Lecture:- The Model of Hunslet Engine Company
Following the brief Annual General Meeting on Thursday 24th April 2025 the members present were given a talk by Andrew Ross who had produced the most amazing model of Hunslet Engine Company as it was in its heyday. Our president John Aldersley kindly produced this report on the presentation:-
“Andrew had started at Hunslet in 1979 and was an apprentice fitter and has been involved in all sorts to be a works and production manager. He also works at present at Hunslet. He uses a form of 3D printing that I didn’t know about, which proves you always have things to learn. Stereolithography (SLA): Uses a laser to form liquid resin into plastic. He brought along various detailed 3D printed parts.
This is Andrew (below) with a fellow worker at his bench, the detail is unbelievable, the time and effort outstanding.
Andrew has been modelling since he was 13 and I was blown over with his work. He started with an idea of doing a model of the test track at Jack Lane and it went from there, finding some archived plans of part of the factory and later found the place where the archives were kept. He was lucky enough to contact the crane company at Rodley and secured some blueprints of the 25 ton cranes that he used to use at the works.
Over the years he built up separate parts, but he first had to see if the track would work, as Hunslet had all the main track widths next to each other. See below:-
Andrew used a company to produce laser cut templates, but he had to draw them first. What an achievement, as he had to self teach himself 3D drawing using Fusion 360. After a frustrating start and nearly giving up he saw a You Tube video and luckily it got him to where he needed to be.
We saw the intricate crane that was fully working and the working door on the sheds. Unfortunately I can’t do his work justice here. He then painted parts and aged them. His achievements just go on and his work is still in progress….
We thanked Andrew and thank Ian Blakeley for arranging his former work mate for coming to talk to the members.
For those interested here is a link to the website of the Leeds Society of Model and Experimental Engineers:
John Aldersley – April 2025
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