Modelling North American Railroads in the UK

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

Thamesiders' Physical Meets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Neal K
– Santa Fe all the way



Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 25th November 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Block of text alert!

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

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

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

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

End block of text.

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

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

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

Neal K
Santa Fe all the way

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

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 28th October 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My El Cap making the turn at Peach Meadows

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

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

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

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

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

Neal K
Santa Fe all the way!

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

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 23rd September 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Neal K
Santa Fe all the way.

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 26th August 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Super Chief coming to a stop at Laxton.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks again for stopping by – happy modelling.

– Neal K
Santa Fe all the way

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 22 July 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

– Neal K


Santa Fe all the way

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I hope you all have a great summer.

– Neal K

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.