Category: Group Blog

17 made it to our January meeting.

Joseph Jacks brought along ‘Dol-fach’, his mini layout based on Dolgoch. He is looking into mounting the layout in an Ikea ‘Eket’ storage cube.  This will make a self contained diorama with LED lighting (Pic001, lighting provided my Joseph’s phone).

Colin Capel brought along a selection of HOe stock.  This included some standard gauge wagons on transporters.  He did a few repair jobs during the meeting.

We had a number of test tracks available.  It was a little difficult to keep up with all the traffic but here goes!

Ian Willetts’ track saw a pair of Bachmann N scale Percy locos recently bought by Julien Webb.  Ian’s own W&L Upnor Castle diesel (a 3d printed body on Tomix chassis) got a run.  So did his Tyneside Models 3d printed Kerr Stuart Diana on an F&C chassis. He also had a Fourdees ‘Jubilee’ Peckett, (another F&C chassis). Finally  a ‘Dorothea’ Bachmann quarry Hunslet (Pic003). They were joined by Ben Powell’s pair of 009 Society Hudson toast rack coaches.  Ben also had some Bachmann Ffestiniog coaches he had been sent for review. These were a ‘Tin Car’ and Brake Third No. 2 in Yellow & Crimson livery (pic004).

Ben Powell had also brought along his larger radius multi-gauge test track.  His pair of Kerr Stuart 0-6-2 Tanks (Pic005), built from Golden Arrow kits, went through their paces.  Ben also showed with an Admiralty combination car in grey primer.  This had been built from a set of Worsley Works etches (Pic006). Kevin Wright also used Ben’s track to run his WW1 open Simplex. this had been made from a modified 3D print and ran on a Tsugawa chassis (pic007)

Neil Davies also brought along a test track and a selection of stock. First a tiny 3D printed loco (Pic008) based on a Kerr Stuart ‘Wren’ and running on a Tsugawa/Tramfaberike Koppel C chassis stole the show. It just about managed one of the Bachmann Review coaches (Pic009).  But it looked more at home with a rake of skips (Pic010). Neil had also been busy making carriages, bringing along a recent finished Fourdees Corris coach (Pic011).

As well as lots of active on the various test tracks we also had a number of members making models.

Matthew Tozer  was working on some 3D printed Vale of Rheidol wagons and printed 009 couplings for his Fox Valley railway (Pic012). Unfortunately I managed to miss photographing his an Ashover Baldwin and coaches by Bachmann.

Mike Bartleet spent the evening building a selection of the new 7mm scale laser cut plywood wagon kits from Peco (pic014).  Alongside,  Andy Smyth was working on some 4mm scale Peco kits for loco sheds based on those at Boston Lodge.

[Show slideshow]

17 made it to our December meeting (Pic001).

Geoff Harper was repairing his Backwoods Miniatures Barclay 0-4-0T.  He was fitting tiny keys made from brass wire to the wheels to stop them rotating on the axles (Pic002).

Joseph Jacks brought along his Mini Dolgoch layout (Pic003). Currently it is awaiting the arrival of some bogie stock to set the running clearances. He also had a Fourdees 3d printed diesel (Pic004).  Also 3d printed model of Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 ‘Fiji’ running on a Farish 08 chassis (Pic005).

Will King brought along some of his 009 stock that had a run on Steve Mann’s test track. They included his vertical & horizontal boiler deWintons, Bagnall 0-4-0IST (Pic006) and mcEwan Pratt 10 hp petrol loco (pic007).

To run on his own test track Steve Mann brought along a selection of 3D printed locos that were making their way through the workshops. These included an Upnor Castle on a Tomytec HM-01 chassis, a Simplex on a Tsugawa 16A chassis (Pic008) and a Fourdees ‘Prima’ on a Kato ‘England’ chassis (Pic009).

Steve’s test track also saw David Churchill’s HOn30 railcar.  This had been built by Garry Whiting from a Railways Recollections kit (Pic010).

Neil Davies brought along ‘Alfriston’, his Sussex based layout for some test running to establish clearances. Not doing things by half he had asked Julien Webb’s 2-8-0 ‘Victoria’ to do the honours (Pic011 & 012). She was assisted by Charlie Forbes’ scratch built 2-4-0+0-4-2 Garratt (pic014).  The garratt was based on the Ceylon H1 loco built on a pair of Dapol 14xx chassis. Neil also ran some of his own stock. Shown is a Kerr Stuart 60hp diesel (Pci015) . Also a Vale of Rheidol break coach conversion (combining the Dundas coach and brake van kits). Acompanying is a 4 wheel open coach made with the bits left over from the conversion (Pic016).

As well as the garratt Charlie Forbes had brought along his latest steam railcar (Pic017) based on Sentinel designs. It is powered by a Halling motor bogie Charlie had made the bodywork from Ratio Midland Railway coach sides.

Paul Atkin brought along his 00-6.5 layout made from a Rokuhan Z scale shorty micro layout kit. It’s now looking like Paul has finished it (Pic018).

Continuing the micro layout theme was Mike Wall’s “Saturday Nite at the Duckpond”.  Built into a box file and featuring a couple of photographers (Pic019).

Andy Foster brought along Hartland (pic 020), but any running was stymied by a pints failure outside the signal box.

Alec Matthews brought along his current harbourside layout project that as yet has no name (pic021). He also brought along some stock. Shown is a Paul Windle 0-6-2 ST and 2 Eggerbahn ‘Fiery Elias’ coaches. These have been refurbished with 3d printed parts including a brake conversion (Pic023).

[Show slideshow]

1 2 ►

16 made it to our November meeting.

Dick Johnson brought along “Tren Bach”. Dick had made an addition to the wildlife in the form of a dragon on the hillside. I’m not sure the local shepherd will be too happy though! (pic001)

Several members took the chance to run stock on Dick’s layout. First was Andy Foster’s articulated railcar (pic002) a purchase from 009 Sales.  Ben Powell’s latest Kerr Stuart 0-6-2T (pic003) also ran. Built from the Golden Arrow kit for the Bowater’s /Sittingbourne & Kemsley ‘Superior’. Ben had modified to fit an outside frame Farish 08 chassis. Later it ran with a train of stock built from Chivers kits for his Gasworks project (pic004).

Joseph Jacks showed progress on the Tan-y-Bwlch FR station building he brought along last meeting. It was in a basic colour scheme, but Jospeh was debating what colour to paint the woodwork. His Mini Dolgoch Layout has also had a makeover with a new baseboard and brass Japanese diesel (pic005).

Colin Capel brought along a Liliput 2091 diesel loco.  He also had a selection of HO stock including a couple of transporter wagons. It looked like some work was going on with these (pic006) but I missed the chance to find out what.

Andrew Bizley brought along a selection of stock and some Kato Unitrack. He had been weathering the trackwith a view to using it for a rabbit warren layout (pic007).  Surprisingly the WD Baldwin went around the circa 5″ radius curves!

Dave Rowley brought along some of his latest 009 builds. I didn’t get the chance to get any details but I did manage to take a photograph (pic008)!

Tim Williams brought along his latest project. This was a working 4mm scale Lartigue Monorail. Track consists of 3d printed A frames with the rail stripped from some Peco 009. Locos are also 3d printed, with power provided by on board batteries and controlled by an RC system (pic009). Stock was also 3D printed. There are still some teething problems to overcome.  These include reliable pointwork turntables, a lack of traction with the loco’s and making them look more like the prototypes.  As a ‘proof of concept’ it’s looking promising though.

Matthew Tozer had brought along some tools (pic010).  He spent the evening building a Dundas kit for a pair of Hudson bolster wagons. These had progressed well by the end of the meting (pic011).

Mike Bartlett was working on a few projects (Pic012). These included a number of On30 box cars and flat wagons from laser-cut wood kits. However I didn’t managed to get the full details.

Adrian Hall was also using the meeting to do something practical. He spent the eving painting a HOn30 Cache Reek Climax loco (pic013).

[Show slideshow]

15 made it to our September meeting.

Joseph Jacks brought along his Mini Dolgoch Layout which has progressed sice we last saw it (Pic001). He had also built one of the new Peco laser-cut kits for Tan-y-Bwlch Ffestiniog Railway station (Pic002).

Paul Atkin was adding some scenery to his Rokuhan layout (Pic003).

Colin Capel brought along a poorly Liliput U class loco. With the collective knowledge of the group and a strip down the loco revealed that the running was due to a broken pick up support (Pic004), a common issue with this version of the loco.

Dick Johnson brought along Tren Bach. It ran a variety of stock during the evening but our photographer managed to catch Holy War (Bachmann model from Dick’s stock box) on a train of open coaches alongside Mike WAll’s VW based railcar (Pic005).

Mike Bartlett was working on a few projects (Pic006). A T&S ‘Colonial wagon’ in 7mm scale was getting some finishing touches. Mike was also putting a number of Kit Wood Hills 14 foot On30 reefer vans together.

Alec Matthews had started a small layout based on the Fiddletown & Copperopolis concept in HOn30 (Pic007) with a working title of ‘The Papoose’. Stock do far consists of a Minitrains 0-4-0 loco and 3d printed stock from Chris Schmuck (Pic008), with buildings assembled from home printed card kits.

[Show slideshow]

16 made it to our September meeting.

Alison and Stan Summers were at their first meeting. Stan brought along one of the new Bachmann NG7 quarry Hunslets.   Alison built a single plank wagon from the 009 Society kit. (Pic001).

Paul Atkin (pic002) was working on a small layout. This was a Z gauge ‘shorty’ from Rokuhan in Japan and had come with a small bogie chassis. Paul has added some larger scale scenery to make a HOf / 00 6.5 layout (pic003).  He’d  added a 3d printed diesel body on the z gauge chassis (Pic004).

At the other end of the size spectrum was Charlie Forbes’ latest purchas. A big red 16 wheel diesel from Garry Whiting’s collection.  This had been built from (several) Dapol Baguley Drewry kits (see Pic003). He also ran a selection of stock on Steve Mann’s Goodmannton (Pic005).

Andrew and mum Isobel brought along a new layout (Pic006), named “St Michael’s Town” in honour of  Mike Bizley.  Andrew took the layout on as a work in progress. He and Isobel have done much to it.  

Neil Davies brought along a section of Alfriston (Pic007) and spent the meeting wiring up it’s control panel.

Alec Matthews had been busy with the CAD package & 3d printer. First up was a Manning Wardle A class 0-4-0ST as a static model with full details (including valve gear). Though standard gauge the loco is tiny and could easily pass as narrow gauge. Alec was working plans for a 3′ 6″ gauge Newfoundland Railway layout in HO scale (HOn42?) using 12mm gauge track. The bogie carriage was very impressive, dwarfing both a Grandt Line ‘Box Cab’  (also 12mm gauge) and the Manning Wardle (Pic008). Alec also brought along a recent eBay purchase.   A very nicely built County Donegal Class 5 loco built from a Backwoods Miniatures kit. (Pic009).

John Walker brought along is 009 layout and DCC controller (pic010). This allowed him to run one of his Double Fairlies along with mainline hunslet Blanche.  Both locos have DCC sound, and pulled a selection of stock.

[Show slideshow]

18 attended the May meeting (Pic001).

Colin Capel brought along a 2091 and 2095 class H0e Diesel locos  along with a couple of bogie coaches and some transporter wagons with standard gauge loads. (Pic002), which due to the curves on the available layouts were restricted to Colin’s length of straight track.

Neil Davies brought along his Kato Unitrack set up (Pic003). On it he ran his Fourdees ‘Little Isaac’ with a Ffestiniog style brake van and some Fourdees wagons (pic004). Neil also showed his now finished Fourdees ‘Secunda’ with his repaired Paul Windle ‘Sirdar’ (pic 005).

Also making use of Neil’s test track was Mike Wall. Mike’s latest purchase was a RNAD Diesel loco in lined maroon livery (Pic006).

Bob Taylor had brought along his ‘test track in a box’. This allowed his Bachmann Blanche in Penrhyn livery a chance to stretch her legs/wheels (pic007).

Dick Johnson brought along ‘Tren Bach’ once more. There seemed to be quite a bit of action on the layout.  I must admit  however that I managed to miss it all and only took a quick snap as Dick was packing up to go home (sorry Dick!) (Pic008).

Mike Bartleet brought along his recently purchased Bachmann NG7 Quarry Hunslet ‘Una’ (Pic009).  Mike also continued working on his On30 oil depot.

Matthew Tozer was another using the meeting to ‘get something done’.  Matthew finished painting up some more 009 Fox Valley railway stock (3d prints from T&S Models). He also had an 0-16.5 china clay wagon for the Harburn China Clay Company (pic 010).

Joseph Jacks showed his current project – a mini Dolgoch layout (Pic011).  This has been inspired by Sven van der Hart’s diorama layouts.  It will give a home for Joseph’s collection of Talyllyn locos and stock.

[Show slideshow]

17 attended the May meeting (Pic001).

Dick Johnson brought along ‘Tren Bach’. This saw a variety of trains including Dick’s own ‘royal train’. It was double headed in the traditional manner by Bachmann Hunslet ‘Alice’ and an Ali-Shan bogie diesel (Pic002). Andy Foster got the opportunity to run a West Clare Railway bogie diesel (pic003). It had been purchased from 009 Sales, ex Garry Whiting’s collection. Mike Wall made a welcome return to a group meeting. His Minitrains 0-4-0ST Baldwin – the modern version rather than the 1960’s one – running on ‘Dick’s ‘Tren Bach’ (Pic004).

Neil Davies brought along his new test track and gave some of his stock a run. First was a Fourdees ‘Secunda’ on a Kato ‘England’ chassis (pic005). Following was a Sentinel bogie steam railcar from 009 Sales. This was a Model Engine Works print on a Kato chassis from Garry Whiting’s collection (Pic006). There was also a 3 car set that escaped the photographer’s lens.

Ian Willetts made use of Neil’s test track, running a Fourdees 0-6-0ST Peckett (an eBay purchase). Ian also brought his Barclay 0-4-0T (Westcliff Works print on Bachmann Percy chassis). A bogie tank wagon modified from an old Triang chlorine tanker finished of his selection(Pic007).

Another ‘user’ of Neil’s test track was Joseph Jacks. He’d brought along a Fourdees Tattoo in the process of being modified to fit an N drive chassis (Pic008). This joined a Westcliff Works Barclay with N-drive power. With a Narrow Planet RNAD bogie crew van and Ian Willetts’ stock a train was made up (Pic009). Joseph had also brought two home 3D printed models of “Scamp’. This is a 7 1/4 ” gauge scale to 1:15 and running on a Kato 11-109 chassis (Pic010).

Ben Powell’s own modelling has been on hold during his recent house move, but he had purchased a standard gauge Dapol Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST in Marston, Thompson & Evershed livery (Pic011) with an inordinate amount of detail, especially in the cab.

Paul Atkin brought along his cutting mat (Pic012). During the evening he worked on some 009 Society cattle van kits. Also, a 4 wheel coach was made up of parts from an Airfix brake van. This ran on a lengthened 009 Society RNAD chassis.

Also breaking out their cutting mats (Pic014) were Mike Bartleet (right) and Adrian Hall (Left). Mike was working on an On30 oil depot while Adrian tackled the bunk houses from a Sierra West logging camp.

David Wilcox brought along his layout Dolserau and Tony Land. Whilst I missed the main action I did manage to get a snap of the layout (pic015).

[Show slideshow]

14 attended the May meeting (Pic001).

Dick Johnson brought along ‘Tren Bach’ and put various locos and stock through their paces.  I managed to photograph two of these.  Beddgelert (Fourdees) on a long train of Peco stock (Pic002) and Triumph (Fourdees) awaiting a turn of duty (Pic003).

Steve Holland brought along some of his 16mm scale projects (Pic004). These included Bagnall 0-6-0T Dennis (Pic005), WD Armoured Simplex (Pic006), a deWinton (Slaters kit) (Pic007) and a WD Baldwin as a work in progress (another Slaters kit) (Pic008).

Peter Hardy brought along his test track.  Peter ran his O&K 0-4-2 built from a Meridian / Mosskito kit (Pic009). Also running was ‘Alice’, an 0-6-0T made by modifying a Roco loco (Pic010). Peter also ran a railcar built from the Dundas ‘Eisteddfod’ coach (Pic011) with a Kato chassis. Peter had also brought his lengthened Colin Ashby coaches along with an original for comparison (Pic012).

Neil Davies brought along his current layout project. Set in Sussex, ‘Alfriston’ packs into a pair of 77 litre ‘Really Useful Boxes’ (Pic014). Neil ran his Quarry Hunslet ‘Jack Lane’, along with Joseph Jack’s Fourdees Little Isaac (Pic015). He and John Walker also managed to run John’s DCC sound equipped double Fairlies on Neil’s analogue controller (Pic017 & 18).  Once John and Neil had got the hang of the settings needed on the Gaugemaster Combi the Fairlies chuffed up and down very nicely.

Paul Atkin and Joseph Jacks spent the meeting working on some projects (Pic019). Paul had brought along his now finished tram loco, built using Airfix brake van parts (Pic020).  he was also assembling some 009 Society cattle van kits. Joseph was making up Greenwich couplings for a selection of stock. These included some Snailbeach hopper wagons from Nigel Brookes 3D prints (Pic021), an RNAD break van from the 009 Society kit converted to Statfold Barn Railway format (Pic022) and a Fourdees Isaac (Pic023). With couplings fitted they were ready to join his Westclife ‘Douglas and Snailbeach Skylark (Pic024)

Adrian Hall was also working on a model of Quincey Engine House by Campbell Scale models (Pic025).  This is destined to go on the latest module for his HOn3 layout (Pic026).

Thanks to Neil Davies for his home baked fruit cake and to Dick Johnson for the chocolate flapjacks.

[Show slideshow]

1 2 ►

17 attended the May meeting (Pic001).

Steve Mann brought along the fiddle yard boards from Goodmannton. He needed to modify the section switches so that they switched in the same way as those on the main layout (Pic002). Steve wanted to be safe using his new soldering iron, so Ian Willetts was on hand to assist (pic003).

Dick Johnson brought Tren Bach along and ran a variety of his own stock. These included Quarry Hunslets Britomart, Dolbadarn and Alice. He also had War Department Baldwins Peggy, WHR 590 and Snailbeach No. 4. The latter being caught on camera on a train of GVT stock (Pic004).

Also appearing on Tren Bach were Ian Willetts’ latest purchases from 009 Sales. These were a Tongaat Bagnall 4-4-0T (pic005) and Cliffe Hill 0-4-2T Bagnall.  Both had been built by Paul Windle (Pic006).

Bob Taylor had been busy building a new tanker wagon. He had finished it with a Purple Moose livery (pic007) which also posed on Tren Bach.

David Wilcox brought along his layout Dolserau and ran a selection of stock.  This included a Peco GVT loco pulling a short train of Dundas stock (Pic008) and a Rod Alcock Ruston LBT (Pic009).

Dave Marriott spent the meeting wiring up a number of multi-way D connectors. He did this with quite an impressive set up of clamps to hold everything in place (pic010).

Adrian Hall and Mike Bartleet shared a work table (pic011). Adrian continued working on his HOn3 climax. This was a cast resin kit from Cache Creek (Pic012). Meanwhile Mike worked on a On30 scale water tank.  It was a 3D print of a Chicago & North Western Railway example. ( I managed to miss photographing it  – sorry Mike),

Alec Matthews brought along a new layout with a working title of ‘Toad Hall’ (pic013).  This gave the Japanese-made DHR 0-4-0ST he had bought at NG South a test run with one of his 3d printed wagons (pic014). They were joined by John Davies’ GVT stock (Pic015).

[Show slideshow]

15 attended the April meeting (Pic001).

Ben Powell had been steadily working through building a Backwoods Miniatures Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 diesel (Pic002).

Ian Willetts had fitted cast brass Penrhyn couplings to his Bachmann Mainline Hunslet.  They worked as well as they looked on Peter Hardy’s test track (Pic003).

Tony Land brought along some of his Kato powered railcars to run on David Wilcox’s Dolserau (Pic004). These included a homage to the Statfold Barn Railway’s rail Landrover (pic005).

Paul Atkin brought along his layout “Brende Lanes End” (pic006) . This saw a variety of stock during the meeting. The Colin Ashby coaches that Paul had built and painted at previous meetings (pic007). There was also a Dapol railbus bash (pic008) and Paul’s freight loco made from a pair of Coopercraft lorry cabs (pic009).

Another layout was Bob Taylor’s “Abandoned”. This was built in an A4 box file. It featured an abandoned cottage inspired by one in the Betws Garmon area.  Bob had used it as a test piece to try out some new techniques. These included using oil paints, static grass and ‘fluffy’ sheep produced in the same way (using white fibres instead of green). The result (pic010) was rather effective.

Mike Bartleet had been continuing work on stock for his Huntsville & Lake of Bays Railway in O (1/4″) scale. The latest addition was a mobile crane (pic011). This used a 4 wheel flat wagon chassis (built to fine scale standards) and a 7mm scale Peco yard crane.

Adrian Hall showed a selection of the 20-30 building he had acquired 2nd hand .  He had reworked them to include lighting and interior details (pic012). Adrian also had a vertical boiler Shay made from a 3d printed body. this was running on an N-scale diesel chassis that he had regauged to 10.5mm for use on his HOn3 layout (pic013).

Matthew Tozer was working on painting some stock (pic014). this included finishing off a pair of 4 wheel tramway coaches with brass balconies (pic015). He also had a selection of vans (pic016). All these had been purchased from Double M Pro, a 3d printer seller on Etsy.

[Show slideshow]