Essex Belt Lines

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.

The Thamesiders Open House 2024 – Friday, 21st – Sunday, 23rd June

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
The culmination of work as inspired by Dean H – the circus dioramas.

With Paul H on holiday, I had volunteered to be the key master for the entirety of this event, and upon reflection, it seems all went very well thanks to being able to work with Paul in advance to understand what was needed, and the support provided by the group overall. Arriving Friday around 16:45, we set about packing away chairs and tables left behind by the previous booking, and setting up the layouts.

The N Scale, as normal, was up and running first, and the HO didn’t quite finish on the Friday but the modules were up and the loop was hooked up and tested. Laxton’s power, the back scenes and the signals would all be up before start time on the Saturday, albeit the last of that list not actually working at all. I tried my best to isolate the problem and remember the steps needed, however after a good 30-60 minutes, we had surrendered and just accepted the layout would be running without signals.

We also failed to locate the cloth “hides”, so the layout’s legs were exposed, and not for a lack of trying, with myself and Paul P, where he could, checking every possible storage location including the stage. By that point I, and likely everyone else in on the Friday, were tired and understandably, were all gone by 21:00.

Michael T’s transformer move backing down the main past APT, demonstrating the lack of signalling.

Saturday morning saw the final rush to get everything installed and working, including Brett from Coastal DCC / Orwell Model Railways settled in. My main priority was powering Laxton and after that, getting the pi running which thankfully, seemed to come online without many problems except for the fore-mentioned signalling outage. By 11:00 the majority of our guests had arrived, the trains were running and we were able to relax for the moment.

The N Scale seemed to do very well, with only the occasional derailment affecting the trains, and the newest line up of modules, particularly from Paul E, Dean H and Dennis K’s modules forming the core scope of the N Scale’s compliment. I was personally very pleased to see Dennis aka dad happily running his trains over the modules he has worked on. I’m sure with some scenery they’ll be as beautiful as the others.

The N Scale yard eager to get going.

The livestream, as communicated in advance to the group, was again, a flop. I didn’t get a chance to test the livestream in advance and therefore I was not able to isolate the sound drop issue in time for the weekend. However, one of the great successes of the day came from just recording the trains on both layouts in turn. I have around 2 hours of fairly good footage – WITH SOUND – eager to get up on YouTube. The setup and pack up was also much quicker, simpler and therefore much more enjoyable. I may not abandon the livestream idea entirely, but moving forward I believe it’s best to go with recording the day for later, especially when access to the Internet is spotty, as is the case in St Osyth.

I recall the first of our major tests on the HO came in the form of a communications blackout entirely on Laxton and on all boards from there to the Ethanol modules. After checking each connection with a controller in turn, I was able to isolate a plug hanging loose from the socket, and sticking it back in remedied the problem. In hindsight, I would have found a replacement for it then and there, because it caused more grief on Sunday.

We also encountered shorting problems on Clark Junction’s only switch; and after an extensive search, we seemed to fix it by just removing and restoring the 12 pin plug. It’s possible it wasn’t screwed in tight enough, but the suspicion carried over to APT and Ethanol too, especially on the Sunday,

Kian R’s SDP40F hauling the Super Chief.

When I was able to get my trains out on the layout, I had several moments of pride. One, being the SDP40F Athearn Blue Box unit I had recently converted for the nephew, Kian R. Outside of the problems mentioned above, it ran very well thanks to hard wiring the track power and running the gears through some pearl drops. As promised to Kian, I let him have it pull the Super Chief, which was captured on one of the videos. Remembering to get the Indian Series sleeper I recently converted turned on, I was almost emotional seeing the rear half of the train making the curve at APT and the bridge modules. From the Pleasure Dome down, with the exception of one car, everything was lighted and had some painted life inside. It was gratifying to see several months’ worth of work coming together, and it’s why I have been doing it, and will continue to do it for the rest of the Super Chief, and any other name train I will have time for.

Lastly, I was able to get my ScaleTrains’ GP30s out on the road. Recently run in and eager to work, and through the observations of Mike A, we were able to spot some slight push-pull problems with the units, so they may need some speed matching when I next get the chance. I also have a GP35 to join them in a consist, and that will certainly need speed matching too. Also, as we were running, we spotted some sanding piping getting dislodged so I just removed them. I am sure they are great details to have, but if it doesn’t want to stay on, there isn’t much point to having it. Beyond that, I was very pleased with my new work horses. Why I decided to run them with modern stock is beyond me – I think I just wanted an excuse to run trains no matter what!

Crossing timelines with 60s locomotives and modern rolling stock; all in the name of running my GP30s!

And so it went for the Saturday. We seemed to have the same visitors as before, if not in a more grouped together session as opposed to spread out. That being said, it did seem busier and more energised compared to last year’s event, likely because it wasn’t as hot. Both Paul P and Paul E’s wives were there to lend a hand, and with gratitude as Paul P needed that extra support. We were also joined at one point by Tom F’s better half and their lovely greyhound. Such excellent memories.

We ran down on Saturday around the 19:00 mark, with plans for fish and chips scuppered at the end. We had to say goodbye to several members that evening, mainly due to travel times and managing their health, all very understandable and not really a problem considering we had half of Sunday to break the layouts down and pack away.

An N Scale meet between Dean H and David A’s curves.

The Sunday however, did not begin with fanfare for the HO. From the beginning, there were problems, particularly with the Ethanol plant. It started with APT’s point constantly resetting, quickly fixed with a cable adjustment, but it was joined by resetting points on the Ethanol branch, which continued for some time throughout several rounds of troubleshooting for those issues and others. At some point between fixing APT and giving up, the communication issue happened again at the same location / same cabling. It started as a track power failure but soon became clear there was no line of communication to the command station.

When Laxton was back online, cable re-seated, and Ethanol seemingly stable again, did I start testing, and failed at Ethanol with a short. It was at this point we decided to just give up, and started packing up for the day. With the short term failure heavy on heart, and the prospect of breaking down and packing the layout ahead, it didn’t take long for me to reach a point where I wanted to be done with the whole layout, and taking lunch at that moment gave me time to calm down and remember why I was doing this, allowing me to return to “work” in higher spirits. And, I was happy to see the N scale was still running fine.

The only time the Super Chief ran prototypically on Saturday; more time was lost ensuring the layout ran and general troubleshooting.

Being the main point of call to fix problems and ensure the layout is kept running does bring with it a lot of responsibility, and I was glad to have experienced it, even if it was slightly unpleasant at the time. My respect for Paul H and what he has done over the years for the layout and for the Thamesiders has grown significantly, but that isn’t to say it wasn’t low to begin with. I may do things differently for my own modules and hopefully my own layout in the not so distant future, but I will always remember where I got the inspiration and the skill.

So in summary I believe I agree with Dean when he said to me on closing, that it was a “great weekend”. It was certainly tough, and I know I was losing my cool during several moments, especially on the Sunday, but otherwise it wouldn’t be something I would regret, or shy away from in future. I suspect trying to run a terminus station would be a lot more challenging than running a looping mainline with a branch, but that comparison will have to wait for now.

My thanks again to you all whom were able to come down and show your support, but I would especially like to thank Mrs Evans and Mrs Purnell for their attendance, assistance on the day and looking after their husbands so we could all enjoy the Saturday together.

Neal K
Santa Fe all the way.

Chris J’s NS loco hauling a hopper train towards the Taggart crossing.

Thamesiders at West Essex Model Rail – Saturday, 27th April 2024

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
Neal’s El Capitan stopping at Peach Meadows, photo from Stu’s video

As you may have seen, in place of our regular physical meet this weekend, the Essex Belt Lines (the HO modules), found themselves invited to West Essex Model Rail at Marshalls Park Academy, Romford. They were in good company, with Dennis K and his Squaw Falls N Scale layout, Chris C representing the EM Gauge Society, and Mid Essex MRC with their EM Gauge layout, Blackwell’s Brewery Company.

The layout arrived at the venue at around 18:15 on the Friday, and myself, Paul P and Paul H got the boards up and had most of the electrics connected by roughly 21:00, where we were the only visitors left so we decided to stop there to return in the morning. From 08:00, we were in and finishing up the setup with Stu T and Michael T. Not too long after our arrival did Dennis K and Kian arrive with Squaw Falls. The layout was up and presentable by around 09:30 with the livestream attempt starting at around 09:45.

Stu T’s SW8/900 working the industry at Peach Meadows

The first hour or so from 09:45 was a little rocky, as we had problems with one of the Ethanol switches, so we had to essentially abandon any plans for having the run arounds at the plant and the Patrick board. To complicate things further, not too long into the setup in the morning did we find no Ethanol signals. Therefore, the only run around available was Peach Meadows and we all had to be very careful with the unprotected main after that when heading to the plant.

We also identified two problem areas on the staging yard, one causing derailments for every train that passed through and the other requiring hands to push the train to the other side. As expected, we were soon versed and aware of these, avoiding them at any cost. After these problems were mitigated, one particularly thanks to the efforts of Paul H on applying a temporary fix on the Ethanol board, we were running a lot smoother.

Paul P’s PRR local headed by a Shark Nose navigates the curve over the bridges

The livestream unfortunately failed. The dreaded audio silence problem had reared its ugly head, and the playback device plugged into the camera overlooking the Ethanol Plant started failing, or at least, one of the cables did. The webcam at Peach Meadows thankfully remained stable, so I kept the stream on that and just hoped the lack of audio wasn’t a serious issue and was the only issue moving forward. To my horror, it wasn’t, and by around forty minutes in I found Streamlabs hadn’t taken my event for EMR from YouTube, and instead had used the description from the 2023 Open House. To add insult to injury, the stream to YouTube closed after the 40 minutes.

After multiple attempts, I did manage to get two hours of streaming, but by that point I had also started recording directly to my laptop. The two hours of streaming did not happen on the QR link I had placed on the layout, so I settled with getting recordings and abandoned livestreaming at that point. With testing, troubleshooting and a bit of luck, I will hopefully have fixed any issues with livestreaming in time for the Open House, but I will remember to have recordings as backup.

Dennis with Squaw Falls, photo by Stu T

With the start up problems ironed out, the layout generally ran very well up until pack up time. The general consensus was passenger, both express and local, but there were some freight ops and Stu T took the lead on some local freight operations by doing run arounds and back ins into Ethanol (where possible) and Peach Meadows. If I can ever get over my love for my passenger trains (unlikely), I may take Stu’s inspiration and support the layout’s freight capabilities like the early days of my membership with the Thamesiders.

Michael T brought back his Triplex, and his PRR S-1 with complimenting passenger cars. The challengers to these were my Super Chief and El Capitan. The SC was being hauled by my F3s, and the EC my F7s. All ran very well, except for a troublemaker baggage car and a dummy FB unit. I believe the couplings are drooping on both. The only other troublemaker on these consists was my newly detailed 11 Dbl Bed sleeper, Indian Song. Like the Pleasure Dome, it suffered the occasional derailment likely due to the way I fed the wires from the trucks – I did notice from the PD it can be an exact science at times.

After a couple runs of both, I decided to go Super Cap. I properly cut the F3s from the SC consist except one dummy FB, side-lined the troublemaking baggage car and dummy FB, and reversed the El Cap onto the SC. The Super Cap made two runs before I made the mistake of routing her onto the derail track, and there I used god hand to save the SC consist and get it onto a separate road where eventually it was put away. The EC saw one more run before joining the SC in the box.

Overlooking staging and the Super Cap after a fairly successful run

General interest in the layout was grand. There were several moments the scenery section was watched by a sea of punters. Everyone had something to be enamoured by and everyone operating and supporting the layout did their best to engage and give information. I myself volunteered my services to a member of Ilford and West Essex to try and troubleshoot his Triplex and Yellowstone. We were not successful with the former but had some luck with the latter and ran the Yellowstone behind the El Cap. If I got such a pleasing event on livestream or on the recordings is something to find out later. On reflection, I should have probably offered my services after the fact as opposed to during the event. I might have missed some cues regarding the livestream failing and could have supported the layout better. However, there is hope it served as an olive branch to a person willing to visit us later. Any little gesture must help these days.

The folk from my second (officially first) club Mid Essex were also interested in the layout, and I recall at least one hoping to see us in June on the Sunday after the Open House. I do know several members having HO in some form, one even running Canadian, whom would love a go running their consists. The general feedback has been good, but I do note the location could be and has been problematic for some in conversation. With such things one hopes the desire for trains defeats their reluctance to travel. I know it did with me, especially with facing the A12.

With the wife arriving in the afternoon, I took a stroll with her through the rest of the exhibition and noted similar interest and volumes as we did, and we even found some HO vehicles I could add to my expanding collection which will hopefully be added to some kind of layout in the not so distant future. We also used the time for snacks and tea breaks, returning to the layout not long after saying hello to Dennis aka dad, and Mid Essex.

Michael T’s S-1 taking the curve at Peach Meadows, PRR passenger express in tow.

As with all good things, our dreams and enjoyment began to fade around 16:30, when we saw the stream of punters run down and the vendors beginning to pack up their wares. Michael and I set a freight and my RDC to run laps, while Paul P ran his shark nosed local one last time. As they did the laps, we packed up everything else until finally, the boosters were switched off and break down began.

We escaped in fairly good time but as expected were the last to leave, but not by too long a time. I think towards the end I was running on autopilot, as there was many a time the wife was willing to help and I just couldn’t think up what was needed to do next. Thankfully the guys helped out and she made an excellent contribution.

Speaking of which, it’s important to recognise the contributions of Michael T, Paul P, Stu T and Dennis K for making the event go smoothly and representing the Thamesiders best. But most importantly, Paul H, for not only the above, but also specifically in securing suitable transportation for the layout and being our guide in ensuring we kept running and stayed interesting, and as usual, with the help of the others, keeping the layout itself in working order. I sincerely hope everyone named got something out of the event and continue willing to help in future events, because without them it would have been much more difficult, expensive, and above all, not as fun. I find with this hobby it is hardy about why you started, and more on how you’re finding yourself getting more interested and more involved. For me, it is working (and playing) beside people like these, and seeing what they’ve done and are doing for this layout, the Thamesiders (and Squaw Falls), and therefore the hobby itself.

Here’s to another one like it, or at the very least, another invite at some point in the future. I would love to do it all again.

Neal K
– Santa Fe all the way

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 23rd March 2024

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
Stu and Dean running some trains on the N Scale, overlooking Dean’s progress on his return loop.

After last month’s hiatus (and prioritising the NMRA BR Winter Meet), it was good to get back in on the physical meets. This time, the N Scalers outnumbered the HO chaps, and things went more slowly for the HO, purely because Paul P and Paul H were hard at work improving things and fixing some issues on both Laxton and the looping modules in preparation for West Essex Model Rail. Missing at least two regulars, we did our best to get at least the loop up at a decent time, but it was 12:30 by the time it was operational.

The N Scale went up fast, however they faced some issues with the command station, particularly with the phone throttles and then later on with patchy connections. However after some troubleshooting and adjustments, things started to run. It was good to see the usual running their trains as well as Paul E and David A doing their best to keep working on their modules. Fingers crossed they both get to a place where they are happy and satisfied for the open house!

I had a chance to stretch the Super Chief’s legs… again… On the HO. I may never tire of it, especially with the way the car detailing is progressing.

With both layouts up and running, those that could, or at least didn’t want to get in the way of those working, ran some trains. I note from Stu we had a UP unit train, and Dean got his El Capitan out. Dennis (aka dad) in receipt of my recent acquisition of the CP Rail Angus Van #434677, as seen at Mangapps, took it on a trip with some of his trains where possible. I’ve lent it to him to run on Squaw Falls at the Chelmsford & District MRC’s Small Layout Exhibition on the 6th April. Squaw Falls will also be at West Essex Model Rail on the 27th, so there should be ample opportunity to get some shots of it, unlike during this meet.

As for the HO, we really only got an opportunity to either pitch in on the work or run some trains for about an hour before packing up again. I was able to get my Super Chief out, this time being led by a ABAB consist of F3s, and the trailing cars missing one late era Indian Series Sleeper as it is currently in the shops receiving detailing, passengers and lighting. A duplex sleeper, normally from the same name series, stood in to represent. These sleepers were the configuration prior to them being upgraded to 11 Double bedroom luxury sleepers, so they represented an era before what I was aiming for with the rest of the train. As part of the power pool on the train, I tested out the upgraded Athearn Genesis F3A #34C with Soundtraxx Blunami. With the app it worked well and as expected, but lashed with the others and running on conventional DCC it didn’t seem willing to co-operate. I believe address 34 was reserved for an accessory elsewhere on the layout so I’ll probably renumber the loco to address 340 to be safe, and try again at West Essex Model Rail. MTH F3A #22 is due to also receive Blunami, and with any luck it’ll be ready and speed matched with the rest of the F3s in time for West Essex.

The only other train running on the HO; a GP30 and a SD24 hauling a short freight.

The other train that had a run on the layout was a short freight, starting with a GP30 and then later an SD24, the latter of which wasn’t speed matched and was essentially being pushed by the GP30. Either way it looked good and with any luck I can add and speed match more locos to represent a typical freight of that era matching the later ATSF passenger consists.

As mentioned, Paul H did some brilliant work on Laxton to bring it up to the Thamesiders’ standard, as well as looking at some minor issues, especially with the 21-pin plugs, on the loops, before checking my work which to my pleasure, was (almost) spot on with regards to the cabling and electrical setup. Turns out the only thing I forgot was the semi-redundant switch on Peach Meadows which isolates the track! One to remember for sure in future. Meanwhile, Paul P focused on general appearance and track on the general loop, and then worked on the Ethanol Plant, bringing it back up to standard after several years of abuse. Dennis brought his modules in to work on too, and that was where his focus was after a short period of running. Progress is good and with any luck it will at least match Dean’s most excellent 180 loop.

Dennis was workin’ on the railroad.

With the absences we weren’t quite able to get Laxton to the standard we needed for West Essex, so it will likely mean Laxton won’t join the rest of the HO at the exhibition but hopefully we’ll have everything ready in time for the Open House. One particular mess up was my fault – Mike A had kindly provided some replacement point motors, and unfortunately as part of forgetting to bring my drill, that also meant the point motors stayed home as well. Fingers crossed such a mistake doesn’t happen for West Essex, but there will be opportunity to bring the drill and motors up on the Saturday morning if forgotten on the Friday evening!

During lunch, which most of us brought instead of partaking in the usual fish and chips, Dean was kind enough to showcase the T-Trak module demo he brought as well as the very interesting and very attractive prospect of “circus dioramas”. Everyone in attendance, besides Kian, took at least one disc of round cork and a stretch of Kato Unitrack, with the challenge to have them presentable and ready for the Open House, and then on to the NMRA BR Convention in October. I took three, with the hopes that the wife and Mid Essex MRC would like to do one each. I am pleased to report the Mrs gladly accepted, and we’ll find out if Mid Essex would be willing later, merely for the purposes of putting feet in doors.

Noteworthy works by Dean on his return loop.
Another noteworthy – Dean’s bus station as shown both on Facebook and during earlier meets

Beyond that it was break down time. As usual, even if we had the numbers, the N Scale always packed down and away first and they helped the HO where possible. We all got out by 17:00, or at least, everything to do with MRR did and a few stragglers helped to clean up the hall and hide the evidence of our presence. It’s too easy to think hours of setup and breakdown make these meets almost tedious, however it is the achievements demonstrated by those that have worked on their various projects which makes it worthwhile, besides the opportunity to run some big trains. One such example is what Dean had achieved over the last few months, and even more so, it’s good to see the excitement from the others as they work towards goals such as West Essex Model rail, the Open House and the NMRA BR National Convention. Besides that, it’s the monthly opportunity to get out of the house, get some exercise, and reinvigorate one’s interest in the hobby.

Finally, by setting up and breaking down the HO, we were able to get the inventory sorted of what we need in the garage instead of under the stage, and are now as ready as we can be when it comes time to load up the van and head to Romford. Any problems now will hopefully be ones we can sort inside the garage, or in the hall during the Friday evening.

Thanks to all whom came, and hopefully we can see more of you in the coming months.

Neal K
– Santa Fe all the way

Dean’s El Capitan consist. One of the many joys of N Scale – Kato and their train packs.

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 17th February 2024

Thamesiders' Physical Meets

Due to the webmaster and publicity manager being at the NMRA Winter Meet during this physical meet, there is likely to be no report to share just this once. However, if that changes, you’ll be notified on the front page.

Breaking news and up and coming events

West Essex Modelrail
We are pleased to announce in April, the Essex Belt Lines (HO Scale) will be attending West Essex Modelrail, alongside Sqauw Falls (N Scale) by Dennis. The event is being held on the 27th April and our friends from the Mid Essex Model Railway club will also be in attendance.

The Thamesiders Summer Open House 2024
We are also pleased to confirm the NMRA British Region’s support for our annual open house, taking place on the 22nd June at the St Osyth Village hall. We will also be supported by Coastal DCC and Orwell Model Railways, having their own stall in the annex just off the main hall. The main event will be on the Saturday only, however we have planned to have a second day of just general running on the Sunday. Visitors are welcome but don’t forget – the official event is on the Saturday only!

NMRA British Region Annual Convention “The Berkshire Express”
And last but not least, we are delighted to confirm the Laxton branch modules (HO) will be at Cookham, Berkshire for the region’s annual convention. NMRA members can register for the venue’s accommodation and general festivities for the 3 day duration, whilst non-members are more than welcome to come down on Saturday, the 26th October for the public show day. Several of our members are also on the organising committee for this event in partnership with the NMRA and Seaboard Southern, so there is certainly drive to make it a great weekend.

We will have individual pages up and publicity out in due course, but for now, mark your calendars and sign off those weekends with your families now so you don’t miss out!

Neal K

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 20th January 2024

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
Dennis making progress on his modules whilst important maintenance work takes place on the original N Scale layout

Our first physical meet of 2024 was started with the knowledge we wouldn’t be joined by the N scale layout as it is known – it was time for important maintenance and therefore a non-running session. Dean took the opportunity to work on the Taggart Bridge module, David on the pulp mill, Paul E on his loop and expansion board, and finally, Dennis on his new modules.

We saw the usual faces set up and run on the HO Scale, with Paul H and Paul P walking through the overall layout and identifying problems that needed rectifying. We also gave Rai’s fixed mainline on the Peach Meadows modules some running; spotty at first as expected but as time went on the choppiness settled down. As for me, I decided to continue my journey into the realm of the ATSF, especially considering I am now a member of the Santa Fe Historical and Modelling Society.

Just after Christmas and on the run up to this meet, I found myself in the possession of a proper ABBA F3 consist; all powered and all needing speed matching. I took my time at Mid Essex MRC to achieve this, hitting some problems on the way but eventually finishing what we saw at St Osyth on Saturday.

In the end the consist transformed from a hopeful 3 sound 1 silent to a 2 sound 2 silent consist of 3 F3s and one F7. My first ever sound-enabled F3, #22 by MTH, turned out to have a decoder which wouldn’t let me alter speed settings without MTH’s proprietary hardware. Luckily the other three units had more forgiving decoders installed. So, I relegated that to the storage case awaiting a replacement decoder for later and called up my unconventional stand in, my recently upgraded MTH F7A #39 with ESU Loksound. Unfortunately, it gave up during its first heat of the speed match. Therefore I pulled out the decoder and replaced it with a reliable Gaugemaster Ruby decoder. Speed matching was completed not long after that.

Author’s mixed F ABBA consist pulling the September 1967 Super Chief El Capitan through the Peach Meadows and Dan modules. Paul H investigates a potential power problem on the West Yard fan, whilst David and Chris can be seen in the background conversing over a Pulp Mill N Scale module under maintenance.

Thinking about the YouTube channel, and what I could bring onto the table (or layout), I decided to go with something easy which I knew were working (relatively) fine; my Hi Level El Capitan and Super Chief cars. Unfortunately there hasn’t been much progress in terms of detailing the cars, but those that were detailed still looked very good (in my opinion), and with the exception of the SC pleasure dome, ran exceptionally well. The pleasure dome just didn’t like coming out of staging for some reason, which I believe could have been a snagging wire from the truck. I’ll queue her up for the workbench and when I get around to fixing her up, I’ll take a look at the track power wires and hopefully replace that sagging antenna with something more solid.

The Super Chief El Capitan (or Super Cap) took all of my operational time on the layout, as I found it quite invigorating to be able to run something so close to the original with very few hiccups. I managed to snag several videos for the YouTube channel too, and with any luck the video should be up and viewable by now.

Otherwise it was a fairly quiet day for the HO with some testing being done on Laxton to ensure it is still in good condition, with Paul P running some of his stock on the yard to the sound of the busy N Scalers making their mark. It was also good to see the young amongst us eventually make some moves on the layout on his own, and from what we could tell he had a perfect run too.

Dean’s contribution – working on a yard board and the bridges at Taggart. In the foreground, Paul P’s test machine on Laxton as we take one more step towards the NMRA BR 2024 convention.

During lunch we broached the subject of a recent communication from an exhibition manager about potentially having a modular layout at a local show. With the N Scale down for maintenance the HO chaps agreed to offer some setups, and as a result Paul H and Paul P started their list of any issues left to resolve including the scenically decaying Bridge Modules, which Chris C took home to work on. The details of the potential setups were recorded and passed on to the manager with hopes we may get an invite!

Otherwise… Not bad at all for the first physical meeting of the year.

In terms of what’s next, February’s physical meet may see even less action as several of us plan to go to the NMRA BR Winter Meet at Stokenchurch; myself included. There’s a need to have some representation there on behalf of Thamesiders in advance of the NMRA 2024 Convention rollout, as well as the general interest that comes with events like these being closer to home.

It’s just a shame we couldn’t secure an alternative date for our meet this time – it is always a fulfilling time of the month when it’s time for the Thamesiders. If we don’t see you in Feb, then see you in March!

Neal K
– Santa Fe all the way

The EBL staging and general setup, as of January 2024.

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 25th November 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
Representing a weeks’ worth of hard work in (finally) getting a rear car with a working drum head

Our final physical meet of 2023 at the St Osyth village hall went by quite nicely. A small contingent of the HOers agreed to show up an hour early to try and minimise the impact on normal operations as we prepare our proposed layout for the 2024 NMRA Convention and allow Rai to fix a troublesome crossing on Peach Meadows.

The N scale also had a most welcome addition from Dean H with the brand new 180 degree corner, and I must say it looked very impressive and extremely professional. I was very pleased to hear a buzz around the area with the N Scalers running their trains up and down that portion of the layout. It certainly did feel like this meet was when the U-Bend layout became a reality, and even if I don’t model in the scale, it’s going to be exciting to watch the plan unfold.

Dean’s 180 degree board hosting the first step of the future U-Bend layout for the N Scale.

We also had the pleasure to see Paul P’s work in progress modules, which in themselves, rivalled Dean’s craftsmanship and care. Paul attached and matched them to the end of Laxton, and is planning to have it as a urban-running layout where there appears to be plenty of interest for spots and shuffling. There were also comments about how clean and exact his board joins were, especially between the switches.

I believe everyone whom brought a train had a run of Paul’s layout; I managed to get my RDCs onto it and they ran just as good as the track looked. It, alongside Dean’s 180 degree board, are certainly items to follow in 2024. It would be nice for me to have my own contributions, but it may be some time before I could match such contributions.

My RDCs parked on Paul P’s modules (cream-ish brown colour boards attached to Laxton), protected by the head shunt board, normally attached to the end of the Laxton modules.

Besides from seeing Rai and Chris C join us this time, we were also pleased to see Michael T and a potential new member for the HO. He was very kind to help us set up and did seem interested in both scales so fingers crossed we’ll see him again sooner rather than later. This time around I elected the Super Chief and the twin Budd RDCs to join us, the latter of which had one of the locos upgraded to ESC sound, and the former having a new car (and missing the diner because I simply forgot to bring it!), but more on that in a bit.

We did have a couple of hiccups on the HO; it seems the Pi had troubles with the IP address again and Michael T managed to help Paul H resolve it so the Wifi Throttles would work. However, due to the desire to run some consists and double headers, I managed to work out (criminally inaccurate: I read) how to get the consists to work on the Lenz handsets so fingers crossed the handsets are no longer a limiting factor when it comes to downtime with the pi or general maintenance.

Overlooking Rai’s handiwork, left hand side after the crossing. I did notice some easier running after this, especially for the Super Chief.

Block of text alert!

For me, this physical meet was an opportunity to aim for a goal I haven’t participated in since the summer; detailing my Santa Fe passenger car fleet. This time it was a Palm Series sleeper regularly used at the end of the main consists. It was an opportunity to creep closer to the goal of a fully-detailed consist, and finally model the end of train. Since I have already touched upon a Pleasure Dome and a 36-seat Diner, naturally I focused on the Super Chief consist but with the conundrum if I were to run the car in the combined Super Chief and El Capitan (aka Super Cap) consists, I’d need to a way to change between the famous drumheads.

In the week or so run-up to the meet, I managed to get a prototype working and then used that prototype to act as the first drumhead. This is what you see in the picture at the top and just below this wall of text. These utilise pin header connections, and they were able to bridge the door gate and the door itself. Then it was just a scramble to get a decoder, some basic lighting and the drumhead connections to work in time for this physical meet.

I was very pleased to find the sleeper and the drumhead ran very well with only a few minor issues in terms of derailments here and there. There is also a potential electrical engineering issue where the drumhead is dimmer when the other installed lights are on, and I suspect it is because it is competing directly through a string of LEDs on the common as opposed direct off the decoder and capacitor.

Finally, I realised the drumhead style I used needed to also have a red light if it was to be used with a car like this, however that was the beauty of a removable drumhead – I can build another with the red light and swap them out. I have some other priorities to attend to over the coming weeks, but I hope I can continue intermittently working on this sleeper, get it to a state where I am very happy with it, and move on to the next.

End block of text.

Custom built removable drumhead constructed and setup in time for the meet, running in with some relative success.

After lunch, I dedicated some time troubleshooting Kian’s locomotives for him; they were giving him trouble during the last meet and I had brought my NCE Power Pro kit along with track and crocodile clips. All problems were fixed or otherwise managed well, especially considering one of the troublemakers was actually DC! After that both gangs flexed in some last minute loops, with the Super Chief having one special run recorded on camera for the channel, and Michael a little extra time as we started slowing down and going quiet. We concluded our running at around 15:15 with a few last minute dashes, and was comfortably out by 16:45.

It was a very good turnout today and there is hope for it to be the start of a promising 2024.

Neal K
Santa Fe all the way

David A’s Santa Fe centerbeam unit train entering Dean’s 180.
Dennis’ troop train alongside his budding 12 days of Christmas train.

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 28th October 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets, Uncategorized
Alan S’ photo of both complete and current setups on the day

Our penultimate physical meet at St Osyth of 2023 went off with a few guests and later, a visit from Alan S! As a result, we were able to get up and running by 10:45 for a generally full day and a half or so day for N with the new bridging board not behaving itself for Paul E.

Paul H was very kind enough to bring his Pi 4 to do a trial run of operations (including WiFiThrottle) following the unconditional surrender of the old Pi the HO has been using for several years. Noted from the upgrade are more ports for displays, better processing and its’ own WiFi. Paul E was looking for some expenditure to avoid our balance getting too high, so perhaps getting a new Pi for the layout would be the answer? Watch this space…

Alan and Paul P started and operated on Laxton for most of the session

Not long into running on the HO, Paul P started work on some of the ski jumps and misalignments across the layout. The other modellers also explored some of the other areas which could be partially adjusted by loosening the holding bolts and adjusting some of the legs. The fixes, much to my personal appreciation and hopefully others, allowed my El Capitan consist to run the loop perfectly (most of the time), with the odd exception at Peach Meadows where my powered F3B unit intermittently derailed at the first point.

The N Scale experienced a future resolution when Dennis (aka dad) brought his first module to the club to align with the boards. His plans are to bring it and potentially others up to support a larger footprint approved by the group, a U-shape as it were, where David A’s current turn around board sits at the moment. In terms of running however, it sounded like unfortunately Paul E struggled with continuing work on the bridging board and operations on the N was therefore limited, but the attendance for the N was and is seeing more interested parties.

We were also blessed with the presence of another David whom assisted us in setup and tear down, and from conversations he is primarily interested in O Scale but did show a lot of interest in both layouts. There has been discussions amongst the HO members regarding our own modules so we may be joining the N in the great module railway challenge soon. In the coming months I am hoping to continue work on my first board and hopefully get it to St Osyth at some point next year to line up with either Delta junction or another member’s boards.

My El Cap making the turn at Peach Meadows

Lunch was at the usual time and during the sit down period we went over our wish list for a potential exhibition in 2024 or 25, moving on to everyone except a few energised stragglers running on both layouts. I was over the moon continuing to run the passenger consist, but I did fit in some freight and loaned a loco to Kian (aka the nephew) so he could run his stock and not be left out following some faults happening with his own locos.

I did bring my newly-acquired fresh off the manufactory SD28-2, however after a couple of laps it started shorting the layout which was a disappointment. However, this was just before the El Cap was pulled out, which certainly made up for it.

My Scaletrains SD38-2; ran beautifully once or twice, but then just decided to cause shorts after that. That doesn’t sound promising.

Overall an excellent session, especially one to prove the benefits of spending just a little time going over track joints and testing right before the main event; because a fine running layout means fine running trains!

See you all one last time for 2023 at St Osyth in November.

Neal K
Santa Fe all the way!

A meeting between freight and passenger; at the tail end of the meet

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 23rd September 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
My Alco RSD-15 serving on the Essex Belt Lines (HO)

This month’s meet could have been the first in a long time (if not ever) I would not have been able to attend – I was to return from my holiday in Amsterdam the day before. But alas, I made it in fine for some freight ops this time around.

We had a very healthy contingent attend today, with both layouts setting up in time for around 11:00 for some good sessions that lasted until 15:00. I had the opportunity to test out my new RSD-15 after a full tune up, hauling several box cars (mostly ATSF) very successfully. The HO found a few issues to address, including the Raspberry Pi no longer working with the ethernet port (for WiFi throttles). Paul H has very kindly mentioned potentially replacing it before he had to leave early, but was still able to leave us with a running setup where we could utilise the regular Lenz controllers.

The N Scale saw the return of Dean, albeit still struggling with his back so the setup was favoured by a straight run with the return loops at either end for a more cautious setup and break down time. We also had the pleasure of a potential new member tagging along after reaching out to us; he models both HO and N so there may be some contention in future if he decides to join us!

Dennis’ (aka dad’s) RSD-15 with their own string of box cars.

The main theme for the HO was troubleshooting issues and general tests. Lots of leg adjustment and levelling, including fixing a damaged main. We also picked up some small issues on Peach Meadows, but can hopefully fix those up during the next meet.

The N Scale hosted well for the interested party hopefully willing to join, whilst Paul E continued his work on the bridging board where, as of this meet, is looking very good in my opinion. The N Scale generally had Santa Fe running and/or dominating the layout (hell yeah!), where I spotted dad’s RSD-15, David’s own SF freights and some Alco PAs in the mix. You could tell I was having a ball during this meet.

Paul E testing his new bridging board, ready for that final layer of scenery by the looks of things.

With the excitement at the N Scale, the HO admittedly did have a more silent session, however we did see a Pennsy Passenger Express, a Maryland and Pennsylvania railroad 4-6-0 hauling a mixed freight and then a revisiting Amtrak. We were also pleased to see Laxton fully integrated into the booster setup, allowing us to run something larger as and when we desire.

We all started packing up at 15:00, with everything packed away by 16:30, leaving just general clean up and clearance where myself and Paul P left the hall closed and the store locked up. Prior to packing away, I did a walk around of both layouts capturing pictures of the track setups, where I hope to translate into track plans and diagrams for the website. Once we have those, we can then pursue different layout setup planning, plus opening up a more coherent (and multi-select option fpr) our proposition to exhibitions.

The future is bright but for now, we’re progressing at a steady pace.

Neal K
Santa Fe all the way.

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 26th August 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
A personal favourite moment – The Super Chief waits at Laxton’s yard limit, whilst a local piloted by Paul P makes its last hop of the day. The SC shouldn’t have been there; mistakes were made.

We were a little thin on the ground during this meet, so much so the N Scalers took the opportunity to continue works on the reversing loops, with emphasis on Paul E’s new spacer board seeing some further progression. We were pleased to see our (hopefully new) member Chris J attend as well; by the sounds of things he was able to run a loco or two on the N but it was good to see him around the HO too.

Paul E’s work in progress with a new board between his reverse loop and the pulp mill modules. Most of the work I noted was around the foam and the back scene this time around; it will be interesting to see how this one progresses.

The HO was down by at least one regular but the loss was made up by the arrival of Geoff T at least for the break down in the afternoon. However, we still felt the affects of the missing member in the morning by only completing setup of the layout by 12:00. In terms of operations therefore it was a shorter session, however the use of the setup was not completely lost. Paul H kindly provided a new booster, which took the place of the old faithful Peach Meadows’ booster, which will now hopefully be homed at Laxton… once it has a socket into the modules (of course). Paul P, as a realisation from our near-confused attempts to setup Laxton, painted some identifiers on each board so there is less faff in future.

The general setup of the HO post-lunch; by this time the staging yard would normally have a much healthier compliment of trains. The affects of the late setup is clearly evident.

Never the less, I was extremely pleased to get my favourites out on the layout. This time I opted for the separate Super Cap consists, starting with the Super Chief. Within this consist was a newly-detailed dining car, complimenting the pleasure dome. I started properly operating just after lunch, and pulled out my phone to record some videos. I managed to remember to do a quick consist walk through, and then several passing shots; overall I was very pleased with the set of clips I captured and will be sharing on the YouTube channel later…

Which leads me to my favourite moment from this meet; as I was too busy recording the Super Chief passing over the bridges, I failed to spot the train crossing the APT junction straight into Laxton. It was only when I stopped recording and checked the position when I realised the mistake. However, what followed was a fun little turn around session which was recorded across multiple angles, giving more footage to the future video mentioned above.

The Super Chief coming to a stop at Laxton.

Albeit having to man handle the items which needed to be turned around, the Super Chief was able to be turned around at Laxton roughly ok. It was a tight squeeze to say the least. The train then returned to the staging yard via the scenic main and Clark Junction.

Next was the Hi-Level El Cap, and unfortunately by that point my powered F3B had given up and stopped responding – relegated. There were also a couple of hiccups in terms of derailments and coupler disconnects, especially at Peach Meadows. I think the coupler disconnects was down to a sagging coupler on the F3A which I will hopefully take care of in time of October’s meet (September will be a busy month). The frustration with the disconnects caused to me to erroneously blame the unpowered F3B, and subsequently snap off the glued on coupler box (I promise I would have used screws, and will).

So with just one single power unit I trundled on. In spite of the difficulties felt at the common pain points for dropping couplers or tightly locked trucks, I did manage to score a decent clip of the train coming around the bend at the APT junction. Unfortunately however there were plenty of issues on the unedited footage; however for this one I did have the foresight to push the consist backward at every correction to hopefully allow for some editing magic later. Stay tuned folks…

The El Capitan taking the turn at AP Tower (the delta junction for staging and Laxton). Despite the issues I faced during this particular run, this was my favourite angle of all the videos I took today.

After the above shot we started packing up. I believe we started at around 15:05, and finished nearly on the minute at 17:00. A quieter, more settled day overall I feel, with obviously less operations time. Next month I believe there is scope to run a comparative check of all the staging boards; we have a lot of issues with rail alignment so it would be good to see which ones are at the correct height so we can make the proper fix without jeopardising the “Free” in FreeMo.

For me, I would have just returned from Amsterdam so if I am able to make it, I’ll probably only bring a small amount of trains (mostly freight). This should help me quickening the prep during the days before heading out to Amsterdam so I don’t have to do it the Friday before the meet.

Thanks again for stopping by – happy modelling.

– Neal K
Santa Fe all the way

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 22 July 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
The Super Cap – With one extra coach at the end she just fit in the staging yard for the 7×0. The power was soon shortened by 1 FB unit as the Pi couldn’t connect to the network, rendering all wifi throttles inoperable.

The battle of the A12 continues, with members either showing up early or a little late for this physical meet. Overall, the numbers were thinner on the ground with emphasis on the limited N Scale contingent. A decision was made to focus primarily on maintenance and fixes on some of the N Scale boards, and Paul P & Paul H took some time to investigate a few problems on the Laxton branch.

Setup of the HO was completed by around 11:30, and we suffered a setback with the raspberry pi not being able to find an IP address, therefore rendering all wifi throttles out of service. This meant one less F Unit for me as I couldn’t consist very well with the Lenz handsets, however it still meant the HO could run trains.

Return of a Thamesiders Veteran; it was good to meet Geoff, former chairman. Here we see him chatting to Paul P as a Pennsy local serves as a tester train for Laxton. All while the Super Cap departs staging in the foreground.

I was personally excited to try out my new El Capitan consist, but instead of just that, I decided to run the full Super Cap. Aside from a rough joint on the centre staging board, and the FA and FB decoupling at Peach Meadows, the only other issue I had with it was the Hi-Level Diner and Heavyweight Baggage car shorting out the layout. We soon discovered it was because I decided to use wheelsets with metal axles! We removed the pair from the Hi-Level diner and regulated the poor heavyweight from the session; hopefully to visit again with insulated axles at some point in the future.

We chose not to worry about a livestream during this meet, and I am personally liking the idea of potentially not running a full one again until the run up of another event. I may put it up here and there on each layout to catch some footage of something different, or to support members unable to attend. Watch this space – the trick to consider with that would be to ensure the chosen layout’s action is sufficient to keep people entertained.

Dennis making use of the N Scale downtime to check out his road-railers. There’s been a small resurgence of these seen recently on social media; I don’t blame him for wanting to get in on the action!

It was good to meet Geoff, former Thamesiders chairman whom kindly visited us to come talk about trains, run some trains, and chat about the history of Thamesiders. We also had a few visitors partly because of a confusion around the location of the St Osyth summer fete, but also because there was some general interest. All parties whom stuck around for longer than a minute soon had leaflets in hand – it was good to remember those this time around!

The Super Cap entering Peach Meadows, with an audience of onlookers including Kian R (foreground), Tom F (background left), Paul P (background right) and Geoff (background behind Kian).

I was very pleased with the performance of the Super Cap. Albeit running with a simple AB consist, and a mismatch of F3 and F7s, the lone powered MTH F3 pulled like a champ. I also gave my ScaleTrains BNSF Tier 4 Gevo a test run; it ran Kian R’s mixed train without any complaints. The locomotive represents one of the remaining few modern pre-orders I have on my list, with only special interest items remaining expected throughout the year. The Gevo is very impressive (albeit insisting on running and recording it with the packaging foam still in place on one side).

My pleasure dome sitting at the first crossing of Peach Meadows.

In terms of the revisiting pleasure dome, I was pleased to say it performed very well and only encountered problems at the staging area around the centre board, and when there were tight turns out of the switch work. I only need to replace the drooping antenna and I’ll be happy with the finished product. Next on my super detailing list is the Super Chief’s diner; I’m already about half way so with any luck, that piece of completed equipment will be present at the August physical meet.

We started packing up at 15:00, and was locked and away by 16:45; an impressive feat considering we were down on some numbers, and had some members not feeling very well on the day. The rain came around mid-day, and didn’t let up until everyone nearby was home and the travellers from further afield were well past the temporary speed limits on the A12.

My BNSF Tier 4 Gevo hauling a mixed consist under the watchful gaze of Kian R.

It was a nice, slower-paced meet for us this time around, and I did enjoy it. However, the following day was also Mid-Essex MRC’s Open Day, so it was quite a hectic weekend for myself and Tom F. I’ll be sharing some screenshots and videos of the action on the Zanesville (HO USA) layout on my personal YouTube channel soon, but you’ll be pleased to know we had a chap from St Neots attend whom showed a big interest in the layout and American ops in general… Naturally he also received a leaflet.

I think that wraps us up very nicely – happy modelling!

– Neal K


Santa Fe all the way

The Summer Open House – Friday, 23 and Saturday, 24 June 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets, Uncategorized
A capture of the vibe of the morning rush and everyone’s commitment to get trains moving.

Despite an onset of heavy congestion on the A12, we were not dissuaded from our task on Friday evening of getting everything setup and ready for the Open House. Every backscene, building and signal was placed (and sometimes repaired) carefully, and it really showed in the pictures and on the livestream.

We were hoping to get some private running in, but fixing everything up and ironing out issues took priority and by the time we were satisfied, it was 10pm. Most of the attendees would be on the day itself, and it was good to see some faces again, especially if we had only seen them online or last Christmas. We were also very happy to see a member out and around with us following the passing of his wife, and we did our best to make sure he got some well-deserved time in with the trains.

Neal / author’s “Chief” consist moving past AP Tower. Note the signal in the distance; the route to the Laxton branch.

On the big day, since we had the layouts up there was nothing else to do but get trains set up and rolling. Both layouts I believe took off at 10:00, with some potential issues on the N Scale which were mitigated in time for the main rush through the doors.

I had a few minor hiccups on the day for the livestream. My laptop (or me) had disabled the mic jack so there was a brief moment of no audio, but as soon as I found the settings, the sounds were back on. The N Scale’s mic wasn’t in until a little later; I made a bad call in believing the webcam would capture the sound. Then, at around the two hour mark, we were visited by a younger modeller, and he put his YouTube experience into the Streamlabs setup to potentially help us get more hits – We’ll see if that plays out as hoped over the coming months.

The livestream covered a slightly extended view of Taggart and the station for the N Scale, with hopes to move the camera later dashed by a dodgy USB connection I found on the Friday. For the HO, Peach Meadows was on the docket again but this time I was able to turn the camera around to face the opposite direction, but the starting line up I got I believe was a brilliant angle and made the HO look larger than it was. I will need to explore different options if I want to truly immerse the audience and show off both layouts more; possibly with WiFi or wireless options…? Watch this space!

The starting livestream view of the HO
The angle chosen for the N Scale; with hopes to diversify in future as more scenery is applied

I missed my opportunity to take shots of David’s Kootenay Lake and Dean’s On30 and T-Trak modules. I liked the look of all and did particularly enjoy how the On30 was flexible with the curves/junction orientations. It was something to consider with my own plans, especially when taking on the delta junctions’ lessons. My larger and longer term project could benefit from having a mixture of orientations instead of just one set design, and my smaller module plans could also help towards introducing some additional modules to use with the Thamesiders if we ever wanted to branch out further after giving Laxton a show.

The rota was well theorised but I did find, especially due to the early livestream issues and the need to pick up some additional hands from the nearby holiday park (aka mother), I may have missed some opportunities to go above and beyond for the group especially in the customer facing side of things. I think the main worry was ensuring catering was provided and manned, and I believe between all of us and in support of Mr & Mrs H, it was very well manned indeed. I was personally happy to run the tea/coffee job so it was done at least once.

A sense of the numbers seen during the day whilst Michael T’s triplex thunders past Essex Ethanol.

The numbers we saw through the doors I believe comfortably surpassed our reasonable expectations, hopefully bolstering donations and the sales for both the second hand and for Orwell/Coastal. Even if the public had not come, I believe the day was still worth it solely because it gave the Thamesiders a chance to properly setup the layouts to their intended specifications.

The benefits of N Scale defined by a meet between two trains on a double track mainline

Personally, I was also very pleased to have my “Chief” set running laps. It is a few cars, a drumhead and detailing short of the luxurious Super Chief, but It certainly looked the part in my eyes. I didn’t get much opportunity to properly setup any others, but knowing I managed to crack the issues with the recently detailed, populated and DCC’d pleasure dome means I can continue my plans to covert the rest.

The “Chief” streamliner set snaking through Peach Meadows, with the pleasure dome bringing shame on her shabby compatriots.

I did get the doodlebug out for a spin, but the mixed freight remained in the boxes, hopefully to see a proper run another time. In terms of getting some more action on the screen from the HO we did try to simulate passing manoeuvres, and there were hopes to spot cars at Peach Meadows but there wasn’t much drive for it, especially considering Laxton was running switching manoeuvres.

Two Portland & Western GP38-2s have the switching job at Laxton

The cake eating and running concluded at 15:00. 30 minutes ahead of our agreed time but at that point, there were no members of the public present and everyone was starting to slow down anyway. It was unfortunate however to see two members of the public arriving at 15:15, but in hindsight we barely made it to the 17:00 closing time, even with the additional hands. I personally blame the heat – by the time the day was over, my flannel was soaked.

In closing, there is a couple of things to consider and work at least for me. Over the next few meets we can look at what else can be done or what we could do better, but I believe we achieved what we set out to do with the Open House, but whether that would that mean we can start considering something bigger is too soon to tell. Give us time to relax, and catch up.

I hope you all have a great summer.

– Neal K