Model Engineering

Sandstone has agreed with South Africa's top model makers to host a special section on their web site which would concentrate on areas of interest for railway locomotive model makers worldwide. The idea was proposed by Andries Keyser, whose introduction features below.

One of our most steadfast supporters over the years and someone who has been of immense assistance to model makers around the world with respect to the provision of technical information is Hannes Paling. As a summary to the outstanding contributions that Hannes has made and continues to make he has prepared this introductory statement for us:

Since the start of the industrial revolution man has created many types of machines, the steam locomotive was one of these. The steam locomotive has held a special fascination to young and old for more than a century. With the withdrawal of the steam locomotive from active service a vacuum was formed which was ably filled by the Sandstone Heritage Trust's Unique collection in this country, especially narrow gauge locomotives and rolling stock. It has from the smallest locomotive, a Decauville type 1, which is the only working example in the world, two examples of Lawleys with a rich history spanning more than a hundred years each, again the only working examples in the world and narrow gauge super power in the form of the NG15 and various Garratt classes, which don't need a introduction, with a good spread in between from all major manufacturers world wide.

Sandstone narrow gauge railway and website has been a inspiration to many model builders around the world, examples of Sandstone engines are built in Australia, the UK, the States, Europe, Germany and of course South Africa, from small H0 gauge models to one third size working models are built. Many of the models built in other countries were inspired by photo's on the Sandstone website.

To all model builders around the world, please let us have pictures of your work, perhaps we could share some of our experiences.

Best regards,
Hannes Paling

Please direct all queries, contributions and questions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Andries Keyser's South African Railways NG 6 A in 7¼"gge

14 January 2010

History:
We all know the fascinating history of the 2 foot narrow gauge railway that ran from Beira before the turn of the century and also how it came to its end and of the locomotives ending up were they are today. But what if, for some strange reason, some bloke decided to slip in another order of the Lawley locomotive design with some minor updates... Or what if during their lives on the South African Railways a locomotive was rebuilt with a more standard, modern style of valvegear. Well, this is what I think it would have looked like. This would have been SAR Class NG 6A.

UVE 2 Sugarcane Locomotive in 7 ¼”gge

14 January 2010

Building a scale model locomotive from scratch in any scale is not a small job that can be finished in a few weekend's spare time. Building a larger scale model that has to be a working model takes a few hours more, every component has to do an actual job and function as on its larger sister. Choosing a prototype one has to be careful not to lets one's imagination get to enthusiastic, with pictures of 15F's, 25NC's and Garratt's racing through one's mind, although working models of these locomotives have been built and are still being built, they are very complicated, and require lot of time, experience and determination to make a working model of one of these prototypes.

Pietermaritzburg Model Engineering Society

14 January 2010

Since 2005 the Pietermaritzburg Model Engineering Society has annually hosted the Wings, Wheels and Whistles hobby exhibition, and every year it has grown bigger and more popular than the year before, but this year there is a twist in the tale...

Duplex Steam Pump

14 January 2010

Steam engines in all forms are dependent on boilers to supply the steam at pressure to their cylinders to produce work, sooner or later the boiler water level will drop, which needs replenishing when a certain level is reached. Various types of mechanical pumps, connected to the steam engine crank shaft, have been used in the early days. Since the invention of the steam injector by a French engineer around 1860, mechanical pumps have fallen into disfavour.