A friend, long since departed to that great engine shed in the sky, worked the night shift in a famous engineering company throughout the war. The day shift did the bulk of the machining and the night shift made them fit. There was a bank of lathes 300 feet long with a coolant ditch behind them. One bright spark suggested they built a track along the ditch under the auspices of allowing maintenance to ride a trolley and shovel out the swarf that escaped!!!

Approval was duly given and 3 1/2 “ decided on the gauge. The Forman had no idea why that particular gauge was adopted.??? He was told that left and right handed people could do the job with ease working from either end!!

There was a lot of visits from other department on “ errands” and pretty soon everyone was in on the act. It took less than a month for these highly skilled operatives to create a 4-4-0 and steam it every night, even ran during an air raid the driver stating that even Hitler would not stop the midnight special. I was told that the engine was rebuilt twice before the end of the war and was featured on a club stand at ME exhibition in the 50’s.

As I write this I am looking at a “ foreigner “. made by my late father in law in the same war, of a Spitfire in Aluminium. He normally made real Swordfish and lighters from bits of copper tube and aluminium ashtrays turned on Big Ward auto.

I also remember people injecting water into the carb of Austin 7’s to get better combustion and articles in post ware ME’s.

pete

That would be the Bradley lathe, I think.

Rob

I knew things got pretty tight, but that sounds a particularly desperate example of utility furniture.*

Neil

*Irony being that much real utility furniture is still going being simple but well proportioned and well-made, outliving many late 20thj century flatpack monstrosities.

Ref the penny Spitfires …

Have a look at this old thread, Robin: **LINK**

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=94573&p=3

MichaelG.

The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company (The Midland Red ) designed and made their own buse, including engines.

During WW2, if a crankshaft broke, the two parts were clamped together and then drilled and tapped, for high Tensile bolts. Commercial Motor showed a photograph of the repair.

Those engines kept the buses running until post war, a new crankshaft could be obtained.

Right until the 70s, on many bus companies, worn brake drums were machined out oversize, until they reached the point where they were relinered back to standard size. London Transport and Green Line had machines that ground the linings to match the drum in which they were going to run.

Worn shackle pins were hard chromed and reground back to original size. Worn spring shackles were bored and fitted with top hat bushes..

Make do and mend is not dead. Within the last month, the plastic wheels on the hosereel collapsed. The tyres are now on solid Aluminium wheels..

Howard.

Edited By Howard Lewis on 24/05/2021 16:25:54

A very good example of make do and mend was the buses that operated in Malta in the post war years, I was posted to Malta in the mid seventies and the buses in Malta were unique, they were so old, you could sit inside and watch the road going by underneath the floorboards which had many gaps. The Maltese were very adept at reworking or making spares to keep these ancient buses going, the buses were still going in the nineties but after that were replaced with new Far Eastern versions because on joining the EU Malta was told it was allowed to join on condition that its transport infrastructure was modernised, when that happened Malta lost a part of its unique character. Dave W

Not quite the 1940s, but at 15 years old in 1951 I started to serve my time as a apprentice joiner and was given a spokeshave by a retired joiner as can be seen it is definitely a make do and mend job, the tool was made by E Preston and Son Birmingham.

Can somebody explain why these double post's happen.

Michaelr

My cousin who was a small boy during the war was taught to make a toy that looked like a table tennis bat which had four chickens on it. They pecked in turn worked by threads passing through the top to a carved wooden ball beneath. He made me one when I was about 5. He was taught by a German prisoner of war.