Not a bad selection…..
Some excellent models and camera angles….
And the real thing….
A rather quiet evening, with just the seven of us at club night. We were missing both the Cha(I)rman (missing on a milk round) and the Chairman Elect (just missing), and a few others. But we quickly set up some track and ran some trains.
I had put together a mixed rake of BR Mk 1, Bullied, Stanier and Hawksworth carriages, to make the sort of mixed rake found in early BR days. These looked good behind first a Warship….
And then a Western…..
No. 1 son Michael lowered the tone slightly with some recent Ebay purchases – that all ran very well. He also had Annie and Clarabel and some Troublesome Trucks….
And from the ridiculous to the sublime (or vice versa.) Derek’s neat Hunslet diesel conversion pushing a rail-wheeled Landrover (the motor is in the Hunslet.)
Another pleasant afternoon running trains at the PlayDay. We, of course, started with a curry, and were joined by Ron celebrating his 67th birthday. And Miles, who demolished a large number of samosas after the Ruchita accidentally double up his order. We couldn’t persuade Ron to pay the bill, though….
Nine of us met to run trains, though there was a certain amount of checking phones for the Grand Prix and Premiership progress. And, as usual, a lot of talking. By the end of the afternoon, most of us were sitting around chatting.
I had managed to change the couplings on one of my PA’s, so ran my Lehigh Valley passenger train. A couple of things need fettling, but it looked good running around the layout. There is the inevitable difference in shades of red, but they look acceptably different – different paint batches and fading in service?
It was American day as both Simon and Graham had more US trains on show.
But there was some Swiss and Japanese freight from Paul….
And the Longmoor Military Railway from Derek….
I finally gave my latest Ebay purchase a run. I’ve got a couple of these, but couldn’t resist another one. My favourie Japanese tram, and they are close enough to US designs to pass muster as an interurban.
Dorking MRC held their Spring Show in Redhill, so I dropped in as it was within walking distance. A small show, but some good layouts, and I saw a number of friends to talk to.
Dorking had their new ‘N’ gauge layout based on Dorking West station in the 1960’s on show for the first time.
The West Sussex Group had brought along Lyme Regis….
And Rixtimin…..
Ian Rickman had his micro-layouts on show….
St Paddy, china clay and a Thumper….
Birch Coombe, another Dorking MRC layout, somewhere on the south coast….
Crossing the canal….
Cattle on Camlan….
Demolishing West Hoathly….
And micro-‘O’ gauge with Bridlington Quarry.
I was unable to join the expedition to the Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway, down in deepest Kent, but Allan sent me some photographs.
The first Sunday in May is the first operating day of the year for the Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway. It was also their 2nd model railway themed day. But its the railway we all go to see!
Not sure what gauge these are, but Lucas (Sean junior) is enjoying them….
A while back I reported on me repainting Microtrains and Atlas coaches into Lehigh Valley colours.
These coaches are not exactly right for LV heavyweights, but they’ll do the job. And I have finished the repaints – plus four out-of-the-box Rapido Osgood-Bradley coaches. The reds still don’t quite match (and I think the Rapido red is too light), but they are probably no different as seen on the prototype with different pots of paint and weathering. I now have a rake or two of coaches for my PA’s – next job, fit Microtrains couplings to the PA’s (all five of them). Now that job has been hanging around for at least 15 years….
Interesting link on https://groups.io/g/ngauge about the design and operation of Lancashire and Yorkshire engine sheds.
http://www.lyrs.org.uk/images/uploads/Paper_-_Attock_1924_-_I.Loco.E_-_Locomotive_Shed_Layout.pdf
Busy couple of days, and didn’t get around to blogging – I did something useful instead!
Thursday’s ESNG meeting didn’t really happen. Our hall had become a polling station, so we moved into the church itself (of similar size) to meet. By 7:30 there were just the three of us, and by 7:45 that had grown to five. So we didn’t bother with running, but had a useful chat about future exhibitions – and a lot of other things.
Inspired by Little Aller Junction at the NESCOTT show, I have been continuing to play with Smallbrook Junction on the Isle of Wight as a simple junction layout. With a little compression between junction and road bridge, I came up with this 5 x 1 ft design. I am still playing with the fiddle yard design. A train turntable at each end would be one option, but for exhibitions looping each end to make a continuous circuit might be best.
With it, one could model scenes like this….
Or really run trains from any region with a touch of Rule 1.
But there’s nothing new under the sun – a modular layout with end loops on an LMS signal training layout in 1925.
LMS_4223light, 22/11/02, 10:16 am, 8C, 3690×4420 (38+363), 62%, straight 6 sto, 1/15 s, R59.0, G34.0, B58.0
Herstmonceux in ‘OO’ models the LBSCR in Sussex. A rural location, but as with anywhere south of London, the opportunity to run plenty of trains up to the ‘smoke’.
Fintonagh (O-16.5) models an imaginary terminus on the 3′ gauge Clogher Valley Railway, and its interesting (including early internal combustion) rolling stock.
Northallerton in ‘N’ models the East Coast Main Line in the privatisation era. A massive layout, and quite impressive, but I went away thinking that size isn’t everything! But that’s just me, and it was an excellent example of what can be done in ‘N’.
More O-16.5 (and a little O-9) with Wittendon.
Wolfe Low (in O) has a mixture of LMS pre-grouping stock and an interesting quarry area.
St Georges Dock (in O) featured some lovely ship modelling.
Vale of Oxbury in ‘N’ is a lovely piece of modelling. A wide range of trains pass through this Western Region junction station, and the scenery has plenty to look at, too.
I was correct in saying that there were three ‘N’ gauge layouts at the show, but last and not least in our review is Llangerisech, GWR ex-Cambrian, in 2mm fine scale. Another well travelled exhibition layout, it’s always worth a look, not least for its reliable operation. My only criticism was that the layouts very good fluorescent lighting seemed to be in phase with my phone, and my photos came out very dark (but could be adjusted).
All in all, a very pleasant exhibition, visited with good company and with a high standard of layouts and some inspiration. Trade-wise, I came away with a couple of wagon kits to add to my collection of unbuilt models. Well, if the wind dies down, I can get on with spray painting my LV coaches – my spray booth is the front drive, and the latest gales passing though have made this impossible.
I often miss the Epsom & Ewell MRC show at nearby Epsom. Some years it has been the same weekend as our ESNG exhibition, and others the week after – and after our own show, I’ve had enough of model railways for a week or two! But in 2019, I’d recovered from NGSE, and gave the two Derek’s a lift up to Nescott to have a look at this good quality exhibition.
As one entered the show, we first stopped to look at Frecclesham – 14′ of Southern Region branch line. Simple, but very nicely presented.
On to Theobalds Yard, mixed gauge in 7mm scale.
Dent in ‘OO’ took me back to teenage years, and David Jenkinson’s inspiring EM model. A simple oval, really, but it captures the character of the Settle and Carlisle.
You’d have to guess that ‘Minories’ in ‘P4’ would be a favourite of mine. Based (surprise, surprise) on CJ Freezer’s classic Minories plan, with more complex station throat pointwork, green EMU’s, working point rodding operate the points, and all movements in and out of the station operated by bell codes. What is there not to like (though two days of operating with bell codes would be enough to drive you mad – even worse than the year we exhibited the Cha(I)rman’s Swiss layout complete with cuckoo clocks.)
South Snowdon (NWNGR) is built to 8mm/ft, to give an accurate gauge/scale ratio on ‘OO’ gauge track. An interesting representation of the actual station at Rhyd Ddu, but unfortunately in a very dark corner of the hall.
Arun Quay (in O) has become well known on the exhibition circuit, but it deserves its plaudits. Interesting to see the pictures of how it is constructed, and an example of an expanded polystyrene faced with 1/16 plywood baseboard girder. Very, very, light and surprisingly strong.
First of the three excellent ‘N’ gauge layouts in the show was Little Aller Junction. A cut down version of Aller Junction on the Western Region main line in the South West, this layout feels more than 7 feet long. I’ve been following its construction on N Gauge Forum, so it was great to see it in the flesh. All goes to show that you don’t need a station or sidings for a very satisfying layout. The most complex trackwork is in the fiddle yard, where lines cross over in order to get trains back on the correct up or down, fast or slow, line.
Last for today’s blog is the OO9 Garreg Wen. Very attractive narrow gauge modelling, that can immediately be placed into mid or north Wales.
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