Pattern Making Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain

With over 500 miles covered, Fred Dibnah has now reached Derbyshire

on his grand tour of Britain's industrial past.

He set out six weeks ago with his steersman, Alf Molyneux,

in search of all the things that went into building and running an engine like this.

So far they've seen where the iron ore was mined and turned into steel,

they've seen how castings were made and looked at boiler making, riveting and forging.

They've now been joined by Fred's sons, Jack and Roger,

who are going to stay with him until the end of the tour.

Like Fred, they're both steam enthusiasts

and there's plenty for them to do with their friends at the Howard Brothers workshop.

Yes, I'm pleased with that.

For Fred, it's like an Aladdin's cave,

with all sorts of interesting engines at various stages of repair and restoration.

This is a bit of a rarity this one.

Yeah, very early one, this. 1884 this.

When we get it steaming, it'll be the oldest steamroller steaming.

-There are some older ones but there in museums and not steaming

-They got one in Birmingham.

That's right. It'll be an interesting engine.

Yea, there's some bits that we worked out about the regulator rod.

-That's right.

-That one's like a lash up.

The original one had a bell crank and come along top.

That's right, yeah.

This is interesting - this rain cover then this other cover, and it survived.

-It can only go into...

-Mulcher.

-..into mulcher.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

They're teeny rivets, aren't they? They're not so big.

They'll probably be 11/16ths originally cos they used to use a lot of weird 16th sizes.

It's still a bit pitted there.

Fred's own engine is in the workshop here

because he's found out that there's a problem with one of the bearings.

Jack took it upon himself to take off the front wheel

and have a look at this problem of the liquid brass coming out the bearing.

We've known about it for a week or two,

and it's in quite a mess. It'll not stop us carrying on,

but there's something terrible happened in between the brass bearing in the wheel and the actual shaft.

It's lost about a 32nd of an inch underneath with the weight of the engine resting on it.

When we get back home we're going to have to do some serious mechanicing.

There's been no weight...

The great thing about being in a place like this is there's plenty of expert advice on hand.

If it's some of this aluminium bronze.

That's bloody awful.

Try drilling a hole in it.

In't a pig. Never mind.

That's the way the crumble cookies, in't it?

Yeah.

I'll let Jack finish.

So the engine is going to be out of service for a few days,

but while Jack works on it Fred has still got places he wants to visit.

Leaving the engine here today and going down the road to see Mr David Ragsdale

who's the owner of six traction engines,

and the main reason we're going is he's a master at the art of pattern making.

From ornamental park railings to the cylinder block of the traction engine,

everything that was made out of iron had to be cast.

The casting was done in a mould and to create the mould a pattern had to be made.

Once they'd made the pattern, they could use it dozens of times.

They made many engines through this system.

In the 1920s and '30s when the demise of the traction engine were very obvious to most people

the whole lot burned, you know,

so anybody now who buys an engine that's got a dicky part has got to come here and see Mr Ragsdale,

who specialises in making patterns from the remains of the original bits or the drawings.

-Have you been at it long?

-I was an apprentice when I was 16. I've been at it 25 years now.

People don't realise the skill involved in this -

you've got to make the pattern slightly bigger than the end product.

When the metal solidifies again, it shrinks.

-Contraction.

-Yeah.

-We've special rulers...

-Special rulers...

-..to give us an allowance for that.

Cast iron's quarter of an inch in every 12½, or one inch in every 100 inch.

-I didn't know that.

-Aluminium varies - it's one inch in every 77 inch, and steel's the greatest.

That's one inch in every 48 inch. It contracts a lot more.

That's incredible.

While Fred gets involved in the mathematics of pattern-making,

Alf and Jimmy are more interested in the collection of engines David and his father own.

I hope Fred doesn't get one. We've enough polishing with the other one.

Look at the size of those back wheels.

A beauty, isn't it?

-Where did it come from?

-Wales.

Princess Of Wales, I believe it's called.

I think we'd be better on this side.

This is the front end, isn't it?

This is obviously a convertible one.

It's all segmentals cut out of segments and glued together.

There'll be 20 or 30 pieces of wood in that section and a similar amount of segments in that section.

When you're fillin' things like that, it's all feel.

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

-There's that...

-I mean...

For a skilful man, if it feels good, it generally is.

And your eyesight. Some people don't have that business of, "That's right. It looks good."

You can feel it with your eyes shut.

You've got the original one down here. There's a nasty crack there.

It's nearly in two halves.

Normally that's the reason the head stock has to be remade because the chimney base is rotten.

-You'll be painting it all red?

-Yes, it's all to be finished in pattern red like this one here

that we've to take to foundry.

Perhaps we should get set sail and take her.

Yeah.

Castings for things like the cylinder block and the pistons on Fred's traction engine

were made in small foundries like this.

Every casting had to have a pattern.

Today, Fred, we're going to be making this engine block

and it's the Stanley Steamer which was made in Massachusetts in 1897.

Were going to make an impression in sand,

the outside of it and the internal side, put it together and cast it.

That's the pattern, so we'll get the sand.

This is just one half of the mould.

To create the casting, another mould like this will have to be created and clamped on top of this one.

When the sand has set, the wooden pattern is taken out

and it leaves an impression in the sand, in the shape of the outside of the casting.

Now we're going to black the mould.

We set fire to that and it stops the metal penetrating the sand.

-I like this bit.

-It's at that stage when your fingers catch fire.

It seems a waste of good spirit that, Fred.

I could just do with a pint.

Then a solid core is put in to create the hollow inside of the casting.

Now we're ready for the final closure.

Now the two halves of the Mould are put together.

It's all ready for casting.

We've got they molten metal ready.

When you're melting brass, you need about 1000 degrees C.

I've done a bit of brass.

We had a little crucible pot,

and I made it so they all came out like L-shaped brackets for nailing round lightning conductors.

On the first attempt, me mam's Hoover was running for about an hour

and a funny smell came out and that was the end of it.

-We graduated to a proper fan later on.

-You've made a few of them?

Over the years, but the demand's gone with the chimneys.

Once the moulds have been filled, the hot metal is left to cool.

-That's going to take hours and Fred has got some unfinished business back at David's place.

-See you.

David takes Fred to meet his father and have a look at their collection of engines.

-Morning, Bruce.

-Morning, Fred. How are you?

-Not so bad.

-David showed me a picture of what you started with. It was nothing.

-It was little bits and pieces.

I've saved some of it - the safety valves and some of the motion work's been saved.

The rest has been scrapped.

-The cylinder block, that would be a fair challenge for you.

-We hadn't got a lot of detail of that.

We had a view of the side and back, so aesthetically it looks correct.

With the internals, we got a drawing for the larger engine

and reduced the sizes to what it'd have been for the three tonner.

In fact, we've got the cylinder block pattern, if you want to have a look at it.

-All them are the core boxes?

-Most of them. they're not all here.

-There's about six weeks' work.

-I bet. Yeah.

This is for your valve chest.

D'you want to have a run on this engine, Fred?

That would be good, that.

-Can we have a go?

-She's a little bit lively.

-A bit livelier than the roller.

-I'll...

-You'll get used to it.

-The tractor's pretty jumpy.

-Oh, aye.

She's a bit on the lively side, but I'm sure you'll get used to it.

-Which one do you want?

-The Burrell.

That's the one that's repairing?

I'll have that.

Right. CLANGING

I see what you mean.

Come on, baby.

Give her it now.

-I see what you mean.

-Do you think you're safe here?

-I don't know.

-It's noisier than ours.

Yes, because they haven't replaced the gear.

I wonder if they have insurance with Dad driving?

Stand well back, lads - Fred's only a learner on this engine.

-Lovely machine this. Lovely paint job, isn't it?

-It is.

It's coming faster down here.

Fred got to know steam enthusiasts from all over Britain,

and on his travels, he came across people who put steam power to all sorts of interesting uses.

When he was here a couple of years ago, he visited a garden centre whose owner was a great steam man.

Most people think that the great age of steam is dead,

but this whole nursery is actually powered by steam.

Not only does it keep the water boiling in the pipes,

but it generates all the electricity for the lighting.

I think I'll go and have a look at where the main source of power is.

This is Tom Nuttall who's got to be something of a steam buff,

because all this stuff in here has been collected by him over the years.

Some of it powers the electrical department of his nursery.

Tell us, Tom, how long commercially have you been steaming off timber?

I think, Fred, it all started in the miners' strike.

We couldn't get any coal, so we decided to go into the steam boiler.

If we were having steam, why not generate our own electricity.

We've got free wood, free electricity, free heat -

I thought, "All we need to do now is to get it piped into the system and away we go.

You've got a nursery and a museum as well all driven by steam.

The fuel Tom uses is wood he gets free from a local furniture factory.

If he didn't take it, it would all have to go to a landfill site.

He burns 20 tons of it every day in this big industrial boiler, to raise the steam to power the generator.

The electricity that he generates, would be enough to meet the needs of a small hamlet of about 50 houses.

-That's a big one.

-There's 60 tons there, Fred.

They'd been trying to find a home for that for 20 years and we got there before the scrap man.

-Unbelievable.

-Is that what's termed a "triple expansion"?

Yes, triple expansion.

Most of these engines over the last 30 or 40 years have been burnt up for scrap,

but the mill owners fell in love with these engines

and they wanted to see them preserved.

A place like this couldn't be better.

We're fortunate we've got free steam, so we can steam all day long if we want to.

What's your next big project?

-We've got a bit of a problem on this engine round here. Would you like to have a look at that?

-Aye.

We've got a nasty problem just here.

When we came to start this side of the engine up, we found a nasty crack along that valve.

If you could pass that out, Steve,

you can see it was cracked from the root, across the face and down to this side.

Almost broke in half.

We've had it metal stitched, you can see it there.

We're going to put it back together now, Fred, and see if it'll run. The lads are on with it,

we'll warm it up.

Now with the job done, the moment has come to see if it'll steam again.

-Success.

-Here we are, Fred, running.

First time that's run for 20 years.

Getting all this lot screwed together takes a lot of time and man hours.

-When you've got time to spare, you can come and have half a day.

-I could spend half my life here really.

Back at base, the wheel's ready to go on to the engine.

Fred's not happy that he had a problem in the first place.

Bit disappointing that,

but it's one of the simpler bits of engineering that went completely haywire.

I wouldn't, like, do another 5,000 miles.

It's incredible how it's worn.

-Look at that.

-Shall we drop it?

We might as well clean it while we can still turn it round.

I shouldn't be doing this.

You know what happens when you volunteer? Nobody stops you.

We're ready for action again.

Ready to steam, steam, steam down the road!

A few hundred miles yet.

We'll wear out before that falls to bits.

Even when I did it, I was a bit worried about getting it welded up, then turning it again.

The quality of welding now is pretty good.

That side should be all right.

What's the brass that you've used?

-Is it proper bronze or...?

-It came out the scrapyard. I couldn't actually say.

-My problems are nowt compared with yours.

-Well...

Ian Howard and Jack Meaker have both been busy restoring their own engines

which had been destroyed in a fire at the workshops.

..Since the '60s.

I'd just about got it done - all repainted.

If things had gone on as they were, I'd have been out this year.

-That's terrible.

-It's back to square one now.

But there are plenty of young enthusiasts around here to give a hand with the rebuild.

When my little lad rang me up and said, "Our brothers have had a terrible accident," I cried.

It, it...

They worked that hard and I've watched them for years with the engine, um...

and then to have it destroyed.

-When it just happened, I didn't know whether to sell the engine or...

-Don't do that. All hope is not lost.

Alf 's looking forward to getting back on the road again.

I like the people -

waving,

speaking to us,

taking our photos.

Kodak must have made a fortune out of us!

With the wheel back on, it's time for the road again.

There's always some little job that's needed first.

Time to move on.

On the narrow lanes around here, you never know what you're going to meet up with.

That was a tight fit.

This engine was built in a workshop completely powered by belt-driven machinery.

We're now going to go down to a workshop that hasn't changed for 100 years.

It's where they make and repair clocks.

It's all belt-driven.

This is Ashbourne in Derbyshire which has always been famous for making clocks.

This family firm has been in business since 1826.

-Hello, Charles.

-Hello, Fred.

Nice to see you.

I've come to have a look at your wonderful workshop.

Thank you very much. We've had this business since 1826, but it goes much further back than that.

The business started under the name of Harlow in Ashbourne in 1740.

I suppose you might say that they were blacksmiths at that time.

We're still making new ones.

I see, Charles, you've got this wonderful line shaft that drives all your machinery.

-Does it all work?

-Yes, it all works.

You don't find many of them now.

No, they're quite rare.

It's a unique survival.

Clock making is engineering on a small scale and clockmakers were the first mechanics.

There's something here Fred you might be interested in.

That's a new clock movement that Neil's working on.

Brand new? It's bonny that.

You got your number stamped on it.

104.

That's the first one made this year.

-Who does the woodwork?

-There's a lot of good cabinet makers about,

but finding somebody that's got the eye for proportion for a clock case is completely different.

-It's something that's been lost over the years.

-Mmm.

It'll be removed to some palatial residence, will it?

-We hope so. The quality is high enough.

-I can see that.

If you look at the pinions inside, Fred, they're cut from high carbon steel in the soft state.

To make them last several lifetimes, we harden them.

The process of hardening them, quenching them in the oil, it distorts them.

They have to be tempered down, then set again by hand by stretching them on the side of a vice with a hammer.

You can see those little marks there where the sides of the pinions have been stretched.

Then they're balanced up again by hand.

When you think back to, like, 1700,

you look at these clocks like beautiful teeth.

How did they do that?

We can show you.

We're going to show you how the teeth are cut in the wheels.

They're the same wheels that we saw on the new clock and this machine was built in 1910,

in the Black Forest, Germany.

-OK, Fred, ready to go.

-Ready for action.

Just need to start the line shaft.

In the 1890s, the company employed about 25 people,

but today the demand for hand-made clocks is not as high as it was then.

As well as their clocks, they now use their precision engineering skills

to make model engines and replicas of some of the earliest machinery of the Industrial Revolution.

Back then in the late 18th century, it was the development of these mechanical skills,

that led to Britain leading the world in the building of engines like this one of Fred's.

Fred's now got a long journey ahead from Derbyshire to Shropshire

and along the way, he's going to have to fill his 60 gallon tank a couple of times.

One of the reasons he's been having problems getting water in his tank,

is that he's got an important item of equipment missing.

To keep their tanks full of water, the traction engine used to use a water lifter suction hose.

This enabled them to get water from any horse trough they went past,

or from lakes and streams when they were out in the country.

Fred should've had one of these with them.

In fact, he even went to the manufacturers in Manchester to help make it before setting off.

We've got to go to Manchester to a company called S Redferns

who've been making water lifter hosepipes for 70 or 80 years.

They're the only one left in all of Britain that still makes them by the same process.

The importance of the water lifter, as it name says,

you come to a stream, chuck the pipe in the water, turn the steam on, and it fills the engine up for you.

-How do you do?

-Nice to see you. I'm fine, thank you.

We've brought our bits-and-pieces

-but I know you've started making a pipe that's, like, 1½ inch internal diameter.

-We have.

We've a motley collection of sieves.

These two are the same, but this nut, it's not the right one for that.

They should be a better fit. I was going to have a do at mending that.

Hardly worth the effort, is it? I'm sure we can find one for you.

-Do you want to make your way through?

-Right.

-This is Morris.

-Hello, Morris. How you doing?

This is the hose that you have on order.

-I'll pick you up before you leave. Bye for now.

-See you in a bit.

Fred, we've got an inch and three-quarter mandrill.

This is a spacer that we use to pre-set the wire.

-I've got quite a few lengths of this at home, but it's about 90 years old.

-Would you like to have a go?

Yeah. Without spoiling it!

-OK, right. Keep a grip on there.

-Downwards?

Yes, hand tight on there and the machine will do it for you.

Some would grumble about knocking the paintwork off the traction engines.

Seems to be coming out equally spaced.

I've got the job.

We'll go down now and start on the construction of it now.

All constructed by hand.

This is called HF2 natural.

Up and over.

There you go.

It's a bit frightening this, isn't it?

Many hands make light work.

My pipe will be full of lumps.

Push it up, pull it over - that's it.

-The second piece is a lot easier.

-The second piece is easier.

-What's the next bit?

-Have you got the outline of it now then?

It's a straightforward process of what we've already done.

It's another ply of the HF2 fabric.

Then we'll go again with another two ply of HF2 natural,

-then apply a linen string, and wrap it over.

-In between the wires?

In between the wires. That'll leave an indentation for the outer layer to go on.

Very good. Here's Frank.

-Have you found any end bits?

-Not yet but we're still searching the stock.

No doubt we'll be successful.

When will you be done then?

This will be done for tomorrow dinner.

Oh, right. Very good.

I suppose we'd better go home

-and let Morris finish this pipe off.

-OK.

Come on, lads. I'll see you later.

Nice talking to you.

Thanks very much for making me my pipe.

But Fred couldn't get the fittings he needed in time for his grand tour.

A lot of problems it would've saved if he'd been able to get the right fittings in time.

Anyway, he's got a full tank now and it's full steam ahead for the Severn Valley Railway

to see some engine building.

At the railway, Fred will be seeing some of the stages of building a steam locomotive.

On the way, he'll be stopping off at a traction engine club,

to meet up with some more old mates and to see some engines at work.