Hampshire Area Garden Railway Group
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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 October 2015 Hello Everyone, Welcome to the Newsletter. It’s October 2015 but hopefully makes up for missing September altogether and a very small August edition. The order for the newsletter this month is anything but chronological but I’m starting with the weekend of 25th and 26th September at Vale of Rheidol. This was a special Gala weekend for the VoR and brought a collection of motive power into one place like never before. The line up included the lines two operational Swindon built 2-6-2 locomotives #8 Llywellyn and #9 Prince of Wales, the latter sporting a new paint job and GWR roundels on the tank sides. The additional locomotives were somewhat smaller but perhaps equal in fame, being mainly of quarry and contractor types. The list of names is mostly familiar: Winfred, Margaret, Sybil Mary, Ogwen, Marchlyn and Diana. The first three of these are Hunslets of the “Large Quarry” type, the next two are Avonside examples and Diana as mentioned in the last newsletter is a Sirdar class Kerr Stuart. Diana and Margaret were freshly resteamed as their restorations were completed in the days leading up to the VoR event and Diana especially is unique in being the only surviving example of the class. Restorations were completed in the VoR workshops where work on the VoR’s own #7 Owain Glyndwr continues steadily. The weekend was a fortnight after the Llanfair Steam Railway Gala and Garden Railway Show that the CSLR team attended in support of Southdown. Although attending the show means little time to explore the WLLR the visitors commenting on the layout enlightened us to the goings on at the ‘real’ railway. Spotted in action at the event were both The Earl and Countess, Joan and visiting Pakis Baru No.5, plus Dougal (on a low loader behind a Showman’s traction engine) and diesel demonstrations Ferret and Wasp. Monarch was outside on view and there was a Sierra Leone Railways exhibition highlighting the ongoing efforts there, important to WLLR given the connections with locomotive #14 (SL #85 Hunslet 2-6-2) and several items of coaching stock. The visiting loco, from Statfold Barn, is an 0-4-4-0 Mallet by Orenstein & Koppel of Berlin in 1905 built for use at a sugar mill in Indonesia. For the uninitiated, both Garratts and Mallets feature two power units/engines fed by a single boiler. However, the Mallet always has one engine rigidly fixed to the cab/boiler/tanks and one attached as a bogie whereas the Garrett features two bogies with the steam plant suspended between them. In the closing hours of the show on Sunday, Southdown was lucky enough to be given the chance to run the latest offerings from Accucraft, who happened to be on the stand next to the layout. The first loco to run was a Gauge 1 offering and is an 0-6-0 standard gauge Kerr Stuart “Victory” class. The prototype numbered only 10; built in 1917 they were intended for use in dockyards and with the possibility of being shipped to France for use in the War Effort. The model will be available in both manual and radio controlled form and coped easily with the radii on Southdown. Indeed, the intended market for this loco could be seen as a way of introducing G1 into the garden running on existing 45mm narrow gauge tracks. For this month too, Accucraft are introducing a G1 standard gauge 7 plank wagon, a rake of which would sit superbly behind this engine. Perhaps more in keeping with our layout was the 7/8ths scale Bagnall 0-4-0 that we were also able to run. This loco follows the Quarry Hunslet model in 7/8ths scale but is correspondingly larger as per the prototype. This size is quite a step up for your average 16mm-er, the cab layout featuring more prototypical controls and the opportunity for detailing is immense with this engine. Our tunnel mouths on Southdown were designed to be suitable for large American types – Consolidation and Moguls have ample clearance: the Bagnall passed through with millimetres to spare and the larger boiler/gas tank combo allowed this brand new and very tight pre-production example to run comfortably for almost 30 minutes with a train of hoppers. The show was very well attended on both days, Southdown trains are now the stars in many video clips and we enjoyed a huge variety of questions and comments over the weekend. The organisers are to be congratulated on the success of the show as it was ‘rescued’ itself following the untimely passing of Steve Warrington, the previous organiser. Whilst browsing the Accucraft website, I notice that TrackShack are continuing their special versions of the standard stock offerings from IoM. This time they have a PO liveried “M” wagon. It turns out that on the IoM there was little call for PO wagons but that the railway persuaded the Mona Chemical Company that they were in need of such stock, three wagons were duly purchased by the company only to pass into the hands of the IoM railway as ‘second hand’ at a later date. Moving from one island to another, Tom and Martin Petch, along with Martin’s brother Bob, have long held the Isle of Wight in great affection. The charm expressed itself in various modelling exploits in 00 scale, however repeated visits to the steam railway have resulted in a much more serious affliction: Tom decided to become a member, so Dad (Martin) enrolled with Tom as a volunteer – if you can’t beat them, join them! As Tom is 15 there is a limit to what he can be let loose with, so he acts as a porter, putting people on the trains and checking tickets, apart from much more important tasks like making the tea. So as not to cramp Tom’s style, Martin hides in the Carriage & Wagon workshop. During their last stint at the end of July, Martin was painting SR vans green; these are to be used as tool stores, but will eventually cede their chassis to re-create yet more Victorian coaches. Some people are ‘regulars’ there – one is building their fleet of goods vehicles. Two Brighton 10-ton open wagons are being built at present. Martin spent a day and a half soaking the underframe members in Cuprinol – the whole chassis is solid oak, including the sills which took six people to shift! The family stayed in the accommodation block at Haven Street, which overlooks the station and loco shed, but they didn’t complain! Apart from doing something useful, and being part of a friendly team, they all met some great characters, that is, apart from the stars of the show – two Terriers and the O2! (Right) Terrier W11 resumes service after a lunch break (as seen from the bedroom). (Above) Transport of delight: Terrier W8 had just re-entered service after a re-tube. Meantime, I hope you all read Bob’s item in the last SMT? The tramway stock is superbly modelled and benefit from mechanical and technical input from David and Rod as well as Bob’s finishing skills to make very realistic trains. Right, back to the mainland. The project to build and complete a replica Baldwin 2-4-2 LYN #762 for the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway suffered a significant setback earlier this year when due to a change in management at Babcock Engineering, and offer to supply material and assemble the main frames for the locomotive was withdrawn. This added to the project woes that discovered the already cut frames were inaccurate and not suitable for use. Babcock’s did agree to provide such material as they had available and profile it to the drawings, but not to assemble it. The first hurdle this raised is that funding is not in place for the additional costs: the Lyn 762 club will therefore run out of money by the end of 2015 unless more can be raised. This is doubly sad as it was expected that the engine would be in steam by the end of this year. On a lighter note, the 14th November has been fixed for a private 762 Club open day at Alan Keef's works. The open day will showcase the finished frame, pony trucks and many, many other key components that have been manufactured and collected together over the past four years, and just prior to final assembly. This will be an opportunity for all members, sponsors, and the press, together with their guests, to witness the frames, wheel sets, and other items all together and just waiting for the final assembly. By then, they will have everything bar the brakes, ashpan and manifold, a fantastic showcase for that extra funding. With the extra costs that have been needed to be spent on the frames an estimated £100,000 will be needed to allow Alan Keef to complete the locomotive, so a major new fund raising campaign will be launched at the open day to fund this gap. On the modelling front, I notice that Roundhouse have introduced a new engine into their fleet. The new loco “Bulldog” is another freelance design typical of a powerful small yard shunter and, though it shares the same chassis with Little John, it has a more purposeful look and features extra detail and a working headlamp.