Dave’s next visit was to the Talyllyn railway. A short but lovely little line, and having staggered through WWII and remained open, it became the first heritage line in the UK. And it makes an appearance in the Thomas the Tank Engine books!
Along the line…
Rolling stock….
More comfortable carriages than before preservation!
A fine museum…
And the Cambrian Railways interchange.
No ESNG pictures today, as Wednesday was the dreaded ESNG AGM. It was good to see 11 members there – over half the membership.
Nothing too drastic happened. A few good ideas for the year ahead. No nominations for any committee post, so we carry on as we are!
The usual discussion as to the best way to join modular boards together. A number of ideas, but in the end, I suspect it all depends whether the builder can use a ruler.
Plus the usual range of red herrings (not minuted!)
Dave has been holidaying in Wales. Some Talyllyn pictures next time, but today, a few bucolic shots from the remains of the Croesor tramway. This line was horse drawn and quite long lived, the last little section remaining till the 1950’s. It delivered slate from the quarries to Porthmadog. Two section have been brought in to use, by the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland railways.
Between ESNG sessions, Allan visited Godstone to take in a few buses. Mostly modern things.
Godstone Green…
South Godstone….
Hence the expression, looks like the back of a bus….
We had a rather different weekend playing trains. Saturday was spent setting up a N-club layout as we hope to take to the Erith show next year. We filled the hall with modules!
After a certain amount of fettling and rewiring (!) trains moved!
Highlights were the first train over Allan’s ‘temporary bridge.’
And being joined by Nick Falconer with his lovely funicular module. At least the funicular railway worked, even when the rest was playing up.
By the time Sunday afternoon arrived, eight members, plus our junior and our auditor turned up to play on the layout. Not perfect running, but it was settling down as time went on. Members were also having a little difficulty with a different mode of operation – control a section of track and pass trains along, rather than run your own train on a its own continuous circuit!
The weekend was completed by the usual curry. And Brian captured both days.
Here’s Richard’s display at the Bournemouth Bus Rally. Set up out of the back of Allan’s van. The gentleman on the left appears to have eaten all the pies!
And a look at some of his lovely Bournemouth buses.
Meanwhile, Ron didn’t want to be left out!
Having found out that on 1st Sunday of each month there were preserved bus trip from Alresford came down to have a look. Travelled from Alton beghind a Class 20 and back behind Merchant Navy class Canadian Pacific. Whilst at Alresford took a regular 20 minute journey on preserved bus, which was running a half hourly service.
The Watercress Line…
And the preserved bus at Alresford…
And so to the Bournemouth Bus Rally….
Lots of big yellow buses….
A few old timers. The old Royal Blue coaches were just so elegant!
A few London escapees….
Big blue buses…..
And the rest, glorious technicolour!
Richard had some of his bus models on display, but that’s for next time.
Allan and Richard have headed off in a generally westerly direction, ending up, I think at a Bournemouth bus rally. But on the way (on the way being not strictly accurate, as none of these places were on the way) they paid a few visits…
To the Swanage Railway.
A little modelling challenge for you all…..
To the Seaton Tramway….
And Beer and Pecorama.
Richard is proudly wearing his luminous NCI shirt (commemorating vast numbers of N gauge modules connected together.)
Thankfully, Wednesday wasn’t as hot as the previous few days. It could almost be described as pleasant! And six members had a pleasant evening running a few trains and talking a lot.
Sean appeared with a couple of CJM bargains from a show – almost giveaways! The Class 89 is a lovely looking locomotive and such a pity it wasn’t put into production. The Intercity livery also suits it very well.
This Class 47 is just a repaint, but also an excellent bargain.
And a Dutch bargain from the same source, rapidly passed on to Brian. I love these parcels units, but I’ve only seen them in dark green till now.
Terry also visited the show and came away with this lovely bit of Bavaria!
And he also ran some American stock.
Derek’s train ran better without a pony truck on the track.
Not many photos tonight, but to finish here’s some wonderful EM modelling.
Facebook reminded me that Maxine and I had been on a mid-covid holiday on the Isle of Wight in 2021 – 4 years ago – doesn’t time fly! So it seemed a good idea to repost this one. I may do a few reposts through July. There aren’t that many exhibitions to go to, and report on.
My turn to post my holiday snaps now! Maxine and I had three very pleasant nights on the Isle of Wight. Great to get away after 18 month or so at home, and the weather was kind to us.
The ferry crossing is fun in itself – though I wasn’t convinced by the sat-nav!
We stayed on the southern tip of the island, an easy walk from St Catherine’s lighthouse – a beautiful spot…
But of course, my real reason for a trip to the IOW was to visit the steam railway. Maxine may have thought rather differently, but probably guessed this to be the case. We had an excellent run on the line. Not hauled by a Terrier or O2 tank, just the more modern 2-6-2T, but we did get a ride in the 1880’s Stroudley 4-wheeled carriages. And a very COVID-safe approach – each booking gets a compartment to themselves.
The early train left soon after we arrived. I love the classic Southern Railway rail-built signals.
And then it was time for our excursion. I like the way that Haven Street is in the middle of the line, and the loco has to run round twice on the trip.
A halt at the signals before finally entering Haven Street again at the end of the run.
A delightful little line, and I hope that they can extend the track through to Newport, as is planned. Next post, I’ll share some of the interesting rolling stock in the shed.
When in doubt, start with several Jago Hazzard movies!
Almost Hazzard-esque but without the humour?
Some rather fine trams, including the Isle of Man (but in German!). Here’s a link to get to YouTube.
And a few pictures that I found of interest. Battersea in 1939 with some interesting goods stock, that looks quite clean…..
Liverpool Street in 1932, and Birmingham New Street in 1883….
Neasden in 1956 and Lotts Road in 1951….
Finally, anyone for a 5-way point? This is in Gauge 1.
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