As Spring began to arrive in Badlesmere we set up the circuit in order to run 6 and 4 wheeled carriages and anything else anybody had brought along. To begin with, David G ran his S&D Sentinel, then Fred ran a very fine rail car that he had built and followed that up with an Ellis Clark Wickham Trolley that whizzed around the circuit. Later John B ran some very attractive Dapol four-wheel Stroudley coaches in LBSCR colours and I ran some as yet unfinished Connoisseur Kits 6 wheeled coaches behind my Whitstable R class tank. Much to my relief my coaches stayed on the track prompting me to promise myself to finish them off sometime soon. Keith then added his 6 wheeled van to the end of my coaches and the whole lot chugged round quite merrily.
While this was going on Paul W, Barry K and David G continued working on the electrics on Edington. Much progress was made but there are still some issues to be dealt with which unfortunately hampers the progress on Lenham. Meanwhile on a table he had set up by a window, not to be anti-social but to catch the best possible light, Paul H was painting a steel bridge that he is going to incorporate in to his layout at home.
Over on the big table Roger was building a brake van in order to have something for the forthcoming session focussing on brake vans (suggested by Ross) and the usual culprits gathered round talking about what they were modelling or hoping to model and generally putting the world to rights.
Over lunch I gave out the usual notices referring to the forthcoming meetings and
reminding everybody of our Open Day on Saturday 22nd July. This will be upon us
quicker than we think so everybody needs to get it in their diaries now to avoid
disappointment. Martin brought along two fliers from the Whitstable club (East Kent Model Railway Society) relating to their exhibitions at Birchington on 15th April (now gone by the time you read this) and at Whitstable on 28th October.
Both fliers with full details of these shows are on the notice board. John D reported that Romney Marsh Engineering Society is having an Open Day at their multi-scale test track on 13th May, he will report back to us with further details in due course. Gravesend Model Engineering Society are organising a trip to Fawley Hill and again John will report back regarding places available (if any) for this. Not to be outdone Roger reported that there will shortly be a Military Model Show with an impressive model railway layout at REME, Gillingham and will come back with further details. Lastly the provision of teas and coffees was undertaken by yours truly in my principal role of First Deputy Reserve Catering Manager thus ensuring that everybody left on time. Chris
