Dad's celebration day

 

What a wonderful day!

My Dad didn't want a funeral, but we felt that there ought to be some sort of celebration of his life - a chance for people to say goodbye properly, but in a fun way. 

My plan was that we'd jump onto the L&WMRS open weekend Sunday. That way the clubrooms would be open, with all the layouts working anyway. In the social area, I'd install Melbridge Dock, the layout that Dad and I built and exhibited for years. Next to it. would be a slide show with some old photos. 

On the water, we'd have three of the boats he'd built. 

"Puffin", a scratchbuilt tug, "Isobella" a Victorian steam launch, and "Felix", a ferry. 

Finally, on the outdoor track, the set of coaches he built would be doing a few circuits. 

Beside the track, which he loved, there would be a barbecue, which he'd be less keen on. 

I'll admit that putting all this together kept me busy, and a little concerned in the run up - but it all went brilliantly.  

Obviously, this is all down to the people. For a start, Mark, Duncan and their wives who ran, with the aid of my mum and sister, the burnt food and salad end of the day. No one went hungry!

Then the guys from the model boat club who sailed for me. They didn't have a special weekend, but a few came along to help out anyway. 

Chris and Andy ran the layout in the clubrooms, keeping things moving all day (all weekend in Chris's case as he was there on the Saturday). No, I wasn't being lazy, I needed to be walking around talking to people, so I recruited a few assistants to help out.  

Then there were those who just came along. Too many to mention, and several I didn't expect. The grapevine worked well!

One special guest was Earl King. A long-term friend of my parents, and arguably the person who got me involved in railway modelling. Yes, it's his fault, and now you know what he looks like. 

Thank you to everyone who joined the party, or simply thought of us on the day. We gave him a terrific send-off. One he would have enjoyed, even if he'd been slightly embarrassed at the whole thing.  

I miss my Dad. At the end of the day, when things had wound down, I sat on his bench at the boat club for a few minutes, looking out over the water as we had done so often in the past. It was lovely and peaceful. 

Then I headed back inside to run a couple of trains on Melbridge Dock, remembering some of the shows we'd done this at in the past. A proper connection. And that's what it's all about.  

Saturday Film Club: Buying second-hand railway models

My most recent video for World of Railways, covering a few things to look for when buying second-hand locomotives. 

Beatties track and rolling stock

 

The Beatties collection continues to grow, more by accident than design. A couple more vans joined the pile from eBay, where it seemed no one else wanted them. Odd that the yellow Tri-ang open wagons still go for proper(ish) money, but the OO gauge Graham Farish vans don't attract the same attention. I've enough for a modest train now. 

They are sitting on genuine Beatties track. 

This arrived in a box of other stuff from work, with a note "To Phil from Nick Smith for the Beatties Collection" - thanks Nick, it's much appreciated. Mind you, the people I work with don't quite understand!

From Railex, a proper find, more Grafar wagons, with Beatties price tags on them. 

This pack cost a miserable 75p! I'm guessing this was in the 1970s, so inflation has taken hold, I paid £9.

As well as being a valuable addition to the collection, these wagons mean something to me. My first electric trainset was a Tri-ang 3F and a mixed bag of wagons, one of which was a SC Pritchard Grafar vehicle.

An odd find at a finescale show. All the wagons have been relieved of their couplings with a saw. Why? Unless there is a wagon diagram I'm not familiar with (feel free to educate me), they aren't particularly accurate. Something from the Airfix range would have been a better starting point, even if you didn't want to have a go at a kit. 

I've been pondering how to make best use of the collection. An online museum seems like a good idea, and I've been playing around with an AI-based website design tool from Ionos, my ISP. I have a pretty good idea how I'd like it set up. A database with an entry for each "exhibit", and a searchable front end. It's well over 20 years since I've done any development work, but in the old days I wouldn't have found it too much of a streatch. 

Sadly, AI turned out to be rubbish. Or at least the early results are. I'm using this as a learning exercise, and maybe it will continue to be rubbish, and I'll have to relearn some proper developer skills, or persuade a mate to have a go for me. Another "one day" project. 

 

Cooper Craft wagon repair

 

This pile of bits has been kicking around in the pile for months. On bank holiday Monday, I decided that I'd take half an hour to stick them back together, a job that took me all morning...

What you are looking at is a Cooper Craft LNWR coal wagon that I must have built around 40 years ago. I carefully painted my name on the sides, and it's hovered around any 32mm gauge layout I've built since. At some point, I must have dropped it, reducing the model to the pile you see. 

Sticking the main pieces together was quick enough using a mix of Contacta cement and MekPak solvent. Lashings of the latter, and I'd like this to stay in one piece for a while. 

 

Annoyingly, one of the axleboxes had vanished, and while I know there are spares somewhere, I couldn't lay my hand on them. What I did find, was a nice whitemetal set. Really nice. It took a long talk with myself to decide this was their time, and I shouldn't keep them on the drawer for a more suitable project. 

Does anyone else do this? Save things, clothes being a good example, for "best" and never actually using them? 

Anyway, with a little detail removal on the solebar, and plenty of superglue, the new axleboxes fitted the model, and the plastic versions are in the drawer. 

There was an issue - the extra depth of the axle holes meant the axles slopped from side to side by around 4mm. More talking to myself, that this wasn't acceptable, and I solved the problem with some slices of plastic tube. 

Extra weight from the whitemetal parts made the wagon run really nicely too. 

One end was missing its coupling, so I bent a replacement up out of brass, fitting a hook compatible with my bathplug chain couplings. You'll notice the axleboxes have gained an extra rivet - that's a track pin drilled through the box and solebar, as I don't trust superglue to do the job on its own. I also pinned the coupling for the same reason.

A bit of paint, and the job is done. I have a freewheeling wagon, and an old friend is out of the hospital pile. 

Death of a track rubber

 

I've always been a big fan of the Double O Gauge Association track rubbers. For decades, they have been my favoured way of keeping the railhead clean, and trains running. Unlike the otherwise perfectly good Peco version, they don't drop "bits" on the track. A few years of cleaning with the Devon products, and you can see sparkles in your tracks!

I'm not a fan of this one though. Somehow, I have cleaned up something greasy, and now all it does is smear grease on the rails. 

Doubting that there is a way to clean it up, this one has gone in the bin. I can't understand why I've kept it around so long, and more than once I've picked it up and realised my mistake!

Fortunately, I have a couple of non-greasy rubbers, so my track is clean!