(Written by John Davies & Ben Powell)
Around 25 of us met at Four Oaks Methodist Church on the afternoon of Saturday, November 19th, 2022 to enjoy a pleasant get together, running trains, talking and drinking tea or coffee.
Sadly, in view of our late friend, Ralph Parker’s death, Julien had the task of selling his estate on behalf of his daughter, Cassie. From what I could see he was busy throughout the afternoon and I hope did well for her. Personally speaking I’d enjoyed Ralph’s company during the time we’d known him, and will miss him a lot.
Our layouts were an interesting mix reflecting the varied interests of our members.
Blair Hobson brought the Grand Duchy of Mittenberg. This HOe layout is set somewhere in the lower Alpine region of Europe, precise location unknown. Rolling stock included Roco, Minitrains and Lilliput equipment.
Dick Johnson again brought Tran Bach – the Little Train. It is always pleasant to see, and look for anything new in the stock department.
Matthew Tozer had a demonstration stand, working on various wagons he’s building.
Paul Atkin was running Brende Lane End. This is an intriguing combination of an Inglenook shunting puzzle within a small circle of track. The sidings being worked with a turntable or sector plate ‘behind the scenes’.
Ben Powell had brought along Ridge Lane for a pre-Warley test session. Stock featured a number of visiting locomotives from Ian Willets and David Churchill. David has been modifying a pair of Fourdees Thames class body kits into an Indian Duplex example, both bodies being based on Bachmann Peter Sam chassis.
Geoff Harper had a demonstration table. He was endeavouring to solder an SRB Gamecock Peckett together, despite distractions from the group. We are unsure how much he managed to achieve amongst the distractions!
John Davies brought unfinished Glyn Valley layout. A test of a cut of Ceiriog Quarry wagons was partly successful. They would run, but a little refining of the Peco couplings is required!
Andrew Bizley had his unnamed continuous run layout. He’d built this as occupational therapy recently – a need which most of us can identify with, I’m sure, and a worthwhile little project it is, too.
John Walker was running a test circle, and Peter Hardys test track featured his own scratch built ‘Linda’ and the new Bachmann ‘Blanche’, which received many positive comments from the members.
