Weeks 9 to 11- Research into Steam Engine Information

Within the brief given to us for this project it was identified that educating the visitors was important to the museum. As a group we decided we would include facts about the exhibit as the camera moved around the engine, so during the past few weeks I have been trying to find relevant information on steam engines which could be included in the final video. This task, however, was not as easy as I expected it to be.

I found it quite difficult to find information specifically about the machine we had selected to model and animate as it appears to be a unique engine. This problem was discussed during one of our group meetings and it was said by the group members to find as accurate information as possible, even if it was for steam engines in general.

For generalised information on steam engines I found a web site dedicated to the history of Paxman steam engines at the web address http://www.paxmanhistory.org.uk/classA.htm which I felt could be useful as this was the maker of the machine we decided to model. Also, a diagram within the Science Encyclopedia (Graham, Taylor, Fardon, Oxlade, 2000, page 67) identifies the purpose of several parts of a steam engine and the order in which the parts work to create the power.

The only information I could find specifically relating to the machine we selected was that which was collected during the visit to the museum. However, there is only a limited amount if this information which is suitable for use within the group project as the majority is based around the restoration project taken on by the museum when the steam engine first arrived in 2004.

During this weeks team meeting I presented all the resources I had gathered throughout the past couple of weeks to the group member whose role is to add this to the video. I just hope there are enough appropriate facts to be included.