esngblog

Starting today with Monday’s fiddle yard session.  And this week’s competition.  How many ESNG members does it take to fit a SEEP point motor?  Actually, 3 is pretty realistic.  One to hold the board vertical, one to make sure the jig stays on the point to keep the blades central, and one underneath to drill the holes….

But we’re getting there.  All the track is down on the end boards, so next week we can lay some more on the 4′ central sections.

And by the end of the afternoon we had 4 out of the 12 point motors in place.

And the it will be time to fit microswitches to the points, and wire things up.

And of course, Brian was there with his camera….

Wednesday’s club night was a little subdued, with just the 7 members.  The outer tracks looked very empty without Paul’s Japanese trains (though no doubt they will soon be full of his latest holiday purchases.)  And Mr Apps was on family duty, and Mr Dawes had an early milk round (again.)  But there were plenty of trains to run.

Mr Atfield was testing a series of coffee grinders Lima pannier tanks. Who needs a sound chip?

And Chris had this lovely little Canadian goods train to run.

And meanwhile, at home, Brian was running a Pullman rake…

First, a photo I forgot to post from last week’s meeting.  Electric blue must be the all-time best livery for the LMR electrics – even though this is a modern repaint.

More progress on the fiddle yard on Monday.  Most of the track on the end boards has been laid, and even soldered to the brass screws at the edge of the board.  We’ll be back next Monday for another session.  We may even have to start wiring soon….

And of course, Brian recorded it all on camera.  The stop motion shows how to put the new fiddle yard up.  Note: our members don’t normally move that fast.  And apologies if we were recorded insulting anyone….

Brian also recently took these shots of ‘Clan Line’ approaching Reigate.  Big engines are even better than little ones (but take up more room!)

Sunday’s BuildDay was a little more selective – just the 4 members braved Storm Ciara to carry on with fiddle yard construction.  We did, of course start with a curry – it will take more than a little wind to keep our Cha(I)rman from a ruby murray.  We then continued to lay track – most of the points are down on the end boards, and we are starting to lay the plain track around them.

And Ciara gave a good modelling cameo.  What do you do if the electrics fail on your layout at an exhibition.  Trampoline on the track – that stopped trains between Orpington and Sevenoaks during the storm.

A massive 13 members turned out on Thursday, plus visitor John.  It was very confusing – two Derek’s, two Simon’s, two John’s and two Paul’s!  Paul was looking forward to his rapidly approaching Japan trip, and running all the bullet trains he was hoping to travel on.  But the competition for tracks was keen….

Michael ran two panniers….

Simon contributed some American goods trains…..

There was Edwardian elegance from Derek (the train, not Derek.)

Simon’s European contribution.  Not sure whether the loco was a hint on how fast it should be driven….

And Peter’s fine CJM class 92, pre-dating the Revolution one by some years…

We didn’t get the fiddle yard out to work on.  We are back on Sunday for a BuildDay, so this was a good chance to chat and run trains.

Realising that NGSE is rapidly approaching, more work on the new fiddle yard was needed.  So I arranged to borrow the church hall for a couple of hours on Monday afternoons to get some track laid.  We got underway, fitting the rest of the edge of board screws….

And had the first track down by the end of the afternoon….

Brian was making a concerted effort to become Cha(I)rman by making the tea, but also recorded our progress.  Hopefully we didn’t say anything rude whilst on camera!

And a couple of inspirational shots….

This could be Raysden or Peter’s new module (an ex-GWR railcar set somewhere near Bournemouth.  This set was used to check clearances over a wide area post-nationalisation)….

And remember, buildings don’t need to be square….

And another ‘bargain’.  At $50 each from the States, it would have been rude not to, even with the import VAT.