Two years ago fbb visit the Yeovil Model Railway Group (YMRG) on their annual open day. It is not a public exhibition, admission is by invitation only. The club's collection of layouts is all set up and in working order and members, dressed in club sweatshirts, are busy running their trains. Tea and buns were available for a small charge and visitors were invited to proffer a donation to help the eternal roof repairs of the large but elderly building.
Despite painstaking research after the debacle of his route of two years previously, fbb got lost again this year and inadvertently drove past the gateway to their building three times!
Either YMRG need larger signs or fbb needs a larger brain!
The Yeovil folk are building a new layout, based on Aynho Junction on the line from Oxford to Birmingham.
It doesn't look like a "normal" model railway. Where is the baseboard? There isn't one. The scenery is "terra-formed" on plywood cut outs and the track, and later the trains, will run along strips of ply which burrow and curve around the hills. Skilled stuff, but giving an idea of the railway within the countryside, not the countryside rolled dead flat for the railway.
An older layout,based on the former Yeovil Town station is being converted to automatic computer control.
There's a long way to go yet, but fbb was well impressed with what he saw. A goods train was trundling around with the loco pushing the guards van which should have been hooked on the back.
Of course the wagon has become unhooked and picked up at the front next time around. That's the sort of think that happens on fbb's layout.
The highlight, as always, was the club "O" gauge layout based on just a little chunk of the Settle and Carlisle line. The members were running freight trains ...
... long and lumbering, just like the real thing. fbb only had to half-close his eyes and ...
... he was there with his little notebook copping the 2-10-0. Magnificent.
Another layout went in for lighting in a big way. The town bit was obviously enjoying Late Nite Shopping ...
... and the residential area was partying the night away.
All resident is Model Railway Town are superb gardeners with no sign of a weed anywhere!
Two bits of quirk caught fbb's eagle eye. here was another Hornby Dublo heritage layout, small and table top ...
... built just like so many were in the late fifties and early sixties. Younger visitors were invited to have a go at the original Hornby Dublo controller (top centre). Note the Airfix kits painted garishly as per the instructions on the packet; fbb has just bought the "modern" shop unit kit seen to the left of the Dinky Toy bus for his low relief townscape.
What will it look like when the aged modeller has finished "kit bashing" it? Who knows? fbb certainly has no idea until he grabs razor saw and tube of glue.
Joyously the layout had a working mail bag "pinger" ...
... seen here with the Maitre D' attaching little plastic mailbag to hook. What was excellent was that younger visitors were invited to push the button (below left hand) and make the pinger collect and ping the mailbags.
It was introduce by Hornby in about 1957
And yes, as fbb watched, the mailbag missed the metal "net" and flew across the clubroom floor. fbb's used to do the same.
The other delight was this layout.
A couple of your lads (ages 13-ish) were in charge as representatives of the Junior members. the layout (read the small print) was based on Wallace and Grommit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It was a private estate railway running on very narrow gauge track. The boys were keen to show off what was a very small layout with some "Wallace" characters and a familiar train driver.
Other character were in attendance. The "juniors" we keen to point out that they had scratch built the rolling stock from the obligatory "bits and pieces" on surplus OO gauge chassis.
Sadly (?) no sign of the Were-Rabbit itself ...
... but what n innovative idea for a free-lance "beginners" model. Joyous.
"And," continued the enthusiastic attender, "the grass is made from hanging basked liner." Well done!
thanks again for the invite YMRG. Next time I might not get lost. Now let me see ...
... is that the turn.
And an Apology
The last couple of days have been more frantic than usual for reasons which fbb will no doubt share with his readers in due course. But it looks as if GoTimetable is about to get its desired breakthrough. The team will know more by this time next week.
Because of this, blog writing has had to be somewhat curtailed and the item on unloading a Garrett is postponed.
And, talking of timetables, still not a dicky bird about the revised services from Axminster for the forthcoming Waterloo partial blockade.
Exeter, Bristol, Yeovil and Salisbury to London Waterloo - Table 20 * This timetable is still being finalised and will be posted as soon as possible
They have forgotten us.
Next load of unloading : Monday 24th July
The timetables are on realtimetrains and are pretty unchanged to Exeter (taking a few minutes longer between Basingstoke and Waterloo) but all Yeovil short workings and the 0641 peak extra from Exeter are diverted at Basingstoke from Waterloo to Reading for connections to Paddington. So really quite minimal change except the Waterloo to Exeter ones will likely be much busier Basingstoke to Waterloo due to reduced frequency on the other lines.
ReplyDelete