HERALD & NEWS, FRIDAY 8th FEBRUARY 1974
Steaming away his retirement – that’s tank man Jack’s idea of perfect relaxation
by Christine Harding
WIDOWER Jack Davies has been raising steam for nearly 50 years. Jack (70) is a steam locomotive enthusiast, and his idea of relaxation is to spend each day making detailed models of steam engines.
All his spare time is spent in his garden workshop at 11 Ayebridges Avenue, Egham.
Before his retirement in 1960, Jack repaired and tested armoured vehicles for the War Office.
He said: “I’m a tank man really. I’ve never driven an engine, but they’ve held a fascination for me ever since I was a child.”
One of the most difficult tasks in building the models is trying to find information on the old engines, but Jack is a well-informed man.
“Other model engineers are always ready to help,” said Jack, “so I usually find the information I need.”
Original
Much of his information comes from books and photographs, but when possible he likes to see the original engines.
One of the highlights of his life came last year, when he visited relatives in California.
While in California, he was able to visit Sacramento, and see an American fire fighting engine, built in 1875.
For the past eight years he has been building a model of this engine.
“I was really delighted at seeing the engine. In my wildest dreams I’d never imagined I would.”
Frequent
Locomotives on the west coast of America burnt wood instead of coal, and as bridges and tunnels were also mainly of wood, fires were fairly frequent, and these engines were needed to get to the fire quickly.
Only three fire fighting engines were built alone on the west coast, and none on the east.
Jack’s model is one of five in existence throughout the world.
“Out of necessity I had to make my model coal-fired, but otherwise it is true to the original.”
All his engines run on steam coal, and are fired and maintained like ordinary locomotives.
Charcoal
The engines are started on charcoal and then, when steam is raised, the coal is placed through a tiny coal hole door into the boiler.
Each control panel contains a miniature pressure gauge, reversing gears and levers, water gauges, a blower and a mechanical lubricator.
The locomotives also have their own long handled shovels, pokers and firing irons.
The controls are cut from stainless steel or bronze and then filed down, and the pipes and tubes are made of copper piping.
He makes the main bodywork of the engines from scrap metal—he has even used an old washing machine and where possible he buying ready-made wheels and cylinders.
Patience
He said: “The only tools I use are a lathe, a small drilling machine and hand tools … and a lot of patience.”
When he is not making steam locomotives, Jack builds scale models of the early steam engines which were used in factories to drive pumps and machinery.
Another of his models, which he is just completing, is a half-second battery driven clock, made entirely by hand.
So far the clock has taken him 18 months of hard work, of which the worst part was cutting the wheels.
● Jack displayed his American fire-fighting engine at Staines and District Model Railway Society exhibition last week.