HO Scale

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

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 27 May 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
Dennis’ CNW opening the N Scale portion of the stream with some track cleaning

Today marked a busy day for us with excellent numbers all around for good set up times overall. The HO was in a state of readiness before the N, and was streaming first. The N Scale however wasn’t far behind. The stream was up 30 minutes late; something I’ll try to avoid during the open house. We also were able to run until 15:30, something which would be dangerous during normal days.

The HO had changed its setup from a 7×0 to a 6×0, to ease concerns around accessibility and general safety around the stage. From what I had seen of items placed on the staging yards, there was still some decently sized trains, including one track holding my long express passenger and local, served by a doodlebug.

Both setups saw a mix of eras; steam, diesel and gas-electric (doodlebugs). The open house will be, in my mind, a very interesting event showing a decent variety of stock and consists. I was also pleased to see some free track space on the HO for those members which were not able to join us, but will during the open house!

Neal’s (author’s) Super Chief consist being pulled by a ABB lash up of F units.

There was a lot of fixing and fine tuning for the HO, and it seemed that way for the N as well, especially at the start. When things got going both sides of the hall were able to properly test their trains to a reasonable degree before lunch and pack up time. For me, my main goal was to test my ever closer Super Chief consist, with the recently finished interior detailed and lighted pleasure dome, and some of the other cars which I had recently classified into my fleet such as the dorm-lounge, 10-6 sleepers, the lonely 4-4-2 and the diner.

Author’s pleasure dome. It was a troublemaker this session so needs some more attention before it gets anywhere close to the open day.

Unfortunately, several cars had some troubles. Walthers is almost famous for their trucks needing a tune up, and the Rapido dormitory lounge still seems to have some coupler sag on one end, seeing itself quickly shipped off whilst in staging. The pleasure dome was the most disappointing of all; very pretty to look at but her trucks kept binding like no tomorrow. I doubt it is the hard wiring because my observation car had a similar surgery on it and is still running beautifully.

A CNW heavyweight consist pausing at the station on the N Scale while a more modern coal drag passes by.

I was also pleased to see Paul H join us for some running with a D&RGW SD9 (I will confirm that) hauling an ore string carefully around the Essex Belt Lines. Hopefully with at least two other backup dispatchers, I’m sure we could give Paul some time to run his own trains again, especially on the open day.

Paul H’s most welcomed contribution and personally one of the highlights from today.

Amongst the pre-Amtrak era steam and diesel consists Mike A’s more modern unit train introduced some auto rack spice, hauled by one of the more modern BNSF machines. Due to the questionable quality of the stream, my camera will need to be out at some point during the open house to create a similar collection of favourites as seen from the May meet last year.

Mike A’s contribution pulling past Peach Meadows

Paul H was kind enough to continue his search for the missing buildings by trawling through his attic, until he came across the missing billboard on Clark Junction, the barn on Peach Meadows and the tower for APT. The original station hasn’t turned up yet, but our stand in has done well (and not just because it’s branded by my road)!

David’s Canadian Pacific hopper train, complete with a cameo of the man himself detecting the audience a few moments before this was taken!

In spite of the errors plaguing my main budding passenger consist, a smaller consist hauled by an E8m with the behaving cars seemed to fare better, and close to pack up time I managed to get a run of the newer freight consist of mine out with an AB configuration of F Units. The only troublemaker on that consist was a reefer toward the end and possibly a branch line box car. Everything else ran superbly and with metal wheelsets and standardised weights, I was entranced by the clickity clacks as the freight passed by.

Author’s F Units pulling the mixed freight as Michael T surveys the operation. Prior to this, the train nearly had a run in with Mike’s as both were too long for the sidings, and he very kindly backed up his train and let mine pass. I’ll try to return the favour next time…

Speaking of lovely audio, I was a little saddened by the issues I faced still with the audio. By lunch time I was able to isolate default settings on my laptop and upon reviewing the second video’s footage, a conversation with a budding new member and the N scalers was heard; it seems a little patience does pay off. I was hoping to test the range of sounds which could be picked up by the mics during this session, but it’ll have to be at home now before the open house. There’s still a chance you too will be able to hear the rhythm of the trains!

Beyond that, it was noted Laxton was starting to run fairly well by the end of the session. Our younger member, Kian, had his trains moving around the area and we heard how Mike A, Paul P and Tom F had travelled their way there too, to get things going properly. Especially appreciated was Mike A’s head shunt to support operations on the Laxton yard.

On the rundown though it was between myself and Michael T running trains in and out of the staging area before we couldn’t hold off closing time any longer. I noted the return of the centipedes; as well as either the same switcher from last time or a new one come to plague the publicity officer’s terrible identification skills!

In spite of the last few trains stretching things a bit, we still managed to get out and away by 16:45. Definitely looking forward to the open house now!

– Neal K

Paul E’s coal drag on point with a BN Executive locomotive on the N scale.
ATSF Doodlebug from the author; a possible competitor to the RDCs. Note the pleasure dome relegated to the siding at Peach Meadows.

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 22 April 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
The livestream setup for this meet. This will likely be the setup for the open house.

This physical meet saw numbers a little thinner on the ground; long drives and the Americana weekend took at least two of our newer regulars. But all was not lost; both the N and HO had just enough bodies to get setup and running by 12:00 at the latest, with time for maintenance and getting the Laxton modules up for the first time since their arrival.

The Laxton modules up and (mostly) running.

The N Scalers elected to have the live stream running, because the HO was mainly focused on the introduction of Laxton with some solid work from Paul P, Paul H and Tom F altering the stand in corner board to fit within the setup, and then fixing the wiring so the power and control busses route through correctly.

This was the first physical meet with the Thamesiders where I didn’t run any of my trains. This would normally have been a weird thing for me, but surprisingly with only a month or so to go, I had a couple of things to focus on and worry about let alone playing trains. This includes making sure the livestream ran on the Thamesiders’ YouTube channel properly.

Paul P’s shark nose units hauling a passenger express past the point future Laxton-bound trains will need to take to get there.

My highlight for this meet was being able to setup all the electronics with only two wiring issues. It’s a positive outlook on supporting Paul H and the group in future and hopefully some more smooth setups to come. Watching one of Tom F’s coal drags move off from the staging yard after you have successfully setup the track power is a nice little feeling.

If anyone visited me and dad/Dennis’ livestream from the Royston & District MRC Exhibition, you’ll remember there was no audio except for on the interchange via dad’s phone. That has since changed now, and part of the main test was to get my new little handy microphones to work. In the picture for post you’ll see the little black tribble-like creature on the cable coming from the (not so 4K) camera. This is the microphone with a little windbreak. Watch this space (or a latter post) to see the virdict.

A view from the N Scale. I highly approved of this. Once you go all the way, there’s no getting away!

We got some good little shots from the livestream of the N Scale, but unfortunately there was some issues around the reversing loop and the control bus which needed the expertise of Paul H to help Dean, David and Paul E to try and isolate and figure out. David’s Arduino-driven reversing loop may see some reprogramming after some sound advice!

Due to the reduced numbers we all started packing up at 15:00 and were all clear by the usual time of 17:00. I’ve been meaning to suggest another double day at some point to the group… But the Open Day I recon will stave off that craving for now.

Happy modelling everyone!

Neal K

Dean’s extra long Amtrak service; she featured on the livestream predominantly and triggered some of the later issues with the reserving loop.

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 25 March 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
Tom F and Michael T’s unit trains meeting at the start of running on the Essex Belt Lines

Sorry to report there isn’t much pictures this time around; I utilised this session to mainly check a new camera I’d recently acquired and some new rolling stock, with the hopes of at least one of those being properly utilised for the open house. With the former, I forgot to bring a charger, so the camera was a dud (hopefully next meet). However, the rolling stock inauguration was a mix of successes and (temporary) failures, but more on that in a moment…

We had the usual attendees, and the HO was set up straight away for running, with the N taking some time out for some essential maintenance. We also noted that Paul P had successfully replaced a switch on the Patrick module, requiring only some last minute surgery to isolate the stock rails from the point blades before we were ready to go.

As the trains set off, I utilised a bit of time to set up the usual livestream station, this time near the Dan modules, with intentions to have two cameras to switch between, one of which a cheaper generic brand video camera I had recently acquired mainly for the purposes of livestreaming. It had worked ok at the Epsom Freemo meet a few weeks before as a normal video camera, but since I forgot to bring a usb plug for the camera’s power adapter, I had to relegate it in favour of a webcam overlooking Peach Meadows. Once the stream was live, I again posted it to YouTube and the NMRA Interchange, but didn’t make much effort to advertise it due to the lesser quality compared to the previous successful test.

Michael T’s ore train hauled by Climax

The session on the HO was mainly dominated by steam this time around, with some returning stars as well as a few new ones I do not recall seeing before, but apologies for not identifying some of them properly; standard quality videos tend not to yield much in terms of road markings.

One such entrant in the steam roster was my freshly converted GS-4 with a Soundtraxx Tsunami 2 decoder. It performed ok, however the wiring I installed between the locomotive and the tender caused some derailments, and there was a difference in height against her passenger cars, causing some disconnections here and there.

Overall however I was pleased how the locomotive performed on straight sections, as well as how well she upgraded considering she was an early Bachmann Spectrum. Getting her into DCC Sound has given me confidence to choose some of my older than me Athearn Blue Box candidates next.

My GS-4 approaching a derailment point

With the issues I faced with the GS-4, I took her off the rails and moved on to my hopeful standard ATSF Chief consist/s; they’ve always been a great go to for me as I start to properly research the consists. This month I aimed to have either the Texas Chief or the San Francisco Chief, specifically those which paraded around with the big dome lounges, one of which I had recently acquired and was eager to test. I also encouraged my REA obsession by adding in some express cars; a trio of reefers and a flat car carrying some REA branded containers (as stand ins for the more accurate Santa Fe flat cars and mail containers).

My ATSF F3s hauling a Chief, with a large contingent of express services latched to the head end

The big dome performed flawlessly. One of the express reefers and one of the coaches however, did not. I believe it was due to trucks being too tightly screwed to the frames, but there was also a loose joint at Clark Junction. I didn’t get the chance to test the full consist again, but the “fast mail” and just the standard passenger which I ran separately both seemed to fare better in the afternoon, where I decided to stop the stream.

My new big dome was behaving itself, but in either case Kian (above) and Michael T helped me keep an eye on it and the rest of the train

One highlight came up during the running of the express / passenger consist… One of the REA containers escaped the flat car into the scrap yard at Peach Meadows. I recall mentioning it to dad / Dennis, where I got this meet’s catchphrase; “Talk about mail order service right to your door!” Note the container-sized gap on the flat car in the picture below…

The flat car and the REA stand in containers; I’ve seen historical compilation videos showing some of the Chiefs running with mail containers like this.

After the mail order drop, I secured the containers to the flat car with some black tac…

No further unexpected deliveries took place.

Michael T’s auto-parts move, another personal highlight of this month’s meet

Following behind the ATSF Chief consist was another highlight of the meet for me; Michael T’s auto parts move with a little Plymouth locomotive. It was just fun to see this little move in between the massive lash ups everyone was running.

It was also excellent to see four separate groups of visitors, one of which may present a new member and the other a birthday party.

Well that about sums it up for this meet… Wait… Am I missing something?

The two Peach Meadows straight boards were left up for the Quiz Night.

The quiz night!

Myself, David A and Paul H (who usually attends the St Osyth quiz nights anyway) stayed on for our quiz night, with many thanks again to Paul H for arranging and setting up for us. I unfortunately wasn’t 100% sure if it was ok to take pictures let alone share them on here so I refrained, however out of a usual 30 we had 23 tables of teams in attendance, which looked full to both myself and David, however according to the regulars, it was slightly quieter.

The entire team running the show did brilliantly, with special thanks for the train-relevant round which had everyone guessing railway-related music!

Our team, the Railway Children, was joined by two other regulars to support numbers, however due to being one of the smaller teams and with two inexperienced people on board, we won the lemons for coming in last place. I also felt very disappointed in myself in the anagram round for failing to spot Fleetwood Mac. I in fact had listened to one of their songs on the way up to the hall!

Finally, one further head slapping moment was immortalised by a raffle prize; an orchid, failing earlier to answer which plant produces vanilla.

David A, our chairman, rounded off the night with an excellent thank you speech to those in attendance.

The quiz night was certainly a fun evening, worth the long day and one hour drive home in the dark for. Here’s to another next year where:

a) I will remember to bring my leaflets!
b) We will hopefully have another member or two join us

and most importantly…

c) We don’t win the lemons!

Thanks for reading and happy modelling all.

Neal K (Santa Fe all the way)

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 25 February 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
Dennis’ (large, bottom view) and Neals’ (small, upper left view) multi-scaled versions of the Southern Pacific making moves on the stream

I wasn’t expecting a massive success this weekend in terms of trying out a new way to stream, but my goodness did it work well! The only troubles I had was the internet connection being choppy at the start and my second camera manning the HO timing out every 30 minutes.

The N Scalers took back their award worthy setup times leaving the HO in the dust; we were down a member for the morning so were thin on the ground. The HO was finally up and running by 11:45ish. Things got interesting after that; my first action was to setup the next generation of live streaming; an updated webcam, my DSLR, a video capture card and the streaming program Streamlabs OBS. I did have a play around on the run up, with some frustration around my desktop computer, but I was pleased to discover my laptop took both feeds well and I could setup the new stream in no time… And on the new NMRA Interchange!

Tom F’s unit train – I lovingly called this the “Fast Mail”… Before I saw the reefers.

Suffice to say I may never go back to just streaming directly on YouTube… As you can see in the first photo I was able to present a view from both layouts, with options to switch sizes on the fly depending on what was interesting at the time. Steamlabs also gave me the ability to create a separate window which I could share with the Interchange; we got a couple of viewers there.

Even better was the ability to create an interlude for lunch, instead of killing the stream like I was doing originally…

My ad-hoc interlude message on the stream

So to be fair, being able to do that and have a very successful (in my opinion) first live test was the highlight this time. But there are several honourable mentions…

My very early Amtrak Superchief

That F7A that has been giving me trouble for months was finally resolved when I changed the address to something larger. It seems address 103 isn’t looked upon favourably by the setup, so using 1103 instead got it working. I very happily hooked it up to my (wannabe) Superchief consist, and they ran together with very few hiccups.

My Scaletrains engine we saw fail last time was now performing beautifully for the camera, seen here at Peach Meadows

Second honourable mention is the Scaletrains engine that stopped working last time – I successfully fixed it, and it dominated the HO view towards the end of the stream. The picture above shows this succinctly and as seen at the start of this post, had a smaller friend when Dennis (aka dad) pulled out his own Southern Pacific engine and caboose to run on the N Scale.

And finally…

Dean running his El Capitan consist across the N Scale’s bridge

Dean and his El Capitan for reasons you can hopefully start to understand (hint; I like ATSF and passenger trains!)

Throughout the day we did have some maintenance going on; Paul P fixed a loose rail on Patrick, fixed an alignment problem in between the Clark boards, and finally he continued work on Laxton. We also saw an issue with one of the feeders on Peach meadows which Paul H quickly took care of.

One thing to note with the streaming, a bit more preparation for the YouTube profile and on the Interchange would do a lot more for engagement and reach; the YouTube version of the stream didn’t have a thumbnail nor any tags, so the engagement wasn’t as big as the previous livestream. We were pleased to see viewers either way; it goes to show even a minimal amount of engagement with the intended audience grants us some viewership.

Breaking down and packing away was the usual effort, the last people leaving the hall around 17:00. We’re closer to readiness for the Open House in June, but there is more work to be done of course.

I’d like to remind everyone the Thamesiders are holding a quiz night in March after the physical meet. I’ll put up a dedicated page soon with contact details if you’d like to book a table. But before that, there is the UK annual FreeMo meet at Epsom to attend – if you’re going, see you there!

Happy railroading all!

Neal K

David’s Santa Fe U23 pulling a unit train across the bridge

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 14 January 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets

Our first physical meet of 2023 was, in my opinion, a well-organised one. Set out to setup quickly, the HO was up in record time thanks to another decent amount of helpers. The N Scale was not far behind and both layouts were running something by at least 11:00. With this quick win, the livestreams were able to return with some reasonable successes on the day, with an hour on the N Scale, overlooking the bridges at Taggart, and then another at Essex Ethanol on the HO Essex Belt Lines.

Dennis’ Chicago Great Western F3A hauling a unit train over the bridge
Dennis’ CB&Q E9 crossing the bridge with a passenger consist

Our first spot on the livestream was a SF Alligator hauling a track-cleaning box car, and there was a big push to get some equipment moving in the early stages. I spotted a personal favourite from Dennis’ collection, the CB&Q E9, as well as that familiar logging order now being what I believed to be David’s two truck shay. There were some issues unfortunately, and a decision was made to move the stream over to the HO to support some much needed maintenance on the N Scale. It seems there was a short happening somewhere down the line near the reverse loop, and after the lunch break the MOW crew had both return loops down and were working on them, so hopefully they got it sorted…

David’s two truck shay, taking its turn with the logs this time around

In terms of the HO, I set about fixing some pulled up rail at Ethanol, Paul P & Paul H looked at replacing some of Laxton’s points, as well as fitting some end boards to the standing fans, making all of the EBL modules now arranged in pairs for easier transport and handling. This month’s stock rosters included the usual express passenger trains and coal drags, but this time around the EBL had a brief dabble into the RDC locals, bringing about one of my personal highlights of this meet.

My (Neal K’s) pair of ATSF RDCs passing the Ethanol Plant

Both myself and Michael T had brought RDC pairs to run; Michael, from memory, had a pair of Reading & Pennsylvania RDCs, with one of them being an older model manufactured in the UK (It happened!), and I bought my newly acquired Rapido ATSF RDCs. We both had them out on the road for at least a lap back to back following one of the express passengers. This event unfortunately happened off screen when the N Scale had control, so there is no footage or pictures capturing both pairs. Maybe in future…?

Michael’s Centipedes hauling a long express passenger, with the engineer himself in the background

Taking some author privileges I’d like to take a small tangent and talk briefly about my RDCs (I’ll carry on about the meet after the next picture).

The purchase of these represent my final decision to stop investing in at least two separate eras and instead focus on a single era, including to my past self’s horror, offloading some equipment which no longer matched my chosen era. One of these “successful offloads” you’ll see later, but in line with that final decision came my first proper look into my models and their histories. To my delight I found not only Rapido’s description, but also another on the internet here:

ATSF RDC-1 DC-191

That’s it; I just wanted to share. What this means for my modelling plans is still unknown, but what I do know (a little) now brings me some satisfaction.

Back to the meet…

My Southern Pacific Dash-9, doing her best to get her unit train past the Ethanol Plant

Another highlight for me came in the form of newly-delivered pre-order which suffered a small fall the night before the meet. Thinking nothing of this little accident, I packed my new Scaletrains Dash-9 to run on the EBL. Little did I know the engine obviously had some internal mechanism damage as the front axles were refusing to spin, forcing all of the engine’s work onto the rear axles.

Since this was on the livestream, there were many notable instances of the hand of god. Eventually I managed to get her parked at Peach Meadows station awaiting rescue. The rescuer was none other than our younger modeller’s Conrail Dash-8, passed on to him from my collection as a Christmas Present.

A meet between old and (kind of) modern; Kian’s Conrail Dash-8, and Michael T’s mallet. The former is pulling into the siding at Essex Ethanol.

It was here the next highlight came, in the form of a meet between the Dash-8, and Michael T’s mallet; something I imagine never did happen and may never happen outside of possibly an excursion gone badly wrong…?

After the mallet’s train pulled out, the Dash-8 reversed back onto the main to proceed to rescue the Dash-9, and back to staging. I hope to have the Dash-9 repaired in time for the next meet, provided my lack of care hasn’t caused something too serious. There was one final highlight of the day…

My ATSF express passenger behind a E6 AB consist

Not as well researched for ATSF express consists as I am with the RDCs, I decided to bring what I believed to be a common express passenger consist of the ATSF. Whether this would be the Super Chief is up for debate, but until I can paint and light all cars (and especially a drumhead), it serves just as well as another freelanced express passenger such as the Essex Belt Limited Chief.

The highlight around this was in the face of some troubling derailments for the other modellers, this train ran every lap without a single issue. I believe I managed to score 5 laps in before it was time to pack up. It’s nice having at least one of my trains run very smoothly for once. We agreed to start packing at 15:00, and much to our surprise (and frustration) we were almost done by the time it was 16:00. You know what they say about it being better to be early than late…

Overall a good day I would say, and an okay start to 2023. My thoughts are with my parents and nephew on this the 16th anniversary of my sister’s passing, and my thoughts are with the group and the individual close to them whom recently was diagnosed with a serious illness.

Please keep them all in your thoughts and hearts for us. Stay safe, happy modelling and hold your loved ones close.


Neal K

My Santa Fe GP50 and GP60 pulling a reefer train

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 22 October 2022

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
Dennis and Dean working the N Scale’s yard

A Burlington Route E7 crossing the bridges at Taggart. Photo by Dennis.

The first arrivals turned up at the village hall around 09:00, and the N Scale contingent was more represented this time, where the priorities were also switched in terms of essential maintenance. Some new end boards were measured and installed for the HO, allowing the yard to come together in pairs instead of stacking atop one another, reducing the risk of damage to track and easier transport to and from storage.

As noted previously, we were able to get the majority of both layouts in the storage solution so it was a case of transporting the modules from the solution to the hall. We tend to stack the legs and braces for EBL on a single trolly, and use the sack barrows and second trolly to transport the modules themselves.

Dennis’ CNW reefer train, with a noted story about witnessing a long reefer train such as this pass by during his youth.

The HO’s setup was complete around 11:30, with the first trains running shortly after despite the setup not being fully complete. It took a moment to catch up with proper operations, but once done it was mostly seamless.

The N Scale for this meet returned to the classic L shape setup with Taggart, and the bridge corners. EBL continued with the 7×2 setup, and with many thanks for Paul H’s efforts, we now have a control panel which supports EBL’s signals and points again.

Now with a working panel, we installed the signals on EBL. These worked well as always (provided the right ones are installed!)

The N Scale saw a big reefer train, an RAE express service and some interesting Santa Fe / BNSF freight services. The Essex Belt Lines, once up and operational, saw two express passenger consists, two medium freights and a Southern Pacific commuter.

As I’ve understood there were a very little issues with the N Scale, and a couple on the HO. Noteworthy of course was the dead spot on Ethanol again; it may take a proper maintenance session to get that right but larger wheel-based engines or multi-engine consists may have a better time over this area until then.

Paul H’s new control panel for the 7×2 setup.

It was also noted one of the bridges is loose from its supports. This didn’t seem to affect operations but it was an item to monitor for us, especially when we are transporting the bridge modules across bumpy surfaces and slopes between the hall and storage.

We broke for lunch at around 01:30pm, making some basic plans for the NMRA Convention next month as well as potentially the next physical meet. There was also brainstorming for the Summer Open Day next year, so I will making moves on that shortly!

Another shot of the N Scale, this time with David and Paul E looking over the return loop. Tom F is in the background, readying EBL for break down and pack away.

A CSX Grain Hopper at the N Scale’s grain elevator. Photo by Dennis.

We started breaking down EBL at around 03:15pm, successfully finishing up just 10 minutes past 5. The N Scale was much quicker, but the gents kindly helped us with packing. Teamwork certainly makes the dream work…

My personal highlights for the day was getting to test my newly-converted GP9s, one of which worked flawlessly, and the other not so much. I also was able to try out my MTH F3B in a basic El Capitan consist (with admittedly more Express Baggage and RAE cars than passengers – Could this be prototypical? After a certain time, who knows?)

Looking at the rear end of the reefer consist, and at the front of the Mail/baggage express.

A Chicago Great Western GP30 on its way to the pulpwood mill after crossing the bridges at Taggart. Photo by Dennis.

Glad to be reminded, you’ll see I was able to get some shots in of the N Scale; my usual bias for the HO is hopefully being suppressed now, especially since the layout overall is progressing so well. Admittedly, it’s hard to multitask when it comes to trains, and reaching over the scales takes effort as well as the other Thamesiders’ reminding me.

A wonderful time as always; we had one visitor and several inquisitive lookers. There was understandably less compared to last month’s because of my slip up with the parish magazine. I definitely sent it this time; it’s due out at the start of November.

Happy modelling everyone, and see you next meet!

Neal K

My SP Local making a stop at Peach Meadow’s station. My intention here was to do a run around and swap with the engines, but we ran out of time and had to start packing; hopefully next year…