ESNG meeting – 21 October 2020

Posted on October 22, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

A record breaking evening on Zoom.   We started with just the four of us.  That included an impressive display with John and Alpenbahn, and five trains running around.  Paul was on-line, but no trains running, due to some wiring issues with his new layout alterations.

Then numbers multiplied.  Graham arrived in both sound and vision, and there was a general showing of new purchases.  And we also had a flying visit from Neil, Martin and Sean, who briefly appeared on-screen.  The conversation did include railways, but was also suitably wide ranging….

Meanwhile, Brian’s camera train is working, but wobbling….

Here’s a short film I made using Simon’s 3D printed flat bogie wagon.  It is bouncing about a bit in places, but I wonder if I need to tighten / loosen the bogies?

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Potpourri #1001

Posted on October 20, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

An interesting prototype – New York City warehouses early last century.  Certainly a good basis for a small or micro layout – and to use up all that Peco SetTrack.

A little humour, via Simon.  Mind you, I’ve laid track that looks like that…..

And yet another exhibition cancellation.  Stuttgart NCI meet 2020 is cancelled.  ESNG had decided not to exhibit this year anyway, wondering whether we would be able to get to Germany, let alone exhibit there.  But this is hardly surprising with the upturn in Covid-19 cases in Germany at the moment.  As Stefan puts it:

My task for today is to inform you that the 2020 Exhibition in Stuttgart is cancelled.

The increase of Corona infections in and around Germany have led to more restrictions.  Due to the responsibility for safety of exhibitors as well as visitors the Stuttgart Exhibition Management has decided to cancel all exhibitions till end of the year.  Till this day all of us had hope that the measures for reduction of the Corona-infections in Germany would last till winter – we were on a good way…

I wish you all a good and healthy time – keep your nerves and your positive attitude for life.  We all share a hobby where there is no room for boredom and “have to stay at home” can be changed into creativity!

I need to take that to heart – “stay at home” needs to be more creative!

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An expensive Sunday video

Posted on October 18, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

In case you missed it on RMWeb – $2,000,000 worth of damage, and that’s just to the cars.  Now, this would be a challenge to model?

 

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Book review – I couldn’t resist a bargain!

Posted on October 16, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

Unfortunately I couldn’t resist Strathwood’s lockdown offer – buy five books get the cheapest free.  So a large parcel arrived with some great reading – all Southern Railway orientated you will note.  I’m sorely tempted by the volumes on the SR 4-6-0’s and 2-6-0’s as well, with the Q1’s thrown in as a bonus.  The book of the M7 shows what a complicated class they were, with all sorts of differences between locomotives.  None of them resemble the Dapol M7, in ‘N’, though, that is closer to an LSWR T1 class.

Pick of the bunch, that I would have bought anyway, is this follow up to their two excellent volumes of Southern Electric in black-and-white.  But this time they’re in colour.  Some inspirational shots here, showing that EMU’s are far from boring.

But here’s a puzzle for you – why is the wagon in the middle sitting on the wrong rails?  Or is it???  This is an Isle of Wight shot from the piers there.

Look closely and you’ll see that the third line from the left stops just before the van.  It was, together with the rail to the right of the wagons, the tracks for a gantry crane.  But you need a close look to work it out, rather than suspect a secret monorail…..

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Sad to see a rail closure

Posted on October 14, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

Sad to see, Kerr’s Miniature Railway is closing after 85 years.  It has been a feature of Arbroath’s seafront since 1935, but there has been a decline in visitor numbers over the last decade.

Hopefully, the rolling stock will find a home elsewhere.  But wonderful scenes like this one are already long gone…..

Photo: Kerr’s Miniature Railway

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Covid-19 diary #29 – Planning failures!

Posted on October 10, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

Progress on the railway continues to be limited to say the least.  I continue to try and plan my next railway with little success.  So many ideas, and so few that really excite!  But the last few weeks have been pleasant enough – a chance to get out for a few meals, the always interesting (if you like rabbits and cat litter) ESNG Zoom meetings, and a pile of good books to read.

But what are my problems in design…..

  1. “Eyes bigger than his belly.”  This may not be true for some of our club members, but it sums up my design problems.  I keep designing layouts that are frankly too big.  The fact that I can run a ten coach train at an ESNG meeting doesn’t mean that I will ever be able to do that at home.  And much as I would like to run my Brighton Belle unit, even a five coach train might stretch things a little.
  2. Fiddle yards.  I have too many trains, and the fiddle yard is always too big – usually larger than the scenic part of the layout.  I’m not confident of building a traverser or some other space saving idea.  Cassettes would be an approach, but it’s too easy to drop your expensive train whilst turning it around.
  3. Couplings.  I still hate NEM and Dapol EasyShunts.  Big and ugly (again a bit like our club members), but I suspect my eyesight isn’t up to three-link couplings in ‘N’!

And are these the solutions?

  1. Be realistic and build something small.
  2. Accept that my layouts will only accept some of my stock at any one time and swap them around occasionally.
  3. Or just build something esoteric that limits what one can run (for example, Isle of Wight lines or Wisbech and Upwell tramways.)  Keep the rest for the day when club nights start again.
  4. Experiment with couplings.  I do have ideas here.
  5. Experiment with fiddle yards.

Or to put it another way, do ANYTHING!  Just start building again.

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ESNG meeting – 7 October 2020

Posted on October 8, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

Back on Zoom tonight for yet another club meeting.  Good to see everyone again.  No Peter tonight, as he was down at the caravan….

Down in West Sussex at the moment, oh, a Class 700 followed by a track cleaning train have just whizzed past. The GWR daily driver knowledge train to Brighton is also due, it doesn’t seem to appear on the timetable.

I gather the third GWR service between Reading and Gatwick has been approved by NR, weekdays only at first.

Incidentally, went into a local antiques shop on Saturday, and purchased a Trix German 2-10-0 for £10. It works, just, after a bit of TLC but there seems to be a problem with one of the wheel sets. Do you or any of the club members know of anyone who could have a look at it. I guess being an older locomotive, spares may be a problem.

Unfortunately, will not be able to join you for the ‘meeting’ this evening as we have an appointment. Enjoy and will hopefully ‘meet’ up next time.

We were also missing a visit from Maxine, as ESNG clashed with the WI (digitally that is – I wouldn’t risk a disagreement with that lot!)

However, it was great to see Paul with both sound and vision, and see some of his new purchases.  Graham appeared clearer than before, but still no sound.  And these meetings seem to have driven Brian to drink – or maybe it was his experiences with Gorilla Glue.

It continues to be a treat to be able to meet up with good friends, albeit on-line.  I really must start modelling again and have something to show-and-tell, before Paul completely fills his lounge with bullet trains….

Thinking of that Gorilla Glue…..

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ESNG meeting – 30 September 2020

Posted on October 2, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

Because it has been one of those funny five week months, I made the executive decision to meet on the 30th, as well as next Wednesday.  The usual suspects were in attendance, and Good to see Paul managing to log in – but silently, as his sound didn’t seem to be working.

Phil was showing off his Night Mail set, and Brian what he claimed was a glass of water.  Maxine joined the meeting for a while, and Paul showed us some trains in action on his living room layout.  As usual, there was 90 minutes of sparking conversation – little of which mentioned railways.

Allan managed to follow Ron’s instructions but made a sudden exit near the end of the meeting.  I thought it might be something I said, but…

Battery died.  Should have had it plugged it in the mains and not run it off the battery.

We didn’t see Graham on-line, but all was revealed in his email later….

Hi Jon

Now I have a new Hub I was going to join the meeting, but the email for the zoom invite had disappeared, and also the app.

I tried to reconnect, by the time I had connected I think the meeting had finished .

Carry on Zooming, Graham

He’ll get there eventually!  We’ll see who logs in next week.

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(Almost) Wordless Wednesday.

Posted on September 30, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

No bright ideas today.  Just a few gleanings from the web (hopefully not messing with anyone’s copyright.  Still my favourite electric locomotives…..

An unusual visitor at Dorchester South station.

Meeting up with a primary school friend on Saturday, I was reminded that we, plus my mother in tow, had taken a Green Rover bus ticket from Orpington to Redhill (and back I assume.)   I have no memory of this!  I’m not sure what the attraction of this was, probably the RLH buses on the 410 route.  To think that I now live here.  But I obviously wasn’t keen enough on trains to visit Redhill station or shed.  Shame, as it must have been an interesting place to visit.

Finally, a mini-Minories.  Designed for 2 or 3 car DMU’s.  This is ‘4mm scale, so minimum length trains all round!  But some fun operation is possible.

See you next month.

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Ron escapes from the frozen north

Posted on September 28, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

And to quote the late, great, Jimi Hendrix – “Still raining, still dreaming!”

Another cold rainy day. Here are photos of Blackpool North one of which was taken from Sainsburys Cafe opposite station.

Yes, it’s a real British seaside holiday….

The escape from the north was on – and the sun had come out by Preston….

Well, Ron, you could have left the weather in Blackpool.  It’s too cold here.

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