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St Ruth

A blog by D869 in RMweb Blogs

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About this blog

The layout of the Midland Area Group of the 2mm Scale Association

Entries in this blog

Pontefract 2020

A quick report from our trip to Pontefract this weekend. An excellent show where the organisers made everyone feel really welcome throughout the weekend and with a bit of a 'do' after the show on Saturday evening. St Ruth also won a pot for the best scenic layout . Our congratulations also to the layouts that won the other cups including Mills Bridge which was awarded best layout. I must confess that I completely failed to take any photos whatsoever so there are no piccies to accompany this post
D869

D869

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Tolworth 2019

Some photos from Tolworth. A good show, well attended and with plenty of quality layouts.     This IoW layout, or rather three linked layouts was just across the road from us. Always a nice subject and nicely done.   Harlyn Pier was our next door neighbour. A lovely layout with a T9 - one of my favourite locos. It moved off before I got a pic but the pannier was nice too.  
D869

D869

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Leeds 2019

Some photos from our trip to Leeds this weekend. A nice show with some good content and the food was good too so our thanks to the organising team and also the catering folks.   It was perhaps inevitable that we were next to John Aldrick's lovely 2mm scale 'Ivybridge'. Couldn't see much ivy on it myself though.   Looks like my flash triggered so this photo is hopeless - sorry...   I rather liked this model of Outwell Village on the Wisbech and Upwell. I
D869

D869

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Maryport 2019

Quite a long journey back from Cumbria last night so the blog posting had to wait until today. Some photos from our trip to Maryport - a general model show spread across two decent sized sports halls and with some very good layout content. It definitely deserved to be better attended than it was but we still had some very knowledgable punters come and talk to us.   Our train set   Whithorn - apparently Maryport (across the Solway Firth) is the backscene for this.
D869

D869

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Southampton 2019

A nice weekend down south for the gang at the Southampton show and a good chance to catch up with Jerry and Paula. A good show all around and nice accommodation too. We were also happy to be awarded the Founders Cup for the best layout by the organisers. No major issues with the layout but no show would be complete without a few niggles to put on the fault list and give us something to do when we get back to base. The black surroundings of the drama studio worked pretty well with our night scene
D869

D869

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Wigan 2018

Closing out our 2018 outings was a trip to Wigan this weekend. Friday evening saw us finding a local hostelry where we were amongst a rather partisan bunch watching Wigan play Castleford in the Rugby League semi final. Wigan won so everyone in the pub was happy although when we got back to the hotel we found that the non model railway occupants seemed to be predominantly from Castleford and rather less happy. The meal on Saturday was entertaining. We were sat on a table with the folks from the B
D869

D869

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Exmoor Rail 2018

Some photos from our trip to Minehead today   The venue is an indoor skateboard park - note the rampy things against the wall.   The nextdoor neighbours seem to to be even more into their hydraulics than we are.   They had a layout to put them on too (Seven Ash)   The Gravetts were there too. Very nice!   There was a 305mm layout on the doorstep too. They do seem to have some implausible stuff though. Maybe this was the silly last half hour?   And a Weatherill wheel loader too
D869

D869

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York 2018

So the much advertised snow didn't materialise (or rather it materialised mostly as rain) and we made it back in pretty good time from York. Maybe the promise of snow put off the usual Easter bank holiday trippers because the roads were fairly clear... of traffic if not water.   The show was an enjoyable one with us parked next to the 2mm roadshow and also the Jerry and Kim roadshow. We had a selection of guest operators on each day so thanks to all of them.   We were next to Mike and Judith
D869

D869

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Syston 2018

Our first show of 2018 has come and gone. Not too far from base - organised by the Syston club but actually in Sileby, not far from Rothley.   The organisers were very welcoming and we were awarded two prizes for best layout including a trophy and some bottles of wine. We will now need to organise a function to provide an opportunity to consume said wine.   We also had a play with one of those rail mounted cameras but we will need to wait for the owner to let us have the results.   Some ph
D869

D869

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Manchester 2017

This past weekend we took St Ruth up to Manchester for their Christmas exhibition. Getting into Manchester city centre on a Friday evening was inevitably a bit of a crawl but once we were there it was a good show with a friendly organising team. There was also a 12 inch to the foot layout just outside the hall which seemed to be running OK.   Some photos... Guest operators Laurie Adams and Tony Gee handling the main lines with Chris taking care of the goods yard on Saturday   We were award
D869

D869

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Railwells 2017

Just finished our run back up the Fosse Way from Wells where an enjoyable weekend was had in spite of an annoying points failure that affected our ability to get stuff in and out of the goods yard for most of the weekend. We had the station board off after the show closed on Saturday evening (to many amusing comments of 'it's a two day show you know') and changed the point motor but after a few tests this morning the motor of the new one was found to be red hot and promptly disconnected.   The
D869

D869

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Helston 2017

Greetings from Kernow!   The St Ruth team has just enjoyed a great weekend at the Helston show. The layout's first trip to its native country.   I really enjoyed the experience - a chance to chinwag with lots of fellow Cornwall railway geeks with a special mention to the folks on the Cornwall Railway Society stand. There was also a stand selling genuine west country ballast. The proprietor was identified as a mining geek so Chris was entertained for some time there.   We had plenty of fol
D869

D869

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Leamington 2017

This weekend we blew the cobwebs off St Ruth after 6 months of exhibition inactivity by taking it to one of the bigger of our local shows run by Leamington & Warwick MRC.   We haven't been completely idle during this period (almost... but not completely). The most noticeable additions being the ability for our 'sun' to gradually set allowing us to run the layout in darknes. Apart from a black cloth to keep out stray light from overhead this has entailed a lot of work putting lights (contro
D869

D869

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Swindon 2016

The dust has now settled after our trip to Swindon. An excellent show in the presence of some of the great products of Swindon Works. It was great that our roving reporter, Chris (MinerChris) was able to join us from Utah . I hasten to add that Swindon was not the only reason for his trip. This morning we made the rather less fun journey to Heathrow so that he could catch his plane back 'over there'   There was some disturbance from the other side of the planked wall caused by a rather rowdy
D869

D869

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Branch Home

Those of you who frequent the workbench thread in the 2mm forum may have seen some work in progress shots of this signal. It's now been planted on the layout and is ready for service at the Swindon show this weekend.   Planted using finest grade scenic putty   Connected up and ballasted   Edit: Wigan   We had been planning to be at Wigan next month but it seems that something went awry with the emails to or from the organisers. By the time we got through by phone it was too late so
D869

D869

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Wolvey Summer Fair 2016

A few pictures from today's afternoon outing for St Ruth. A different sort of experience from a model railway show but we still found some worthwhile purchasing opportunities.   A very enjoyable day and an appreciative audience. Thanks to Pauline for her sterling efforts organising the other stands and for the hot dogs at lunch time.        
D869

D869

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A Bonus Show

For anyone likely to be in the Wolvey (near Coventry) area on Saturday, we will be setting up St Ruth in the parish church as part of the fund raising fete which is open from 2PM to 4:30PM.   I can't offer you any other layouts or any model railway traders but I'd say that there is a good chance of some decent cakes for sale and the other usual summer fete attractions.   There may be some departures from St Ruth's usual sequence of operations, time period and geographic location.   http://
D869

D869

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Trainwest 2016

Some photos from St Ruth's outing this weekend to deliver one of two helpings of Cornish 2FS goodness to the people of Wiltshire. A really good show with a fine selection of quality layouts. We had a great time being back to back with John Greenwood's beautiful Wadebridge. A certain amount of chinwagging may have taken place.   St Ruth behaved itself pretty well with only occasional minor annoyances.   A recent low-tech addition has helped to improve the running in the station area - a jump
D869

D869

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Kendal 2016

Just back from an excellent weekend in Cumbria at the Kendal show - the furthest north that we've been so far. It was rather humbling to hear that some people were coming down from Scotland to see us (and hopefully the other layouts too).   For the most part the layout ran pretty smoothly. A new innovation (hidden to the public) was some pictures on the operators' display screens to help us to run the correct trains - handy when people step into less familiar jobs to cover lunch time and so on
D869

D869

2

Wycrail 2015

We took St Ruth for a day out at Wycrail yesterday - actually a day and a night because we set up on the Friday evening, having previously discovered that trying to do a one day show in one day is a fairly stressful experience.   All in all a very enjoyable show although I'm puzzled why it's not a 2 day affair - it certainly justifies it on the basis of size and quality. We had Missy Julia with a demo table next to us so it was great to have a catch up. Several other folks popped in to say hel
D869

D869

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2mm Expo 2015

Today was our third Expo in a row. We did actually question whether they really wanted us again but were told that this one was the 55th Anniversary one so we could come and play again.   A good day was had by all. It was great to meet some with all of the folks at the show. Joint honours for going 'above and beyond the call' go to Steve for travelling all the way from New Zealand and Chris who was late for the start of the show with some lame excuse about Chelford being at the end of a 36 ho
D869

D869

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Lutterworth 2015

Another show under our belt. On this occasion it was a very local affair - less that 10 miles from St Ruth's Wolvey home. It's not a show that I'm very familiar with... in fact the town of Lutterworth is somewhere that I have almost never been even though I live pretty close by - it's just a bit tucked away just off some major routes. Suprisingly the 2mm and 'N' stuff seemed to outnumber the rest by some margin.   It was a fairly relaxed affair and we got to spend a long time chatting to Patri
D869

D869

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Macclesfield 2015

The second show in two weeks but a very enjoyable one. It's not a huge show but I can't fault the friendly reception that we were given by the organisers and it was nice to meet up again with Mr Millward.   During playtime this afternoon I managed to line up the Hall with the late Phill Kerr's model of KGV.   Plus a group shot with Ian's old stager.   We were in front of a big window so I took the opportunity for a few photos behind the scenes. Spot the flapjack!   Some of the othe
D869

D869

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AbRail 2015

A few photos from the Abingdon show today. An enjoyable time was had and it was good to catch up with friends again.   A shot against the lighting. I quite like the way the light reflects from the surfaces but it's not easy to photograph with the lights shining straight into the camera.   And we were awarded a nice trophy too. Ian seems pretty happy about it.   The Hall isn't finished yet but it managed to do some useful work.
D869

D869

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2FS GWR Loading Gauge

At last nights meeting of the Midland Area Group of the 2mm Scale Association, along with working on some of the items that were started at the previous meeting we continued to identify some more of the things that we still need to add to the layout.   Obviously, like so many other layout projects there is still plenty to do. One of the things that we all feel is missing is a loading gauge in the goods yard. A quick search of t'internet for GWR loading gauges in N gauge showed that although
Ian Smith

Ian Smith

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