Well the Chesworth team took their place in the hall at the Horsham club's Open Day and despite it being April 1st did not make fools of themselves. The Wednesday before there had barely been any track laid, but after an extra "long Wednesday" (March 29, being the fifth Wednesday of the month, was supposed to be just an evening session) all the rail was down on the two baseboards so far constructed. This meant we had something to show for our work since January even if we couldn't actually run anything yet.

Just before the doors open at the Horsham MRC Open Day

Despite not running trains we still had a day's worth of visitors to talk to, and none of us had much of a voice by 4 pm. We had a rolling Powerpoint show on a TV next to the layout (well actually Libre Office, your blog author is a Linux fan) which gave a hook onto which we could attach what we were trying to do and we found we had two different audiences. The model railway enthusiasts, including our neighbours from Dorking who had brought along a layout, were more interested in the track (PECO Code 75 bullhead), the points (British Finescale kits) and the method of baseboard construction. The other halves and curious locals were far more interested in the local history aspects we aim to bring to this layout.

The above picture is shown because it shows something that immediately grated with us. On the previous Wednesday we were laying track at a pace brisker than the number of weights available and glue drying time allowed, so improvisation was required.

The result was that we failed to see a bit of a kink in the through line. Not bad enough to cause running problems but irritating none the less. That will be fixed in April.

Meanwhile at the Open Day we had the opportunity to populate things a bit and happily it looks like we have the proportions right for a Colonel Stephens style wayside station. The trackplan is that of the K&ESR's Frittenden Road with just a little bit of shortening so it would have been disappointing if that wasn't the case.

The coal wagons, steam lorry and Bodiam station building are all the work of club member, Malcolm Covey. The building is work in progress, as is the Stephens railbus set in the other pictures.

The reason for choosing British Finescale point kits over PECO's completed offerings is that points can be bent to fit the location. The whole trackplan, including the future plans, has been drawn up in Templot and using Templot print-outs the BF point bases can be made to fit by cutting through some of the webbing holding the sleepers. The result is that nice flowing curves through a turnout without introducing a straight section are achievable, and it doesn't have to fit PECO's geometry

The April Open Day provided an early target for this project, one that meant we had to roll up sleeves and get on with it. Yesterday provided us with another target in the form of an invitation to the Dorking show in late September. The team is increasing in size so that is an achievable target. What it means is that the sort of light railway trains we envisage will have to run through something passing resemblance to the Sussex countryside of 100 years ago and not over bare boards.

It's doable, and it does focus our April efforts onto wiring, point control and filling the gaps on the framework. Tune in next month for how well we've done.