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Modellers from Kent, Sussex, Surrey and South of the Thames

A little update from me...


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Morning all

 

It's been quiet for a while - unavoidably for me sadly - but as things are starting to become clear I thought I'd give you a little update.

 

As some of you may know, back in July I was made redundant from a job I've been doing for 17½ years.  I was essentially given a choice of accepting a new job that really wasn't my thing, or "take the money and run".  Sensibly I took the latter option with the hope of finding an alternative before it ran out.

 

That left me with a dilemma ... to look for alternative employment in a similar field elsewhere, or look for something new.  My particular job was rather specialist (although many of the skills could be transferable) and as such similar opportunities are few and far between. 

 

I then happened to look up the GTR website employment section where there was a job available, locally, where the transferable skills would indeed be very helpful.

 

Cutting a long story short, after a range of assessments and two interviews, I was offered a job and am currently in training, hoping to start properly in the next couple of weeks.

 

So what does that mean for SECAG and in particular modular meetings?  Well, short term, very little, and long term it means that I am going to be working a shift pattern and don't know yet how that works out (local induction in a couple of weeks where that sort of thing gets passed to me) meaning forward planning may not be as far ahead as I would have liked.

 

I am most definitely still wanting to organise a modular meeting at some point during the middle of 2016, but at this stage I am not able to sort out a date (which may require taking a couple of days holiday just to be sure I don't get re-rostered) and, of course, there's still the issue of the rebuilding work at the venue we used last year but that isn't such a big deal if it continues to be a problem as there are other venues nearby that I can call upon as alternatives.

 

Hopefully in a few months time we can start sorting out a date for the next meeting - but in the meantime, keep building as there will be one!

 

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Congratulations on the new job! Hope it all works out. Although I'm unlikely to ever build a module, I'm going to try to make a more concerted effort to get involved with the group (by actually coming to meet ups...).

Hope all is well otherwise

 

Nestor

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Thanks :)  Even if you can't make your own module there might be someone nearby that you could team up with to either help on their module or build the module together - your club might even have an interest if you were to explain it to you (or one of us might be able to do a presentation to anyone interested).

 

As we've said many times before, a single 4ft x 18" single track straight board with a bit of scenery on it is all that constitutes a 'module' at its basic level so cost, time etc are all fairly irrelevant :)  You could probably even build a module over a weekend if you have the wood pre-cut to size :)  You don't need to build Clapham Junction (although if you want to that's fine - we might just need a bigger room) for your contribution to be useful.  Straight, curve, junction, station, freight yard... it all helps somewhere.

 

Even "designing in" your next layout so that the end(s) match the modular standards is all you need ... as long as you follow the basic electrical standards and height, and that the track at the boundary is in the right place, pretty much everything else is up to you.

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  • 1 year later...

Well a bit of a necropost but it seemed easier than starting a new thread.

 

Life is changing again, as in August/September we will be moving, to near Andover in Hampshire.  There'll be a new job as a 2 hour drive and £70 a week in fuel just isn't feasible - but more on that when I decide what I want to do.  The new property will have room for a 'man cave' in the garden which will house the model railway, and the house backs on to the railway line.  Splendid.

 

What it does mean is that I'll technically be moving outside of the SECAG area so we have two options.

 

1) Someone else takes over "running" SECAG although as most of you can figure out there isn't a lot going on anyway.  My apologies for letting reality get in the way of modelling.

 

2) We extend the group a little to include Hampshire officially, as I believe we already have a few 'honourary members' from over that way anyway.

 

Thoughts guys and gals?

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When I was in Construction my patch was 'Midlands', defined by a major plc. as West Midlands, Nottingham, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire. My area Director somehow managed to land us with jobs in York, Haverfordwest, Boston Lincolnshire, Canterbury, Ashford, and Worthing.

 

Later I took a semi-retirement job with Aviva, who insisted I had to live in a WR postcode as the surveys were all local, I managed to get sent to Llandudno, Seaton, Hull and Brighton.

 

 

As with model railways 'rule 1 applies'. This isn't a regulated thing, so do whatever you want to, if anyone wants something different let them sort it out.

 

I've managed to get involved with SWAG, and stretched their boundaries up to the West Midlands, so just carry on if it works for you.

 

 

What's important is to do what feels right for you, if you've fallen in with a group of like minded enthusiasts, who you get along with, geography falls into second place.

 

Peter

Edited by peter220950
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