Gazette No. 435 March 2010
This 1:24 near scale model of the offshore salvage vessel ‘Sondäg Viking’ was exhibited at the Chapelton Vintage Rally, North Devon, on 20th September 2009. She was built by Simon Orrell of the Ilfracombe & District Model Boat Club. The lower hull is a modified GRP landing craft and the upper works, decks and wheelhouse are made from plasticard. Powered by a pair of separately controlled 777 electric motors she weighs in at a hefty 40lbs (18kg), mainly due to the amount of steel ballast needed to get the waterline correct. Page 2 St Albans & District MES
Club Website - www.stalbansmes.com Chairman Michael Dyer 01442 219024 Secretary Roy Verden 01923 220590 15 Juniper Grove, Watford, Herts, WD17 4RZ Treasurer Mike Grossmith 01923 222135 Committee Members Malcolm Beak 01923 672341 Den Blazdell 01923 661068 Jeff Carter 01923 770188 Alan Holt 01582 832446 E-Mail [email protected] David Saunders 01727 762848 Membership Secretary: N.P. (Baz) Butcher 0208 9507068 17 Avenue Rise, Bushey, Watford, Herts, WD2 3AS E-Mail [email protected] Model Boiler Testing: David Saunders 01727 762848 Exhibition Manager: Terry Wybrow 01582 841759 Gazette Editor Roger Stephen 01442 832213 2 Jubilee Cottages, Whelpley Hill, Chesham, Bucks, HP5 3RW E-Mail [email protected] Gazette Deputy Editor Tony Mason 01727 830607 E-Mail [email protected]
From the Editor - Roger Stephen Another month and another mixture of articles covering planes, trains and, er.....boats. As well as short odds and ends and some boating news we have part 1 of a rail tour of North Wales from Tony Mason and a tip for making mock riveting from Jeff Carter. Chairman’s Letter - Michael Dyer It is possible that some model engineers look down upon those who are involved with Mecca- no modelling - they might think that it is not true 'model engineering'. But members who at- tended last month's meeting, and also those who came to the talk last August about building the block setting crane in Meccano must surely acknowledge the great creative skills in- volved. It was amazing how a complicated working automatic VW gear box could be repro- duced in such a small size - and I do not feel competent to comment on the electronic controls! I wonder how many members still have their old Meccano sets up in the loft. It is, however, good to know that some of our members are still modelling in Meccano. Alan Ashberry's travelling breakdown crane was much admired at the CMRA show in January, and it was nice to see him at the meeting recovering from his nasty fall. www.stalbansmes.com Page 3
You will see elsewhere in the Gazette some details of boating activities that your Committee are arranging. We have a vast number of superb model boats within the club, but hardly any of them are actually put on the water. So come and support your club and meet up with the faithful few at the lake side. Secretary’s Letter - Roy Verden Hello to all members, the March meeting brings with it our annual auction, with Peter Haycock presiding and Mike Grossmith and myself try to keep on top of the financial side. Remember that we cannot store anything on the premises so please take home with you anything not sold. Can you please make sure that items you are selling with a commission to the club are clearly marked. Otherwise all items will be assumed as donated to help with club funds. Any electrical items must be in a safe state to use. Please make sure that you have paid your subscription for the coming year and let us know your email address if you have one. We have a list now for emergency contact, so if a planned event is to be cancelled we shall either ring you or contact you by email. Hopefully it is getting a little warmer and we want to promote sailing on the lake. As there are many retired members in the society we are going to try out an afternoon gathering at the lake, and Tuesdays, 12:30 onwards is nominated to see if this works. Parking should be easier as well. We shall be having our usual Easter Egg Regatta on Sunday 4th April, when we there will be some competitions and Easter eggs to be won. This will be a morning session. On the railway side we shall be attending the Park Street extravaganza with the railway track we use for the club exhibition. We are going to Redbourn Steam day with the short track we have in storage. We shall be looking for a good turnout of members to run the train rides and this will decide whether to go ahead with having our own portable track. So it is up to you! Don’t forget that the April meeting is the AGM. Nomination forms for the committee positions to be voted on will be available at the March meeting. That’s all for now, see you at the auction. Regards to all, Roy
CLUB AUCTION Club Night - March 10th - 7.30pm With our new auctioneer, Peter Haycock Please bring along any items you wish to dispose of. You must give Roy a list of all items you wish to sell on a commission basis together with any reserve, and mark the items as such, otherwise we will assume the item is simply being donated to the club. Commission is normally 20% up to a maximum of £25 (i.e. if it sells for more than £125 commission is £25). Needless to say, any electrical items must be safe to use and all items unsold must be taken home at the end of the evening. Page 4 St Albans & District MES
Alan Holt went down to the lake on Sunday Feb 7th. It was fairly cold but with no wind and several layers of insulation it didn't feel too bad. The only other member to arrive was Hugh Beardwell who joined the club via the Ally Pally exhibition. Alan ran his Brave Borderer (which is faster than ever with a new battery set up) and Hugh had a miniature speedboat which they filmed in action. Two other boaters (non-members) arrived: One was a young chap with a fast electric which went well but possibly too fast for our lake. The second was a family with a ready-to-run tug. Unfortunately this got caught up in debris and in rescuing it with Alan’s high-tech ball of string they managed to overturn and half sink it! The debris was in the usual corner and there is still the mass of leaves which fell in the Autumn that have never been cleared, plus some large tree branches.
Alan was too much of a romantic to go to the lake on Valentines Day (Sunday the 14th February) and besides, there was a fine drizzle falling. However, Baz went along and said it was very quiet. The water was nice and clear but there were loads of leaves at the top end which he nearly got stuck in. Perhaps one of us should volunteer to build a working model of one of those complicated dredging barges British Waterways use for clearing out canals!
Last month in ‘Down at the Lake’ we asked for your views on what the club could do to encourage more members to become active sailing their boats at the lake. I am sorry to say we had no responses. Furthermore, at the February club night the committee floated the idea of purchasing of some ready to run model speed boats for a series of races through the summer in order to attract more members to the lakes. That suggestion met with a muted response so we are little further forward in understanding what our boating members would like us to do for them. We would still welcome your feedback but in the mean time we are doing two things to move things forward.
Firstly, we know Sunday morning sailing sessions are not convenient for everyone so we are going to try holding a regular Tuesday afternoon session from 12:30 onwards to see if that helps some retired members to join in the fun. It can be very pleasant sitting by the lake sailing your model boat and having a good chat with like minded friends so why not come down and see us. If you don’t have a boat one of us is sure to let you have a go.
Secondly, we are proposing to hold a sort of public boating day on Sunday 4th July to show the public what our boating members can do and to let them have a go as well. Hopefully we may attract some new members who are interested in model boats. The club will be attending several other local events in June where we can publicise this boating day and Terry Wybrow www.stalbansmes.com Page 5 is looking into designing some interesting obstacles to navigate into and round including a lighthouse and a harbour.
Before all that though you have a chance to sail your boat and win an Easter Egg at our annual Easter Egg Regatta 4th April. See the box on page 15 for more details.
Finally, just a reminder that Melanie Challis of the Environment Agency will be giving a talk entitled “Caring for the River Ver and the Verulamium Park lakes” to the Friends of Verulamium Park on March 18th. The meeting will be at St Michaels Parish Centre, starting at 8pm. Alan Holt intends to be there and would welcome as much back-up from other members as possible.
The continuing cold and wet weather has precluded any activity at the track but the spring bulbs are now poking through the ground, and we have had a couple of mild days, so perhaps warmer dryer weather is just around the corner. It will not be long before the sound of lawn mowers fills the air at the Puffing Field! However, we should get a track clear up and some locomotive running in before then - and we will finally get to use the refurbished passenger trucks that Den Blazdell and David Saunders have worked so hard on. It has been a long time since anything turned a wheel on the track so by way of encouragement here are a couple of photos from last year to remind you what fun it was.
Something to look forward to: the sun is Den Blazdell with his American locomotive shining, the whiff of hot steam oil and coal gives a ride to a couple of builders who smoke is in the air, and lots of locomotives wandered in from the house next door dur- are in steam. This was 16th August 2009. ing a tea break on 7th May 2009. Page 6 St Albans & District MES
Restored WWII motorboats to go on display at Portsmouth
Two boats that were used by the Allied forces in World War II have been saved from the scrap yard or sale abroad and will go on display in Portsmouth. Phil Clabburn and his father Robin have spent several hundred thousand pounds of their own money to restore both boats to their former glory and now they have been bought by Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust with £580,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and a further £150,000 from other donors. They will be berthed at Gunwharf Quays near famous warships such as the Mary Rose, HMS Victory and HMS Warrior. Whilst there have been suggestions that the former owner’s threat to send them to the scrap yard effectively held the heritage authorities to ransom, the boats will at least now stay in this country and their future is safe. They are to be kept in serviceable condition so we can all look forward to hearing the bellowing roar of their engines one day as they hurtle across the Solent.
One of the vessels, a Royal Navy motor gunboat MGB81, was built in 1942 and used at the D-Day landings to support US troops on Omaha Beach. Powered by three huge Packard petrol engines it is thought to be Britain's last surviving WWII gunboat. It was being used as a houseboat on the Hamble River in Hampshire when it was discovered by Phil Clabburn.
The other one is an RAF high-speed rescue launch HSL102, built in 1936, which was among about 1,500 boats that helped rescue British troops at Dunkirk. It later went on to save airmen who were shot down in the English Channel during and after the Battle of Britain. It even once survived an attack by a German fighter that killed a crewman. By the end of the war boats like it had picked up about 10,000 pilots and aircrew. When it was found by Phil Clabburn in Dartmouth it was also being used as a houseboat and after restoration appeared in the film Enigma with Kate Winslet. It is powered by three large Napier Sea Lion engines. www.stalbansmes.com Page 7
More Aeronautical Nostalgia: G-AXUI - Roger Stephen
G-AXUI was a Handley Page HP137 Jetstream Mk 1 assembled at Radlet in 1969. It was one of three, the others being G-AXUM and G-AXFU, bought by Cranfield College of Aeronautics from the receivers in 1970 after Handley Page went bust. XFU was sold within a few months but the other two were fitted out as flying laboratories with, I think, accommodation for eight students, each pair of seats being provided with an instrument panel with a variety of indicators. These were: flight instruments reproducing those the pilot was looking at, indicators of aircraft attitude (pitch, roll and yaw) taken from a nose probe and various other measuring instruments for students to take readings from in flight. There were also ballast boxes in the nose and tail so that the centre of gravity could be moved around for flight testing exercises. These flying classrooms were unique and allowed students to experience some unusual flying manoeuvres you don’t get with scheduled airlines such as 3g turns, dutch roll and phugoid oscillations, and even stall and spin. I know this because in June 1976 I flew in both of them for flight testing exercises as part of my university course in Aeronautical Engineering. G-AXUI (re-registered as G-NFLC) soldiered on until retirement in 2004 but the marque continues in the same role because a Jetstream 31 has been acquired by Cranfield University and fitted out to continue teaching students in a flying classroom.
This could be either G-AXUI or G-AXUM as both of them were in service when I was at Cranfield in June 1976. The motley crew in front of the aircraft are some of my fellow students on the Southampton University Aeronautical Engineering degree course 1974-1977. The really scary hairy one on the right is me. Page 8 St Albans & District MES
North Welsh Safari: Part 1 - Tony Mason
When I was a mere lad of fourteen I spent a holiday working on the first railway in the world to be preserved. It was the summer of 1959 and the Talyllyn railway in North Wales was already well known for being the subject of a campaign by some Midlands railway enthusiasts to bring back to life something of great charm. I remember working on the permanent way, brushing the rust off a decaying locomotive, the identity of which I can’t remember, and helping the guard with his not too onerous duties. As the train swayed and clattered up a beautiful green valley in the foot hills of Snowdon it was my job to make sure all the doors were closed before we left each of the little slate walled stations and I remember enjoying being able to sit in the open guards van, watching the world go by with my legs dangling over the track.
So, fifty years later, in June 2009 it was time to return and see how things had developed. I had re-visited the Talyllyn just once, rather briefly in the 1970’s but now I had more time and could look at some of the other lines which had followed in the their footsteps since. However, while more and more newly restored and preserved narrow gauge railways had been re-opening the ‘broad gauge’ mainlines had been closing! For example the pastoral and beautiful line linking Carmarthen in the West of Wales to Aberystwyth in the North had been tragically axed by Mr Beeching. But Aberystwyth survived and is now the southern extent of mainline travel in North Wales and itself a terminus to the Vale of Rheidol narrow gauge line, which having visited it recently we decided to give a miss to.
So it was by car we journeyed for our first trip on the Teifi Valley Railway, a narrow gauge line which has been laid on the track bed of the standard gauge branch line to Newcastle Emlyn, itself a branch from the also abandoned standard gauge line to Cardigan. The TVR is a pretty railway and has much of the early days of preservation about it, being just two miles long and rather remote, some ten miles from the nearest railway and bus station in Carmarthen. Laid to a gauge of two feet and using recently built but traditional coaches the line winds gently through wooded glades from Henllan station and ends abruptly at the bank of the Teifi, Wales’ longest river. Here the old railway bridge which crossed the river has long since collapsed into the fast flowing torrents and provides a natural terminus. Never mind, the charm of this line is its lack of commercialisation and there are lots of great locations along the route to explore, picnic and enjoy the nicely renovated industrial locomotives and their little trains. www.stalbansmes.com Page 9
Above: The Teifi Valley 2 foot narrow gauge line has the charm of early preservation. Plenty of line-side walks and picnic spots mean you can fully enjoy the sight and smell of narrow gauge steam. ‘Alan George’ is a 115 year old quarry locomotive.
For the next leg of the trip the mainline could be used and the train from Aberystwyth took us due north on the old Cambrian line to Tywyn, the terminus of the Talyllyn Railway. As I have already hinted this is where my love of the little railways of North Wales was born. A good slog up the valley behind one of the railway’s original locomotives, with wonderful views, but only the left hand side facing the engine, took us to the railway’s terminus at No 3 ‘Sir Haydn’ Built in 1878 at Loughborough for the Corris Nant Gwernol. From here Railway. One of the Talyllyn's oldest locomotives ignominiously old lines and inclines sports a ‘Thomas’ mask. No airbrakes in 1959! Page 10 St Albans & District MES
Named after one of the preserved railway’s founders, LTC Rolt, 0-4-2 tank No 7 ‘Tom Rolt’ was built at the Talyllyn’s own railway works at Pendre, just up the line from Tywyn, and here arriving at Tywyn with an afternoon train from Nant Gwernol. provided the slate from the quarries which gave birth to the railway in 1866. Many of these disused tracks can be walked and I would advise taking an entire day for this visit. The return journey is more of a gentle roll and back at Tywyn there is an excellent museum and a good café. I have to say that, for me, the Talyllyn had lost some of its charm; perhaps just a little too commercialised and slick. For example on a normal mid-week working Sir Haydn had been dressed up with a Thomas the Tank Engine mask and removable magnetic nameplates! On the other hand health and safety paranoia was at a low level and the atmosphere was relaxed; perhaps it was just those childhood memories tugging away at me.
From Tywyn we were again riding north on the mainline along the glorious sandy coast of Cardigan Bay to Porthmadoc, the terminus of two spectacular narrow gauge lines, the Ffestiniog and the Welsh Highland Railway. I had booked us into a hotel in Tremadoc, a township built further up the estuary from Porthmadoc by the visionary genius W.A. Madocks. He had effectively created the busy harbour town of Porthmadoc by reclaiming the estuary by building its famous causeway known as the Cob, on which the narrow gauge Ffestioniog line runs. Unbeknown to me the hotel had been Mr Madocks’ home during the early 1800’s. It is located on high ground above his ambitious civil engineering schemes and my room had a spectacular view of his embankment and his port called Porthmadoc. His plan was to make this the port through which most of North Wales’ slate would travel out to North America and the new world.
The Ffestiniog line was built to bring slate to Porthmadoc from the rich seams which lay high in the Snowdon mountains and the gradients are particularly severe in places, so it was to my delight that our train was to be hauled by one of the Fairleigh articulated locomotives with www.stalbansmes.com Page 11 their flexible steam pipes, cramped footplates and terrific power. The train left on time and tore up the valleys toward the mining town at Blaenau Ffestiniog. I am not going to fully describe the line as plenty have done better than I could but an interesting change had taken place since my last visit. In the 1970’s the line terminated at Ddault because the original track onward to Blaenau had been drowned by a lake which would power a Hydro Electric Power Station at Trawsfynydd, to the south. I had walked the disused old line as far as I could but beyond an empty tunnel the The back streets of Blaenau Ffestiniog and their backdrop of old line vanished beneath slate workings witness the return departure of our train millions of gallons of southwards to Porthmadoc. The line on the left is the old water. A diversion was Great Western route to the south and the old London and planned so the line could North Western route to the north. The alignments of the 3 lines again reach Blaenau. Now have been reversed. The locomotive is Merddin Emrys which the power station no longer was built by the Ffestiniog Railway at its works at Boston uses the water from the Lodge in 1879. drowned valley which is once again dry and there once more is revealed the embankment carrying the old line which I could not reach all those years ago. Via the diversion we soon reached our terminus destination at Blaenau Ffestioniog. This town is in the centre of what was one of the richest slate mining areas in the world and in its heyday was served by the Great Western Railway, the London and North Western Railway and of course the Ffestioniog Railway. To my delight all three of the lines are still open, although the Great Western line to the south is used only for freight to the former nuclear Power Station at Trawsfynydd.
Our next leg was by standard gauge line from Blaenau Ffestioniog and after a good lunch in a nice café we took the afternoon train to Llandudno Junction where we changed for our train to Bangor. The old line from Bangor to Caernafon was closed during the 1960’s, mothballed and re-opened briefly for Prince Charles’s investiture, much to the chagrin of many of the local Welsh population, grumpy at losing their line forever after the Royal visit. So we had to use a bus from Bangor to our next overnight stopover at the historic Caernafon itself. Page 12 St Albans & District MES
When a rivet is not a rivet! - Jeff Carter
I decided that as my old US Coast Guard cutter was getting rather tatty it needed a refit and in the process converted it into an RNLI Waveney. As usual this was going to be a fairly quick job! However although the RNLI based the Waveney on the 44 foot US Coast Guard Cutter they made significant changes to a lot of the equipment and fittings. In addition the model was made from a Billings kit and lacked some features. So much for a quick job.
When I stripped the fittings off of the rear cabin I was left with damaged paintwork that needed more than a quick lick of paint. One of the features of the Waveney's was the riveted construction of the two cabins which is noticeable even at the 1/20th scale of the model.
I therefore decided to try to represent the riveting whilst covering the cabins in litho plate (thin aluminium sheet), kindly supplied by Gary Marshall. To This is a pounce wheel. Normally used for transferring simulate the rivets I used a paper patterns they are available with at least three dif- pounce wheel to impress the ferent point pitches which suit different model scales. rivet heads from the back.
I made a paper template to fit the cabin shape before cutting out the litho plate. The rivet lines were then drawn on the back and the sheet placed on a cutting mat. Using a steel rule as a guide the pounce wheel was firmly pressed into the litho plate and rolled along the ruler.
The photos show the tools used and the finished result once glued onto the cabin using The result of using the pounce wheel on thin aluminium sheet is Evostik. straight lines of rivet heads with perfect spacing. www.stalbansmes.com Page 13
Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey? - Seymour Waters You all know the expression ‘cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey’ and you may well have heard it used several times in this winter’s prolonged cold weather. But just what is the origin of the phrase? Popular belief is that brass triangles called monkeys were used to support stacks of cast iron cannon balls on fighting ships, and that in cold weather the differential expansion between the brass and cast iron allowed the brass to contract to a point when the cannon balls just rolled off across the deck - hence the expression. Its an amusing idea but in engineering terms it is soon exposed as pure tosh. The coefficients of expansion for brass and cast iron are simply not sufficiently different for the brass triangle to contract enough for the balls to fall off. Also, a little geometry will soon show that balls stacked in a pyramid will topple when a list of 30 degrees is reached. Such an angle could easily be experienced at sea and with the jolting of a ship tossed on a stormy sea it is clear that stacking cannon balls in this way is not a practical proposition. In fact on Royal Navy ships cannon balls were stored for immediate use on planks of wood with appropriately sized circular holes cut into them. These planks were known as ‘shot garlands’, not monkeys, and date back at least to 1769. Another idea relates to the ‘three wise monkeys’ which were often sold as cast brass ornaments or paper weights, but they were introduced to English speaking countries too late to be the direct origin of the phrase. Mentions of brass monkeys in literature dating back to the mid 1800s combine to suggest that the brass monkey in question wasn't a particular beast but merely a synonym for an inanimate object. It might sound like the work of CANOE (the Committee to Ascribe a Naval Origin to Everything) but, given the large percentage of literary references to brass monkeys in nautical contexts, it seems likely that the inanimate object in question was in fact a naval cannon and that it featured a lever known as a ‘tail’ which was used to aim it - so the original phrase may have been ‘cold enough to freeze the tail off a brass monkey. The 'balls' are a recent vulgar appendage.
CLUB SUBSCRIPTION REMINDER May we remind you that club subscriptions for 2010 are now overdue.
If you have not yet paid please give your renewal form and money or cheque to Baz at the next club night or send it to him by post. The renewal form was in the January issue of the Gazette.
Subscription rates are: Full member £24.50; Concession £21.50; Junior £3.00; Associate £1.00.
For those who have not paid this may be your last Gazette! Page 14 St Albans & District MES
John Day’s Old Photographs - No 17 Another picture from ex SADMES member and boyhood railway photographer John Day. His comments written on the reverse of each picture are shown in bold, with additional infor- mation researched by Tony Mason.
SR T9 4-4-0 30119 at Monkton near Dorchester 26th April 1952
I know we have already had a T9 in this series of John’s pictures, but this one is rather special, and anyway they had such beautiful lines. 30119 was the locomotive designated by the Southern Railway to haul royal trains on those sections where larger locomotives were prohibited. As such she was liveried in Southern Railway malachite green and always turned out to a very high standard. This passenger train of just three coaches is sadly not a royal train.
Known as ‘Greyhounds’ because of their sleek and speedy lines they were the result of a design created in 1899 by Drummond for the London and South Western Railway at a time when the great engineers believed that aesthetics were as important as performance. 30119 was built at Nine Elms Locomotive Works in 1899 and scrapped by British Railways in February 1953.
Hornby have recently produced a ‘00’ gauge T9 model as part of their National Railways Museum Heritage range which is really to a very high standard. A T9, 30120, is preserved and part of the National Collection and is currently undergoing a full restoration with plans to have it in steam at the Bodmin and Wadebridge railway by the Autumn of 2010. www.stalbansmes.com Page 15
NOTICE BOARD If you wish to put an item on the ‘Notice Board’ just send it to the editors and, subject to available space, we will include it in the next issue of the Gazette. Ed. Society outing to the Swanage Railway - 27th June 2010 Seats on this year’s society outing to the Swanage Railway are selling fast so if you want to go and have not yet booked time is running out. To book your place contact the Treasurer, Mike Grossmith and give him a deposit of £10 per person as soon as you can. Park Street Fete Sunday 23rd May 2010 - Train rides for the public Back in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s the society attended many local events with a portable track giving train rides and raising a considerable amount of money for club funds. It is that money, more than that raised by our exhibitions, that underpins the healthy finances of the society today. That heavy and cumbersome portable track was sold off many years ago but, as was announced at the February club night, we are considering buying a new portable track to give train rides again and thereby both raise public awareness of the society (hopefully attracting new members in the process) and make some money too. Before taking the plunge we are going to test the water with a hired track and our first venue will be the Park Street Fete on Sunday 23rd May. We will need at least 8 people to assemble and run the track so we need volunteers. If you can help please talk to a committee member and/or stick your hand up when the appeal is made at club nights. Cut price steam and lubricating oil Running out of steam oil? Want some proper lubricating oil? The society is proposing to buy some good quality steam and lubricating oils in bulk, thereby getting it at a very good price. Details are not yet confirmed but we are confident of being able to offer these oils to members at less than half the price you would pay for small quantities from the usual suppliers - and you don’t have to travel miles to get it. We will let you know the prices when the oil arrives; in the mean time start saving your plastic (polyethylene) bottles!
EASTER EGG REGATTA - SUNDAY 4th APRIL 2010
We will be holding our regular Easter Egg Regatta again this year on Easter Sunday, 4th April. Meet at the small lake in Verulamium Park at 10:00am. The course and tasks are being reviewed by the committee so the demands on boat and helmsman may not be the same as last year. However, they will still be great fun and there will be lots of Easter Eggs up for grabs as prizes. All you need is a boat that works, a charged set of batteries and any type of boat with electric or steam power will do. (We don’t recommend a sailing yacht because the navigation and reversing tasks would be a bit difficult but you are welcome to bring one along to add some style to the occasion!)
This is very much a fun event where everyone has a chance of winning, expert and novice alike, so why not come and join us. Just turn up, book in and have a go. Page 16 St Albans & District MES
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
2010 March 6th Chesham MRC Model Railway Exhibition, Elgiva Theatre, Chesham March 10th Club Night: Club Auction with our new auctioneer Peter Haycock March 20th/21st Large Scale Model Rail Exhibition, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Fosse Way, near Leamington Spa, CV31 1XN April 4th Easter Egg Regatta on the small lake, Verulamium Park. 10:00am start April 14th Club Night: AGM and work in progress May 7th - 9th National Model Engineering Exhibition, Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate May 12th Club Night: History of London Underground - Tony Earle May 15th/16th Steam and Country Show, Royal Gunpowder Mills, Waltham Abbey May 23rd Park Street Fete - We will be running a portable track for train rides June 5th/6th St Albans Steam & Country Show, Oaklands College, Hatfield Road June 9th Club Night: How we reached the moon - Jerry Stone June 12th/13th Harrow & Wembley SME Open Weekend, Roxbourne Park, Eastcote June 20th Redbourn Museum Steam Day (including SADMES display of models) JUNE 27th CLUB OUTING TO THE SWANAGE RAILWAY, DORSET July 10th/11th Guildford MES Model Steam Rally & Exhibition 2010, Stoke Park, London Road, GU1 1TU July 14th Club Night: Flying Boats of Southampton - Colin Van Geffen August 11th Club Night: Building the Avery traction engine - Guy Ellerby August 28th & 30th MPBA Hydroplane competitions, Large Lake, Verulamium Park, St Albans August 29th MPBA Straight Running competition, Small Lake, Verulamium Park August 28th-30th Harrow & Wembley SME Open Weekend, Roxbourne Park, Eastcote September 1st-5th The Great Dorset Steam Fair 2010, Tarrant Hinton, Dorset, DT11 8HX September 8th Club Night: Exhibition briefing followed by model boat construction and control SEPT 25th/26th ANNUAL CLUB EXHIBITION AT FRANCIS BACON SCHOOL October 2nd/3rd Kew Bridge Steam Museum Festival of Models, TW8 0EN October 13th Club Night: Frank Banfield’s Old Films October 15th-19th Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Fosse Way, near Leamington Spa, CV31 1XN November 10th Club Night: EGM and members’ evening November 12th-14th International Model Boat Show, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Fosse Way, near Leamington Spa, CV31 1XN November 20th/21st Kew Bridge Steam Museum Live Steam Model Railway Show, TW8 0EN December 8th Club Night: Christmas Social Evening December 10th-12th Model Engineer Exhibition 2010, Sandown Park Race Course
Club Nights are every 2nd Wednesday each month at Christchurch Centre, New Greens, St Albans and start at 7.30pm. Club boating meetings and other events can be confirmed with Alan Holt (see inside front cover). Full details and confirmation of Puffing Field events are available at Club Nights.
The St Albans Model Engineering Society cannot accept any responsibility for the condition or suitability of items advertised in the Society’s Gazette. Opinions contained in articles are not necessarily those of the Society.