Gordon Chiverton

[jma1009]

i have today heard from Gordon's daughter Claire that Gordon died yesterday at the age of 83.

many will know Gordon through his excellent miniature injectors.

many will not know that Gordon was for many years a very close friend of Don Young since school days at Sandown IW, and in their younger days built a 5"g loco together, and later on Gordon's 5"g Maid of Kent was the test bed of many of Don's early design experiments.

for many many years Gordon produced all of the fittings supplied by Don. their excellent quality were quite a cut above all other commercial suppliers at the time, and to my mind havent yet been bettered.

Gordon was a lovely guy, and far less prickly than Don, and a bit of a charmer with the ladies (unlike Don with his greasy long hair and chain smoking!)

anyway a sad time

cheers,
julian

[Deleted]

I'm very sorry to hear of this Julian....I have learnt of Don and Gordon's friendship thanks to the book you kindly lent me...another great name now lost to us...RIP Gordon

Pete

[pault]

A sad loss to model engineering, RIP

[heronsgate]

Julian, certainly is sad news to hear. Gordon did much to help those of us less talented to archive a better understanding of the hobby. I also had direct dealings with Don many years ago, he also helped me along the way. Not sure why you felt the need to make the unwarranted comment about his outward appearance, how he looked did not detract from the knowledge he would pass on to anyone that asked. Stan B

[jma1009]

hi stan,

i thought forum members might be interested to know of some of Don's quirks, in the same way that there is quite an appetite for such details about LBSC. i attended Don's cremation service some 20 years ago so he's been long dead. anyone who knows me will know that Don is a hero of mine so far as his model engineering is concerned, as well as being a close personal friend. anyone who knew Don would know that what i stated was patently true and obvious, and sorry if you only want 'glory' descriptions of our heros.

if to redress the balance somewhat Don was a most devoted father to his daughter Elaine, and also a wonderful vegetable gardener!

cheers,
julian

[steamcoal]

Julian.

Has Don Youngs book ever been reprinted? 50 years in steam?

I missed out on one sold some months back unfortunately.

[jma1009]

hi hayden,
not to the best of my knowledge. if you contact the IW County Press, Newport, Isle of Wight it is just possible they might have a handful still in stock.
cheers,
julian

[miketaylor]

There are a couple of used editions on Amazon - £9 and £9.50 plus postage. Not sure how this works from NZ.

Mike

[suctionhose]

Thank you Julian.

My father was quite taken by Don Young and use to subscribe to Locomotives Large and Small - was that the name of Don's magazine? We used to get the American Live Steam Magazine too and follow Don's Maine 2 footers. Dad came close to starting Marie E.

In 1983, I completed my first "all my own design" loco (the Yellow Sugar Cane loco of which someone posted a video on here somewhere). It had Gordon Chiverton Vertical Injectors which were neat to install and always "a sure thing".

A year later, partly out of respect for my Dad for whom I made the yellow engine and partly the brazen "the world is my oyster" mentality of a young backpacker, I lobbed on Don Young's doorstep on IOW to say hello.

I proudly carried pictures of the yellow machine with me and, believe you me, they opened a lot of doors in those days. Fond memories.

Well the Don Young meeting was fairly underwhelming - I don't think I even got a cup of tea - but Dad was chuffed I had made the effort and he was very pleased with his new engine.

Over time, one figures out what works best. It ain't Don Young, Martin Evans, LBSC, or anyone else. It's you, Your own stuff works best - for you. But without those guys to give you ideas to try, ideas you end up hating, success and regret, how would you ever find "yourself"?

I read on here all kinds of dissections of the Masters but where would we be without their courage to say "it is so".

I know nothing of Gordon Chiverton beyond his very fine injectors through which he had a very positive influence on my life.

RIP GC

[Deleted]

Nicely put, matey----- nicely put.