Hollycombe’s annual model weekend #1

Well, we’re back from Hollycombe, and absolutely cream-crackered!  It was a fun weekend that lived up to it’s advertising:

It is with much excitment that we will see the model weekend return to Hollycombe in late summer. The weekend will have something for everyone, whether you are a die hard modeller or just looking for a fun day out. Across the weekend there will be all manner of models including miniature steam engines of various scales, model boats, fairground models, model tanks and there will even be a WW2 French Village battle each afternoon. There will be model railways and our historic steam powered fairground will be operating as usual. This is one of the biggest and busiest events on our calendar so make sure to come along and marvel at all of the wonderful sights.

The weather held, apart from one short shower, and the ESNG layout behaved itself.  Plenty of interest from punters, and so good to see lots of kids taking an interest rather than elderly men in anoraks.  (There were some of those as well.)

We were located in the storeroom and paint shop.  Rather dusty, but not as oily as the Bluebell Railway show!  Saturday was Japanese bullet day, as Paul brought along a selection of his trains.  I ran my Kato Penn Central set for six hours, and it wasn’t even warm at the end of the afternoon.

A 3×2 modular set up made a large layout.

 

Derek’s Junction and Goonhilly radomes made an interesting diversion.  We forgot two things on the day – I forgot the bridge for the fiddle yard with the track numbers on it to help operate the points.  Derek forgot the scenic inset for the junction – so we covered it with flyers for NGSE 2020.  Amazingly, some people took them (but we didn’t sell any ESNG wagons.)

Two generations of South-East travel…

Sunday and Allan’s silver (or rusty) bullets on the move.

A pink blur….  Allan claims that there is a prototype for this?????

On the Sunday, we had an ‘OO’ loco shed layout opposite us, with some fine commercial models on display, and lots of little cameo scenes around the layout.

On Saturday, these large fairground models were there.

The rest of the shed was full of fairground models, some to a very high standard.

Like this fine merry-go-round.

The real steam-powered prototype was giving rides outside.

Next post, I’ll have a few pictures of the railway and traction engines outside.

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Steam and petrol in Mesopotamia

Maxine and I recently visited Polsden Lacey – again.  But every time we find something new of interest.  Browsing a 1917 copy of the London Illustrated news left around (as one does), I came across these pictures of the army using road and rail in what is now Iraq.  Some interesting locomotives and I liked the caption (top right) ‘A “Nine Elms” sprung up in a Mesopotamian desert’.

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Hollycombe’s annual model weekend

This weekend ESNG are exhibiting our modular layout at the Hollycombe Working Steam Museum model weekend, near Liphook, Hampshire.  Should be a lot of fun, especially if the weather holds and we escape running trains for a bit to explore the site!

It is with much excitment that we will see the model weekend return to Hollycombe in late summer. The weekend will have something for everyone, whether you are a die hard modeller or just looking for a fun day out. Across the weekend there will be all manner of models including miniature steam engines of various scales, model boats, fairground models, model tanks and there will even be a WW2 French Village battle each afternoon. There will be model railways and our historic steam powered fairground will be operating as usual. This is one of the biggest and busiest events on our calendar so make sure to come along and marvel at all of the wonderful sights.

Much as I like trains, model making of all kinds is interesting.  I’m not sure about the WW2 French Village Battle – sounds like an average ESNG club night to me?  And lots of live steam of all descriptions on site!

 

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NGSE – 2020 – exhibitors

It’s a long way ahead, but put 4 April 2020 in the diary….

Here are the exhibitors for the 2020 show – hopefully a final list if no-one has to drop out.

Layouts

Sean has put together a fine selection of layouts.  It’s a completely different selection from the 2019 show, and we have two layouts ‘on debut’.

  • The Bridge at Remagen (WW2 Germany)
  • Ainsley CMD (UK materials depot in the 1990’s)
  • Horseblock Lane (Post-privatisation shunting layout)
  • Titling (Germany)
  • Beckton (Northern part of the WCML in the early 1990s)
  • Santa Barbara (Modern West Coast USA)
  • Bahnbetriebswerk Königshafen (A small German locomotive service depot)
  • Oakhurst (UK preservation line)
  • Mindelheim Junction
  • Ashenden Junction (A small SR branch line station)
  • Southbridge (GWR 1934 -1948)
  • Trinity Road (South Manchester in the 1960’s.)
  • Burngullow (WR hydraulics and china clay dries)
  • Choates Lane (East London with HS1)
  • Harper’s ferry (USA)
  • ESNG N-club modules

Traders

We have 9 traders on site, all offering something different….

  • BH Enterprises
  • Plus Daughters
  • N-Brass Locos
  • JB ModelWorld
  • Coastal DCC
  • The Wagon Yard
  • Squires Tools
  • ESNG Club shop (second-hand sales
  • Neil’s Emporium (second-hand sales)

Societies

We are pleased to again welcome the N-Gauge Society and the Network SouthEast Railway Society next year.

  • N Gauge Society
  • Network SouthEast RS

Should be another good show!

 

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Odd modelling ideas #70 – An interesting project?

From Facebook, Micro/Small Railroad group.  It’s not Photoshopped, but from Englewood Logging Ry, Vancouver Island, BC.  Anyone game to model this in ‘N’?

It makes the ‘Pacer’ units positively modern, and I suggest that a Dapol Pacer could be a starting place…. 🙂

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ESNG meeting – 21 August 2019

A busy club night – 13 attending, including Sean’s two lads.  We were missing Mr Atfield, who had the lurgi, and Graham after an eye procedure.  Lucas was providing all the sound effects, and was much better (and cheaper to run) than a LegoBiffoMan chip.

The fiddle year had the usual variety of trains….

One can see that Michael had come along…..

Paul’s Japanese mail train…

Network SouthEast from Chris….

Big four elegance…..

The latest Farish SECR C class.  Another lovely model.  Neil had the Southern version….

I didn’t get around to running my SECR and BR versions.  Good job I did a few hours work this week, to pay for them both!

Never let it be said that ESNG isn’t educational, and doesn’t cater for the younger generation.  German lessons from a railway album.  (Truth be told, Allan’s German could be better and they were looking at the pictures.)

All in all a busy and fun evening – we even packed up a bit early, as nearly everyone had disappeared off by 9:30pm.

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Ichabod

Ichabod – the glory has departed.  Can you recognise the station?  A most distinctive terminus on a curve (clue – it’s well south of Watford.)

Answer – Cowes, Isle of Wight

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A day trip to Swanage

Ron’s back on safari….

Left home this morning to travel up to Waterloo from where I took a train to Wareham.  At Wareham I took the train from Waterloo via Salisbury, Yeovil and Weymouth to Corfe Castle. At Corfe I took Swanage Railway to Swanage.  From there I hoped to catch the open top bus over the Sandbanks Ferry to Bournemouth.  Unfortunately it turned out that the ferry was closed for emergency maintenance.  The bus ran non stop to Poole via Corfe and Wareham.  Stayed on the bus to Bournemouth to meet up with family members camping in the New Forest.  Am now on train back to Waterloo.

Waterloo – 08:30am

 

Slightly later – a Waterloo bound train at Wareham

Corfe Castle station

 

Swanage station

 

Open top bus at Swanage

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Off my trolley – an excellent little layout

Recently, I came across this rather fine little trolley layout.  Unfortunately, there are no sizes or track plan given.  The plan is pretty obvious, though I’m not sure what happens around the back of the layout.  As for size, it’s probably 4′ long – though one could get a good estimate from those DPM buildings.

It’s a pretty generic trolley layout, but if you wanted to run almost anything, mainly for fun, its an attractive little design.

     

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Strange mojos and smells

I’d like to do a ‘What’s on my workbench’ post, but I have to be honest and say that there is very little there, and it’s gathering dust.  I’m suffering from a mojo loss and an acute case of indecisiveness (I used to be uncertain but now I’m not so sure…..)  I need to get down to some modelling again, as I know it’s great fun.  But where do I start?

Thanks, Paul, for this on Facebook.  I feel that my feet can barely touch the pedals.  So please do cut me some of that slack.

Or maybe my modelling is like this locomotive graveyard at Thessaloniki, in Greece (from the Daily Mail, of all places.)  I wonder if it’s still there!

Thessaloniki, Greece — Rusty steam locomotives abandoned at a locomotive graveyard at Thessaloniki, in Greece. The hulks include those of an American S160, Austrian 2-10-0 and 2-8-0, and other 2-8-0 steam locomotives. — Image by © Colin Garratt; Milepost 92 ½/CORBIS


But I did enjoy this link, from my old home of Kennington.

‘Smells of sick’: tube users ponder the Kennington pong

What is causing the vile stink at the south London station, passengers are asking TfL

Could it be an undeclared chemical spill by a secretive branch of the military? Or perhaps even the stench from bodies left over from the Black Death? Or is it just … burgers? Deep below London it is a mystery that been getting up the nostrils of tube users already struggling in recent weeks from rising temperatures……

More likely a kebab than burgers, methinks?

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