ESNG Exhibition 2016 #1

Posted on April 12, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

Well, another year done and dusted!  This year’s show seems to have gone off well enough.  We’ve had more visitors than last year, put a few pennies in the club coffers, and received plenty of positive feedback about the show (and indeed the catering.)  A lot of hard work was involved, but it was worth it for a day playing trains and entertaining the Great British Public.

However, Friday morning, it looked as if we might not even have a show.  The contractor on site extending the school, who had progressively reduced the size of the car park through the year, had an open trench for the new gas main across the school drive, and a large pile of rubble and soil blocking access to the front door.

Fortunately, they did as they had promised, and by the afternoon, the trench was filled and partially plated, and the piles of materials had disappeared.  When I arrived mid-afternoon it looked like this at the front entrance…..

1_1_site

With only a few piles of soil left around.

1_2_site

Set up was going well early Friday evening, and we were able to pause for fish and chips from the local chippy.  (Never before have I seen ‘large haddock’ served as a large piece of fish and an small piece to go with it – a veritable shoal of haddock – no wonder we’ve overfished the North Sea.  I was glad to have had a pie.)  By 8:30pm, trains were running on our modular layout, and we packed up earlier than usual.

1_3_setup

Saturday morning started quite wet (with mud running down the school drive from the site), but amazingly, the Met Office got it right and the rain stopped at 9:00am and the sun even came out.  Mr Apps was doing an excellent job parking more cars than seemed possible into a very small area.

1_4_parking

And inside, the first punters visitors were being fleeced queueing at the pay desk.

1_5_opening

The main hall was soon buzzing with a good surge of early visitors.  We always seem to get a lot of people in for the first hour or two, then less through the rest of the day.

1_6_gen1

1_7_gen2

The ESNG award for bravery this year was awarded to Sean, who arrived on Saturday morning looking slightly worse than death warmed up after a nights toilet hugging with Mr Montezuma.  Thanks, Sean, as it would have been easy to give up at that point.  Luckily, Mark and Kieron came along to help run Leonard.  This did result in a few non-Network Southeast anomalies, like the OLD Southern Railway goods train…..

1_8_Leonard

And a German railbus by the signal box.

1_10_leonard

Graham Farish’s rather excellent week killing train made an appearance.  I have had to keep repeating, “I don’t need one of these, I don’t need one of these.”

1_9_leonard

Next post we’ll have a look at the ESNG modular layout.

Posted in ESNG, ESNG meetings, Exhibitions, Out and about | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Jon’s modules – Is it best to have a deadline?

Posted on April 10, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

As you read this, I hope to be relaxing after a successful ESNG.  And I hope my new end loop will have worked.

Show update – we survived, and all went well, despite the disappearing parking!  Pictures to follow next week.

I have been thinking about the place of deadlines in our hobby.  Reading the model railway press, there are some people who seem to put together a layout in six weeks for an exhibition – and it seems to be of good quality.  There are others (rarely in the model press) who enjoy their hobby, but the journey is more important than the destination – they enjoy making things, and it doesn’t matter how long it takes.

I realise that my progress on my modules has been so, so, slow.  Probably because there are many other things that take priority over them.  I’ve been thinking – do I need to set a deadline to complete them for an exhibition?

Perhaps it comes down to character types.  From work and also from home, I know I am best at delivering a task if I have a deadline.  If I start too early, I’ll mess about for weeks, achieving nothing, then complete things in a short time.  Should I apply this understanding of myself to my hobby?  On one hand, it seems silly to apply pressure to what is meant to be a relaxing pastime.  On the other, it’s more frustrating getting nothing done at all, than to be pressured to complete a model or two.

Oh well, maybe I’ll set some dates NEXT week…..

Posted in Jon's layout ramblings, N Club International | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

ESNG meeting – 7 April 2016

Posted on April 8, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

Show update: Overflow parking is in the Doynings sports centre overflow car park ( RH1 1DP), just 5 minutes walk from the school.  Take the entrance and bear right to the upper car park.  There’s 4 free hours parking there.

Meeting before the show, and a good turnout of members.  We set up the N-mod circuit we will be running for the show.  It was a personal pleasure to see the first train successfully go around my end loop – after a few anxious moments getting the electrics right.

So we panic on towards Saturday.  Set up starts tomorrow afternoon, rearranging classrooms, and then we open up for exhibitors from 6pm.  Personally, I’m looking forward to Sunday (or maybe Saturday evening and the beer with the curry.)

WP_20160407_20_42_34_Pro

WP_20160407_20_42_57_Pro

WP_20160407_20_43_05_Pro

WP_20160407_20_43_28_Pro

WP_20160407_20_46_48_Pro

Posted in ESNG, ESNG meetings | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Jon’s modules – Looping the loop

Posted on April 6, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

A few weeks ago, I rashly said I had to build an end loop for the show.  Amazingly, it’s ready to go – far from perfect, but it’s probably the fastest bit of modelling that I’ve ever done.  Progress is shown below.

Woodwork completed, mainly from 6mm ply, with 3mm ply soaked and clamped on for the curves.  The curves look better than they are….

WP_20160324_12_04_13_Pro

Trackwork down.  I’ve used Peco Setrack 3 & 4 radius curves, but they’ve been trimmed a bit in places to give the required geometry.

WP_20160327_13_35_47_Pro

Ballast and basic scenery in place.  The ballast is not very good and may need redoing at some point.  The scenic look remarkably good for a couple of hour’s work with plaster cloth and scatter material.

WP_20160403_20_58_33_Pro

And the final views show the finished modules with a few trees and some mysterious huts in place.

WP_20160404_18_35_49_Pro

WP_20160404_18_35_57_Pro

Finally, this week’s bargain.  Four Wheels of Time buses half-price from Walthers.  Even with a little import duty, these were very good value.  Long Beach to the left, LA transit to the right.  All I need is that interurban layout to put them on….

WP_20160404_18_19_09_Pro

Posted in Jon's layout ramblings, N Club International | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

What’s at the ESNG show?

Posted on April 4, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

Show update: Overflow parking is in the Doynings sports centre overflow car park ( RH1 1DP), just 5 minutes walk from the school. Take the entrance and bear right to the upper car park. There’s 4 free hours parking there.

With just five days to go, here’s what there is to see on Saturday, 9th April.  As ever, I think it will be a good show!

One request for visitors.  The school is in the process of extending, and has taken more of the car park than we hoped and expected.  Please do come, as there is free public car parking just five minutes away.  We’ll have someone at the gate to allocate parking for the less mobile (and the exhibitors) and direct you to the car park.

esng2016

Layouts

N-Mod (x3)
From its inception in 1997, ESNG has adopted the N-Mod system whereby individual members are given freedom to design their own modules, generally 4ft by 2ft to their personal liking, subject to an agreed specification for the interconnections to the four track

We have three N-Mod layouts on display today. These are our own modules, and layouts from the West Sussex and from the Berkshire groups of the N Gauge Society. These three layouts show a wide variety of modules, showing just what can be done in this format.

Leonards – Sean Healy (ESNG Member)
Leonards is an n-gauge layout of a fictional location in the south of England at the end of a busy branch line. Based on network southeast to present time on the 3rd rail network using ready to run and modified stock. As well as EMU’s and loco hauled passenger trains Freight also runs into the terminus for the royal mail and engineering department.

St Elizabeth Street – Martin Gray (ESNG Member)
St. Elizabeth Street is a 16ft by 2ft layout. It has a main line station with a working fairground at one end of the layout and has an engine shed and goods yard at the other end. The layout is fully dcc controlled via an iPad and all the points on the layout are motorised. A feature of the layout is the working lighting.

Kato Racetrack – Paul Rowlett (ESNG Member)
Paul is an avid collector of high-speed and bullet trains. Last year we gave him some space to show them off! This was so popular (children seemed especially fascinated by the impromtu wiring going on), so we’ve given him an even larger area this year. Most of the trackwork will be Kato Unitrack, showing the flexibility of this sectional track system.

Azusa Mills – Steve Stripp
Azusa Mills is a USA switching (shunting to us Brits) layout, that can appear in three different formats and sizes. We’ve got the largest set-up here today. Industrial switching, with slow, complex and precise placing of wagons for unloading and loading is a feature of American model railroading not seen so much in UK models.

Littlehampstead – Oliver Abbott
My new layout Littlehampstead is a fictional southern region terminus located somewhere near Surrey, East Sussex, Kent way. It is set somewhen between 1960 and 2003 to show a selection of 3rd rail EMUs

Southbridge – Graham Bridge
Southbridge has been constructed with the objective of providing a model railway through which trains can be viewed as if standing by the real thing.  Measuring nine feet by two feet, the end result is a fictitious GWR double track country station with a single track branch line set between 1934 -1948. The line sees a variety of traffic – some of it due to weekend diversions.

Societies

N-Gauge Society
The N-Gauge Society exists to promote the interests of modellers in N-gauge throughout the world. The Society supports local groups and also countrywide groups, such as the WorldWide Area Group which caters for the interests of non-British modellers. The society has a thriving shop, where special edition wagons, kits, building and scenic materials may be obtained. Enquiries may be made as follows:

Membership: membership-secretary@ngaugesociety.com
Society Shop: www.ngaugesociety.com and follow links

Trade

BH Enterprises
BH Enterprises are a manufacturer and supplier of an extensive range of quality brass, whitemetal and plastic N Gauge model railway kits, scenic items and accessories suitable for modern image and steam era layouts.
Internet: www.bhenterprises.freeserve.co.uk
email: bhengauge@googlemail.com
Tel: 01923 672809 (calls after 7.00pm only please)

Invicta Model Rail
We are pleased to welcome Invicta Model Rail, Kent’s newest model railway specialist. Visit their shop beside Sidcup Station, for a personal in-store service. They also offer a world wide mail order service.
Internet: http://www.invictamodelrail.com/
email: invictamodelrail@btconnect.com
Tel: 0208 302 7774

 NscaleCH – John Brightwell
NscaleCH offers a range of new and previously-owned items of Continental outline, especially for the Swiss enthusiast.
Website: www.nscalech.co.uk
email: enquiries@nscalech.co.uk
Telephone: 01732 460387

WINCO
And a welcome too, for WINCO, well known on the exhibition circuit, and who have imported and retailed European model railways since 1988.
Internet: http://www.winco.uk.com/
Tel: 0196 286 9301

JB’s Model World
JB’s Model World specialise in storage boxes for model railway stock. I’m told that you will get their products cheaper than from Ebay!

Neil Grace
Neil is established on Ebay, and is trying his hand at a ‘live’ show, offering a mixture of military and railway models.

2016 flyer single

Posted in ESNG, ESNG meetings, Layout design, The trade | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

April fool!

Posted on April 2, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

A day late, but here are a few railway orientated jokes, past and present.

Residents of Copenhagen who visited the square in front of the town hall were greeted by a strange sight. One of the subway cars from the city’s new subway, which was under construction, appeared to have burst up through the pavement. The subway car actually was a retired vehicle from the Stockholm subway. It had been cut at an angle and loose bricks were placed around it, to give the illusion that it had crashed up from below.

The stunt was sponsored by Gevalia Coffee, whose advertisements had an ongoing theme of vehicles popping up in strange locations, with the tagline “Be ready for unexpected guests.”

2001subway_lg

A fitness coach on Virgin Trains?

Virgin Trains has confirmed that plans for a unique passenger experience onboard its trains are well advanced.

The project, which is being undertaken alongside its Virgin Active organisation, will result in one coach of each train being transformed in to a travelling gym, complete with exercise bikes, cross trainers and running machines.

The move, which is believed to be a world first is to be rolled out across the company’s fleet of Pendolino and Super Voyager trains, with the gym vehicle being named the ‘Fitness Coach’.

All of the state-of-the-art gym equipment will have been hand-picked by fitness experts at Virgin Active, and in a truly ground-breaking move, the kinetic energy generated from each Fitness Coach will be harnessed and used by the train.

Train on the Train with Virgin’s new Fitness Coach

Train on the Train with Virgin’s new Fitness Coach

And how to improve the ‘City of Truro’.

gallery_6731_93_12659

pictures-1

The black livery did briefly exist during a preservation repaint, so the ‘British Railways’ livery was quickly added for a joke.  Not so sure about the smoke deflectors, though…

The British NMRA magazine came up with a good one.  Working water troughs for all scales.  Considerable research had been necessary to invent a clear chemical that splashed like a real water trough, but dried quickly and didn’t short out the electrics.  This liquid has been perfected, but unfortunately smells like neat sewage.  The company is currently working on a sewage works kit to go by the line where the troughs are….

However, the best spoof ever was a full page article in the ‘Railway Modeller,’ way back.  This was about a London Underground layout, that realistically went around the house under the floorboards.  There were flaps in the floor to look at the stations and rerail trains.  Well, this is an underused area for railways in most homes!  And I did come across an American basement layout once that had a reversing ‘Y’ extending out of the house underground.  Fact is often stranger than fiction.

Hope you didn’t get caught!

Posted in Inspiration, Out and about, Prototype, Weird and wonderful | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Wombling on…..

Posted on March 31, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

Allan sent me this gem of a photograph…..

FB_IMG_1457879164106

For those with a sheltered childhood, or from remote parts of the world that escaped the Womble plague, read more here.  My children were lucky enough to miss them first time around, but were caught by the inevitable TV repeats.  Here’s the spotters guide…..

wombles-names-bloomsbury

The sign would make a good addition to your modern London station.  Wimbledon was never quite the same after the Wombles first appeared….

 

Posted in Inspiration, Out and about, Prototype, Weird and wonderful | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Better looking N-gauge track

Posted on March 29, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

One of my continuing issues with N gauge is the poor appearance of the trackwork.  This, together with the heavy looking wheels – OK on diesels, but obvious on steam locos, has often temped me over to the 2mm dark side.  However, even with the wonderful conversion kits available from the 2mm Scale Association, I am not sure I have the skill, and more likely the time, to build in 2mm.

Finetrax has gone a long way to improve track standards, with Code 40 rail and cast frogs, giving very easily built and good looking track.  It’s very similar to the 2mm Scale Association Easitrack in concept and design.  I believe the designers talk to each other – a radical concept for our hobby?  Yet to my far too fussy eye, the frog still looks a bit heavy.

I came across this article in N Gauge Forum (and also on RMWeb), suggesting a ‘semi-scale’ standard (N2) and then not just talking about it, but putting it into practice.  To quote the article:

Ok I’m sure some of you have seen my build over on RMWeb but others may not have so felt I should post here too. Firstly what is N2? It nothing new really but using 2mm association components to build better track that will accept standard N wheel standards. What defines it as N2 though is that it doesn’t just use code 40 rail set to the wide standards used by Peco etc but requires the narrowing of gauge through pointwork to allow 0.8mm flangeways without having to reset back to backs. Having experimented with many combinations of standard I devised my N2 based on the diagram below.

n2

(8.85mm gauge, 0.8mm flangways with 7.4mm back to back and 7.25mm check rail clearance)

The end result looks good to me.  Interestingly, the concrete track on the main line is 9.42mm gauge Easitrack – N gauge stock runs fine on it, but obviously won’t go though the points.

n2track

This looks a good option if you only have stock built in the last 10 years or so, without steam-roller or pizza-cutter wheels.  It bears thinking about for future layouts.  I have soldered up track in the past, and even managed to do the frog point and blades – the tricky bits here.  And of course one advantage is that you can have whatever geometry you like for the track.  It could be a reasonable compromise between 2mm and N.

Posted in Hints and tips, Inspiration, Jon's layout ramblings, Layout design | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Odd modelling ideas #666 – A challenging prototype?

Posted on March 27, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

The Daily Telegraph came up with a fascinating set of photos of life in North Korea, that included a few of the railways.  It’s an interesting modelling challenge, with little prototype information to go on – I suspect Chinese prototypes would be near the mark.  A couple of sample picture follow…..

north-korea-train-_3593090k

north-korea-statio_3593114k

north-korea-train_3593119k

North Korea has some 5,200 kilometres of railways mostly in standard gauge which carry 80% of annual passenger traffic and 86% of freight, but electricity shortages undermine their efficiency

One advantage of modelling North Korean towns is that, often just like our model railways, the are few cars on the road as no-one can afford them.

north-korea-boulev_3593087k

Posted in Inspiration, Out and about, Prototype, Weird and wonderful | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

London Festival of Railway Modelling – 2016 – #3

Posted on March 25, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

My final post on ‘Ally Pally’ is to look at O gauge, the ‘senior scale.’  There seems to be a vogue for O gauge shunting layouts at present.  The Model Railway Club’s Happisburgh Goods (pronounced ‘Haze-burr’) models a Great Eastern Railway goods yard in BR days.  It was originally part of the full terminus layout that was on the exhibition circuit for a number of years.  The main layout was sold, but the good yard lives on.

Ao01

Dubmill Sidings was a long, rambling shunting layout in BR days, that featured some excellent diesels, generally left at random in sidings.  I really liked the (?Heljan?) Falcon, precursor of the ubiquitous Class 47s.  There was also some very nice rolling stock on display.  I have always liked the ‘Prestwin’ hopper since I made an Airfix kit of one.

Ao02

Ao03

Ao04

Ao05

Ao06

Back to Ireland for Arigna Town.  A bucolic branch line, Irish style with an interesting selection of locomotives and rolling stock.

Ao07

Belbroughton is a small (for O gauge) branch line terminus, with some distinctive pointwork to get into the fiddle yard.  I liked the warehouse hiding the fiddle yard.  A pretty well standard ruse, but very neatly done.

Ao08

Ao09

Ao10

Hemyock is a Scale7 model of the terminus of the Culm Valley Light Railway, latterly run by the GWR.  The terminus features a milk processing plant beyond the platform end.  Unfortunately, poor lighting in this part of the hall, and the wide O gauge baseboards prevented me getting a photo of this part of the layout.

Ao11

Maske is a model of a station on the north-east coast of England, running NER and LNER stock.  I liked the breakdown train out to rescue the stray wagon.  The cows look uninterested – perhaps it’s a common occurrence?

Ao12

Ao13

Ao14

The Stodden Hundred Light Railway completes the O gauge section.

Ao15

There were a couple of G gauge layouts at the show.  Not altogether realistic, but lots of lovely models that look good because of their size.   Here’s one shot of Hampton’s End.

WP_20160319_10_53_34_Pro

I missed a few layouts with my camera, but I think this was most of them.  Looking through the photographs again, it showed what a good show it was.  Isn’t it strange that our memory always tells us that last year’s show was always better?  I suspect I’ll be going back next year, as it’s a good day out.

And did I find any bargains?  I came away with a few things, a Dapol Isle of Wight Terrier and a Stove 6-wheeler parcels van, some small clamps from one of the tool shops, and a couple of cheap, unboxed, Southern Pacific bay-window cabooses.  Not a bad haul, really.

Posted in Exhibitions, Inspiration, Out and about, The trade | Tagged , , | 1 Comment