ESNG meeting – 26 February 2023

Posted on February 28, 2023 by snitchthebudgie

A quiet but sociable last meeting for February – 6 members present.  We knew that several people were otherwise engaged, so we settled for a quick 2×0 layout, and got down to running trains.

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Long and sometimes fast trains passing through Saggers Sidings.

Heading west with a Warship and (mostly) Bulleid coaches.

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Phil’s Merchant Navy running well.

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We didn’t celebrate the Flying Scotsman’s centenary – Derek’s A4 had to do.

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Allan’s stone train, with some of those lovely Revolution wagons.  Expensive, but you get what you pay for!

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Brian’s German stock.

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I seem to have missed any pictures of Richard’s stock – testing a seemingly endless supply of Swiss locomotives from differing model and prototype eras.

It was good to see Brian at the meet, and the resulting video.

And after the meeting had wound down to a good chat, it was followed by the usual curry.

 

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Random thoughts

Posted on February 26, 2023 by snitchthebudgie

All sorts of odds and ends today.

I was amused by these cartoons.  All too true!

buy

Mojo has been a bit low for railways this week.  So I did a bit more on my German WWII command vehicle for a change of scene.  And primed it ready to paint before I get to the next stage.  Tamiya fine white primer rattle can giving an excellent finish.  But I swear that some of the parts in this ICM kit are smaller than those you find in N gauge, so it’s good practice!

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A quote from YouTube, a modeller building a 1950’s era Airfix kit – “It’s not going to win any shows, but I thoroughly enjoyed making it.”  Shouldn’t that be our approach to our hobby?

We’re still thinking about what to build next for ESNG.  No doubt conversations can continue at Sunday’s running afternoon – that will be my next post, too.

This is just magic…. (Even if it’s P4.)

To finish, a little local colour – Redhill Station Road in 1915.  Some good detail for modelling here.

station road redhill 1915

And 40 years later, Michael Gurr took this picture of Redhill shed.  Some of the background looks very familiar – and some of it has radically changed.

redhill1955michaelgurr

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Potpourri #1066

Posted on February 24, 2023 by snitchthebudgie

Some YouTube finds today.

Stuttgart’s new tunnelled station will open eventually….

And whilst we’re all speaking German, I don’t know why, but it’s rather fun….

Jago Hazzard goes all trolleybus…

A long look at the Southern Railway.  Rather random commentary, but some great footage…. 

The ‘well I never’ department!

And just in case you are getting a little stressed…

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A grand day out

Posted on February 22, 2023 by snitchthebudgie

Allan sent me some pictures taken at Eastleigh this week:

Had a trip out to Eastleigh on Monday with Sean and Lucas.

Was planning to go down by train.  But after talking things through we decided to go by car, as this would give us more time at Eastleigh. Stopped of at Hampshire Models on the way down. Spent a good two hours on the top floor of a multi-storey car park with some fantastic views over the station.

We would not have see half of what we saw from the platform.

All looks a bit different from my school railway society trip in 1967, catching the last of steam!

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And finally..

Still on the top of the car park. Noticed on the far side of the station there were buses all around.  Two of the buildings were a bus garage with out side parking. And one unit used by the company that are overhauling the new route master for TfL.

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Tonbridge MRC show 2023 #2

Posted on February 20, 2023 by snitchthebudgie

I guess the last post had my favourites from Tonbridge.  But there were plenty of layouts to see, and here are most of the rest….

We’ll start with Feltham Road (OO).  Loco shed layouts are the current in-thing, I guess, not least because most of us have far too many engines and nowhere to put them.  Feltham Road is an excellent example of the genre, and is a compressed version of the real Feltham shed, modelled in its later, roofless, days.  And lots of lovely Southern locos on shed as well.

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Gordon & Maggie Gravett’s Arun Quay is again a familiar exhibit, but full of detail.  I took a picture of the display of how they made a lightweight baseboard from foam and very thin plywood.

Micro-layouts.  Lancaster Lane, Fawcett Street and Illston.

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OO9, Compass Point and River Crane Mill.  Looks like the tide’s out!

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More narrow gauge (21mm gauge, 7mm scale) at Fintonagh.  I’d seen this layout several times before, but it’s always worth enjoying the very well executed town scenery.

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Network SouthEast at Tidsworth….

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Southern region at Hobbs Hill.  This took sound to a new level, with an ice cream van….

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And last of the layouts, New Walmington Pier, returning to the Tonbridge show 22 years later.  A micro-layout ahead of its time?

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So after a pleasant morning, a few pictures of Tonbridge yard on the way home.  Not very good, I’m afraid, through the carriage windows.  Gone are the days of putting the window down and hanging out!

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Tonbridge MRC show 2023 #1

Posted on February 18, 2023 by snitchthebudgie

Saturday morning and a visit to the Tonbridge show – by train.  I was going to do this in 2019, but there were engineering works and a replacement bus service, so I just didn’t bother.  Then came covid….  The trip by train is a pretty run across country on one of the longest sections of straight railway in the country – almost a Roman railway!

Waiting for Allan on Redhill station, this continuous rail train rushed though, topped and tailed by Class 66 locos.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a shot of the loco on the end, as it was one of the more unusual Class 66 liveries.

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The show was a good one, with some very good layouts, and a good variety of trade.  I think the best layouts there were ones that I had seen before, but there was a lot to look at.  And I managed to buy a few electrical odds and ends that I wanted (and a couple of coaches.)

Allan was helping Sean and Lucas run Leonard, that had been boxed up for about four years.  Still looks good….

It was good to see Outwell Village again.  One of my favourite layouts on the exhibition circuit – Wisbech and Upwell tramway in OO.

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I haven’t seen Tarring Neville for a while – probably since an Uckfield show.  I’ve always liked how this shunting layout can be viewed from three sides, and this probably influenced my Kuritu build.

Talking of odd shaped layouts, Railroad Crossing (HO) is a shunting puzzle, but with lots of very good scenic work, especially the buildings, around it.

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Good again to see was Copper Wort in OO.  A Burton-on-Trent brewery railway with lots of shunting, interesting industrial buildings, and of course barrels!  And it’s a circular (well, octagonal) layout.  What isn’t there to like?

Finally today, Habbaniya, Iraq, 1941 is a well exhibited diorama, with planes, trains, and military vehicles, all with forced perspective.  Always worth another look!

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More pictures from the show next time.

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ESNG meeting – 15 February 2023

Posted on February 16, 2023 by snitchthebudgie

I wasn’t at Wednesday’s meeting, as Maxine and I had slipped away for a couple of days to see friends in Chichester. We had a very relaxing time, and enjoyed seeing the sea at Wittering.  The weather was kind to us, too….

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No railway interest, apart from this lovely beach house (better than the monstrosities around it) built around an old railway carriage.  Perhaps from the old LBSCR, as this was their territory?

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However, Allan did provide a quick note and pictures from Wednesday’s meeting….

It was a quiet evening last night. 7 members and one visitor. Put up a 2 x 0 ciruit.

Today, Allan went to Tenterden and discovered that the plaque in memoriam of Miles had already been put in place.

I am sitting at the moment at Tenterden Town Station. Have just had a word with Pete about the plaque. He found out yesterday that it has already been put up.

And here it is at Northiam.  Good words for a good friend.

And three pictures from Northiam and Tenterden.

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ESNG meeting – 12 February 2023

Posted on February 12, 2023 by snitchthebudgie

A pleasant afternoon with seven members present.  We ran some trains, and socialised a lot.

An interesting layout – a 4×0 modular set up.  Dave was concerned that there wouldn’t be room for him in the middle of the layout, but he just about fitted when necessary!

Getting things set up….

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Plenty of trains running, on and occasionally off, the tracks….

A busy yard, with Allan’s new Swiss stock….

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Richard’s Swiss stock….

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American trains from Dave and Simon….

And British from Derek, Derek and myself…..

A GWR railcar in early BR livery.  I think this is my favourite livery for these iconic vehicles, and they look smarter then when in the original GWR chocolate and cream.

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The afternoon ended, as usual, with a curry.

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Potpourri #1065

Posted on February 10, 2023 by snitchthebudgie

It’s been a busy week, so nothing too original today!

Yesterday morning was spent helping run our toddler group.  And I spotted a pre-school version of that world famous Rule 1 – Percy goes High Speed!

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Give him a few year and he’ll walk into ESNG.  And certain ESNG members have been circulating this typical example of club night running.  At least the new fiddle yard doesn’t do this as often!

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Another nice picture of Bulleid’s 1-Co-Co-1 diesels – 10203 in early BR black livery.  Much as I like Peaks, these machines are even better to look at.  The chassis’ were very similar, I believe, so there is potential for a model here, if one can get a cheap Peak chassis.

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Two Southern named trains.  First the Golden Arrow, with a Spam Can waiting in Stewarts Lane to move back to the train waiting in Victoria Station.  And a well kept L1 4-4-0 next to it.

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And the Devon Belle, headed by Merchant Navy class ‘Channel Packet.’  The early BR blue livery suited the unrebuilt Merchant Navy’s better than the various shades of green they appeared in.

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Talking of L1’s, two more pictures of this Maunsell 4-4-0.  Built in 1926 for the south-eastern section these were a development of the earlier SECR D, D1, and L classes.  In some ways already dated, they performed very well and had a long and useful life, before being displaced by larger locos and electrification.

And their ancestors, the D1 and the L classes…

And finally for today, keeping the SECR theme, an R1 0-6-0T.  Elder readers may have had the Hornby-Dublo version of this little loco.  I never owned one, but did have a chassis with a Wills white metal kit of a LSWR G6 on top. 

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Meanwhile, my modelling this week largely consists of designing a diode matrix.  I hope to be able to report soon on ESNG’s next building project….

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And certainly on Sunday’s running afternoon….

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A sort of Minories of my own – 23

Posted on February 8, 2023 by snitchthebudgie

Marking time a bit with this post.  I’ve spent the last couple of days completing the control panel.  All the switches, buttons, and the controllers themselves have been mounted on the panel, and the panel recessed in the baseboard.  As ever, it could be a little neater in places, but it looks like it will work.

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I think that I will next get the wiring onto the back of the panel, then it will be back to trackwork.

But later today, first wires added to the panel, and a Gaugemaster transformer wired to a plug glued to the transformer casing.

For those of you who worry about rail size (code) and profile, here’s a chart showing all the rail types in use on the GWR in 1908.  It covers most options!

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And a fine shot of a Southern H15 leaving Salisbury Tunnel – scene of a recent rail crash and an interesting salvage operation to get one of the units out of the tunnel.  Notable, too, are the crimson liveried LSWR coaches at the head of the train, in front of some green coaches.

H15salisbury

Meanwhile, back at ESNG, we are considering whether to start a new project, after the relative success of the N-mod fiddle yard.  Possibilities include some more N-mod corner boards or an N-club fiddle yard/end loop.  Deliberations should be good for a few weeks…..

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