I’ve finished my little module for Stuttgart, and built the box for it to travel in. It just needs the white line down the middle of the road, and I’m waiting for the appropriate pen in the post.
Here are a few shots of Paul’s Kato layout from the Scout’s exhibition.
And also from Paul, a credit card catastrophe…
Brian sent me another interesting video. Good to see stream passing our local station. I always forget to look and see what is passing through.
Thought I’d share Clan Line passing through Redhill on Friday the 9th November on the Belmond circular tour of the Surrey Hills, bearing a commemorative wreath of poppies.
And for the prototype for everything department. Would this make a challenging animation? A poor landing by the balloon, that probably scared the cr*p out of anyone using the facilities!
And you can now order the RevolutioN Sturgeon PW wagon. Expensive, but no doubt it will be as good as the Class B tankers – RevolutioN are also no doubt learning from each release they make. Do order some and get the numbers high enough for them to go into production – because I want three or four of them!!
Puts our hobby into a little perspective on Remembrance Sunday…..
Our family was, perhaps, fortunate – I had two grandfathers who fought in WW1, and my father was on the Normandy beaches in WW2 – and they all came home. (One daren’t think too closely about this – if any one of them hadn’t, I wouldn’t be writing this.) It is good to remember those who fought and lost their lives for the freedom that we enjoy. I only question why it is the politicians of all nations, who sent their soldiers to war, who get to lay the wreaths in peacetime?
I’d better move quickly along….
After a fortifying curry, where Miles again significantly reduced the profit from the lunchtime buffet, we moved on to the afternoon PlayDay. Only seven of us there, and we especially missed Paul, selling things with Mr Brightwell at Eurospoor. But we got a good circuit together.
It was good to see some progress on Dave’s station, that will be most impressive when it is complete. He has made extensive use of European buildings, but these make good UK city structures.
In character was Allan’s very old Lima German airport express unit, that ran better after a little oil and general lubrication.
Also in the old Lima department was Derek’s Deltic-O-Meter. Note the new cab fitting on the right, that is a current meter to check the track. Perhaps this will catch on with Railtrack????
I ran my Warship and a parcel’s train.
Brian was running this little Terrier with a goods train.
Two of Derek’s Eurostars. An 8-car ‘shorty’ on the left, and a most impressive full length unit on the right.
Here, the full length train passes Allan’s Class 37 and silver bullets.
And Brian’s view of the afternoon:
With Stuttgart two weeks away, I had to admit that my modules just weren’t going to get finished. Actually, I was beginning to lose interest in them again. But I wanted to take something new along, so I thought I’d try and complete a little 400 x 400mm board to add to my two existing N-club modules. A Walthers ‘Art Deco bridge’ forms the basis, and this is progress after one of the two weeks. A bit of ballast, contours, and ground cover, and a box for the board, is needed. I think that this is attainable next week, despite a few other things going on.
The interesting thing about this little module is that I have thoroughly enjoyed building it. Perhaps this just confirms that I really do like little projects, and small, attainable layouts?
A little ‘believe it or not’ scenic item – spot the spelling mistake outside this Surrey school, and would you dare put it on your layout, then claim that it was a deliberate mistake?
And for the Webcam connoisseur, how about a live feed from the End of the World railway, in Argentina, in deepest Terra del Fuego. The map shows the Beagle channel, and a nearby glacier. I happened to surf by with three small steam locomotives in the station.
Last Saturday was spent locally, supporting the 17th Reigate Scouts in a new venture for them, a Lego and model show. We were not sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a very pleasant and relaxed day – not least due to the opening hours of 12-4 giving a bit of a lie in before setting up. It was really just like an extra club PlayDay, with spectators. We were well looked after and fed and watered – what more can one want.
We soon had a simple N-mod layout up and running at one end of the Scout hall.
Paul brought his Kato along with a simple – for him – layout. We were also well placed for teas and coffees and food!
Down the other wall was the ‘adult’ Lego display, with a wonderful mechanism that transferred small balls from one end of the mechanism to the other, then returned them on the train. A fascinating bit of work, that worked well all day.
At one end was this interesting Lego cityscape, made up of individual boards.
In the other hall there was more Lego, some fine matchstick models, and Robot Wars….
Back to the trains – we ran the usual eclectic mix of stock.
Dave’s canal basin had a rather overscale visitor, as part of the ‘Spot the Homer’ competition. Any resemblance to any ESNG member is entirely coincidental…..
They hope to hold the show again next year. We’ve said we’d be interested in exhibiting again. OK, there weren’t other railways to look at, or shops to spend money at, but it was good to feel that ESNG were putting a little bit back into the local community. And 80% of the visitors (there were plenty) were youngsters and far more enthusiastic than the average model railway enthusiast! Perhaps we sowed a few seeds for the future?
Last Thursday was No. 1 son Michael’s birthday, so he and Vickie spent part of the day at the Science Museum. And he received some interesting birthday presents – as well as my Dapol ‘B’ set to go with his Pannier tank.
I must visit the Science Museum again. It’s been a good many years since we went as a family, and the mixture of models and full size exhibits must be worth another look. Here are a few of the trains…..
And a fine traction engine….
And a toilet (!!??!!) I guess this must be an early closet for a coach – and it probably worked better than those on today’s multiple units.
Another busy evening, with 13 members in attendance. And it was particularly good to see the Cha(I)rman back in circulation.
There were so many trains running that I didn’t get to test my bargain from the Dapol website – a Dapol club special Schools class. I settled for a comfortable chair and a chat!
Martin had a Revolution ‘Pendolino’ on show, and it ran faultlessly….
Paul was running his Class 73 electro-diesels – all 15 of them – but not at the same time!
Phil was testing a new loco….
T’other Paul had the customarily Japanese goods on show…
And Simon was running Southern Pacific steam.
A good evening. Next stop, exhibiting at the Reigate scouts model show on Saturday.
