Normandy open day

This is becoming a regular trip. Across the wilds of the Surrey Hills where direct routes do not exist and yet your destination is moments from the Hog's Back. The Normandy O gaugers open up once or twice a year. OK I'll level: this is not the most exciting on exhibition terms; it's not meant to be. All bar one layout (which was physically replaced by Peter Harding with a table full of books) the 'exhibits' were exactly the same as last time. It's the club getting the toys out and letting people in. There is not one, but two roundy test tracks, a small amount of local trade (Roxey Mouldings, C&L et al) and some rummage stands. This last one as you may expect was where my focus lay. Purchases were a bag of DPDT slide switches for £4 and a scratch- built Rhymney Railway brake van for a whopping eight quid! There are some issues with the latter, but it's perfect for the infant O gauge layout which is bubbling under the TT. The catering, courtesy of the local WI, was as you may imagine top notch and heavy on the cake front.

These open day events are a poor relation not having the glamour of an exhibition with star layout visitors, but this is always well attended and is a great place to catch up with people and grab some bargains without the pressure to rush around and tick the layout viewings off. They're a vital part of the model railway structure so don't think that there is no value to be had in these softer low-key events.

Open day - 8

Parking 9 (the speed bumps are evil)

Catering 11

Rucksacks 5

 
 If you've enjoyed this waffle, show the love. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/chrisford2Q

Underframe excitement

 ... well possibly more annoyance. Much of the Rhiw stock roster has grown quite organically, and even this has moved around date wise. The upshot is that the stock is stored in random boxes. Post Eastbourne some of this stock jumped out of the box. There was damage. This was a known known and it has sat motionless since the summer, while I plucked up the courage to investigate further.

Most was underframe damage and mostly those oh-so-delicate tie bars. I did scoot around Squires stand a couple of weeks back looking for some thin brass but to no avail. So it was plastic again reinforced where possible. I'm thinking that it will probably break again so there is little point making it so strong that the break point is extended elsewhere. Five of these needed attention and a buffer and some odd bits of brake gear. All done and painted now. have I reached the point where I'm in 'care and repair' mode rather than 'generate new'. In some ways that may be a good place and I've mooted the lifelong single project as the unreachable ideal many times here before. Somewhere where the movement is about maintaining what you have with the odd addition here and there. This opposed to the butterfly approach that I and many others have where a new project/new stock on repeat is the name of the game.

 If you've enjoyed this waffle, show the love. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/chrisford2Q

Isle of Wight dreaming

 And  into the meat of the project. Unusually, I may put more up here about this one. Most of this is now a repeating cycle of build operations and I'm struggling to make any difference between the previous builds. Essentially I have a) a brief and b) a more or less fixed maximum of overall footprint. This is slightly different as it is the first prototype plan as opposed to a general might-have-been. The shape then is more or less as per Steve's plan in the September RM. For practical transport purposes I've had to jiggle the middle around to create an even split of 3'6" either way to pair the two scenic boards face to face. As with the 009 the curvy boards have pulled me away from baseboard kits so I've been able to go the full aircraft wing lightweight approach, rather than the bomb-proof commercial boards which I'm guessing are more designed for a home and non-exhibition environment.

The curvy front was going to be easy as I had a new sheet of bendy MDF in stock. This has not proved ideal as I found that it delaminates very easily and I've had to drown it in wood glue in and effort to stabilise. Hindsight says I would have been better off with 4mm ply, but it was to hand. This was from Wicks. I don't know whether this is typical of this stuff, but I would be unlikely to use it again.

The TT points too look to be problematic, in that the switch distance is very fine and I'm having to dance around my usual DPDT slide switch method somewhat. Of course the design of these is not intended for this method; I'm just being awkward. I'm sure that if you run them with the Peco point motors they work fine. Above, the wiring for the loco release point goes in. Note that these feel much more robust; more like Code 100 streamline and quite a difference from the uber-fragile Bullhead OO range which needs a lot of handling care.

Lastly, I ummed and ahhed about reintroducing ads on here. I'm not keen, but I need to eat, so do consider the coffee aspect below which makes me more likely to keep this all going.

 https://www.buymeacoffee.com/chrisford2Q

Farnham show 2025

 Let's start at the very beginning. There were known parking issues due to on-site works. There was an alternative car park with a mini bus service to the door. We didn't do this and adopted a gig approach. Perfect parking spot 50 yards from the gate. There were no toe-to-toe punch ups at the door like last week. One desk for cash, one for card. No queue. Sensible. A high end £12. Pretty much as expected, so here's what I wrote three years ago with a couple of tweaks in parenthesis 

There wasn't a bad layout in the entire show; the exhibition hits a middle audience, perhaps leaning toward the finescale, and was spread out over five rooms. (This year with a 2mm F/S dedicated room. They really are very clever.) This meant that the place didn't feel crowded. There were a lot of people to talk to and  a hook up with the chap that bought Unnycoombe and Dury's Gap, which are still going strong. The catering was friendly, well-stocked and slickly-served and there was a generally happy buzz around the place.(There were no target layouts, but Terry Tew's Scottish piece was probably the stand out and the revived O-16.5 really caught my imagination. Good to see NG layouts displayed a sensible table height). The day was very enjoyable. This really is the one to beat.

Only names have been changed which proves that consistency wins. 

Show: 9

Rucksacks: 2   I know people love this measure!

Parking 10 The club seemed to be making every effort to mitigate the problem.

Trade 7

 If you've enjoyed this waffle, show the love. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/chrisford2Q

Scottish OO gauge layout in Railway Modeller

 And we're off! Regulars will have noted that there has been an RM layout based in the Highlands ticking away in the background which hasn't had much mention here for obvious reasons. This month the series commences with some baseboard butchering and my fight with some bullhead points. The whole project was not without its problems and there were endless supply issues, meaning that the construction window went from nearly a year, to about four and a half months. I'm hard to avoid in Smiths (or whatever it's called this week) with the Superquick goods shed build mentioned in earlier posts running in BRM. The Scottish (Caol) is destined for the Glasgow SEC show, though I doubt that I will be anywhere near it. As far as I know, this will be it's only public showing. With the baseboard kits shifting to a 9 and 10mm MDF construction, she's a weighty beast.

Note that though I've had bits of the cover before, this is a first. This will now be a regular occurrence and my next cover shot will be in 2050.

 If you've enjoyed this waffle, show the love. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/chrisford2Q