SE mag's out

Hit my mat this morning. Nothing of great interest in the classifieds - well, not within my modest ability to store things, anyway. I thought there was more interesting reading matter this time.

There is an excellent photo by Eric Brain of a line of caravans, a hedge and a field of dried grass. You'll know it when you see it ...............

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Reply to
J K Siddorn
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And one tiny engine in the middle!!! Ian.

Reply to
kingsnavy

I really hope that the article provokes some comment, though the turn round time of SEM (probably not the right publishing term but you know what I mean) seems to have increased so much since David Edgington's day that it is now sometimes difficult to relate responses to the original letter or whatever.

Reply to
Nick Highfield

Hi All, SEM arrived today here in the frozen wastes. Good old Royal Mail, they do an excellent job.

I enjoyed the article, Kim, and liked the mention of the NG in it. It might help people think about their displays from the other side of that tape.

I applaud your 30 second rule for conversation, and hope others follow your lead.. There's one old chap locally who regularly rallies an engine which particularly interests me. I stand studying it for long periods, casting meaningful glances at him and never hear a word. He has no signs or any information so unless he'll talk I'll never find out anything about it. I did get a nod out of him once when I asked if I could take a photo. He always gives me the impression I'm messing up an otherwise agreeable day.

Why does he go? The only answer I've come up with for this chap and a few other tongue tied types is that maybe because they live in a built up area, they cannot run their engines at home, so a rally allows them to take out the toys and play with them. If correct, this would mean that their motivation is purely selfish. Does this seem a likely explanation for some poor displays?

Anyway, back to SEM, I thought that the standard of articles this time was rather better than some of those in recent issues. Several good articles on engines and makers and the Hatton Water Works article was most interesting.

I spotted a very nice photo top left on page 24. ;-).

I also spotted something in the Classifieds which may cause some domestic strife :~(.

Regards, Arthur G

Reply to
Arthur Griffin & Jeni Stanton

"Arthur Griffin & Jeni Stanton" wrote (snip):-

Obviously I don't know the guy but you must appreciate that folk do have a widely differing communications skills. For myself , I can write (well I like to kid myself I can anyway) but am an awkward conversationalist, particularly with 'strangers'. I don't currently rally ('cept little club crank-ups) but I'd like to think that if I did, I would not be castigated for failing to hurl myself at every punter who showed a vague interest in my engines.

Anyway, even if his motives are "purely selfish" at least the engine is being shown unlike mine!

Reply to
Nick Highfield

Nick, I didn't mean to suggest that anyone who isn't as responsive as Kim is bad. I do think Kim deserves praise, and I am always uplifted talking to an enthusiast enthusing. The man I refer to has studiously ignored me at about six rallies. I'm pleased to say he's very fair, he treats everyone the same way! I just was trying to figure out what he gets out of the day.

As you probably know, I'm not much of an exhibitor, though I've been peer-pressurised into showing this year. I will report on whether I lapse into dementia after hours of listening to the mechanical melody. I've got the Petter A running a treat in readiness ;-).

Regards, Arthur G

snip...

Reply to
Arthur Griffin

"Arthur Griffin" wrote (snip):-

peer-pressurised into showing this year. I will report on whether I lapse

I know just what you mean about peer pressure. Other club members regularly try to convince me that I should rally to "support the club" or "inform the public" or a myriad of other reasons. One even said that he felt like a parasite on the hobby until he started rallying (the implication is obvious). Be interesting to know what proportion of SEM readers do rally as it often seems to be seen as the raison d'etre of the whole hobby.

I did try it a couple of times but didn't enjoy the experience and as soon as a hobby becomes a chore it surely loses it's point. So I'll stick to my solitary tinkering for now and the odd club crank-up, where there is none of this first onto and last off of the field business, no ropes, no insurance, no 'them and us' mentality, just a small bunch of like minded individuals admiring, advising on and perhaps poking gentle fun at each other's engines. I took the pink Kubota diesel to the new years crank-up, which certainly attracted a few comments (and was a bugger to start again - I thought I'd got the knack) including "you never seem to bring a 'normal' engine do you" - I liked that one :-)

One of our younger members had a Lister D with shearing bracket, the direction of rotation was wrong and unscrewed the drive wheels on the flexible drive. Rather than fit an unsightly idler, it was decided to reverse the engine. The process had been started earlier in the week with the swapping of carb and exhaust and moving governor linkage, and was completed on the day by reversing the mag (Lucas SR1) and retiming - all by eye. There was much cheering when it eventually fired up! It showed a tendency to wander about on it's traditional wheelbarrow trolley and the lad was kept busy pulling it back into place and re chocking the wheels. Then, while he was distracted by the BBQ or something, another member hid the engine in the far corner of the yard and shouted Oi ******* where your engine gone - everybody else was quick to tell him it was last seen heading down the hill into the next county! Ah - simple fun;-)

All praise to those who do do the proper rally bit though, I spend many a happy summer weekend on the other side of the ropes with the comparative anonymity of a member of the paying public.

Reply to
Nick Highfield

Yes, it's seen as a curiously important thing to do, to take your engines out for a walk on regular occasions. I hover - no mean feat for me! - between working on them in monk-like seclusion and exhibiting. I enjoy both, the former is problem solving and the latter is an excellent opportunity to talk to friends and punters to whom I have virtually no responsibility - a nice change for me!

I like club life and have been a member of one club or another since I was at school, so I am quite happy to support my club (Wessex SE Club)at crank-ups and it's annual rally. However, as the club night (Mondays) is a

50 mile country roads round trip, I don't go & thus miss the chat and camaraderie. I understand there are frequently fifty odd present, being the biggest SE club in Britain AFAIK.

The Bristol SE club, to which I also belong, issue no newsletter and the one club night I went to was OK, but I soon forgot when the next one was as I had no newsletter to remind me!

There is certainly an expectation of one's presence at crank ups - & we are harangued in no uncertain terms if we do not turn up in numbers to support the annual rally ! Luckily, there are always a good number of engines at crank - ups (35 - 40 say) and with a big membership, one is not always walking around looking at the same old wheezers, to say nothing of the engines ;o))

I remember when I was a well-known figure in archery in the late '60's, the overbearing peer-group compulsion to take part in the postal shoot and to represent the club at shoots, just because I happened to be a good shot. The pressure was so great, I actually gave up modern target shooting and was soon shooting exclusively with a Longbow and wooden arrows.

Anyway, I make a conscious effort to take an engine that I see infrequently at events and often take something else to show that is not necessarily stationary engine related (like a barrel from a Bristol Peggy XVIII) on the basis that one oddity may well attract another - and it does often work, too!

That all said, I personally find it strange that some of the most important, well respected and recognisable people in our hobby, people that obviously still get a big kick out of being involved, rarely exhibit, some actually no longer owning any Iron Toys. I stand to be corrected, of course, but I cannot think of parallels in other pastimes which have generated its own academia in less than a generation.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Reply to
J K Siddorn

Sometimes I think I might be heading towards the purely academic side as I do derive a good deal of satisfaction attempting to piece together bits of engine history, particularly the lineage and evolution of specific models (a little more Mar-Vil info kindly forwarded by GW landed on my door mat this morning). However, it is almost always the aquisition of some rusty lump which initiates such research, and I think that the urge to tinker will remain irresistable for a few years yet.

I guess David Edgington is the most obvious example of an engine 'academic' and nobody should be too unhappy to be compared with him!

Reply to
Nick Highfield

While not being any of those things (I can understand why people don't rally engines as much now compared with previous years (70's / 80's)

All hobbies tend to be transient, and while we all retain an interest in a subject for long periods it is always the case that other interests and family life demand our time, and previously unnoticed facets of the hobby may well take us off on a tangent to the main interest.

Time has to be the overriding factor for most of us.

Kind regards,

Peter

Peter Forbes Prepair Ltd Luton, UK email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk home: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

Reply to
Prepair Ltd

"J K Siddorn" wrote (snip):-

ISTR that an attempt some years ago to turn the VMCC into a learned society so that it could award professorships (of vintage motorcycles) to leading members, was greeted with such derision by the rank and file that it resulted in a record turn out at the AGM to ensure that it was voted down! I guess some things just should not be taken *too* seriously ;-)

Reply to
Nick Highfield

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