Brian Read - Entry Narrative

THE JUNKBOX SPECIAL When using the original passenger trailer hooked up to my 3" Marshall S Type traction engine and using it as a driving trolley I found it very uncomfortable and awkward to reach the controls on the engine, as it meant leaning much too far forward. Obviously with a 3" model it's not possible to attach a seat directly onto the engine as it would be on larger models without the front end rearing up. One solution would have been to consult a Harley St. surgeon - expensive and permanently irreversible structural surgery to me - or a blacksmith. I chose the latter.  The idea was to produce a driving trolley that would be closer coupled to the engine using the existing coupling pin so after a lot of fiddling around a suitable used envelope was found and design was drawn up, a basic framework welded up, and with footrests fitted and the wheels put on a test run was organised. The front of the drivers seat deliberately overlaps the tender and a centre swivelling castor is fitted to take the weight off the tender and subsequently the seat tilts backwards slightly to aid the steering. I found the driving position perfect with the controls much closer to hand. Everything seemed fine, well sort of, until we actually got the thing going. In a straight line - no problem but going round corners on a less than dead flat surface saw me falling off with monotonous frequency as the trolley pivoted over the raised centre swivelling castor. Back to the drawing board and another visit to the blacksmith. Another rummage around the garage found yet another useful pair of smaller swivelling castors exactly the right diameter to fit under the footrests so the cornering stability problem appeared to be solved. The result has been probably the daftest looking 5 wheel driving trolley in existence but no backache and no falling off after running it at 5 events in 2007.  Having got it all working it dawned on me that the gaping hole under the driving seat was crying out to be used as a water carrier. Now in this neck of the woods we have some good class tat thrown into roadside skips and one day on a “skip cruise” I saw this plastic water container poking its nose out of a local skip just waiting for the likes of me give it a new lease of life. It was meant for me as fits exactly under the seat and trebles the water capacity. A good start methinks and various ideas came to mind how to lift water from it. A windscreen washer pump was hooked up. It whizzed round at a phenominal rate of knots and nearly went into orbit but nearly melted the plastic body before it had a chance. That really hurt as it had cost a fiver about twenty years ago. The problem was solved when a friend gave me a beaten up old Morris Minor SU petrol pump and I fitted a new set of points. I connected it up to a small 12v SLA battery mounted on the back, dug out an old length of plastic tubing and hey presto! It all worked. Well, sort of.... The plastic tubing had been coiled up for about 40 years and didn't want to go straight inside the container so only drew water from about half way up. I rummaged around in the garage and found the brass spout from an old sink geyser that had a useful 90deg bend in it. Coincidentally the plastic tubing fitted exactly inside the spout so I shoved it down vertically inside the container and it now draws water from just off the bottom. A Maplins on/off switch and an in-line tap from a wine making kit (to stop it dribbling when switched off) completes the job. (My wife threatened to get one for me) I'm sure experienced engineers with 3" engines reading this may have found other solutions more in keeping with their model engineering skills but I ain't no engineer! The main thing is it works to my satisfaction and has added spin-off. It means I can get more kids on the separate passenger trolley. I'm very proud of my probably unique 5 wheeled driving trolley which is all my own design - and I use the term loosely. It epitomises the old expression “Necessity is the mother of invention”. The driving trolley occasionally draws more attention from bystanders and ribald comments from show-ring commentators than the engine Brian Read