Hampshire Area Garden Railway Group (incorporating the Hampshire area of the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers, and the Southdown Railway Co.) Associate members of Fareham & District Model Railway Club

May 2012

Welcome to this months newsletter. The rain seems to have been endless since Easter, I do hope some of you have managed some running!

Lets begin with someone who’s been playing on bigger trains. Norman Tyler has been to , to the End of the World Railway.

The Southern Fuegian Railway or the Train of the End of the World is a 500 mm (19 3⁄4 in) (nar- row-gauge) steam railway in Province, Argentina. It was originally built as a freight line to serve the prison of , specific- ally to transport timber. It now operates as a into the Tierra del Fuego National Park and is considered the southernmost functioning railway in the world.

The pictures show Norman on board a from South Africa to a design from Beyers at Gorton Manchester and another of the Garratt running round at the distant terminal. Apparently they run champagne and dinner trains. No wonder Norman is smiling.

No trouble with the weather there then!

Moving on to some model news, an interesting (I thought) idea with my Leek and Manifold locomotive was to replicate the look of the original headlamp. According to the books, the lamp was supplied painted in livery colours but that paint did not remain intact for very long, peeling to reveal the copper underneath. To preserve the appearance of their engines, the drivers polished the copper regularly. My own efforts have involved using “Bare-Metal”, a sticky-backed foil which is available in several metals, I’ve used copper (you don’t say). Tricky to apply, it’s slightly thicker than gold leaf but crinkles if you breathe wrongly whilst applying it. The foil however con- forms to the detail cast into the lamp and so none of it is lost following its application. Note No.11 is still awaiting nameplates, they’ve not been delivered yet.

Meanwhile, I see Accucraft have announced that an electric version of Lew is to be produced – anyone seen a steam one yet – plus a further run of Joan and Mortimer for those of you who missed out first time round. That leads me neatly on to the Bickers-Jones travels of New Zealand (huh? I hear. Well Mrs B-J is the only owner of a Joan that I know….).!

I’m not sure of the gauge of these locos as William has not yet captioned them (I nicked them from his Picasa website) but they are all steam and some have lots of wheels!

I’m sure we can arrange a more ex- planatory session in the near future, since we proved the projector works earlier this year!

And now, for a contribution by Bryan Matthews, someone who I have seen is able to make a Mamod run. Surely there is an award for that…

The Warren Point and Stow Railway "arrg It won't stay on the track" was probably my first thought when running my brand new Mamod railway set back in 1984. A month and a half’s worth of wages (£60) was my first investment into this amazing hobby. Since then with huge periods of inactivity I have now got a line permanently in the garden that meets my criteria of Railway. Six Mamods are now happily stabled alongside some battery locos that bulk out my fleet. What has endured it the sense of fun that goes hand in hand with running your own railway.

My line is now based on an old ballast mine somewhere on the south coast with the railway serving the defunct mine but run as a tourist line. The Warren Point and Stow Railway (WPSR) allows me to run any combination of freight or passenger train that can run the gauntlet of the friendly rabbits that it shares its home with. Based on a triangular garden the line runs round at ground level due to its unique operating requirements. It must allow access to all of the garden, not be a trip hazard and allow the rabbits free reign. Scenic elements must be able to stand the investigative nature of the rabbits which limits too much fine detail. Corporate livery is any colour engines providing the lettering shows ownership and similarly the coaching stock is not entirely matching but often a rake of 3 coaches due to the short platforms I put in.

The people on my line are special too: here is a couple of the intended biographies that will soon be added to the website:

Morris "the undertaker": This poor guy was the old crossing keeper. He did a great job for many years and kept the best village vegetable garden but now sadly departed due to an inadvisable manoeuvre on the motorway. His son known as "Morris Minor" now volunteers on the railway and helps in the gift shop.

David or "Dye the Station" to his friends is the station master at Warren point, He has endless patience with the train spotters providing they don't get in the way of train operating. His odd nickname comes from his large feet hitting a paint pot and covering the station floor in paint. When the manager saw the mess he could have died.

So that is a brief intro to my line more information can be found on http://wpsr.webs.com/ Thanks to Bryan for the story above.

I’d be pleased to publish the story of your line, complete with pictures if you want to send me some informa- tion.

Back to full size stuff. After a week that saw flooding and trees down in Wales – enough to put paid to Ffest- iniog operations for at least 24 hours, there is news that they have been laying track up at Penrhyn.

You can check out http://www.penrhynrail- way.co.uk/ if you have internet for up to date de- tails (look for Latest News).

The Penrhyn line was closed in 1962 but its taken almost 50 years for these signs of the Penrhyn Quarry Railway slowly being re- vived. The first phase of the restoration at Bethesda is currently in progress.

If you want to contact me, my email is [email protected]

STEAM-UP Saturday 5th May at the CSLR from 2pm onwards. Let me know if you’re coming on 02392 341859 or email as above. Small workshop and boiler testing will be available if you let me know in advance.

Also let me know if you’re planning any meetings and would like them publicised.

Portchester Meetings will be May 11th and June 8th, as ever the second Friday of each month from around 8pm. (with sincere Apologies for the mis-keying for the last meeting)

Please contact myself or William in advance if you need 16mm Association boiler testing.