Annual General Meeting

Thamesiders Physical Meet – November ’24 to March ’25 Catchup Special

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
Author’s SD45 coming in with the local, dropping off some cars for the 44 Tonner to later switch. March ’25 Physical Meet.

With much excitement throughout the last 5/6 months comes much apologies! I seem to have not updated you on our physical meets since the Berkshire Special in 2024. Let’s correct this right now…

After the Berkshire Special, there was a general high from the Thamesiders in attendance, and we spent most of November’s physical meet just taking it easy. There wasn’t much photographic or video evidence of our enjoyment, so you’ll just have to take our word for it. What became apparent however fairly quickly was our desire to perhaps help host another convention like it again. As of writing this, that possibility is about to start being planned, potentially with the same partnership, but watch this space.

We confirmed this fact during the AGM and Christmas Lunch held in December. We were slightly light on attendees, mostly because of the storms causing trouble for the travellers needing to take the Dartford Crossing, for example, but for the most part, the usual attendance of the physical meets were present. Notable decisions from the AGM included holding our annual Open House (now the NMRA BR Summer Meet) on 21 June, aiming for another Quiz night, as well as the general agreement of hosting another NMRA BR Convention in 2026.

The same committee were elected, and at the time, the intentions were to hopefully catch up with these updates back then. Well… we all know how that went! With the meal done, we closed off another successful year for the Thamesiders. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to at least one member, because understandably the commute to and from St. Osyth was taking its’ toll for this person based at least 2 hours away.

This seemed to be our only concern for the moment moving into 2025; we noted a similar issue with one visitor early in 2024, whom couldn’t join us because the trip to and from the location was too much for them. For the moment we are doing okay enough for it to not be at the top of our list of issues, but it shall become a point to contend with if we lose other members in future.

Dennis’ Grand Canyon departing the yard on the N Scale in February ’25.

Our return in January saw us rearranging and sorting our storage at St Osyth. Myself aka publicity officer was unable to attend due to still recovering from a particularly nasty migraine which lasted most of the week before, but the other regulars seemed happy with the outcome and from what I have seen of both the stage and garage, everything seems to be in a more logical location. I know it was tough in November ’24 trying to get everything we needed for the meet out, and the general comparison to our experience in February ’25 confirms a difference was indeed made.

Dennis’ Grand Canyon train from the rear – drumhead noted and appreciated.

Moving on to February, and our first proper running session of the year. I took this opportunity to finish up with any outstanding work on the “recovering” Peach Meadows board, mainly aligning the track properly to the Clark Junction board in situ. I was pleased with the outcome; we had effectively removed one pain point for several members, but as it was one of several, the work continues. I was pleased to hear Chris C was satisfied with the join; before we did anything about it, his coal drag was a regular patient, but afterwards, it glided effortlessly across without decoupling, promising an almost a trouble-free run until it hit another problematic location down the line.

It must be said however, if I had the space, I would probably take the boards home with me and completely replace the foam foundations in favour of plywood. There may be hope in possibly achieving that in future, but that relates to my personal update which I’ll stick at the very end. The foam unfortunately serves as a very poor base for modules which get thrown about practically every month, and I can see it causing an issue later on during its life if something more permanent isn’t done about it. I know the top scenic covering is still loose; however with the track secured it isn’t as much of a disaster for the moment. It unfortunately doesn’t look very good!

Author’s BN Commuter Cab-Car running on the HO in Feb ’25.

Some noteworthy moments from February included Dennis K’s Grand Canyon, trying to run on the N scale layout. Unfortunately, one of David’s modules developed a power problem, and through pressured troubleshooting, the rest of the layout kept shutting off frustrating the other members. David acknowledged this, and relented during the meet to allow the others a chance to run their trains in some capacity. He may also be relenting on the relay/Arduino solution in favour of frog juicers. Time will tell; after all this is a hobby and it’s one thing to be pressured by the needs of a group, but it’s completely something different to personally face the horrors of ripping out and replacing components. March seemed to be better; there didn’t seem to be as much frustration or sudden silence-restarts going on.

I, having recently (and finally) received my Gallery Commuter Cars from Rapido, was very pleased to run them on the HO. They performed very well, surprisingly resisting the issues which tended to frustrate other modeller’s trains. I was expecting difficulties because the truck mechanisms seemed very tight, or at least, more fine compared to the many Walthers cars I have operated on to improve reliability. Perhaps asking us to fork out roughly £100 a car means something to Rapido, and they proved themselves very well. Keep an eye out for a video in the near future; they rival my El Capitan in terms of visuals, but because they aren’t the Santa Fe, they’ll never be that close to my heart! I only got them because of my sheer joy of seeing them in person in Chicago once upon a time, plus I could potentially get away with the BNs in particular running in the background of my (hopeful) future Chicago-based terminus layout.

Author’s local freight pulling the new Roka Model’s tank cars. February ’25 meet.

Lastly for the meet in February, I took along my newly-acquired Roka Models tank cars. Like the Gallery Cars, they ran wonderfully, and were only hampered by a coupler height problem occurring on the 2nd hand baggage-combine car I also brought for testing. It seemed the ScaleTrains couplers on the SD45 are a tad too thin for the relatively small height change between the board joins, so the car itself may have been innocent. As mandated by me, they have since been replaced with Kadees, which was the original plan for the March meet but I never got around to it until afterwards.

Lastly, but not at all the least, brings us nicely into the March physical meet. This was generally a positive one again with running on both layouts, and this time I took my El Capitan. What stood out for me during this meet was working out how to command the points with my tablet, which I was doing for the latter half of the meet with shunting operations. The videos I captured may not see YouTube for a little while yet as I pad out the queue of livestreams and videos from February, however the session did remind me of the few meets I had just after I joined the Thamesiders, and the eventual inspiration behind “the Essex Belt adventures”. With experience and use of the tripod (and now understanding how to easily level it), I was able to get some decent footage, rivalling some of that accidental high quality footage of years gone. This post’s first photo and thumbnail come from that very footage.

The SD45 and the local serving as a test subject for the track magnets and remote switching capability.

That generally wraps up our catchup. If I remember correctly, our escape times for the physical meets has always been earlier than on the kick out hours of years past. That again is thanks to those of us whom are able to attend, as well as the trollies as provided by Chris C. Albeit it being important to have a decent level of attendance if we wish to run trains, at the end of the day, this is a hobby we are paying to enjoy. My own experience of being pressured into attending, and then being mocked and/or being the centre of expelled “hot air” in relation to not being able to attend, left a sour taste in my mouth. With this in mind, I say to you, if you find the time, and ability to do so, please consider coming to St Osyth and run some trains.

Driving up and down the A12 for an hour each way once a month, spending hours setting up and breaking down, is all worth it for the few hours we get running trains, progressing little projects, and dare I say, even fixing small problems. Provided my health and finances keep up, I don’t think I’ll ever stop, because those few hours have made me a model railroader. They also have put the Thamesiders near the front of my planner each month, and if there ever was a clash with other clubs’ events, the Thamesiders will win out because I really do enjoy those few precious hours. I hope you are able to experience a similar satisfaction some day, even if it isn’t with the Thamesiders, but we sure would love it to be.

My final recommendation before dedicating a paragraph for my personal update is this; if you would like to come down but find yourself limited to one visit, please consider 21 June. This is our main event this year, and is probably where you’ll get to see the layouts in top form. All are welcome.

Neal K
Santa Fe all the way


(My personal update below)

Author’s El Capitan departing Peach Meadows after the 44 Tonner shunted some box cars into the head end.

A personal update

Part of the reason of failing to post the regular physical meet posts is because of mine and Kat’s house hunting situation was in serious flux during this period. To surmise, we lost our original buyer and the house we were going for. However, we did manage to secure another buyer and find another house. This took a lot of time, effort and as you could imagine, emotion. We’re now almost where we were before the previous’ chain collapse, and are hoping for a move date soon, albeit will be remaining cautious of the fact the deed isn’t done until the contracts are set and exchanged.

We are looking forward to moving and settling in to our future house, wherever it may be. I am personally excited for being able to properly setup a train space which I will know will be mine, and not contested as is the case for my flat’s loft at the minute. It may take some time to get a space situated, but when it is, I have no doubt it will be full speed ahead with my own layout/modules. Kat has also been… open… to letting me run a line around the future garden, so that may happen before the train space is up and ready.

If I can catch up with the Ditchlights as well, we’ll be back to good health for the website overall. In future I may also try to encourage members to submit posts, but getting articles in the Ditchlight will suffice.

Neal K

Tom F’s coal drag passing the box cars readied for the later arrival of the El Capitan.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Thamesiders – Saturday, 9th December 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets

And so, with heavy (but not at all wary) hearts, we conclude our business for 2023 with the AGM, begin looking forward to Christmas, and anticipating a bold new year for the group. We’ll be holding another Open House in June, and then will be supporting the NMRA BR 2024 Convention “The Berkshire Special”.

The AGM emphasised our good position, and the plans we have in store concerning these events and the general health of our layouts. We were pleased to hear membership and attendance is up, and problems which plagued both scales may soon be a thing of the past. We saw evidence of this not only through the new modules seen from Dean H and Paul P, but also the great efforts made to improve existing trackwork and operations from (again) Paul P, Dean H, Paul E, David A, Dennis K, Rai F and Paul H. The future efforts also have commitments behind them in the form of the layout reports and general matters arising.

As a general reminder for those that may not follow these blogs, the N Scale is branching out into a “U” configuration, and the HO is making plans to deploy Laxton as an exhibition layout for the NMRA BR Convention. We’ve seen Paul P’s city running modules, and they have been proven to work with and support the branch line through Laxton (even in their bare states). For those that know me or have been on the circuit with me, you may know I have long term plans to do some modules of my own, but a higher priority project is currently in the way.

Aside from that, the N scalers are eager to see Dennis’ modules, so we hope he’ll have plenty of time to work on them during the festive period so the group will be able to see them at one of the early 2024 meets. We know they’ll go a long way to support Dean’s 180 board and the rest of the layout once done.

With any luck by this time next year, my wife and I will (finally) be living in our own house, so 2024 for the webmaster means a potential busy period. The good news is we’ve already had volunteers from the group to support, so I may take up their offers in due course. Many thanks again to Stu T and Dennis K.

So on a personal note, depending on how well the move goes and what space will be at my disposal, you may see those long term plans bear fruit, but it may be more reasonable to expect them somewhere in 2025. The general idea at the moment is for a passenger terminus – one I find sorely needed for the HO Scale and for my personal interests as I find myself drawn into passenger ops especially. Thing is, even if the HOers gode each other into showing them off, there are far too many passenger trains out during every meet not to have something like that somewhere in the future. For the time being however, I’m just building a two-board shunting module which will hopefully have two states of either latching onto the HO or be a stand alone exhibition layout. All in good time!

I think that nicely wraps up the future and 2024, and I hope you’ll forgive me for not reviewing 2023 this time around (or at least just not yet). I look forward to continuing my work as webmaster and publicity manager in 2024, and believe the same could be said for the rest of the group as well.

If we don’t speak or there are no other updates prior to the next physical meet, I hope you have a most excellent Christmas, and a happy New Year. Thanks for sticking around.

Neal K
– Santa Fe all the way



Thamesiders December 2022 – Merry Christmas and a happy New Year

Thamesiders' Physical Meets

As the title and time of publication suggests, it is the holiday season. As I write this to you a few days into 2023, I’d like to take this opportunity, especially if you didn’t hear it from me, to wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year. It’s the time for celebration, gift giving, setting promises to ourselves we may never keep and letting go a bit for than just the finances. However for me, this is probably a very good space to summarise 2022 and the Thamesiders as a year, and what we as a group are looking forward to in 2023.

After the Annual General Meeting, it was a lovely dinner at the Swan

As you saw from the previous information and our calendars, December was the downtime month in terms of physical layout meets, where we met for the Annual General Meeting and Christmas Lunch. The main points from the AGM I recall are the well deserved recognition and appreciation of the hard work Paul E did in setting up and managing the NMRA May Meet for us, and the motion to make Martin G an Honorary Member. We also discussed at a high level our annual subs and our event for 2023, the Open Day at St Osyth.

There was also time allotted for the annual bring and buy between members, where I recall in earlier years I staunchly stood against the ideal of selling any of my models, however moving in the direction of potentially starting to focus on a single era and area, I brought some items for sale this time around. After both sessions we moved on to the Christmas Lunch where I am afraid to say I didn’t manage to get many pictures. Apologies; I was enjoying it a little too much! Maybe next year…?

Part of the gang (un)lucky enough to be in the single picture mostly decent enough to be shared. It seems I nearly got away no one noticing…

Next time I’ll be sure to get the waitress to get a group photo, but there will be plenty of opportunity to grab something in 2023 so watch out guys…

For me the meal at the Swan was a welcoming closure to what had been a lovely year (in my opinion). Now before you roll your eyes at me, let me defend the claim…

Already mentioned was the May meet, and although we weren’t the biggest show in town we did get our expenses covered and had some well-rounded interest from the local groups and villages.

The Essex Belt Lines at the May Meet 2022. In the background from left to right is Paul P, Dean H and Tom F. Further to the right is Martin G inspecting some track on the N Scale the night before the big day.

The N Scale at the May Meet on the day. Martin G is focused from behind the backscene while being supervised by Paul E on the right. In the background our newer member Dennis (aka dad) is making some moves on the other side of the yard.

Obviously the May meet goes to the top of the list, but some of the other noteworthy achievements include the HO changing the setup by introducing the 7×0 layout (previously mentioned as the 5×2 or 7×2).

The 7×0 EBL setup, making use of the previously stored additional staging boards allowing us to facilitate larger trains.

The N Scale saw some good progression in terms of scenery, particularly the crossing at Taggart.

A view of the N Scale with the scenery taking shape. Paul E and David A are inspecting the track, whilst Tom F sets up for lunch just behind EBL (HO).

And let’s not forget Paul H being able to secure a storage solution for us. This was highlighted during the AGM and from my perspective has played a key role in having better access to our inventory. This also allowed Mike A to kindly bring Laxton up (HO branch) where it is now stored with the other layouts.

This obviously isn’t every highlight, and I implore you to look back through the blog to see individual meets as well as the Ditchlight, but for me these were some of the good, well-rounded achievements for us this year as a group.

Looking forward to 2023 then, the main excitement will be our open day at St Osyth, currently set for 24 June. We’re not planning to run this as big as we did for the May Meet in 2022, but with reservations for the hall running from the Friday eve this is the next step up from our usual physical meets. We’ll be looking to distribute some localised publicity for the community as well as some of the local clubs over the next few months.

At the AGM there was also discussions around getting Laxton up to speed and aligned with the Essex Belt Lines. One key component of those discussions was around aligning the two sets of modules in a way where we could directly utilise the EBL staging, instead of having to complete a loop on the main before our trains could gain access to Laxton. I’m excited to see how that comes along, as well as what I can do to support such a venture.

There have also been some interest from a few members regarding making our own modules. I must profess I have started looking into this prospect so will be looking forward to doing something beyond the starting board I have (below).

So 2023 is set to be another good year I think. Aside from getting some working modules running, my only other resolution this year is to move forward with focusing on a specific era and area, and to really up the ante when it comes to publicity for the N Scale.

Just under 12 months to go; here’s to maybe achieving at least one of those goals, and for another great year ahead of us…

Happy modelling and see you soon!

Neal K.