In a change to the advertised programme occasioned by Ross’ absence on family duties Fred stepped in to the breach and gave his talk on painting coaches with two coloured liveries and on weathering stock in general.Fred started by saying that with metal coaches he starts with a coat of Halfords etch primer and follows […]
News
Wednesday 19th March 2025
On the circuit today our theme was 4 wheel coaches which was initially represented by various rakes of Dapol coaches run by Sean, Fred and others. Later David Gr ran a very fine train of five S&DJR coaches and later still I ran my SECR H Class pulling three cheap and cheerful 4 wheel coaches […]
Wednesday 5th March 2025
Roger’s Cless 73 from last month’s meeting, by popular request! Following the discussion at the AGM we set up the Lenham Junction boards incorporating them into the circuit to see how the combined layout fitted into the available space within the hall. By placing one end of the circuit over the stage we were able […]
Annual General Meeting
Charman’s Report: having outlined the key points, attention was drawn to the need to think about the content and aim of the Open Day. The report was received Nem Con (proposed John B, seconded Martin).Treasurer’s Statement of Accounts: there is sufficient leeway for covering the cost of new layouts. A monthly forecast enables the accounts […]
Wednesday 19th April 2025
Today we had the unusual, the bizarre and the unexpected at Badlesmere.First up was Roger’s Class 73 Diesel No 73101 which had been painted in Pullman colours to mark the 150th anniversary of the London to Brighton line in 1991 and named “Brighton Evening Argus” to celebrate 100 years of that paper. It was then […]
Wednesday 5th April 2025
Our focus today on the Circuit was on Sentinel locomotives. These quirky little engines are clearly very popular as a large number of them very quickly appeared on the circuit. These were mainly Dapol models in different guises. John D brought in four of the five Dapol Sentinels he owned all of which were in […]
Saturday 25th January 2025
Today we had a loco repair and maintenance workshop where Fred, Sean and others brought in models that needed some attention.Tim brought in a L&Y Pug that he had picked up cheap at a show. Despite currently being a non-runner and missing part of the cab side, it was solidly built and will not take […]
Wednesday 15th January 2025
On arriving I turned on the stopcock and got a face full of water and discovered that the recent cold weather had resulted in leaks in the toilets and the kitchen. As we were the last people to use the hall it was just as well that we had turned the water off when we […]
QCD at the Maidstone show
After driving through the fog on Saturday morning the QCD crew got to Maidstone in plenty of time to get the layout set up and running. After the obligatory teas and coffees and mince pies had been taken on board, we prepared ourselves for the onrush of spectators.Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best attended of shows […]
Wednesday 18th December 2024
Today was the long awaited Christmas Quiz hosted by this year’s Quizmaster John D.After weeks of making us all believe that he hadn’t really got anything John produced an excellent quiz which challenged us all without being too esoteric or obscure.After splitting into teams of three we worked diligently through the question sheets despite being […]
Wednesday 4th December 2024
Today on the circuit we were looking at Vans. The circuit was quickly put up and we soon got cracking. Roger having run a long train two meetings ago repeated the trick this time, running his Class 47 diesel with a long train of vans. Rather more modestly I ran my ex- SECR R Class […]
Saturday 30th November 2024
Heritage line stock was our loosely observed theme today at Badlesmere. Among those taking part were John B with his terrier “Fenchurch” pulling two coaches and Tim with his Jinty and the very nicely weathered Third Class bogie coach he has recently acquired.Later Tim also ran his pannier tank in London Transport livery.Bill brought in […]
Wednesday 20th November 2024
Our theme at Badlesmere today was on anything not Southern related and after setting up the circuit a whole host of locos appeared.David Gr made up for missing out on our diesel day the previous meeting and ran his Class 21 Diesel hauling his ex LNER coaches. Fred ran a BR Riddles 2MT 2-6-2T pulling […]
Wednesday 6th November 2024
Today at Badlesmere we focussed on Diesels and despite a few Diesel fans being absent we had a pretty good showing of them on the circuit. John D ran the D08 which he had recently acquired from Roger who being absent today with a heavy cold was thus at least present in spirit. Fred brought […]
QCD at the Gravesend Show 2024
Arriving early on Saturday at Northfleet School for Girls for the Gravesend club annual show we quickly unloaded and set up our stand and Queen Charlotte Dock and had the layout running well in time for the show opening time. This was just as well as with a queue of visitors lining up outside in […]
Annual Modelling Competition 2024
The much anticipated Annual Modelling Competition took place today with more than twenty entries over all four categories. After placing the entries on the relevant table for each category (a task more difficult than you might imagine) the Secretary handed out the voting slips and we got down to the serious business of considering the […]
Wednesday 16 October 2024
Today’s focus on the circuit was on 0-6-0 engines and a goodly selection was soon seen running round. First on the track was Roger’s ex-SECR O1 hauling a coal train. Although I say hauling, it was double headed with an ex-SECR R1, so I’m not sure who was pulling and who was pushing. During the […]
Wednesday 2 October 2024
With the circuit up we ran a large selection of our favourite freight wagons. Paul and Stuart C both ran a large selection of wagons including several interesting Private Owner wagons. Stuart ran a large train of his wagons pulled around the circuit by his S&DJR Jinty and Paul’s wagons with agricultural machinery loads were […]
Saturday 28 September 2024
Rob gave his long anticipated talk on his youthful reminiscences of steam in the outhampton area. Rob’s talk was illustrated by his own photos and maps and photos from the Southern Counties Railway Society. Hampshire apparently according to various advertising hoardings is “The Strong Country” and while that may be open to doubt Southampton was […]
Wednesday 18 September 2024
Today our focus was on Southern Green coaches and as is often the case with our focus was more honoured in the breach than the observance. However, we did have Sean running his EMU set, John B running his two recently constructed four wheel coaches, Ross’s parcels van and Rob with a very nice K&ESR […]
