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Extracts from Newsletter of the National Steam Centre

Issue 574 November 2018

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Club Loco Piston Valve Refurbish USA Vintage Workshops

The 1890’s Krahnert model steam plant recently donated to the MSTEC museum Photo Rohan Lamb

November 2018 STEAM SUPREME 2

See picture to the left, showing the fixture, with the tube mounted in the lathe. The new small lathe has proved highly suited to this type of work even though quite fine tolerances need to be maintained Even though all of the roughing was carried out using inserted carbide tooling the final finish was achieved using a high speed shaving tool, a very simple setup I have only recently discovered.

Even using the pre-finished hydraulic tube there was still a considerable amount of machining required to achieve the finished object. Both ends of the tube are of a different size to enable installation and the centre area is reduced to prevent interference and increase steam flow. After some head scratching a suitable fixture was produced (see picture) to enable the turning operations and also the drilling operations to be achieved. This fixture comprised of Morse tapered plug to fit the lathe headstock and a precisely fitted bung to allow for support by the tailstock, connected together by threaded rod.

To the left shows the reason why the old valve sleeves needed replacement. Apart from the visible rust and corrosion the inside working surfaces were also worn and pitted. In the last episode I explained the nerve racking time we had removing the old sleeves, when with the whole twenty ton of my little press applied nothing happened, fortunately while discussing the next undesirable option a great bang got our attention to the fact there was to be movement. To the right is shown a new sleeve in semi-finished condition, fortunately hydraulic cylinder tube was the ideal material for this project.

Pressing On 24th September 2018 Ray Bedford Following on from the last instalment November 2017, due to the weather and all kinds of other issues work did slow over the summertime, even though lots of thinking was done. Unfortunately due to my forgetfulness and not having the camera around, dirty hands etc. lots of the steps involved in producing some of the parts were never recorded. Currently with the huge involvement of Frank Hedges we have now produced new valve sleaves with many other parts and adventures to follow .


Sometimes you can be lucky or maybe we designed it this way, but as can be seen at the left the same fixture used in the lathe nicely fits the taper in the rotary table so that all of the drilling can commence. For some reason we will never know each tube had a row of 11 holes around the circumference at each end making the dividing interesting. Fortunately the rotary table is a 90:1 ratio and is supplied with a dividing plate allowing us the correct number, where the standard dividing head at only 40:1 did not, so we can be lucky more than once.

All set to drill lots of holes

Drilling the large entry hole, so apart from deburring the tubes were complete.

Just checking the setup we don’t want mistakes at this stage.

Above, the installed valve sleeve with the steam entry port now machined. With everything clean (all rust and scale removed) the sleeves were a nice press fit. Even so a coating of Locktite was applied more to seal out any moisture than to secure the sleeves.

Until the next instalment. Ray Bedford


Carl Friederick Wilhelm Krahnert was born on the 11th of June 1871 at Mount Barker, South Australia. He was the oldest son of Friederick Wilhelm & Emma Julia Krahnert, who were to have another eight children, and was commonly referred to as ‘Willi”. Carl’s father was an iron moulder, and his trade probably influenced Carl to take up an engineering trade. Carl’s grandfather, Carl Heinrich Wilhelm Kranert1, was a carpenter, and with his wife Maria they immigrated from Germany and settled in Hahndorf, South Australia in September 1846. The family maintained speaking German, so Carl spoke and wrote both German, and English fluently. In 1889 his family moved to Horsham in search of work and Carl started an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner at the Wimmera foundry of May and Miller. By 1893 he passed his second-class engine drivers qualification in Stawell, and

during the next few summer seasons worked as an assistant engine-driver at the Horsham water works. In 1896 he started working at the Gillespie Flour Mill, Beulah, where he was in charge of the mill’s engine on the night shift.2 In 1897 Carl gained his first class engine drivers ticket in Ballarat. A firm date for the construction of the steam model is not known, family history suggests it was built in 1896 during Carl’s time at the flour mill. Carl married his fiancée Eva Martin at Brim Wesleyan Methodist Church in December 1898, and a year later he was in charge of the engine at

the flour mill in Beulah.3 In 1901 Carl was responsible for fitting and turning tasks at the at May & Millar’s foundry where he stayed for two years. He then moved to Wagga Wagga to take up a position as engineer at the Murrumbidgee Milling Company, however, due to ill health he only stayed 13 months before returning to Horsham, and he returned to the foundry. He was noted as being in charge of the engineering branch of May & Millar’s Foundry, Horsham in June 19054, and was still in this role in 1909. The foundry was a

significant employer in the town with over 70 workers. Amongst its products were ploughs, harvesters, and the firm had a patented damp weather stripper.6 In 1910 Carl left Horsham and worked in Adelaide for 8 months on several short duration jobs before finding work at Jas. Smith, Ballarat as a fitter in November 1910. The family moved to Armstrong Street, North Ballarat in 1911. In February 1912 Carl took a new job at George Munro & Co., and finally at Cowley’s Pty. Ltd. where Carl was in charge of the “outside work” where machinery was installed and repaired on site. Carl was a member of the Amalgamated Engineers Union, and had been a past president. He was also a member of the I.O.O.F. for many years. He was also very involved with the Ballarat Ironworkers and Polytechnic Association, and was president in 1914.7 He retired from Cowley’s due to ill health in September 1932. Carl died aged 61 years in December 1932 leaving a widow, two sons and two daughters.8 He was highly regarded by those he worked with and had dealings with in the community, and was buried at the Ballarat Cemetery. The model comprises a steam engine and boiler. The single-cylinder horizontal D-slide valve steam engine, has a bore of 1” (25.4mm) and a stroke of 2” (50.8mm) with a boiler feed pump driven by an eccentric from the crankshaft. The flywheel has a round rim with curved spokes (200mm diameter x 23mm width), and other features include an overhung disc crank, governor, and timber cladding on the

MSTEC recently received a very generous donation from Norman & Shirley Krahnert of a well made model steam engine and boiler built in the 1890s by Carl Friederick Wilhelm Krahnert. The model has been in the fam-ily for four generations, and they felt MSTEC is a worthy home for it to be appreciated by future generations.

Carl Krahnert’s Model Steam Engine & Boiler By Rohan Lamb

The boiler and steam engine, October 2018 (Lamb)

Carl & Eva Krahnert, Ballarat (Krahnert Family)


Robert Jone’s Yorkshire steam wagon Ethel has been on a 2000 km round trip to the Clarendon Classic Machinery, Truck, & Hobby Rally .

One of the features was Kenworth Klassics so what better way than to hitch a ride on Rob’s 1973 W model Kenworth with Cummins 555 v8 engine as is a classic in it’s own right.

cylinder. Steam was supplied by a single flue vertical boiler, 12” (305mm) tall and 7” (178mm) in diameter. It is clad in sheetmetal with brass bands, and is fitted with a dead weight safety valve and whistle. There is a small shovel for stoking. A rolled sheetmetal chimney and small feedwater tank were lost prior to donation. Acknowledgements Graeme Krahnert for providing notes about the model and family history.

© Rohan Lamb, October 2018

References 1 The spelling of the surname was changed to Krahnert for phonetic accuracy by Friederick Krahnert. 2 The mill was built by Gillespie & Co. in 1895, and was sold to W. C. Thomas & Sons about two years later. The mill employed around 15 to 20 workers. It burnt down in 1911 (Horsham Times, 17 February 1911, p.1)

3 Krahnert, G. notes. 4 Horsham Times, 9 June 1905, p.2 5 Horhsam Times, 2 March 1909, p.3 6 Horsham Times, 9 June 1905, p.2 7 Krahnert, G., notes. 8 Horhsam Times, 13 December 1932, p.5

An earlier photo of the model showing the boiler chimney and feedwater tank (behind the flywheel) which are no longer present. (Krahnert family)

The boiler and steam engine, October 2018 (Lamb) Also see the front cover photo for a different perspective of the engine

S S S S S S SS S S SS S S S S SS S S

Road Steam at Clarendon. Karen and Paul Dove’s Sentinel wagon visited us down in Victoria a couple of years ago so Ethel returned the invitation .

Ethel Visits Sydney


Davies Sort-out

Dave Rochester and Adrian Anderson have been sorting through the back of

bay 5 concentrating on identifying components of the dismantled steam locomotives and moving them to the rail shed. One item discovered was a large steam winch possibly of marine origin . It has been put on display on our grassed area . Can someone refit and seal the gear case cover to keep the weather out ? It was removed years ago to evict bees

Western Rail Extension Following an exceptionally dry spring The Morris have been able to get back to the rail extension earthworks sooner than expected. Levelling the track bed just through the top gate has been the first area to come under the attention of Peter’s recently acquired John Deere towed scraper.

FOR SALE MILL , LATHE & PRESS INTERESTING HISTORY

Lathe 1930’s small 14 “ German toolroom machine. Metric slides with inch leadscrews . 3 phase .Interesting history including 3 bullet holes in non functional areas . It seems the Americans strafed the tool room during the war then looted it. Being pretty new at the time it went to the Government auctions in Melbourne at the end of the war and was bought by Bill Chamberlain . Milling Machine Beaver PAL 1980’s British equivalent of an American Bridgeport but a bit bigger. 3 phase Press 30 ton hydraulic Sevex again from Chamberlains Pilot Arc Welder 400 volt . Steel Offcuts about 1/2 ton Located in Melbourne but down a sloping driveway. Attractively priced to the right person contact [email protected]

Shed Extensions Work on sheds 9 &10 are conditional to the railway line being shifted to the new alignment so hopefully this can be before the winter.


Southbend Thinking back my interest in machine tools stemmed from the wonderful construction projects described in “ Popular Science “ magazine using the Southbend lathe. Others introduction to lathe work probably came from the Hercus in school workshops. Actually these were exact South Australian copies of the Southbend which, I understand, did not have their

blessing Warwick was not disappointed to find this simple display

of a Southbend Lathe sitting on it’s shipping pallet and complete with information board in Southbend in the basement of the Studebaker car museum. This Midwest city is so named because of its location on the St Joseph’s river on its southernmost bend before it swings north to discharge into lake Michigan. It was machine tool makers like this that assisted the development of heavy industries such as the Oliver Chilled Plough Co. and Studebaker .

Railway Workshops Steamtown USA in Scranton Pa. had an extensive workshop for restoring and maintaining their steam locomotives. These included wheel turning lathes, plate rollers and flangers. Being a functional workshop some compromise was necessary in that the machines were spread out to allow heavy components to be moved around so did not really form an exhibit as such . Fortunately our group was given a private tour under the watchful eye of the department manager so were able to inspect the workshop machines at close quarters. This makes it apparent that working vintage machinery can still be an interesting display for special interest groups if they are carefully shepherded around.

This boiler plate Flanger had me intrigued . The tongue swings around in the arc of the

frame progressively working a flange onto the plate.. It beats the traditional method of using a mallet to hammer over the edge of the plate around a former.

The flanger was recently use to form the throat plate and backhead of this Baldwin 26 steam locomotive boiler being built at Steamtown

Certainly a major undertaking. Private Workshops These are always interesting places and we got to see a few .

VINTAGE WORKSHOP IDEAS With our museum’s Vintage Workshop kicking along under the management of Clive Windley the opportunity was taken, by Warwick to look at a number in the USA to get ideas on how our fairly large collection can be best developed and displayed.


While they are not set up for the eyes of the general public they can be fascinating places for those honoured with a special invitation . Being the domain of one man they often give an insight into that person , how they tackle jobs and often get by doing amazing things with very limited resources. The humble workshop we inherited from Harold Poppel is such an example. Kenny Kass’s farm workshop we visited at Waterloo, where he restored his fabulous collection of large prairie tractors is a fine example. A characteristic often is very old equipment that can still do a useful job in the hands of a skilled operator , hoards of anything useful be it offcuts of material or tools of all sorts and a wonderful junk pile . A major project Kenny is undertaking at the moment is the reconstruction of a very rare tractor even to the extent of fabricating a new gear box casing.

Vintage Auto Workshops A number of Auto museums we visited attempted to reproduce this type of scene from the past often with mixed

results. A diorama set up in the permanent Auto Museum at the Old Threshers Reunion at Mt Pleasant Iowa .

I wonder if they need to included the building itself or at least a façade complete with gas pumps and enamel signs to capture the atmosphere. There is insufficient interest in old tyres, oil cans and hand pumps while engine reconditioning equipment is too specialized to have wide appeal. If it is attempted I think it is a big job to do it justice . This stricken T model Ford, having major repairs done to it’s underside attracted much more attention than the diorama just round the corner.

Vintage Works Shops A notable one was seen in the Stationary Steam Museum at Old Threshers , Mt Pleasant . The secret of this shop is it is well laid out with complete absence of clutter and junk giving plenty of room between machines allowing each one to be viewed and comprehended in its own right.

Adding to the appeal it is a functioning shop used for looking after the steam engines. A display of a treadle powered lathe catches visitors attention even though it does not look like the operator has much

oomph left in him . In the background can be seen a large flat belt driven lathe and mill still in use .


Blacksmith Workshops This alcove was set up as a blacksmith display in the Steam building at Mt pleasant Old Threshers. I am not sure what it was supposed to represent but with so much clutter and duplicated items it was confusing at the first glance with no single item jumping out to hold my attention . Also lacking was the patina of the timber walls and beams expected in a vintage workshop ( after all they are not called blacksmiths for nothing ). Not my Idea of an effective display but it might have local significance I am not aware of. In contrast was the reconstructed Blacksmith shop of Thomas

Edison’s Menlo Park research facility at Henry Fords Greenfields Village.

A charming old building with thick stone walls , heavy roof beams all covered in soot with various tools and items of the type crafted by Blacksmiths hanging on them but not so many they confuse. On the workbench by the window are vices and various tools . The forges show worn brickwork through years of use and are each equipped with anvils and cones. These are used for forming rings of any dia by dropping over the cone and

hammering . It is considered perfectly round when no light can be seen through gaps hence the saying . Beat the daylights out of it. The whole display effectively portrays a 100 year old workshop yet leaves the feeling that it could be used tomorrow for blacksmithing demonstrations. Inventors Machine Shop Edison’s machine shop from his Menlo Park R&D establishment , moved to Greenfield Village in the1920’s recreates a different theme as an Inventors shop.

It is based around a diverse range of light duty equipment for fine work . It was not intended for volume production so machines would have been more clustered as they would not be operating all at the same time. Layout is still linear under a line shaft with the viewing gallery along the right . The absence of modern guards indicate it is purely a static display with the emphasis on truly recreating the original setting of his Fort Meyers Florida laboratory from 1885 Actually in the early 1930’s after the laboratories relocation to Greenfield Village in Detroit Ford used other parts of the building for the secret work on his new V8 design.


The Ford Vintage Engineering Workshop My first destination at the Henry Ford Greenfield village was the recreated Armington and Simms Machine Shop . A poster at the door invited “ ...for the makers in the crowd don your goggles and shape your own brass candlestick using a 1917 lathe , age 6 & over.” The attraction was their brass turning capstan lathe set up to turn miniature candle stick from billets of brass. The Brass Turning lathe , almost the same as mine, was well protected by guards and tooled up so all they had to do was crank the handle back and forth to form the part. Never the less a fascinating hands on display for the visitor who got to take home a souvenir at the end of the day.

The machine shop was set up with a long central viewing aisle with a single row of various types of machines along each side . Above each row was a line shaft extending the length of the building. In this way every type of machine could be clearly made out and inspected closely in safety.

This behind the scenes view of the operating side of the machines shows the machinists walkway flanked by long work benches along the window walls . The

benches display work in progress along with various tools, vices ,angle plates and racks of cutters. Actually I was not permitted into this area to take a photo even though no machines were in operation which I thought was a bit over the top however the lady seeing my interest kindly took a few for me. It was interesting how the Safety culture of a large manufacturing company like Ford obviously also applied to the vintage operations of museums.

Being impressed with the layout of this vintage workshop I managed to get a plan of its layout The key to the machine list is continued over the page


A glance at the list shows a diverse range of machinery with almost everything over 100 yeas old .

Conclusions So what is my impressions of a successful Vintage Workshop ? - The goods one have plenty of space between the machines. - Often in a single line with walkways in between. - Many are just static displays though set up to look like they run. - The most interesting are those demonstrated working, it can be something as simple as pedalling a lathe. Warwick Bryce

Maybe we should think about :- Display - Reduce number of machines on display by putting some in storage ( not getting rid of them !) - A partition between Diesels and Vintage workshop - Re arrange the fencing so we can have 2 rows of machines with a narrower aisle between them. - Crib a bit more space from the un utilized area where the ships turbine and merry go round engine is. - Strictly enforce bans on stacking clutter around and on the machinery. - Pursue the longer term strategy to remove the back wall and extend main building towards the railway line.

Work within the Club Rules ( see members handbook for full wording of the Club’s Purpose, our Charity privileges depends on following these rules) Aim … preserve authenticity and historical significance of the machinery ….display with emphasis on operation. … ….operate a museum .

Restoration Policy ….do not operate it if it is not up to it. ….do not make alterations or improvements ….do not over restore it ….no work done with Committee approval.

This is a bit unique in that it is a fully functioning workshop consisting of middle aged machine tools on standby in the cable Engine house Museum . Being a fully operating tramway system the only opertunity for maintainance and repairs is between 2 and 6 am when the system is shut down . With this narrow time slot a workshop needs to be instantly available when repairs are required . The other unique feature is the overhead viewing platform which also affords a view of the whole cable drive mechanism for museum visitors . Two Bridgport type mills , Radial arm drill and large Lathe from the 60’s are obvious with a CNC machining center top left .

San Fransisco Cable Car Workshop

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