THINKING OF YOU ALWAYS MUM RIP Xx 25th FEB

Always missing you promise not a day goes by now when I don't think of you. Love you loads, you brought us into this world and then had to leave us I have some comfort that you are reunited with Dad and hope that one day soon I will be with you both again. 

Wishing you a Happy Birthday Mum. Xxx

It saddens me that I don't have many more pictures of you to enjoy, but at least I have some lovely ones from your wedding day to Dad hung on the wall at home which helps me when I am low. I know you didn't like having your photo taken anyway, much like myself, just wished I had a few more x. 

MUM AND DAD WEDDING 1961

Love you so much, always in my heart, so sad that you had to leave us so early, you would have been a great Grandma to Graham's boys and so proud of Sue now enjoying life in Australia with James and Hannah. I will be visiting the Hanworth Crematorium Rose Gardens on the weekend. Xxx

RISBOROUGH AND DISTRICT MODEL RAILWAY CLUB EXHIBITION 22nd FEBRUARY

RISEX 2020 Model Railway Exhibition
Saturday 22nd February 2020
LOCATION:
Community Centre, Wades Park,
Stratton Road, Princes Risborough,
Buckinghamshire   HP27 9AX

OPENING TIMES:  10am to 5pm
ADMISSION:    Adults £4.00      Children £2.00
The whole of the Community Centre in Princes Risborough is taken over one day in the spring each year. Allowing local modellers to display their layouts and model making. Large car park adjacent to the Community Centre. Half hourly bus service from Aylesbury or High Wycombe. Ten minute walk from Chiltern Railway station with regular trains from Birmingham, Banbury, Aylesbury or London Marylebone, 25 minutes drive from M40 Junction 6 via B4009. The Community Centre is accessible and has level wheelchair access available throughout, there is a separate disabled toilet. Also avail yourselves of the excellent refreshments which will be available including a range of homemade cakes.

Layouts Confirmed to date

Fictionville, 45mm Gauge, Exhibited by Steve Hatt, Diorama depicting somewhere in France behind the German lines around in 1943, depicting German heavy haulage, loading stage, main line and civilian sector with tram-car. This model diorama won last years 'Chairman's Cup' and with another year in the bank should be even better now by the creators own words at the 2019 exhibition "Has been 18 months in the making so far and around another year to go, I want to add the same level of detail throughout that is depicted in the garage ruin to the left end of the diorama"

7mm Scale
Edgeholme Quarry, O-16.5 Gauge, Exhibited by Abingdon & District Model Railway Club, 7mm scale narrow gauge industrial layout, it is operated by DCC control and a variety of small wagons and v-tippers are shunted by small locos, typical of an industrial environment (pic above).

4mm Scale
Garreg Wen, OO9 Gauge, Exhibited by Matthew and Helen Kean, (pictured above and left) The model is set in Snowdonia in the Victorian period (approximately 1880) and represents the modest upper terminus for passenger working of a former horse tramway, converted to steam about a decade or so previously. A quarry extension leaves the back of the station to the foot of an incline located ‘off set’, but due to the gradient and the threat of runaway slate wagons, the passenger platform is on a separate line, as also happened at Bryngwyn on the NWNGR for example.  Interesting elements in construction include the quarryman’s terrace with individually built slate rubble walls, vertical slate slab fencing typical of the Corris area, vegetation with a Noch ‘Grassmaster’, and hand built plain track ballasted above the rail base in contemporary Victorian fashion.
Minnie Bridge, OO Gauge, Exhibited by John Baggaley, Set in the late 1960s/early 1970s the layout represents a fictitious London Transport loco and minor permanent way depot in a fictitious location ‘Somewhere-in-London’.

New Walmington Pier, OO9 Gauge, [above] Exhibited by Dave Carson, Set in Edwardian times the layout depicts a fictitious small pier tramway with a carousel at the end. Working along the pier is a Southend Pier 1890 "Toastrack" car.
Roadwater, EM Gauge, Exhibited by Steve Walker, Terminus on a ‘might-have-been’ truncated GWR branch in the 1920s. I have changed history and assumed the line remained, linking to the Taunton – Minehead branch at Washford.

Trinity Dock Street Bridge

OO Gauge, Exhibited by Gavin Rose, it's a fictitious location based on Railway Street in Hull, where the road and railway crossed the channel between Humber and Railway docks in the ‘Old Town Docks’ in the city set just pre WW2 on a dank dark February in 1939.

 3.5mm Scale
Klapping, HO Gauge, Exhibited by Mike Roualle, The layout is a fictionalised setting somewhere south of Graz in Austria,  Modelled as a truncated terminus station, the line is electrified using catenary. There is in addition a diesel freight feeder line, together with a goods yard also using diesel traction. Maximising the operational interest, the whole point of building the layout was to run trains and introduce the public to Austrian Railways, so a good selection of stock can be seen, including Wiesel double-deck carriages, City Shuttle single deckers, 4020 and Siemens Desiro EMUs as well as a 5062 railcar. A steady flow of locomotive hauled freight trains make an appearance hauled by both electric and diesel locomotives and, to add even more interest, there is the occasional steam hauled special.

1:120 Scale
Naples Street, TT Gauge, Exhibited by Rod Shaw, Naples Street (Pictured above) is a small American switching layout, with an industrial park straddling the street, this is served by a variety of freight cars moved around by two small diesel switchers. The small industrial park straddling Naples Street in the imaginary town of Sorrento, Illinois, is served by a branch of Conrail in the last quarter of the twentieth century. A mixed bag of rolling stock makes an appearance, moved around by a couple of small switchers. There is a mix of boxcars from different eras and to justify this I have imagined that short boxcars with roof walks weren’t phased out in the 1970s but lasted over a decade longer.

1:148 Scale
Airesby Colliery, N Gauge, (left) Exhibited by Stephen Beck, A modern image sound fitted layout, based on coal movements from the colliery and onwards. Recreating the atmosphere of the Aire Valley Merry-go-Round coal operations of the BR Railfreight Coal sector and early privatisation eras. It also features a functioning rapid loader to load coal trains. This has been cleverly designed to hand load the wagons via a scratch built shoot affixed behind the rapid loader.

DIDCOT RAILWAY CENTRE - DELIVERING THE GOODS WEEKEND 15-16 FEBRUARY

DIDCOT RAILWAY CENTRE

Delivering The Goods Weekend

Delivering The Goods
Sat 15th + Sun 16th Feb
 - This coming weekend should see minimum of four locomotives in action working passenger and goods trains with special demonstration freight trains and wagon movements it will recall the days when goods traffic was more important to the railways than passengers.  Come and see two steam and two diesel locomotives in action working passenger and goods trains and take unlimited rides on the Centre's two demonstration lines.

Visiting locomotive No. 31 (pictured right at Fawley Hill) was constructed in 1913 for Sir Robert McAlpine and Sons and worked at the company’s Hayes depot until the 1960s when it was to have been scrapped but was saved by the late Sir William McAlpine who bought it for the sum of £100 and it has worked on the family’s large garden railway at Fawley Hill ever since. This is believed to be the locomotive’s first working visit away from Fawley Hill and will provide a rare chance to ride in a passenger carriage behind No.31 as she spent most of her working life shunting trucks loaded with construction materials, while passengers at Fawley Hill are conveyed in an adapted goods wagon.  No.31 will be in action at Didcot on 15 and 16 February and appears courtesy of Lady McAlpine.

No. 31 will be reacquainted with the goods wagons and trucks that played an important part in her history as she propels wagons loaded with coal up the steep incline to the Centre’s coal stage – the only surviving working example of a type of building that was once commonplace at locomotive sheds. At the coal stage, the solid fuel can be transferred into tubs which then tip to fill the bunker of a locomotive waiting below. The centenarian will also be used to work demonstration goods trains on one of the Centre’s two running lines over the course of the weekend.

The second steam locomotive in action will be No. 4144 (pictured here above while visiting the Severn Valley Railway Steam Gala) a large and powerful tank engine built at the Great Western Railway's famous Swindon Locomotive Works in 1946. Locos of this type were frequently used on passenger and freight trains and No. 4144 will be working both on the Centre's main demonstration line over the weekend and will be in charge of a "mixed" train of both passenger carriages and goods wagons - these were operated either to save money or when fresh produce such as fruit or milk needed to be moved quickly to its destination.

Two diesel locomotives, D9516 (left) and 08604 will also be running during the event. D9516 dates from 1964 but saw just three years' service with British Railways before going to British Steel's ironstone quarry at Buckminster in Lincolnshire to work heavy trains loaded with iron ore. The locomotive will work demonstration goods trains and a number of passenger trains at the event, while 08604 - which recently celebrated its 60th birthday and seen below with it's "Phantom" nameplate -  will be seen shunting trucks - a common duty for this type of locomotive.

As well as the full-size trains, visitors will also be able to see a working model layout of a goods yard that featured in the grand final of Channel 5’s Great Model Railway Challenge.  The layout, “William Street Yard” was built by a group of volunteers who work at both Didcot and Fawley Hill. It represents a goods yard set between 1947 and 1954 and during those years it was a time of great change and variety with many types of locomotives and wagons sporting a variety of liveries.  Many of the vehicles in action in the busy yard are models of those in the collection at Didcot so in some cases visitors will be able to see both the model and full-size originals in action!

There's also plenty more to see and do as you explore this 21-acre living museum and unearth almost two centuries of railway history.  Stroll through the original 1932 engine shed and see magnificent preserved locomotives – you can even climb onto the footplates of some! See surviving track from Brunel’s broad gauge, discover painstakingly restored buildings, coaches and wagons and learn more about the development of railways and how they changed everyday lives. You can get hands-on in the Science of Railways carriages and the signalling centre where you can find out how trains have been controlled through the ages. Descend into a shelter built to keep Didcot’s enginemen safe in WWII and experience an air raid or immerse yourself in the varied collection of fascinating, smaller artefacts in the museum. Don't miss the opportunity to get hands-on and control trains using the 1960s technology of the Swindon Panel.  The equipment was once the heart of Swindon signalbox has been saved and restored so, guided by one of our experts, you can keep trains running safely and to time on a virtual Great Western mainline!

THE FESTIVAL OF BRITISH RAILWAY MODELLING [Doncaster] 8th-9th FEBRUARY 2020

THE FESTIVAL OF BRITISH RAILWAY MODELLING
DONCASTER FEBRUARY 2020

LOCATION:
Doncaster Exhibition Centre
Leger Way, Doncaster,
South Yorkshire DN2 6BB

OPENING TIMES:
SAT 10am - 5pm, SUN 10am - 4.30pm

ADMISSION:
Adults £9.00 Concessions £9.00 Children £4.50

Come and witness some of the best layouts British railway modelling has to offer with at least 30 high-quality layouts on display each representing British gauges, scales and locations. Enjoy browsing layouts with a 'Best of British' theme and purchase must have items in a variety of major scales, era and gauges from over 80 quality traders. There will be expert demonstrations, giving you an opportunity to enhance your modelling skills. Whether you're new to the hobby or looking to stock up on essentials, the Doncaster Show offers something for everyone. The show is kindly supported by Doncaster & District Model Railway Club.

Visitors can take advantage of a FREE shuttle bus service which will be running approximately every 30 minutes on Saturday and Sunday between Doncaster Railway station and the venue. The bus will leave Doncaster Interchange-The bus station will have posters to direct you. (Turn right after Costa [Station Concourse] and W.H. Smiths, walk along the concourse to the end. Turn left over the Pelican Crossing into the Bus Station) First bus from the Railway station will be 8.30am and the last bus from the venue will be 5.15pm each day.

List of Layouts Attending:

Amalgamated Wagon Works O Gauge (above) - is a small shunting layout built in the late 90's by members of Rochdale model rail group, has been resurrected by the current owner and given a new lease of life on the exhibition circuit.
Ashtown N Gauge - depicts a fictitious small industrial town somewhere in the East Midlands as it would have been from the late 1950s through tto he 1970s. A secondary main line railway serves the town and, whilst de-industrialisation is slowly taking place, a small tar distillery close to the station is still active and rail served. Passenger traffic which may appear on the line ranges from non-stop expresses to local stopping trains, some of which terminate in the bay platform. Freight traffic consists of full and empty mineral trains, parcels trains (some of which pick up or drop off wagons in the parcels bay), milk trains, pick-up goods (some of which pick-up/drop-off tankers, open wagons and vans in the tar works) and engineering trains.

Bawdsey. (Above) British Railways (Eastern Region). Late 1950's an EM layout, originally built by the late Chris Matthewman. Chris named and exhibited the layout as ‘Strove’, which depicted an East Anglian branch line terminus in the 1930’s with LNER group, and ex Great Eastern Railway equipment. Since changing hands, the layout is undergoing a makeover to bring it up to the 1950’s to 60’s era of British Railways. Initially the rolling stock and locomotives depicted will reflect existing 'ready to run' equipment which would have operated in the Ipswich area.
Boston Frodsham P4 - is an embryonic P4 layout set in 1975-1985 (ish) and is partly based on the swing bridge at Boston Docks and the wharf at Frodsham in Cheshire.
Bournemouth West OO
Brighton East EM 3rd Rail based loosely on the area around the old Kemp Town branch near Brighton.
Broadhurst Works O
Broom Junction EM
Byway MPD OO
Canons Cross OO The layout is based on the Southern Region of BR in the 1950/60s and operates with Steam,diesel and EMU's. It is a small terminus to a fiddle yard layout and has been regularly displayed including a previous visit here.

Caroline Concrete Works O-16.5 - (Above) A new venture, after their previous work on Ben Moor Foot Peat works so another industrial 7 mm narrow gauge based on a concrete works. Standard gauge siding for deliveries and transporting products out. Narrow gauge within the works for moving materials and finished products within the works.

Castle Wharf Kendal - (Above) Ian Kirkwood OO9 gauge 4mm scale, Plans for a standard gauge light railway running south-east from Canal Head in Kendal, Westmoreland to Arkholme, serving various quarries and gunpowder works, as well as local farming interests, failed for lack of money. The layout represents the northern terminus in the 1930s. The canal is little used, most traffic being transferred to the LMS at exchange sidings just south of the area modelled. Trains to and from the exchange sidings are shunted at the wharf.
Falcon Road O - Set in the outskirts of a busy city centre station in the London and North Eastern Region. Falcon Road is depicted in the early 1960s and is a natural successor to Ian's last award winning layout - Haymarket Cross.
Faringdon P4
Fenny Stratford OO
First OO9
Fredstone Lane N
James Street N

Kepier Colliery (above) NCB Colliery represents a typical Durham Colliery and Kepier Railway system in the early 1960’s. Buildings are from various Lambton, Hetton and Joicey Collieries, with the exception of the upcast shaft which is based on South Hetton Colliery. The buildings have differing ages but reflect what a colliery system would look like in NCB days and the housing, shops etc are also based on a colliery village of the period. Kepier Colliery was situated at Gilesgate Moor, Durham City and was sunk in 1818-1822. It closed in the 1880’s and was totally demolished.
Lydham Heath, Bishop's Castle Railway An 'S Scale' layout made by Barry Norman, it is a very atmospheric recreation of the station at one end of the Bishop's Castle Railway in Shropshire. Unlike the real railway which closed before the Second World War, Barry's model can still be seen in the museum of the Bishop's Castle Railway Society at Bishop's Castle, Shropshire.
Maidenhaiste - modular O gauge layout which usually depicts a preserved railway. It can be exhibited as separate layouts both Maidenhaiste Station and Broadhurst Works - or joined together, with additional scenic boards, to become the Rushen Valley Railway.
No Place OO
Overlord OO Gauge / 4mm
Pedwardine Forest OO
SHWT EM
Titheridge Junction N
Todmorden Midland N
Waltham Wharf 24mm

Wantage Narrow Gauge Tramway OO9 was a standard gauge railway that linked the market town of Wantage to the GWR mainline which was two and a half miles from the town and this model has been designed as a narrow gauge tramway instead. The tramway had some very unusual locos and rolling stock for a British railway, and the train shed is also pretty unique. Unusually, the ‘small engine shed’ straddled the siding that fed the local gas works. This little layout is my interpretation of what the ‘Upper Yard’ at Mill Street, Wantage, might have looked like, had the tramway been built as a 2ft 3in narrow gauge line.


Nearest Railway Stations:
Doncaster [1.35 miles]
Bentley (South Yorkshire) [2.5 miles]
Kirk Sandall [3.32 miles]
Adwick [4.74 miles]

MAP

THINKING OF YOU DAD - 7th FEB [1934 - 2012] LOVE YOU ALWAYS Xxx

        Love and miss you Dad Xx






My wonderful Dad should have been celebrating his 86th birthday today, I miss him so much every day. Our families lives were changed forever in a way I couldn't imagine when you were taken from us, I so wish you were here now to advise me, admonish me, and keep us safe.

I'll never forget what you did for me, Dad you should be happy and so proud knowing that Graham and Susan turned out so well and have each brought up an amazing family, Sue especially as she enjoys her life in Australia with James and Hannah I regret not having the mental strength to follow their example and to also have made you proud. I will raise a glass to your memory, and have never stopped missing you, loving you and wishing you were here now.  Also wish I had more pictures of you but what I have I make do with including lovely ones of you and Mum on your wedding day. X 

Love you loads, missing you, but wishing you were here to celebrate your birthday with us xXx

HILLINGDON RAILWAY MODELLERS 2020 OPEN DAYS -- SATURDAY 1st FEBRUARY

http://www.hillingdonrailwaymodellers.co.uk/

Welcome one and all, a reminder that we will soon have the first Open Day of this year at Hillingdon Railway Modellers. These regular events are very popular and the opening one for 2020 will be held on Saturday 1st February 2020. Open from 10am there will be opportunities to watch and run on the available test tracks till about 3pm. 

Click the image for video of test track

Location

Yiewsley Baptist Church

74 Colham Avenue

West Drayton  UB7 8HF

* the entrance is at the side of the church down a path and the doors at the end should be open, don't try and enter the main doors of the church. 

O Gauge - A huge room filling oval with 4 main running tracks and 8 road yard so there's plenty of space to give your large models a good run, whether they are small 0-4-0 dock tanks like my Dad's kits (above) or a beast of an LNER A4, GWR West Country or even a BR Diesel they'll not just be very welcome but will look great pulling a full rake of coaches. I believe at least one track is DCC compliant but please check with one of the members who are always on hand to give advice and assistance.  

OO Gauge - usually in the back room but still an extensive operation here the OO gauge test track consists of five oval loops. Three of these loops can be operated under DC only, one of the loops is solely for DCC use and the remaining loop can be operated on DC or DCC, best to check with one of the available HRM Members who are always on hand to help.

N Gauge - Used to have a test track which due to the size needed could pop up almost anywhere, this may well have changed in appearance as the N Gauge side of the club has increased and I'm sure more and more options including a new layout are in progress. 

An entry fee is charged to help cover the cost of the hall rental with the Church, £5 is still good value as you are helping a group of Modellers continue with their efforts and while this isn't an 'exhibition' it is a running day, bring your models along or just have a chat and enjoy the excellent refreshments on offer too.

Nearest Railway Stations:
West Drayton [0.4 miles]
Iver [1.68 miles]
Hayes and Harlington [2.2 miles]
Uxbridge (LU) [2.29 miles]

MAP

CHURNET VALLEY RAILWAY 'SUPER POWER' WEEKEND 1-2 FEBRUARY 2020

Churnet Valley Railway

Super Power Weekend Take 2 - For those of you who attended Super Power Saturday you will be aware we suffered from a huge amount of rain which culminated in the Canal breaching and washing the railway line away South of Consall. Unfortunately the event was cancelled. The railway is repaired, and this is now Super Power Weekend Take 2. We are planning to run the event over 2 days to make up for the original date and make the most of having three resident S160's.

Adult Ticket Price  [Aged 16-59] £20.00
Child Ticket Price  [Aged 5-15]  £15.00
Children Under 5 -- FREE

 Join us for this groundbreaking event, all in aid of returning trains to Leek for the first time since 1970!  Witness the sight and sound of three USATC S160s operating together for the first time in the UK since 1944, and for only the second time within preservation globally! Resident American Sisters nos. 5197 and 6046 will be joined by no. 2253 Omaha, making a flying visit courtesy of Peter Best and Dartmouth Steam Railway. There will be four non-stop return journeys, commencing from Froghall and departing for Ipstones and back offering 20-miles of S160 haulage. Each return journey will be operated by a different pairing of S160s, and tickets will permit all day travel on all four services.
Starting in the quiet and sedate Churnet Valley line, each journey will explore Staffordshire’s hidden valley that interweaves with river and canal, before venturing deep into the Staffordshire Moorlands with spectacular views as far as the eye can see whilst the locomotives challenge one of the steepest gradients found on a railway in the UK. Fancy a bite to eat during your day out? Then enjoy the traditional atmosphere in our Signals Tea Room at Froghall Station, offering freshly brewed coffee, cooked breakfasts, hot and cold lunches, cream teas and a delicious selection of cakes. Signals Tea Room is wheelchair accessible and child-friendly. Our Moolander Kitchen car will be included on the train, serving both hot & cold light refreshments to all travellers onboard.