Hayling Billy steam railway wall mounted automaton by Tom Bennett

The piece shown above by artist Tom Bennett was commissioned to go in The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre Havant. It is a working representation of a the Hayling Billy steam railway, which operated between Havant and the holiday location of Hayling Island on the south coast for 100 years.

From the artist's web site:

The principal aim of the piece was bring to life the history of the railway in a way that would engage the imagination, particularly the young. It was to be part of a larger project designed to explore the history of the borough by means of a timeline, videos, artifacts and other interactive activities. Operated by hand and with the sounds of the engine chuffing and whistling, the train moves from past to present in a landscape filled with local history. On its way it passes tunnels, bridges, a turning windmill ending up at the seaside with bathers jumping up and down in the sea.

You can see more photographs and read about this autamaton and many other automata on Tom Bennett's web site.

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Renewable by Paul Spooner depicts three wind power generators in action

Here is a new piece by automata legend, Paul Spooner. This one depicts three wind turbines atop small green hills. Titled simply Renewable, the piece is made of pine, lime, alder, aluminum, steel, nylon, brass, bronze, acrylic paint.

True to form, Spooner uses an ingenious mechanism to turn the blades of the windmills. Pulleys, of course, right? Oh, no. Take a good look at the shaft on the side of box moving in and out. That's a clue as to what's going on inside.

Paul Spooner on the details of the mechanism:

This piece employs the well-known Sliding Block mechanism to link the movement of the driving handle to all three turbines. The action is not particularly smooth, in fact it’s downright jerky because of the lack of balance in the turbine blades and the 3 x 352 degrees of lost motion in the transmission.

I adore Spooner's signature dovetail joints which hold the mechanism box together.

Here is where you can read more about (or purchase) the automaton titled Renewable by Paul Spooner.

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The Wunderland - wolrd's largest model railway in Hamburg, Germany

Several people have been kind enough to send me a link to this video of a HUGE model railway. Though millions have already seen it, I think it's appropriate to post it again here in the name of completeness. So, just in case you somehow missed it, prepare to be amazed by The Wunderland.

From the video description:

The Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg, the largest model railway in the world, and one of the most successful tourist attractions in Germany. On the 1,300 square meter layout, more than a thousand trains, aircraft, cars and ships move about. A wonder of the world in miniature.

The Miniatur Wunderland includes an incredible level of detail. There are entire sections of the model that depict an airport, Switzerland, Scandinavia, America, Germany, Austria, and various regions in the Alps. Plans to add sections depicting Italy and France are underway.

Believe it or not, this is a model and NOT a photograph of an actual airport. Incredible.

You can find a lot more information at http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com. Readers of The Automata Blog might also be interested in the English section of their forum that deals with various aspects of model building and The Wunderland itself.

[ Thanks to Charles, Jarva, and others! ]

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