And on to the rest of the show. Always good to see Beijiao, with Chinese steam, sound, smoke, and working road vehicles.
I liked the minimalist Bulldog Quay, with trains and boats.
The West Sussex mob were there in force….
Big O gauge diesels on Glenfinnan, and amazing (and big) turntable fiddle yards.
And a few of the other delights on show….
No ESNG meeting this weekend, as we were exhibiting at the Erith MRS show. We took a modular layout billed as the ‘Anglo-German Project’ – a lot of NCI modules linked up to our N-mod ones. The exhibition was located in deepest Thamesmead – somewhere that I think that I have never risked going before.
We were a little concerned about the short set up time – 2 hours Friday night and 2 hours Saturday morning. So Friday afternoon we loaded Allan’s van and headed to the show. Fortunately, we left very early. We found out that a lorry driver had modified the Dartford Tunnel, and it was closed, resulting in a tail-back of some 8 miles, and gridlock around Dartford.
We took the cross-country route – Westerham, Bromley, Chislehurst, Sidcup and a few other places. It was, of course, Friday rush hour. We arrived spot on time at the show – 5:58pm – but it had taken nearly 3 hours to get there. Having unloaded, we inspected our domain, and worked out where to put the modules to avoid a large potted tree.
Setup went surprisingly well. Richard had all his modules ready for connection, and we had all our modules set up and connected together.
Getting back home was easier, and we could use the M25, having navigated a roundabout containing all the worst HGV drivers in Europe, I think. Just over the hour, so not much longer than the usual run at that time of night.
Saturday morning, rose at 6:00am, and a clear run over to Thamesmead meant we arrived just one minute late – 8:01am. We completed the set up by the time the show opened at 10:00am, and had the first trains on the move. There was a pause when one of Richard’s modules needed a little TLC with a soldering iron. We also found that one road of our fiddle yard wasn’t working, but that was a easy work around. Here are a few of the modules. My new bridge worked well all weekend – always a relief!
We had plenty of help all day (thanks!) and it was good that Nick Falconer could join us. He provided his lovely funicular module…..
And also the ‘Rocket’, that generated a lot of comments from the punters. The motor, by the way, is in the last coach.
Rocket also appeared on banking duties for some reason.
Nick also provided one end loop.
As is often the case, the layout sort of settled down after an hour or so and things generally ran well all day. There were a few derailments – but less than on a usual club night!
The rest of the show was pretty good, too, and next time I’ll post a few pictures.
Wednesday again, and another early meeting. And another success, with nine members attending – in shifts as two left early and one came just in time for the fish and chips.
It was a rather social afternoon, and the visit to the chip shop was OK, too.
We also ran a good number of trains, as below…..
Life seems to have been very hectic again – hence no posts. But I’ve been busy modifying a module ready for the Erith show this weekend.
A few years ago I build a little 400mm square module featuring the Walthers Art Deco bridge. The tracks over the bridge are spaced wider than the 30mm NCI standard, and they are kinked back in for the ends of the module. At last year’s ESNG show, I used the module, and there were complaints that stock didn’t like the kinks (no musical taste?)
For Erith, I needed a module with a 10° angled end, to straighten up my junction module. So I decided to extend the bridge slightly, getting rid of the sharp reverse curves, and ending up with a module some 600mm long.
Always the worrying bit – removing track and ballast.
One end is sized to take a set of supporting legs. The other has the 10° angle. Some simple and satisfying carpentry needed. You may note that I used up some bits of plywood from an old NCI module…..
Track was laid and connected to the junction module to check the alignment. The other end was laid using the NCI templates, so should be correctly aligned. The two modules give a pleasant sweeping curve through the junction.
Scenery and ballast were added. I had just enough plaster cloth and Woodlands Scenics scenic cement left to do the job. I do recommend the scenic cement. It’s a bit expensive, and is really just PVA plus wetting agent, but it seems to work far better than home mixed glues.
And the final product. I could add some fences and more detail in due course, but it’s ready for Friday and the show. Actually, I do just need to paint the baseboard sides.
A busy Sunday running afternoon. Eight members, one junior, and four visitors – three from the West Sussex group and a newcomer, Ben. It was busy enough for me to spend the afternoon chatting and dozing in a chair!
Just a photo dump today – a variety of trains from the attendee, including Ben’s 12 car South Western trains EMU and Neil’s car transporters (not all from Revolution.)
And thanks to Brian for the moving pictures…
And now for something completely different….. Our Wednesday evening meetings have often been poorly attended, but working afternoons well supported (even if we don’t do much work.) So we decided to try meeting from 3-8pm on Wednesdays, running trains around a fish and chips interlude.
And this seems to have been a success, at least for the first meeting. We had nine members attend, and it was a pleasant social afternoon running trains and eating together.
A little London Transport.
Southern elegance….
A Terrier….
A Peak (Farish and still looking good.)
An EMU….
Lots of Canadian and American….
Finally, Terry went rather out of scale with these o-9 narrow gauge models. A rather fun scale, and another option when my eyes give up!
Too cold to blog, so just a few odds and ends. Great minds think alike?
Had you ever realised….
A perfect scene to model (somewhere in Germany.)
The road to the Woolwich Free Ferry and Silvertown.
Farringdon in its pomp, just before nationalisation. Looks different now!
And some Belgian trams. Love the sound effects including birdsong.
A quick Jago Hazzard.
Trams in Amsterdam – in miniature….
Industrial road running in Berlin – the Bullenbahn (a chance to practice your German, too)
A rather large and rather excellent layout.
Brian sent me this link to a rather fine ex-GER layout.
And Gordon sent me these photos.
Christmas greetings from Epsom! Not quite N gauge – my father’s 1930s Pulman carriages rolling again for the first time in a good few years, courtesy of a “Toy State” “CAT” battery powered engine, from Ebay, inspired in part by seeing a train being set up under a Christmas tree in our local garden centre. Well, we got the important bit!
Once again, this show in Maidstone was an ideal outing for that period between Christmas and the New Year. So Derek, Chris, Simon and I piled into Allan’s van for a visit. We had a pleasant morning out, and there was a great variety in the layouts and models on show – N gauge to garden railways G scale. I’ve included just a few of them below.
Addleford Green (OO) is a tiny layout, but so full of detail. It shows that you don’t need a large layout to hold the attention.
Two large O gauge layouts. Smithfield (from the Merstham based club) is a sort of super-Minories. Also a chance to say hello to my old friend ‘Bill’ Bishop.
And Newchapel Junction – a familiar layout, but lovely locomotives and rolling stock.
Bigger still was this display of Gauge 1 stock – including Stepney in SR days.
And even bigger, indoor garden railways!
At the other end of the scale, our West Sussex friends were in evidence (at opposite ends of the hall) with Small ‘n’ Working and Staffordshire Potteries.
Some spectacular vertical scenery on Hells Glen (N).
And a few of the rest…..
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