Middleton Garden Railway - Open Day
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One of the "old" Hunslets visiting with "new" Ulysses waiting for it's turn on the track.
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Ryan and Bill with a heavily rebuilt Model Works Pug. This loco ran incredibly well
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New Tram looks good pulling the red panel coach.
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New Hercules with the body lifted to allow for bigger batteries
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Busy Body man having an outing. He was built specifically for one of our Quarry Hunslets but obviously got on the wrong train.
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Rob from Holland waiting for the signal to go green.
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Makes a change to have the gazebo out to make shade, instead of as a rain shelter!
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Day out for the tram, but as it's 7 1/4" gauge it didn't get off the trailer. Needs work on the
bogies and springs as at the moment it rocks about like you're sitting in a boat! One of the jobs
lined up for over the winter months.
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| RHDR - Model Weekend |
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In June we spent the weekend at the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway for their Trains
and Miniature Traction Engines Weekend.
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We spent the night camping in the paint shed, then breakfast with the trains.
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Winston Churchill getting some Pledge polish.
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These are obviously missing out on the polish being still tucked in bed.
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The boys got to sit in a loco - made their day - Thank you RH&DR.
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The maroon steam loco at the end of the Chingford & District Model Engineering Club stand looks
familiar ...
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My money's on the red one!
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We shared the paint shed with Chingford Club and this brilliant N gauge layout.
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There was a portable 5" gauge track along one of the platforms.
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And a 7 1/4" gauge track near the signal box.
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Station Road Steam
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In August we went up to Lincolnshire for Station Road Steam's Open Day.
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Portable tracks laid down in the yard. Locos chuffing up and down all day.
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Heywood replica coach with Clark and Faith on it.
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Looks like the steam car is setting the tarmac on fire!
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Clark and Faith having a ride on "Ursula" with Sam.
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Clark demonstrates how not to sit on a riding truck. Good job it's bolted down!
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Drena obviously paid attention in "how to sit on a riding truck" class.
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As you can see, Faith did a marvelous job "cleaning" the Flying Scotsman with a rag - yes, in the dress!
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Ashley with one of his welding demonstrations (honest he's there somewhere).
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Travelling in style. Ashley at the helm.
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Jasper (upside-down) and Clark (behind) enjoy the pool after a hard day at the Open Day.
Thank you very much to Mike and Jayne for inviting us.
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| 7 1/4" gauge AGM
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This years 7 1/4" Gauge AGM was at the Bath and West Showground in October
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Nice Deltic - all metal body.
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Jeff, looking cool in his shades, takes Lady Amwell out on the track.
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Lady Amwell, East Herts Miniature Railway Societies electric loco. The front view.
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And the rear. (White lights on the front, red lights on the rear - yes they change when reversing)
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Nice view of the station and signal box Paul, but what's the loco and who's on it?
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Engine and group from East Herts.
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Lady Amwell's dashboard - and someone's left the key in ! This was
taken while driving the around the track at night.
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This is so cool! Stumpy and Colin's shed. Colin's stove in the van was a lovely addition.
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Product Update
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We believe in making our products as good as they can be. This year we revisited our 4 wheel coal
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wagon/driving truck and looked at ways to make it better. |
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The running boards now flip up.
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This makes transportation a lot easier and tidier.
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The running boards lock in down position.
We now have an upholstered seat made by an Upholsterer in a tough
wearing material with composite foam padding to give a more comfortable ride.
The main difference between this truck and our old version is the ratchet brake. Our old brake
had to be held on. So if you stopped on a slope, you had to keep holding the brake on. The
new ratchet brake will hold the truck on the track - and stops it rolling around in the boot of
your car.
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We also upgraded our 5" gauge bogies. They now have optional brakes and vibration mounts as an
alternative to the nylon spacer.
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New axle boxes now mean the cranked versions of our locos will now have the ball race bearings
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We have now opted to
use a chassis mounted socket on our standard wiring looms. This
comes about after we found on one example an inline socket could potentially short out
against the back of
the casing.
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New challenge to produce grills for this Ex Dan Jeavons Metropolitian locomotive. In
the end we sorted out a chassis and power bogies for this model. The
body was bought from Steam and Diesel
Castings who now own and produce lots of
the Dan Jeavons models.
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And Finally
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We are trying a new trade event next year - Spalding Model Engineering
Show. In its second year, last years reports were quite encouraging.
Unfortunately this means we will not be attending Harrogate. While it
is a great show and great location, it costs over £1000 (not including
two lost work days) and direct sales could be counted on one hand. I
thank those who have visited us for the last three years.
We have also dropped the National Garden Railway Show at Peterborough
Arena. Another great show but increasing costs especially for electric
have made this an expensive show for one day.
Trade shows for 2015 - London, Spalding and Bristol. Hopefully we will
be invited to RH&DR Model Weekend and the excellent Station
Road Steam's works day again.
If anyone else would like to invite us to their club, I would be more
than happy to bring along some trains. In the past we have had some
excellent owners days so if some one would like host one please do.
As I write this in a cold workshop (4deg C this morning). It wasn't too
long ago when we were drying paint outside. Best way to harden the
paint.
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