Model railroading in the east of England and Essex

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, 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 December 2022 – Merry Christmas and a happy New Year

Thamesiders' Physical Meets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy modelling and see you soon!

Neal K.

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 26 November 2022

Thamesiders' Physical Meets

Our first arrivals for the last St Osyth meet of the year showed up at around 09:15, and they included the returning Paul P after his amazing holiday. We were also pleased to see again Mike A, bringing up Laxton which is now in the group’s storage, and Michael T to bring us some more interesting trains to run. Suffice to say the HO group had favourable numbers this time around and that was reflected by the Essex Belt Lines being almost completely ready to run by 11. This is also despite some final repairs being done to the central staging yard board, and some track levelling on the Dan and Patrick modules with many thanks to Paul P’s handiwork.

Paul P and Neal K’s combined super-superliner making her run past Peach Meadows. Train is being lead by Neal K’s two F40Phs.


The N Scale wasn’t far behind and a focal point for today’s meet was considering the tunnel ceiling and scenery for the left-hand return loop. There were also some recorded operations, with a much better quality compared to past footage with thanks to remembering to bring my tripod this time. The HO also squeezed some sequences in, but I still aim to favor the N Scale over the next few months, especially when we have the buildings and scenery out on the boards.

The consist making her way over the bridges


We did have a couple of visitors interested in the trains, but it is worth mentioning we had a small crowd’s worth of people coming in throughout the day looking for the St Osyth church Christmas fayre…?! The sign outside didn’t help… but I bet we’ve sowed some seeds of interest in the back of their minds…

Neal K’s Southern Pacific mixed freight arrived at the Ethanol Plant to drop off the tank cars, while Michael T’s 4-8-0 takes a hopper train to Peach Meadows.


My personal highlight for this meet had a tie between getting some great footage of the N Scale, and Paul P and I linking our Amtrak superliners to create a super-superliner consist! Regarding the former, I especially liked David’s Santa Fe long hoods and Dennis’ (aka dad to me) log train. The HO did have some difficulty with their trains, showing the behaviours I saw during the last meet where my F7A refused to respond to any commands. However, there was sufficient stock behaving themselves enough to run the layout, including my ethanol tank cars which were switched out and parked at the ethanol plant, and when it came time to pack up, being spotted to be taken off the layout.

A junior member’s Milwaukee Road G7m is going to retrieve the tank cars to pull from the SP’s consist and hold at the plants’ sidings. It will need to do a run-around before it can drop them off into the plant properly, but to do that, the SP train needs to leave. Hence getting the tank cars out of the way first…

And this is the locomotive after successfully completing the run around and now pulling back in to drop off into the dedicated areas for loading unloading, visible on the left where the model gent is standing on a catwalk.


One straight forward and almost on time pack up later, we are now ready for the AGM and Christmas lunch. We were sorry to hear of our usual caterer for the lunch falling into ill health, where Chris C very kindly moved us to the Swan to allow them to rest and where we all hope in good time, return to good health.

Dennis’ 4-4-0 American, in Minneapolis & St Louis RR, moving a freight car across Taggart’s bridges.

Dennis’ Milwaukee Road Baldwin VO-1000 switcher moving an empty log train.


If I don’t see you at the AGM or Christmas lunch, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy new year.


Neal K

David A’s Santa Fe long hoods crossing the bridges at Taggart.