29-03-2023

‘Show and Tell’ - All Steamed Up!

Richard Bunce unveiled some of his home-made ‘stationary steam models’ with a talk and Q & A session. He outlined his journey from inheriting his father's lathe in 1978 and teaching himself how to use it.

He began by attempting a simple steam engine from castings and was surprised to find how well he got on, and how satisfying it was to create something that worked. The next step was to try something bigger - a beam engine which took a couple of years and incorporated some interesting new mechanisms. 40 years later both models still work, as demonstrated with a compressed air pump.

Next was “Tich” a 3.5 inch gauge locomotive. After completing the frames, wheels and cylinders, and cutting out the copper pieces of the boiler, progress came to a halt in the 1980s when married life took him off in a new direction.

Retirement saw the return of his hobby with a small oscillating engine and boiler. This was followed by a revival of Tich, with those copper boiler parts cut out in the 1980s finally getting soldered together. Sadly, boiler-making turned out to be a skill too far, and despite great efforts to fix all the leaks, the project was eventually abandoned. Richard admits that with a locomotive he had bitten off more than he could chew, but even so, there is satisfaction in getting as far as he did.

During lockdown Richard built a Stirling hot air engine. This was an ideal project – big enough to be satisfying but small enough to finish. Details of its construction are at here

His presentation was injected with wry humour and we all could not help admire his patience and determination in producing all the working models for us to see.

Author: Cliff Jones (Sorry guys I have been away and only just managed to catch up - ChrisN)