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St Ruth

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St Albans 2014


D869

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Well, 2014 seems to have arrived and after the usual last minute flurry of activity to get things finished, so did this weekend's St Albans show.

 

It was great to see some of our existing friends and to make some new ones. I think that all of the team had a good time although you might have got a different answer if you had asked those of us on our backs mending the point motor at the goods yard throat during the Saturday morning session.

 

The Sea Siding crossover also decided to develop a mechanical gremlin when we powered up on Sunday. This one is a real puzzle because it was fine on Saturday evening and the only thing that happened in between was a night in the hall under a dust cover. Fortunately the schedule hasn't been changed too radically by the new crossover and we could still remember how to operate without it.

 

I think we'll be adding some lighting behind the scenes quite soon. We were on the stage so the lighting levels were low and the walls were black. Even with a couple of extra lamps that we had with us it was pretty difficult to see when anything small needed to be worked on. Swapping locos to the other end of trains in the fiddle yard was a particular challenge and I had to resort to my keyring Maglite quite frequently to check whether the wheels really were on the track.

 

As has been mentioned elsewhere the hotel was very nice and the food was excellent.

 

As usual, a few randomly taken photos. I started off with good intentions and took photos of a couple of layouts that were near to us... then I got talking to Julia... and then Jerry... and then it was time to head back.

 

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Hartburn. Apparently (unlike St Ruth) there really is a place called that.

 

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La Baraque. A chunk of France... from the Netherlands.

 

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La Baraque again

 

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A dismembered Dapol Western bogie for anyone (like me) puzzling over how to do a 2FS conversion. Note the square plastic axles (!)

 

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The view from St Ruth looking out. Missy is somewhere up there on the far corner of the balcony. The Association mob were out of sight down in the basement... probably for the best really.

 

Next up (if I've got this right) is Epsom and Ewell. I'll update the sidebar thingy when I've checked that with John.

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  • RMweb Gold

Was great to see St Ruth and the team at St Albans - Pauline's cakes were as good as ever and the new backscene is looking great. Just a shame we didn't have time to get away from the 2mm stand for long enough to have a play and run the threatened Midland (c.1922) excursion!!

 

As for the Dapol Western. Getting the wheels to 2FS standards is a simple turning job, the difficulty is getting the wheels out without doing any damage - they are a very tight fit - and then getting them back in. As usual Missy Julia took one look at the problem and suggested a solution that I'm pretty confident will work. I'll report back once I've had a chance to give it a go.

 

Jerry

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I had a very pleasant time watching an entire sequence at St Ruth during which everything worked perfectly. I found the screens describing the moves really helped turn it into a piece of theatre and made for a very convincing experience.

I'm really interested in how you get on with the Dapol Western Jerry, so please keep us all posted. In the meantime I'd love to know how you guys made the Farish Westerns look so nice. Is it covered elsewhere? Best regards to all of you.

Peter

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Hello :)

 

As other have mentioned, St Ruth is getting better everytime I see it and that backscene looks really good. It was nice to catch up with you guys once again too.

 

As for the western, its added to my 'to do' pile for now. As Jerry said, removing the wheels shouldnt be that difficult but I think I will wait untill he has tried it first! I think the model has the potential to have a go at some laser cut glazing too...

 

M :)

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  • RMweb Gold

 

As for the western, its added to my 'to do' pile for now. As Jerry said, removing the wheels shouldnt be that difficult but I think I will wait untill he has tried it first! I think the model has the potential to have a go at some laser cut glazing too...

 

M :)

 

One advantage with the Dapol Western is that you get a spare bogie with it which helps enormously in the experimental dismembering department!

 

Jerry

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I had a very pleasant time watching an entire sequence at St Ruth during which everything worked perfectly. I found the screens describing the moves really helped turn it into a piece of theatre and made for a very convincing experience.

I'm really interested in how you get on with the Dapol Western Jerry, so please keep us all posted. In the meantime I'd love to know how you guys made the Farish Westerns look so nice. Is it covered elsewhere? Best regards to all of you.

Glad you enjoyed it Peter. It's good to know that somebody is reading those LCD screens at the front.

 

I wrote some words about the Farish Westerns on my blog a while back...

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/722/entry-9001-a-tale-of-two-westerns/

 

As for the western, its added to my 'to do' pile for now. As Jerry said, removing the wheels shouldnt be that difficult but I think I will wait untill he has tried it first! I think the model has the potential to have a go at some laser cut glazing too...

I don't have a good track record with pressing wheels on and off axles so I'll definitely be adopting a 'wait and see' approach!

 

I was thinking along the lines of some etched nickel silver window frames like the ones I did for the Farish Warship because I think that the Dapol windows are... err... 'an opportunity for improvement'. The tricky part with these is getting the curved edges to match the moulding, but at least the Western ones have fewer curved edges than the Warship.

 

Regards, Andy

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Was great to see St Ruth and the team at St Albans - Pauline's cakes were as good as ever and the new backscene is looking great. Just a shame we didn't have time to get away from the 2mm stand for long enough to have a play and run the threatened Midland (c.1922) excursion!!

I forgot to mention - you missed out on the pasties on Friday evening. Chris had been in Totnes and travelled up to St Albans carrying some fuel for the setup team. Richard TrickyCRS managed to come along at the right moment - I guess it must be a skill that they learn at the Camborne School of Mines.

 

We're happy to host guest locos and whole trains and borrowed Missy's oil tanks to clog the goods yard up even more on Sunday but we have none of that deeseesee juice if your loco runs on that.

 

Regards, Andy

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  • RMweb Gold

You may find it hard to believe but I made the decision that Bath would be DCC some time ago due to the operating pattern and the huge number of sections that would be required. I was going to keep the North Somerset stuff analogue but have decided that, in time, that will be going DCC as well mainly due to the operating possibilities opened up by the Tucking Mill extension.

 

Jerry

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I was going to keep the North Somerset stuff analogue but have decided that, in time, that will be going DCC as well mainly due to the operating possibilities opened up by the Tucking Mill extension.

Blimey. Sounds a bit hi tech for the NSLR. Maybe a shift to some of those modern light rail trams would be in order - a sort of Sheffield-esque rapid transit system for the Bath suburbs?

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