Chairmans Chat
Hello, I am Peter Redfearn
I have recently become Chairman of the MSRVS Committee. Two years ago I agreed to organise the Static Models for the Tewkes-bury Rally; this year I have also taken on the Live Steam.
Our Editor, Margaret, is on a mission to make sure the Club membership gets to know the Committee members, so here’s my contribution.
I have always been keen on all forms of transport, especially those with an engine. Steam has held an intrinsic fascination for me from a young lad being taken every day to the local railway station in Warminster, to watch the steam hauled trains. My first experience of my own steam engine was a Mammod single cylinder oscillating steam engine. In my last year at secondary school in Oxford the Engineering Department allowed me to machine my own set of Stuart Turner beam engine castings. I trained as a Mechanical Engineer with the Dowty Group from 1966 to 1970, when in those days the Dowty Group was a major engineering employer in the ar-ea. The training definitely developed the idea that if something breaks your first thoughts are to repair, rather than replace.
Having lived in New Zealand for 3 years and subsequently worked in Sussex for 30 years, nearly three years ago my wife and I moved back up to Gloucestershire and have settled just outside Tewkesbury. Whilst in Sussex I belonged to the Sussex Steam Club at Tinkers Park. I attended a day course on learning to fire and steam a traction engine. I was fortunate enough to crew a Wallis and Stevens 10 ton road roller. This experience convinced me that I needed to have a steam engine of my own - practicality ruled and I settled for a 4” Burrell agricultural engine. I bought Greensleeves in 2013 knowing that she needed a full re-tube and some fairly serious rectification work. This would give me the opportunity to familiarise myself with the practicalities of owning and running a live steam model. When we moved back to Gloucestershire we bought a property that required renovation, so subsequent house modifications have meant that only some of the work on Greensleeves has taken place - but I am told that is what retirement is for!!!
I have recently become Chairman of the MSRVS Committee. Two years ago I agreed to organise the Static Models for the Tewkes-bury Rally; this year I have also taken on the Live Steam.
Our Editor, Margaret, is on a mission to make sure the Club membership gets to know the Committee members, so here’s my contribution.
I have always been keen on all forms of transport, especially those with an engine. Steam has held an intrinsic fascination for me from a young lad being taken every day to the local railway station in Warminster, to watch the steam hauled trains. My first experience of my own steam engine was a Mammod single cylinder oscillating steam engine. In my last year at secondary school in Oxford the Engineering Department allowed me to machine my own set of Stuart Turner beam engine castings. I trained as a Mechanical Engineer with the Dowty Group from 1966 to 1970, when in those days the Dowty Group was a major engineering employer in the ar-ea. The training definitely developed the idea that if something breaks your first thoughts are to repair, rather than replace.
Having lived in New Zealand for 3 years and subsequently worked in Sussex for 30 years, nearly three years ago my wife and I moved back up to Gloucestershire and have settled just outside Tewkesbury. Whilst in Sussex I belonged to the Sussex Steam Club at Tinkers Park. I attended a day course on learning to fire and steam a traction engine. I was fortunate enough to crew a Wallis and Stevens 10 ton road roller. This experience convinced me that I needed to have a steam engine of my own - practicality ruled and I settled for a 4” Burrell agricultural engine. I bought Greensleeves in 2013 knowing that she needed a full re-tube and some fairly serious rectification work. This would give me the opportunity to familiarise myself with the practicalities of owning and running a live steam model. When we moved back to Gloucestershire we bought a property that required renovation, so subsequent house modifications have meant that only some of the work on Greensleeves has taken place - but I am told that is what retirement is for!!!
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