009 Society 50th Anniversary show

What a terrific day. 

There's no argument. This collection of 009 layouts, brought together at Statfold Barn to celebraite the Societies 50th borthday, was superb. 

It would be hard to pick a favourite as there wasn't a single duff model in the hall. Every single one was different, and none looked like a mainline station relaid in Peco "Crazy Track". It seems people are looking at prototypes and modelling them. 

I met many old freinds, and there was a lot of chat. To really appreciate the displays, I'd have needed to turn up on both days. Mind you, I'd probably have just done more yakking! If I saw you there, it was good to meet. If I missed you, sorry. 

Anyway, a couple of models that stuck in my mind were both of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. The Little Himalayan Railway is a micro, but unusually well modelled. When did you last see a tea plantation on a layout? I rather like the posters on the concrete wall too. Properly faded, and loads of identical ones - just like you see in prototype photos.

Somewhat larger, is Kurseong. Again, beautifully modelled and full of scratchbuilt buildings that look like the real thing. I'd love to do a proper photo shoot on it...

You can see a video here. 

And this is just two of the 50 layouts present. I snapped away on my phone, and the better images can be found over on Flickr. 

Saturday Film Club: Steam day 2023

Steam day was fantastic. Please sit back and enjoy some slightly low-resolution (Didn't set the compact camera properly) film of the action. Sorry there's only one steam boat, things were a bit hectic.

And if you'd like some photos of the event - I've put an album up on Flickr.

Plaster N gauge buildings

 

Three, very nice, N gauge (OK, scale, but you know what I mean) buildings, for a fiver. Thanks Elaine's Trains at TINGS. Apparently, they were part of a much larger collection, that mostly sold out on the Saturday. 

I'm told the manufacturer is SD Models, although they don't appear to be related to S&D Models, but I do remember hearing the name in the past. Do they still exist? 

Made of plaster, each model has been in the wars with chips and dings. I'm hoping that a little touching in with thinned paint will hide the worst damage. Being plaster though, the colours and wall textures are superb. 

To be honest, I bought these out of curiosity, and because I sometimes need to set up photographic scenes, and my N gauge building collection is minimal. These might appear in the few backgrounds in the future. 

This is one of the reasons I go to shows. You don't get bargains like this on the web!

Can Ragleth save the day?

 

I really want to take two locos to the club steam day. The Peckett has a boiler certificate, and digging through a boxfile of correspondance (Including the hate mail I've recieved while editing mags. Yes really. It's pathetic.) I found another - for my Ragleth!

This loco has been sat in its wooden box since before the pandemic, so would it work? 

First, I checked the batteries. Unsuprisingly, they were dead, so for the moment I've replaced them with dry cells. I've not given up, just that charging, if it works, will take a while, and I'm impatient. 

While under there, the reciever is changed from a Planet to a RadioLink. Not essential, but I want to try the Planet in the steamboat. I think they are more reliable. There's also a long-term plan to put all the locos on Spectrum radios, but that requires me to find the receiver that came with SeaLion. 

Anyway, the good news is that all worked well, so it was outside to try some steam. 

Another result! I even gave it a little run up and down the garden railway. Not far, as the track needs ballasting and levelling, but enough to know it will move. And move fast, it could do with a bit of a load on the back...

Of course, getting the loco out again reminded me how much I like the proportions of this model. Perhaps more 7/8th than 16mm, it's a lovely chunky little machine, thay deserves a lot more attention and love. 

Update: Here's a handy hint. 

If you take the blowdown valve out while checking the loco over, don't leave it on the garden table, or when you get to the railway, your loco will be incontinent, and there will be no steaming, but plenty of embarasment.

Warehouse Wednesday - Chapel come garage

 

This is a weird one. Spotted on the road to the Snaefell Mountain Railway sheds, a cute, and very modelable chapel. With a row of lockup garages built on the back. 

I know no more, and certainly can't explain how this happened. However, you can explore further on Streetview.