model-trains

The NMRA BR Berkshire Special – Friday, 25th to Sunday 27th October

Thamesiders' Physical Meets, Uncategorized
My ATSF 44-tonner standing by on the team track on Laxton

As communicated in several different formats including with the St Osyth Magazine, these posts and of course, the NMRA BR’s own communications, you will have hopefully realised we went to the NMRA British Region’s convention this year with the Laxton end to end, with several members being on the convention committee itself. So, what did it entail?

A good portion of the attendees, particularly those with layouts staying for most (if not all) of the weekend, arrived on the Thursday evening at CIM Moor Hall in Cookham, where we found ourselves first in the bar, and then in the restaurant, before retiring to our rooms for a nice, early start on the Friday. A lot of the feedback of the event noted the size of the rooms, and I can agree, they were rather small compared to the many other hotels I have stayed in, but on reflection, since I didn’t really stay in the room except to sleep and wash up, it didn’t matter to much to me. Other experiences of course, may differ!

The venue’s main building for reception. The main conference rooms we utilised were just out of shot on the either side.

Los Tanimals and Trainsporters had the benefit of their room/s being open early, so it was good to see them setup during the Thursday evening, but as expected both crew and owners wanted to relax with a drink or two before eating, so there wasn’t much operations. On the Friday morning however, it was all hands on deck and the centre became a hive of activity. With most getting breakfast first, the Thamesiders were soon deploying the Laxton branch in the Berkshire Conference Suites. Not too long into setup, we were soon joined by Dean and the D’IkeaKato, as well as the Barge Job.

The circus / D’IkeaKato dioramas as encouraged and assembled by Dean H. They were certainly a focus point for a lot of the punters, especially the younger ones.
The Barge Job; an N Scale L shaped layout just across from Laxton.
One of several “money shots” from the event of the Barge Job.

We were sorry to hear the Barge Job however not able to perform any switching operations, and therefore resigning to just running trains around the loop. It was not a detraction at all; far from it. There was plenty to look at, especially when the trains were running past the scenery sections, and we were very pleased to hear the owner, Benoît, was using parts of it for submitting to the Achievement Programme.

Not too far into the day, just before the official start in the afternoon of the Friday, we were joined by Anoraks Anonymous, a big draw for the punters and they seemed delighted to be engaged by buyers for most of the day moving forward. I obviously jumped in early and scored a few deals of my own, including a Southern Pacific steam loco; which will hopefully see the test track soon.

Another angle of the Laxton escapades – this time with an array of service locomotives including the full rake of detailed cars I had put on the RPM / show and tell tables.

It was around the point of AA’s arrival that disaster struck, and struck when Paul H was having a break. Something happened electrically, be it a short or a sudden stop, which rendered all layout unresponsive. We spent an hour trouble shooting, taking everything off and carefully putting them back on, using different handsets, turning the command station off and on again, trying different plugs… Until finally, I decided to google the problem, and the first result explained following a short, the Lenz command station may need to receive an emergency stop command to restore operations. This is what solved the problem, just before Paul H returned (unironically), but he did confirm the issue. There was an option to turn the functionality off, however it wasn’t much of a problem now since we knew about it.

Most of the other layouts and traders arrived on the Friday, but for the most part, I spent most of the time on the layout trying out my shunting lists and, much to my appreciation, running a livestream while doing so. You see, the great thing about convention centres are, is they have decent internet. So decent in fact, I could stream via ethernet, and watch said stream on my phone. It was a surreal experience, but a very good piece of media. By the end of the weekend, I had acquired around 15 hours of footage, hopefully more than enough to keep the channel going until the New Year.

Glacier – a N scale layout in the other section of the Berkshire conference suite, sharing the space with Mech Models.
Stevens Point Servicing – A HO layout representing the WC packing a lot of detail. Some money shots could be found here too!
Nove Mesto – Another smaller layout that also packed some details, but holding operations to the forefront of the mind.

That was essentially our Friday; most of the attendees on the day made time for Bill Schnider’s talk regarding the Rapido Way, just before dinner and settling down for the night. Admittedly, most if not all of the pictures were from the Saturday, just before the official opening for the public so with plenty of space to setup tripods before the punters streamed in. And if I heard correctly, there was a bit of a river’s flow worth of them on the Saturday, which was pleasing to hear.

After dinner, most folk departed for their rooms or the bar, or even the pub. However I took the opportunity to keep running with the switch lists, and I found myself running until just gone midnight. During that time, I was talking to the wife on speakerphone, prompting me to mute the stream, as well as showing the layout off to the security guard looking after the site. My body did ache after such a long day and such a long time standing up, so being able to settle down again for the night was worthwhile, and although I slept very well the night before, I didn’t so much on the Friday.

Dennis K’s Squaw Falls joined us on the Saturday next to Laxton.
Stu T and the T-Trak modular layout, another attraction popular the punters, and just across the way from the Berkshire Conference Centre in the Mayflower Suite.
Los Tanimals – An exceptional traveller and an exceptional layout to boot.

Alas, with several coffees and another hearty breakfast, I assisted Dennis aka dad with setting up Squaw Falls, before doing some rounds with both the DSLR and the video camera, capturing the pictures you are seeing here as well as the videos seen in the Berkshire Special Layout Compilation. After that it was giving dad the chance to have lunch and have a wander, as well as the other Thamesiders, especially those watching Laxton.

Saturday saw the FreeMo setup in the Regrave Room begin operations following several command station problems, but thankfully it sounded like the organiser, Geoff T, managed to get it working. It was an excellent feat especially considering Geoff wasn’t very well recently, and was still fighting some of the effects.

Geoff on the FreeMo managing to crack a pose even after battling the command station for several hours.
Geoff wasn’t the only one posing – the gents from Rapido graced us with a pair of good ones, representing both the UK and home branch of the company, showing of the soon to arrive items Bill and the team were very proud of.
Teniers Harbour, sharing the space with the FreeMo and Rapido. Another layout with a lot of excellent detail.

Shamefully, and in spite of trying to be careful and ensure I captured everything, I unfortunately almost missed another arrival on the Saturday, Keane’s Cove, which, by observation of many people, was arguably the favourite of the show. I had managed to visit the vendors in the same room on the Friday, but at that point I don’t recall the layout being there. Understandably, it may have had something to do with managing cost. I know there was a 3D-printed trader that only came on the Saturday because of the need to control costs.

Due to the general excitement and the list of things to do, I managed to miss all of the open clinics, including Bill Schnider’s layout tour, as well as Alan’s clinic. With the latter, I recall it being because of the need to help dad pick up Squaw Falls, which obviously was more important. We did make the raffle, which was worth the stay considering the amount and quality of the prizes being handed out.

Keanes Cove, a flurry of activity, detail and craftmanship. Or craftladyship…? Either way, a delight to behold and see.
Cessy-En-Bois, another continental layout worthy of attention with the detail and inspiration from a real encounter on the road in Europe.
The RPM / Show and tell table, as organised by Mike A. I was proud to present my lighted and detailed passenger cars, even if the quality of the models around them were just as good if not better.

After the public day, and dad on his way, cloth was draped over layouts and people tended to start winding down in favour of the bar or the AGM. Being my first full convention, I decided to step out of this one, but will hopefully jump in next time just to follow the decision making and hear the thoughts of those I may not have had a chance to hear. After that, and in not too long a time between, was the dinner.

With a special guest delivering the main speech, Dawn Quest, and her steps into model railways, followed quickly by the awards, including several well-deserved certificates issued to Benoît, generally inspiring me to try and start my own AP journey. We also saw the President’s award go to someone I had contact with following an invite to the CanAm FreeMo meet at the Warley club in Birmingham. I did get the impression of a man that was doing a lot for the hobby, and to see that award being presented proved all the same. I was also very happy to see Bob Norris, part owner of Los Tanimals, receive his Golden Spike award.

I think after the conclusion of the dinner, there was a general feeling of things being done and complete. Only because it felt like most of the punters had come and gone in between the two days, and although there was some disappointment on the Sunday, I think the rest of the weekend may have needed some assistance in retaining traders IF that was the expectation. The Thamesiders was no different; there was a general need to get home, and me not wanting to hold anyone up and feeling similar feelings myself, especially if the majority of the others were doing the same, I decided to call it there.

The trip from home to St Osyth, and then back past home and down around the M25 to Cookham, certainly felt like the Birmingham run back in early September. The same could be said for the way back, doing the same but in reverse. It felt good to help out, and it felt especially good to feel like I accomplished something with the switch lists, even if they weren’t the most popular method of operations.

All in all, I believe it was a very good weekend and I hope to do it again. The dream of having my own layout made up of modules is still alive, albeit having to wait on the house purchase (which is hopefully on again as of writing this in November). We shall things progress, otherwise I have other ways to go after the Achievement Programme.

Hopefully see you later in November for our final physical meet of the year.

Neal K
Santa Fe all the way.

The venue’s large chess board – unfortunately I never found the time to play.

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.