Hi – I’m not a model engineer, but my late father was, and he was skilled enough to run model engineering evening classes at our local technical college (he was a ‘woodwork, metalwork and TD’ teacher by trade).

He completed one engine – Juliet – which used to run on a continuous track laid around our house, and brought my brothers and me much joy.  He and his fellow club members would run a ‘Midsummer Night’s Steam’ event, for which they build a portable track, and they turned out for other charity events during the year.  Sadly, the Glenrothes club is no more.

He was building ‘Betty the Mongoliper’ when he died of cancer 30-odd years ago, aged 55.

I’m fairly certain that he would have cast things like wheels himself – he talked the college into getting a small forge, ostensibly for teaching the day students, but it probably got more use at the evening classes.  Basically, model engineering was his passion and he spent most of his leisure hours in his workshop, where he had his prized machines and soldering/welding gear.  I loved watching him work, and he instilled in me a passion for high-quality making that I now apply to a number of other crafts – just not metalworking.  I wish I could finish the job, but I think I’m a bit too old to learn the skills to the level needed, and I don’t have the machines I’d need.

I think he hoped one of my brothers would be interested enough to be able to finish Betty, but that never happened, and the chassis, boiler and completed tender have lain unloved – apart from an occasional blast of WD40 – for too long.

I now have all the bits and pieces relating to the build, and also what I think is the book of plans.  We (my brothers and I) really want to find someone who has the skills and appetite to finish the job, and make others happy by running it.  We’re not looking for money, or to get the finished engine back.  We just want to find someone who will make a genuine commitment to finish the work our father started (and maybe send us some pics when she steams up the first time).

So – there is anyone in the Manchester area who would like to have a look at Betty to decide whether they might be up for the job, please DM me – and those of you in Manchester-based clubs, if you would pass this message on, I’d be grateful.

Thanks for reading to the end.