<head> <title> Alan Ruston - Birmingham Society of Model Engineers

Alan Ruston - A prolific Model Engineer

Alan Ruston is one of the most productive Model Engineers I ever met. He tends to scratchbuild his locos after measuring up the prototype, shunning published designs. He does his own drawings and makes his own patterns for castings. Locos are produced with amazing speed!
I don't even know how many locos Alan has built, nor how many he has in his own collection.
I do know for sure that I haven't seen them all!
Here are pictures of just some of the locos Alan has built.

Quarry Hunslet 'Alice' in 7.25" gauge and 3" to the foot scale. Alan drew the design and built the first loco back in 1979, later it became the popular Reeves' 'Elidir'. As a result of Alan's hard work, hundreds of examples have been built all over the globe.
It is nice to see a cabless Hunslet, how these locos were actually used in the quarries. Although most miniature Hunslets are built with a cab, only one of the original full size locos (Irish Mail) is known to have been supplied with a cab from new.
Photo by S. P. Sparrow

Here is Alan's beautifully made Hunslet 'Austerity', another loco he built from scratch using only measurements from the full size version.
Alan's son David works on loco restoration for the Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog) and is well into the rebuild of his own full size Quarry Hunslet 'Lady Madcap'. The loco is the last unrestored example of the 'Alice' class.
Photo by S. P. Sparrow

Alan's latest creation, 7.25" and 3" to the foot scale Bagnall. This loco was based on measurements taken from the well known Bagnall locomotive 'Pixie'. The original Pixie fired Alan's imagination as a young man, it was in service just over the road from his home in Birmingham.
Notice that in a rare detraction from the full size design, Walshaerts' vale gear has been fitted. Alan wisely rejected the inaccurate Hackworth gear. I was lucky enough to be at the club track to see this new loco on its first run (Sept. 2006) and even luckier to be allowed to drive it! As I would expect, it ran like a well built clock.....
Photo by Peter Wardle

I managed to capture another...
Alan's 5" gauge 'Merchant Navy' class loco hauling passengers at a BSME open day.
Photo by S.P. Sparrow

Quarry Hunslet 'Alice' in 7.25" gauge and 3" to the foot scale. Alan drew the design and built the first loco back in 1979, later it became the popular Reeves' 'Elidir'. As a result of Alan's hard work, hundreds of examples have been built all over the globe. It is nice to see a cabless Hunslet, how these locos were actually used in the quarries. Although most miniature Hunslets are built with a cab, only one of the original full size locos (Irish Mail) is known to have been supplied with a cab from new. Photo by S. P. Sparrow
Here is Alan's beautifully made Hunslet 'Austerity', another loco he built from scratch using only measurements from the full size version. Alan's son David works on loco restoration for the Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog) and is well into the rebuild of his own full size Quarry Hunslet 'Lady Madcap'. The loco is the last unrestored example of the 'Alice' class. Photo by S. P. Sparrow
Alan's latest creation, 7.25" and 3" to the foot scale Bagnall. This loco was based on measurements taken from the well known Bagnall locomotive 'Pixie'. The original Pixie fired Alan's imagination as a young man, it was in service just over the road from his home in Birmingham. Notice that in a rare detraction from the full size design, Walshaerts' vale gear has been fitted. Alan wisely rejected the inaccurate Hackworth gear. I was lucky enough to be at the club track to see this new loco on its first run (Sept. 2006) and even luckier to be allowed to drive it! As I would expect, it ran like a well built clock..... Photo by Peter Wardle
I managed to capture another... Alan's 5" gauge 'Merchant Navy' class loco hauling passengers at a BSME open day. Photo by S.P. Sparrow