
We usually have about five layouts ranging from vintage, turn of the last
century tinplate gauge 1 to up to the minute Narrow Gauge from Mamod and MSS. A
very popular exhibit, that we have hosted for many years now is the Bowman
Circle track which displays nineteen
thirties locomotives and carriages from such famous makers as Bowman and Basset
Lowke.
Come upstairs and
see the railways in action
THE
VOLUNTEERS
This event has been created, organised and staffed by members of The Leicester Museums Technology Association or “The Volunteers” as we are known to the staff. With just two full time members of the Curatorial Staff the need for the Association can be clearly seen. Our mission is to assist the museum in any way that we can. Publicity, Maintenance, Restoration, Research , Operation, Organisation, Fund raising, Interpretation. You name it, we do it.
Currently we have working groups restoring one of
our fire engines, maintaining and extending and operation of our steam worked
narrow gauge railway, maintaining the buses and road vehicles and maintaining
the three operational Beam Engines
Our most exciting project is the return to steam of
Number 1 Beam Engine. This was the first of the Beam Engines to be laid up and
it has suffered from parts “borrowing “ ever since. However the biggest problem
with it has been the seizing up of the forward sewage pump. We have now
succeeded in removing the recalcitrant plunger and our members woiuld be happy
to explain our progress to date. Just ask.
The volunteers are always interested in additional
help, from the very skilled to the merely enthusiastic. We work at the museum
on Mondays with a small body of retirees during the daytime and the rest of the
gang in the evening . Of course both
groups are well represented at events like today’s where we will be found doing
everything from marshalling the car park to running the engines. We have jobs
for all skills, not least cake making.
If you are interested in joining us ask for details
at the Information Desk or collar anyone wearing an LMTA badge. Your help will
be appreciated.
Volunteers removing the 5
ton pump plunger from No1 engine
The New Locomotive for the
Mamod Steam Railway
Thee original locomotive for the Mamod Steam Railway
(seen above) was a cheap and cheerful
but very effective little tablet fired machine that introduced hundreds of
neophytes to the joys of Garden Railways in
Live Steam. Retrofitted with a meths or gas burner it made a
reliable but economic workhorse. Sadly
the travails of the earlier Mamod companies meant that production of this attractive little locomotive and its
associated rolling stock passed away from the Mamod company and it is now
produced in a slightly modified form by MSS.
In recent years the present Mamod company have
produced a number of locomotives with varying degrees of success. A very ambitious
Corliss valved engine appeared followed by a rather strange design based on
Rocket. The present production locomotive William is a more conventional piston
valved, gas fired design but is quite expensive for what should really be a
toy.
The company have just announced the release of a
budget priced, oscillating cylindered locomotive that looks very interesting on
paper. Phil Handcock of Forest Classics has promised to bring one along today
and we hope to be operating it on the Mamod Railway on the top floor of the
Beam Engine House.
The picture is of a pre-production prototype. I
understand the production version will have the regulator in the cab and will
be fitted with reversing gear. The locomotive incorporates an all silver
soldered boiler, ceramic gas burner and a simple form of
semi-superheating/steam drying. With the reliable Mamod double acting
oscillating cylinders and a competitive price it should be an excellent little
locomotive. A worthy successor to its illustrious forbears.
“Comet” a thirties steam
launch by Star Yachts of Birkenhead sold recently on Ebay
Live steam and
Meccano
Toy steam engines are fascinating in themselves and many owners are happy
to just watch them operate but I think much of the attraction is lost if they
are not doing a job of work. Locomotives look silly without a train behind
although boats and road vehicles are usually happy enough alone. Stationary
engines need something to drive to be complete and most manufacturers of toy steam engines marketed a range of accessories designed to be driven by the
engines. These tend to be miniatures of machine tools or other industrial
machines and are usually rather small in relation to the engine. At the other
end of the range are the tinplate workmen carrying out repetitive tasks such as
grinding or sawing and these tend to be somewhat overscale. When Frank Hornby
invented his famous constructional toy, Meccano, it was immediately apparent
that this was the ideal material to build “real” steam powered models with. In
1929 Hornby made a really excellent vertical boilered engine specifically
engineered to drive Meccano models. Production was stopped by the war and in
1965 a similar engine, made for Meccano by Mamod, was put on the market. This
was produced with some variations until 1984. Both these engines are powerful
and responsive machines and can be used as the basis of many excellent models.
You will find a number of such models, cranes, fairground rides,windmills etc.
here today. At our January Meccano Event we try and show a number of such
models at a sort of sub-exhibition on the Beam Floor of the Engine House and a
usual feature is a number of steam powered “Locomotives” designed to run on the
old Hornby Live Steam Rocket track. Locos are based on any item from the Mamod
production and are expected to be modified essentially with Meccano. We call it
“The Great Corporation Road Locomotive Trials” and entry is open to all.
Contact fcrammond@hotmail.com if you
are interested.
