Today’s focus on the circuit was on royal, Pullman or other special stock. That was the theory but in practice the only royal item was a Royal Mail van. However, the circuit was constantly in operation with members bringing in a large and varied selection of stock.
Fred brought in his LBSCR terrier “Stepney” and some Stroudley four-wheel coaches which made a fine sight trundling round the circuit and there was even a display of fly shunting although I’m not sure if that was by accident or design.
Around the big table John B and Jackie continued wagon building while Roger and others continued with their own modelling projects. Geoff brought in some industrial locos and stock which will be ideal for running on the new layout when that is completed.
As previously David L, Tim and I continued planning the new dockside layout now to be known as Queen Charlotte Dock. We spread the draft plan across two or three tables and mocked up the basic layout with some warehouse buildings and viaducts that Tim had brought in. As Tim’s warehouses are four stories high and we will also be building a station on top of the viaduct the layout will be much taller than any of our recent layouts. The baseboards are nearly finished now and track-laying will commence next month. We have a large amount of rail, sleepers and chairs in stock (kindly donated) and this will enable us get on quickly with building this layout in time for its exhibition debut in November.
While all this was going on David Ho put the components of the micro-layout together making the necessary adjustments as he did so before he assessed its transportability by trying to fit it into his car.
Over lunch, I reviewed the exhibitions to which we have committed exhibiting and noted that via Geoff we have also received an invitation to exhibit at a show in Maidstone at the end of December. Roger is to contact the organisers and find out more about this show so that we can decide if it is for us or not.
I also spoke about our Open Day on 22nd July where we will run Edington and the new micro-layout as well as displaying where we are at the time with Lenham and Queen Charlotte’s Dock. We will also have a demonstration table as we did last year as this is a great catalyst for conversation and interest in our hobby. Geoff and David B will run a sales table again and teas and coffees will be provided making it a fun day out for everyone.
Finally, David Ho’s return to these parts ensured that we were all fully supplied with teas and coffees. Chris
