Balloon_726

Well its the night before the Leyland show. So am about to spend most of tomorrow on the M6 going north.. hmm As its quite late this will be a brief update on whats been happening. We're hoping to run a full fleet service over the weekend minus Balloon 708 which as mentioned before has had to be retired due to cosmetic and structural issues, plus with myself being so busy, I've really not had a chance to build a replacement as yet... Above: The theme for this event will be for us to run our single deckers in full service across both days. The Brush cars have been in bits since last running in November 2014 and have been worked on, repaired and in some some cases enhanced (note the new yellow plastic bumpers on 622)! Above: The two brush cars have had some extended running over the last few days and are now settling in well, be it with a number of tweaks and modifications since last year. Above: The other half of the single decker fleet is made up of the two Centenary Cars, these trams have been dogged with problems since day one (as were the real ones!) Anyway the every popular 'KitKat' tram No. 641 had has some external repair from transit damage as well as being resuscitated back into life! The Bachmann PCC chassis really cant cope under exhibition conditions. Above: Sister Centenary N0. 624 is running better as it was not used much during the end of last year. Both cars need a lot of work or even scrapping and starting again! And we really need a better chassis for the class at the very least! But for now expecting breakdowns over the weekend :-( Finally Balloon 701 is back! well almost. Now sporting plain yellow once more, and again being used as the layout works car or stand in should a failure arise! So all in all we're ready, Thornton Gate has had a lot of work done to it, new little features and repair of others. Come and see us at: August 8th / 9th 2015 from 10am Leyland Civic Centre ( Council Offices) West Paddock Leyland PR25 1DH

So back out on exhibition in 1 months time! First outing for Thornton Gate in 2015! After a long time away from doing anything model related, today I sat down and started prepping for the new season. Just two shows this year, which I really don't mind but do want to build a season for 2016... Above: 701 Thornton gates resident ballon class works tram and last years 'Warley Tram' has had a patch paint back into plain yellow again, will add some missing windows linings door ect later. Above: Brush car 636 is in more pieces then I seem to remember ??? so been sticking that back together plus touching paintwork back up ... and ... Im thinking about building a second Brush car as i have all to bits, chassis, pantograph ect again proving just how reliant I am on Japanese products to make this all work! Also been looking into using some Micro Machines toy cars and vans which I near perfect for N gauge, These were off an old old layout from some years ago as as you cant buy them anymore I was keen to find these again. Thinking of making some casts off them so I can easily duplicate if needs be. Im thinking these might be useful for modding into different vehicles. The layout its self is still crated up at the moment, so i'll need to set it back up for the never ending cleaning and sticking back together that is always required pre season .... oh the joys! Nice to be back.. but really did need the break!

Well have I been away from here for awhile! How time flies! Happy to report all is well. I've replaced the car (again) so Thornton Gate was created up and went for a test fit... Success it fits! We've having a quite season this year as other things and project (Not model or rail related) have taken over. However if your into retro computers or programming then you might have seen me around doing a lot of the computer exhibitions and shows! Anyway as it stands Thornton Gate will be out and about at: Leyland: August 8th & 9th 2015 http://www.leylandmrc.com/index.php?p=1_36_Exhibition-2015 And a welcome return to the Fylde coast at: Fleetwood: Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th September 2015 http://www.blackpoolandnorthfyldemrc.co.uk/exSept.html And that is as it stands for 2015..... Personally I've been quite relieved for the 'rest' if you can call it that! Give us time to take stock and think about what we're doing or more to the point what i'm doing! Anyhow once I've stuck BBC Micro computers (Remember those?) back together might manage to clear my work bench and do some tramming! Will post some updates soon!

The first preseason testing of 2015 The other week as planned the first tramcars took to the rails of Thornton Gate once more! Above: After cleaning most of the track, our resident Farish class 04 was the first to take to the rails, on an initial test of all the electrical connections and rail joints etc. As its not chipped it don't normally get much of a chance to run, so it made a nice change. Still really impressed how well the Farish 04 runs and this was a second hand one as well! Above: First tram of the year. Balloon 701, the resident engineering works car, made a successful test run on the inner circuit. The tramcar itself looking a bit tatty at the moment after having its Warley ads stripped. So after this test it was taken over to my work bench to join a few other fleet members in need of some attention. Above: A nice overall shot of the station area with 701, overall the layout its self faired well, no real transit damage as such, really just areas then need a little tidying up etc. Anyway on to the work bench were 701 joined 713 for some much needed attention, the latter had done both days all day at the NEC, but for some reason its lead weights had become loose inside making it to risky to run as if the lead hit the DCC chip or motor it would have shorted out the tram. Hence 713 with a front cowling removed is seen awaiting attention, 701 was receiving attention to its body work, manly using wet and try to smooth down areas and a spot of filler in some gaps. Some of the window linings had to be removed and after patch painting fresh sets will be reapplied. On the Balloon front 708 was also on the bench for attention, it last being used for the Christmas card shoot. However on closer inspection a number of issues were discovered. Mainly an area had bulged on a lower corner of the car, this was an issue left over from when the body shell was first cast back in 2012. As one of the first clear shells, 708 had an air pocket in its lower bodywork, rather then scrap the shell it was filled with plastic strip and filler. However as this is an area that the chassis grips onto it has been under pressure and finally snapped and hence bulged outwards. Now seeing as we have many better casted balloons available (the moulds were updated two years ago) and a number of other new builds in the pipe line for 2015 a decision was made to mothball and hence retire 708 from exhibition service. So still sporting its 'Virgin' nose badge from Stockport 2013, 708 has been rechassied back onto an unchipped Bachmann Brill trolly unit and given a trolly pole replacing its Kato pantograph. Its chipped Tomix chassis and pantograph being reserved for a future build. 708 is now living with my girlfriend on a small box file layout thats she's building at home. However as the car still runs, it can still make appearance back at exhibition should the need arise. Above: Moving on, bush car 636 got into a spot of bother then its power tangled in the overhead and was completely ripped off the car! Entering service last yeah both Brush cars had new towers built from scratch by my brother, however as time was tight ahead of Warley we didn't get time to test them and at show it was found they were both to high, so after this happen on test over the weekend, I decided to fix the issue once and for all! As this line up sort of shows, 636 (infront) has had its however modified and lowered, this was done by taking a sanding disc to the top of the body shell tower stump and removing about a mil, then cutting down some of the top framework of the pantograph tower itself. Behind fellow brush car no 622 sports a out of gauge and higher tower as yet to be modified and behind both Balloon 713 illustrates the correct height for the pantograph. Above: all done (almost) the two Brush cars on bench with modified body and tower profiles, Both now requiring some patch painting and refixing of towers, in addition 622 (left) also need requires some chassis attention as it made a loud metallic clanging noise during its time running, and I'm yet to get around to investigating why! So there we have it, most of my time spent just maintaining the current fleet at the moment, however I hope to start building new tramcars real soon.

New Year Awakening... Well its still winter but as spring is now only around the corner I'm finding time and planning the year ahead for the layout. Admittedly I've had over two months away from it but I really did need the break as at that time the enjoyment had dropped. And as i've learned if you really don't enjoy what your doing you have to walk away for awhile. However Im very pleased to say Im back and feeling enthusiastic about the project once more, having now more or less sorted out this years exhibition season (2015). Were having a smaller season this year but I have to admit i'm really looking forward to some on the exhibitions! Details will be posted shortly... So what do I intend to do this year? Well... No tramcar has ran since the late November 2014, the layout will need to be cleaned and checked over for transit damage... etc The fleet will need the normal light maintenance, cleaning, oiling etc.. Some stand out issues are: Balloon 701 needs some attention its had its Warley transfers stripped but now needs some patch yellow painting as well as the normal clean. Brush 622 which was new for the NEC needs work... it ran poorly and the motor struggled Brush 636 and 622 also need their trolly towers looking at again as both are a bit to high and so out of gauge with the overhead, a simple fix. And our Centenaries will no doubt be under review again, 641 being ever popular with the visiting public, however troublesome and incorrectly numbered 624 (Should be 642!) may end its service life altogether as there is a plan to rebuild our Centenaries using the existing PCC chassises. As for new builds, well I want to get my long over due Pantograph car finished!! A proper 762 Jubilee is on the cards for this year as is maybe an extra brush car and even a open top balloon in the form of 706! Im also planning some cosmetic updates to the layout its self, with some new items and better replacements of old. So thats kind of the plan, how much I get done is another matter but the will is there..... somewhere! Also check out Thornton Gates Web site at : www.thorntongate.tramtronix.co.uk I will be adding stuff to it over the year!

Is it to late for a Christmas card? Been working on this years card taken over 2 days to set up, even had to build N gauge skiers! ... Yeah don't ask! Unlike previous years were I end up having to clean 'snow' off the layout well into March! This year I built a set for the photo shoot, so this ant Thornton Gate but with the banking at the rear it kind of looks about right. Anyway may I wish you all a very merry Christmas from all of us at Team Thornton Gate! Also check out our new web site www.thorntongate.tramtronix.co.uk , which i'll be building new and more interactive content for over 2015 in my quest to build more online support for the layout! Above: Blackpool Ballon Class tram No.708 fitted with front snowplough clears the line on-route to Fleetwood. Note the skier hitching a tow on the rear of the tram!

Ah Stewart! you should have just butted in! I would have dropped everything (other then the tramcars!) to chat to you :-/ Oh well, thanks for coming to visit! Still really grateful for the photos you gave me, those have been so useful! Next time please just say Hi!

Warley 2014 show report. Overall a very efficient set up and two day operation, brake down was also achieved in under an hour. So I must say a huge thanks to Anna, Sam and my father Simon who joined us again for this show, for there work and the hours put it getting the layout ready and up to speed, ahead of out final show of a busy 2014 season. Yes can you even believe we've now done 3 years of public exhibitions with Thornton Gate and im now planning our 4th season for 2015. Anyway back to the show and the story of stand B72 AKA Thornton Gate Tramway Above: The view of us set up in hall 5 by the catering which was quite a good spot to be in, allowing us to attack a steady flow of people throughout the long two day show. Above: Lighting is always a problem, as my father a veteran of NEC trade show knew all to well, so in many way i'm pleased we did the lighting and presentation updates when we did. On that note it was very nice to have dad back on the team, he'd not done a show with us since Ludlow 2012! And is seen here operating alongside Anna. Above: New for Warley was a second brush car in the form of 622 in its very distinctive tiger stripe livery. This was the latest work of my brother Sam using one of my brush car shells, what was impressive was the fact he'd hand painted all the stripes on the roof and had scratch build new pantograph towers replacing the need for the card printed ones. having seen these I asked him to build a spare for my own brush car 636 with both cars finished with just hours to spare before the opening to the public. This is something I try to avoid as 622 had not been tested and although it did do some running hours was not reliable and needed work mainly in ride height and weight issues. Also the new towers fitted to both brush cars were a bit high leading to the pantographs hitting the tops of the entrance holes in the back scene, again an issue due to not testing but an easy fix for the new season. Above: A wider overview of the layout in full service. Although all 14 tram cars were available for service in the end yellow centenary class no.624 wasn't run at all during the weekend, due to the poor quality of the model and like its sister car 'KitKat' livery no. 641 suffer from poor reliability. 641 did however run for most of the two days being something of a favourite with the public, although was stood down once or twice for cleaning due to the long running hours. Most other cars ran well, fatdoor balloon 719 had chassis gauging issues (again) as the body had slipped down, this was fixed in time for all 3 fatdoors to be put into service. 713 (my fat door balloon) proved one of the most reliable and was on service both days all day putting in around 12 hours of running! Above: I cant do the Warley post and not talk about Balloon 701 sporting its custom livery since April and doing the rounds in magazines and online media, well this was its moment and the tram spent most of the two days on show stabled with its p'way trailers on the centre road or shunting around the yard area. Its normal stable mate sister 708 was pressed into normal service for most of the day and covering for other cars whilst they had there wheels cleaned. Even 701 ditched its trailers and went on service duty near the end of day two, its seasonal snow plough attached as I normally do for the final winter shows, snow or no snow! Above: Over all i've been quite happy with the latter performance of our ever expanding fleet, tram car failures were at an all time low, and moral is high amongst the team at the moment, we're just really tired still! What really makes a show for us is meeting the people who come and visit, read this blog or have seen us in magazines etc. For me its so nice to talk to people, tell the amazing and still unfolding story of this project and to still be able to plan for the near future, whist still working on new ideas and bringing new developments to exhibition. Above: I'll bring this post and this year to a close with a view of 701 making its final departure as "Warley Tram' in the final minutes of the show on sunday evening, drawing to a close a real mile stone season which has seen two big ambitions of mine realised. 1) to get into a national magazine and 2) to exhibit at the NEC, which with the help of my team we have achieved and all in the space of just 3 years! We're all having a beak now as you might expect , a few jobs to be done such as the Christmas card and the removal of the ad transfers from 701 which now must return to its plain yellow ahead of next years outings, and ofcorse the general maintains of the fleet again ready for the 4th season. So thanks very much for reading and for those of you that came and saw us this year, watch this space we'll be back soon! :-)

The Road to Warley... November 2014 Update... Well its that time again! Yes November time ! Which can only mean its time for the Warley NEC exhibition! Warley is a show ive been going to as a visitor for years now, however 2014 will be slightly different as we're going as exhibitors with Thronton Gate! Naturally we at Team TG have been very excited about this as its been on the cards for the last to years now, and will mark the closure of our 2014 exhibition season. Above: The star of the year, Balloon 701 in 'Warley club' ad livery on test ahead being packed up ready to be taken over to Birmingham In order to make sure we're ready for Warley the layout has required a large mount of work an repairs, this time mostly cleaning as seen here. For this show and any future events, we've raised the heigh of the layout, with the perchance of some new trestles, this has ment the main curtain fabric has had to be replaced and along with the rest of our fabric backings and dust sheets, fire treated to meet with the strict NEC safety regulations. So it don't just look like Anna does all the work! Here is myself with a temporary workbench area wiring back up Jubilee 762. Yes 762 (right) has been reinstated once more, this car has been the 'runt' of the fleet for some time normally giving up parts such as chassises and decoders for other trams, however or this show I decided to re chassis it once again as we really do need every working car we can get our hands on! One of main reasons for 762 being on and off most years is that its not that accurate being just a repaint of 761's body shell cast, however earlier this year Sam built a more accurate body shell for a true 762 prototype (See left) using a 761 body shell as a base and then cutting new doors and reprofiling the roof. It is therefore my intention to make a new resin cast of this new shell next year and have a more accurate 762 running by mid 2015. Some of the cars ive been working on (left) 762 as just talked about, (centre) Baloon 726, which had failed during the summer, but is now fixed and (right) Balloon 701 which has had its snowplough attached again as happens for winter shows! Above: An overview of the cleaning table we're all rolling stock, and some more! was being cleaned and tested ahead of being packed, the next time these cars will run will be to the crowds at the NEC! Above: Packed up and with a week in hand! I think a record for us! If your coming over to Warley this year (2014) we're stand B72 do say Hi! Before I rap this update up, just to say to coincide with Warley, Thornton Gate has made its debut appearance in the Railway Modeller Magazine (December 2014 edition, page 999) Have to say very pleased with the way this has turned out, and for us getting in a national magazine has been on the list for some time! Anyhow that is all for now, the next update will be post Warley....

October Update... Well I keep seeing the countdown Facebook posts from the Warley club counting down the days until the NEC....(think Its something like 48 days now???). Now I would guess for most of you (who are going) you'll be thinking "ohh i'm looking forward to that!". Now me on the other hand, well i'm thinking "AHHHH!. NOT READY, PANIC!!!". Currently I keep looking at Thornton Gate and as its my layout I know were the faults are, the things that are not good or right.. I've been working on it for so long now I feel i've lost all perspective... Anyhow before I go completely nuts with plot totally lost..... Some progress.... It's finished! The last missing building, a half relief house the other side of the street from the current house. Unfortunately the plot was still empty when the magazine shoot was done recently ... hmm never mind. With the last house and fencing in, technically Thornton Gate is now finished! But is a layout ever finished? As mentioned I have lost the plot Above: And here it is.... obscured by a tree.. hmm The new building the last missing link. The remaining photos show the tidied up yard area and a visit from Brush car 636 on a test run. Above: Brush Car 636 enters Thornton Gate Yard. Above: The P'way compound and rail loading platform. Above: And finally 636 seen stabled on the rail loading siding amongst the road plant compound equipment.

Thanks, Yes I am, its gotten a bit side tracked so its been sitting there waiting for me to finish it, i'll try and see were i get before November... I've got a boat and a millennium car waiting as well!

September 2014 Update. Hi all its been a while once again and im finding myself getting very busy with life at the mo so not had the time to put back into the project, plus I've been having a bit of a rest after the intensive summer exhibition schedule. Sometimes you have to walk away for a little while as the interest is just not there. However with September rolling on by and the NEC show very much on the horizon, Ive been getting back into gear and working on Thornton Gate once more! Planning a few updates and possibly to officially 'finish' the layout in time for the NEC! However with constant repair work and upgrade to officially finish a layout is unlikely! First off some press stuff and this photo and brief write up in 'Tramfare' Magazine following our exhibition at the Manchester Tramway Festival earlier this year. So what been happening with Thornton Gate? Well Anna has taken it upon herself to paint and smarten up the fiddle yard and rear of the layout. Personally I was happy to leave it but as she pointed out alot of people have been craning there necks around the back to have a look, and with the NEC coming up it was a good call to smarten this area up. Above: Half way done, most of the baseboard area and back of the back scene has been painted, the extra programming loop and cabling has been neatend up somewhat as well. Since this photo was taken the remaining outer framework of the two baseboards has also been painted in matching blue gloss paint and a bit of filler has also been used to fill the odd hole and dent the layouts outer frame tends to pick up in the course of an average year. Above: What every tramway needs a class 66!? In the course of the my time with Thornton Gate we have been given or have picked up a lot of stuff mostly the weird and the wonderful. In the case of our recent Stoke-On-Trent exhibition I was given by an old friend of mine a bag of broken up N gauge locomotives and assorted bits. Believe it or not there was enough parts to assemble awhole working Dapol class 66! So we now have an adopted pet locomotive which cant really get around our curves.... oh well :-) And now for some gardening...... Above: The houses and back gardens on the layout have been an area which ive been trying to improve and detail for some time now, and slowly over time things have been getting better. Again during our Stoke exhibition, I picked up some N gauge flowers which when cut to size and stuck down do work quite well and help bring a bit of colour and detail to the layout. I must admit i'm still tweaking these a little bit to get them looking right. Above: And finally with success of my first brush car tram, and its new type of chassis unit over the summer, I have gone and bulk ordered a load of these Tomix units from Japan, learning from previous times when the TM-03 chassis disappeared from sale, I think I have bought Japan's whole supply! This should mean I can add a few new cars for the NEC and may no longer require any more chassis units for the remaining life of this project, time will tell! Anyway I'm planning of having a full work weekend on the layout this weekend, a number of key areas and projects to complete and will in due course keep this thread updated on the lead up to the NEC show in November! Thanks for reading :-)

Summer Exhibition Report, Manchester & Stoke-on-Trent. A very busy back to back period started for us with a 2 day exhibition as part of the Manchester Festival of tramway modelling. This saw us set up on a very wet and rainy Saturday morning in the main bus garage of the cities transport museum. With lightening and heavy rail pouting down outside we we're glad to be undercover amongst the many vintage buses, and of course fellow model tramway exhibits Above: Rolling stock wise all went relatively ok with Brush car no.636 and Balloon no 713 making there first public debuts Above: A real highlight for me was the late Saturday evening running at Heaton Park put on by staff for the exhibitors after the show had closed for the day. Resident Brush Car no 623 was laid on and took us on a number of trips along the preserved tramway. Above: Coincidence? On the day Thornton Gate (The Model) operates its first Brush Car publicly... Heaton's real Brush Car wares a very fitting destination blind! (If that was staged for me... then a big thanks to who ever organised that! :-) ) Anyway at the other end of the line is Heaton's new lakeside tram depot which is normally used for storage, however on this occasion I was allowed inside briefly to snap a picture of Balloon 702 which arrived in the early summer and is finally stored safe undercover awaiting restoration work. Again a big thank you to staff at Heaton Park for letting me inside your shed! 702 being the second Balloon I've managed to snap this year (2014) lurking in the back of a shed, myself being lucky enough to gain access to sister car 703 at Beamish earlier in the year. Above: A final overview of the layout in the closing hours of day 2 at Manchester. All in all a relatively good show and again a very warm and positive response form the tramway community and the wider visiting public. At this point all cars had performed relatively well with only standard 147 being swapped with 708 after it had some pickup issues. However our exhibition schedule was not over yet! Above: With the good weather holding, the following mid-week Thornton Gate was booked as a side attraction at a vicars church garden party of all things. Above: Now I've had bad experiences exhibiting in garages in the past, however for this one day event we weren't to bad, nicely fitting into the garage with the main door open so visitors could wonder in from the garden. Operations wise 713 and 636 ran in opposing directions on 'auto pilot' for the few hours of the event, with just myself on hand to talk to any interested parties. A very casual and laid back event! In stark contrast was the following weekend and event number 3! We we're booked to appear at Alsager MRC's Stoke-on-Trent exhibition which was based in a local primary school. Unfortunately we had been included as "Thorn Gate" ????? so I had to go around and armed with some official TG brand stickers, make a few impromptu adjustments to some of the signage. Problem solved! Above: Operationally we were doing ok but the many miles travelled and long running hours on the tram stock began to take there toll, once again. Before the start of Day 1 at Stoke we decided to oil as well as clean all the cars, this helped no end. For the second weekend 701 and 708 joined forces once more, operating a permeant way working in top and tail formation. Another new idea! The inclusion of an iPad to showcase photos of the real Thornton Gate and other prototype images, this saving me from having to carry lots of paper print outs and is a follow up to our trail use of a small PC netbook during shows last year. The iPad being a little more flexible. So the mad summer rush is over (for Now) we're back at base and readying ourselves for the biggest 'gig' of my model making career, that of course being the NEC in November, speaking of which...... I leave you with this screen shot taken from the Warley Club's page on Facebook... TG's 701 doing what it was reliveried to do!

Manchester Alert! This weekend (19th / 20th of July 2014) is the bi-annual Festival of Tramway Modelling, at the Manchester transport museum. Thornton Gate is exhibiting for the very first time and hence I've been a little busy, so this update is going to be a bit brief. So.... Above: Ready for service, all 3 fatdoor balloons are now finished and ready for there life at exhibition. Seen here from left to right : 713 (New for this show), 719 (The original fatdoor now back in service) and its duplicate sister car No 711 (which again is new for this show) Above: Now getting 3 new cars ready for Manchester has been a real achievement and credit must go out to the team who have worked so hard on these... However this did give us a new problem to solve. You see Fatdoors are by there very nature 'Fat' or wider due to the extra side door pods, some areas of the layout such as around the back are very tight track wise and so a new issue of 2 Fatdoor could not pass each other with out hitting one another presented its self. The solution was to unpin and eek out the rear lines just giving enough clearance. Above: Talking of track, another new addition to the layout has been the inclusion of a programming loop section of track and 6 pin master switch, allowing us for the first time to independently reallocate tramcar main addresses with out having to remove every tram from the main track first. This will be a very useful new feature and should allow us to set up replacement cars to cover potential failures, whilst maintaining 9 running exhibition cars at anyone time. Another brand new addition is my first N gauge Brush class tram in the from of No. 636 in green 'Metro Coastlines' livery, like almost all my other trams 636 is custom cast from and scratch built master and features custom printed transfers. The inclusion of the Brush Car class solves a missing link in my Blackpool fleet and helps address the dominance of the double deckers on the layout. Above: The real 636 has for the past few years been used as a test bed for new experimental bogies / Trucks and traction motors... Coincidentally my version of 636 is also being used as a test bed for a new type of customised Tomix chassis which as much smaller wheels and truck sets these being more in scale with the prototype. Seen here 636 (top) with its scale trucks and Balloon 710 (Bottom) on the standard size Brill / Tomix trucks all our other cars use. 636 will be on test over the weekend so we'll see how good the chassis is. If successful we might use this unit for all future projects. Above: And finally i've relabelled and smartened up our DCC controller units. The new allocation of numbering of tram cars in clearly displayed on the custom printed labels. Hopefully making it a bit easier for the operators and a marked improvement over the biroed labels used perviously! Right thats it! If your coming to Manchester do say Hi we're stand 36 in the main hall (Hall 1) .

Update Time! Hi all, well its been a little while so here is the latest news from team Thornton Gate. All in all we did alright at Beamish, but now our attentions turn to the big one... The Festival of Tramway Modelling, Manchester. In my previous post i mentioned some of the reliability issues we have been faced with and a disre to create a stand in 'B' fleet to aid the long running hours our main exhibition fleet has undertaken since 2012. Well last month that process started with a new 'B Fleet' car Fat Door Balloon 713 using our newer resin shell cast. The prototype 713 was extensively rebuilt and so like so many of the Balloon Car fleet is a totally different shape to many of its sisters, I wanted to try and capture the look and feel of, for what is 80 year old tram quite a sharp modern look. It achieve this the newer body shell was used the advantage being the resin its cast from allows for major changes and modifications to be done. Such as the removal and replacement of all the body lining and rebuild of the top side window pillers and major rebuild and re-profile of the roof as can be seen in the photo above. As well as the addition of door pods 713 is also fitted with rather smart under nose cowlings that replace the need for front bumpers and undercages, this ment the construction of a new cowling unit from a cut down cab of another spare tram shell with the addition of new plastic strip section to create a new master unit which using are rapid casting technology could be easily copied in resin, creating identical units for the underside of the tram. 713 then received its first coat of paint, im building this tram to its 2011 condition when it wore just a plain white livery with its new door pods, as can be seen in this photo the open window surrounds have been painted black as have the low profile bumper strips on the noise cowlings. the roof complete with rain strips and pantograph unit mounts (built out of plastic) have been given a coat of matt grey as the prototype wares. This weekend just gone 713 received its first glazing which was done by filling the window areas with tacky 2 part epoxy resin glue, this goes off in the gaps and forms a strong clear glaze, on top of which printed window lining transfers will be applied, giving 713 the impression of the modern bus style hopper windows which it carries. As for power drive... Originally 713 was going to be fitted with a reused Bachmann Brill car unit, one we had spare from 726 which it had its chassis swapped, however as 713 presents not only a more modern prototype but also a major development in the modelling quality of the Thornton Gate project, I have found a Tomix unit for 713, so like all the other balloons 713 can run on a standardised chassis. Elsewhere Sam (my bother) has been woking on a few developments of his own. As the original builder of the first 'Fat Door' tram no 719, Sam has been building a second car no. 711 to joint its class mate. Both cars were very similar and use Tomix chassis and have door pods fitted. In addition Sam is working on our Farish bus giving it a custom livery of Blackpool Metro Coastlines orange and yellow, after a number of comments at exhibition about its incorrect livery. Seen above with 719 which has had its door pods removed and regauged both tram and bus should be ready for Manchester, although its still early days and a lot of work is still required. So for Manchester in July, we're contemplating running all three 'Fat Door' balloons in front line service, these being No's 711, 713 & 719, if there ready and tested in time. Making we hope for an interesting spectacle come the next exhibition weekend. More to follow soon......

S Same goes for you sir! See you in Manchester

Beamish Exhibition - The Opening Show of Thronton Gate's 2014 Season An Exhibition Report. Above: Sunderland 101 (Blackpool Balloon Class no 703) hiding at the back of the depot due to an electrical issue. The weekend past (April 5th & 6th) saw us with Thornton Gate in County Durham as part of an exhibition at the Beamish Heritage Museum. For myself and Anna this was the furthest north we've ever been and also set the record for the layout! We'll come to the Exhibition in a mo, but first I just wanted to share a few photos of the goings on at the museum. As always we had very little time to look around, driving model trams is a full time job! However due to the nature of the museum if you want to get some lunch for example the quickest way is to take the tram to the next town! (You dont hear me complaining! ) Above: The bulk of the service around the site provided by ex-Blackpool cars Pantograph Class no. 167 and Towing Car no. 280 Above: As already mentioned Beamish's resident Balloon Car no. 101 was under repair in the sites depot, luckily the depot staff allowed me into the shed and onboard the tram to take a few interesting internal shots, mainly of the cabs and driving consoles. Above: The weather wasn't on our side for most of the weekend, rain and fog being the main weather features, this did have a knock-on affect with visiter numbers. The views shows the 'fan' of rails that make up Beamish's tram sheds. Anyhow on with the exhibition! In all Beamish was the coming together of 10 tramway layouts all in different scales and prototypes, and for the first time we weren't the only N gauge tramway, as John Marfleet's 'Huncote Trams' layout was also in attendance so it was another case of 'swapping notes' with fellow exhibitors. John also lent us a N gauge rail camera which he took this footage of a mock balloon cab ride along a lap of the layout, enjoy! Above: Overall Thronton Gate performed well, the layout benefiting from a number updates and cometic tweaks we've been working on in the run up to this show. In this busy view No 701 can be seen stabled in the compound area awaiting a clear road with trailers in tow as well as our Farish shunting locomotives and assorted plant wagons which now occupy the yard area. In all most tram cars worked well, however we did have a few recurring issues. Firstly 'Kitkat' tram, Centenary class no 641 began developing issues on day one and had died by the end of the first day, however it was resuscitated and spluttered on for day 2, but now requires attention, I suspect another split gear to be a problem a common issue with the serving Bachmann chassises we have to use to power these cars. Above: 'Coast Guard' Balloon No 726 also developed some odd running issue, the tram had been newly rechassised with a Tomix Unit for this year but despite this was running poorly, tripping up on point work and stalling. Unable to fix the issue, by day two 726 was dumped on the centre line, sister Balloon No 710 also began to struggle by the end of day two 'suspected dirty pickups' and was also retired to join 726. Compounding issues further was Standard 147 which also begain to suffer from dirt due to long running hours, the sort that cant be cleaned with a brush on site. Above: With the number of available cars getting low P'way tram no 701 detached from its trailers in the yard and was summoned to normal passenger working which it continued to do for the majority of day two. Seen here waiting to join the mainline after detaching from its wagons at the back of the yard (out of shot). Above: Credit were credits due, currently the only tram to retain a Bachmann Brill trolly chassis, Jubilee car no. 762 continued to work well and has given little grief in its 2 years of service. Originally I wanted to replace its chassis as well, but its one of those 'If it ant broke dont fix it'. Out of all the trams in our fleet 762 still on its original chassis, has clocked up the most hours but continues to run well. The car was one of the last two run in the final hour of day two, running our end of the day ghost service. In all a very good but tiring show, the 6 hour drive the Friday before not helping. Although things arnt as bad reliability wise theses days the loss of 4 trams in our small fleet has got me thinking we might need more cars to fill the void. One idea would be to build some 'B fleet' cars using mothballed Brill trolly chassises and spare Balloon shells, the only issue being cost of more DCC chips and the reliability of these chassises. However I am increasingly aware of the high running hours our current fleet is doing and just how much we're pushing these chassises some doing up to 8 hours running over a weekend. It's food for thought, this on top of additional classes of tram car im yet to build or introduce. A more fuller report about the exhibition can be read here: http://www.gordonstrams.net/BMEpage3.htm Thornton Gates next outing (with a full and working tram fleet) will be: The Festival of Model Tramways , Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th July 2014 at the Museum of Transport, Boyle Street, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, M8 8UW See: http://www.tramwayinfo.com/Deffest.htm

2014- A New Season! Hello all we're back! And gearing up for our biggest and highest profile exhibition season yet! Its been just over 4 months since we last exhibited and in this time myself and my partner Anna, have been working on the numerous repairs and updates, required to keep the layout working and looking fresh and presentable. Above: One of the largest projects was the complete removing and refurbishment of the overhead poles and paved areas. The poles were in a sorry state after 2 years of hard knocks. Anna spent 2 days completely refurbishing, which included a rebuild, making them stronger and less prone to damage. Above: Here we can see Centenary 624 being used for 'gauging trials' with the yet to be repainted rebuild overhead poles. Above: Another area I wanted to improve was overall 'stuff' and clutter on the layout, the little day to day items that help make a scene that little bit more real, and here can be seen to results still drying, hundreds of all items bought from an number of cottage manufactures from last years NEC show.. Speaking of which..... Above: Balloon 701 has been given a very special livery for the 2014 season, that of the Warley NEC exhibition, which Thornton Gate is attending as the only Tramway layout at this years (2014) event. 701 has been turned out in the custom livery with the full backing of the Warley Club and we look forward to being part of the outstanding exhibition, for me a personal dream come true in many respects! Above: So are first show is only a matter of weeks away that of the Beamish tramway museum model show on the 5th and 6th of April 2014. A lot has really been achieved and we've now ready to reinstated the overhead catenary. Above: Tram cars have been rolling under there own power again on test this month (March 2014) for the first time since November last year, here Standard class no. 147 makes a round trip taking the centre 'up' line which is not a normal operation as the outer loop is used prototypically but its all part of the first preseason electrics test. Above: The shunting corner, not strictly prototypical but done in good faith and mirroring other light rail systems in the UK, Hired EWS class 08 waits which some EX BR tube opens in the new and highly detailed compound area, as you can see we have a number of new attentions which we hope will keep the visiting public interested for the coming season! Above: We'll end with a look at the resident Class 04 industrial and its new plant wagons, bought as ready to run Farish the wagons are typical of the sorts of things that make there want over time onto light rail networks, still lots of work to be done, but we're hoping to use the class 04 more during operations this year. Well thats it for now, thanks for reading and hope you'll contunie to follow us thoughout 2014! Remember our opening show is at the Beamish tramway museum model show on the 5th and 6th of April 2014, and is the furthest North Thornton Gate as been to date!

Well its that time again.... This year Balloon 701 fiited with its snowplough dose the honers and fights another winter of bad snow fall at Thronton Gate, seen here resting between duties with the crew taking a break! 701 is planned for another special duty in 2014 so will shortly be disappearing and may not return to later next year... and no its not going into route master livery just yet! Anyway A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us at Thornton Gate! See you next year maybe for what is looking like the biggest season we might ever do! More details when I know whats happening!

Thornton Gate – Review of the year. Its that time again! The Shrewsbury, Bayston Hill exhibition yet again marks the end of our second season operating Thornton Gate. It has been another extraordinary year, with many highs and lows, but most importantly the interest and popularly of the project continues to grow, and were very much looking forward to a busy and high profile 2014 season. Many new trams have come online and others have had up’s and downs during the year, infact reading news about the prototypes at Blackpool, you realise our 1:148 scale replicas are having just as much of an adventurous career themselves! We start way back in the early part of the year when balloon 701 and standard 167 came online for the first time. Both were equally imported developments. Our 2012 season had relied heavily on Bachmann US Brill trolley chasses, these however had not fared well with the gruelling demands of an exhibition weekend, with most breaking down at some point. A replacement was needed and 701 formed that basis. The car, built ironically from a rejected body shell was test fitted with a new Japanese Tomix chasses, type TM-03. I was lucky as this unit almost matched the wheel base of the donor Brills we were replacing. Standard 167 was built as my attempt at doing the classic Matchbox Typhoo Tea tram conversion, and utilised a short wheel base KATO chassis also from Japan. The two new cars gave a marked improvement over the Brill chasses and entered service for our first 2013 show at Craven Arms, Shropshire. For this first event Balloon 708 was also given a new Tomix chassis and much needed patch repaint, we also welcomed widened Balloon 719, built by my brother Sam, trialling door pods as a post 2011 Balloon. Also In time for start of the 2013 season, most of the fleet got new Kato pantograph units, replacing the somewhat crude examples we’d hand built. Our seconded show of the year was the Totally Transport Festival in Blackpool during the early summer… however given the weather I didn’t see much sun! For this show Jubilee 762 was re-chassed and returned to use after being robbed for spares during our 2012 season. Also for the first time 701 and 708 where set-up together and ran top and tail on the P’way wagons in a trial ‘Tram Train’ experiment. Overall despite the weather Blackpool went quite well, we did however have issues with Centenary car no 624 finally giving up completely, the car having been dogged with issues in its first year. Although repaired for the 2013 season 624 continued to spit gears even on brand new truck sets! The conclusion, the Bachmann PCC chasses which we still have to used with these trams, was totally shot and a new one had to be acquired. On a more positive note, as we were in Blackpool, at the end of the show after packing up the layout we went over to the real Thornton Gate as not all the team had been there before, with the layout still in the car these lead to the unusual scenario of taking Thornton Gate to Thornton Gate!! In July we made our third exhibition appearance at Cambrian Railex event in Oswestry, North Shropshire. Based at the now preserved Oswesrty station, the one day event also featured working trains outside on the former main line. For our part it was a relatively quite show. Centenary 624 had been rechassised with a new Bachmann US PCC unit and following concerns about Balloon 710 it to was rechassised becoming the 5th tram to run a Tomix TM-03 unit. With these improvements we managed to get though the show and I even made it into the local paper, along with ‘Coast Guard’ Balloon No. 726! August bought us back up north as Thornton Gate was billed as the main exhibit of Virgin Trains Stockport Station exhibition. This was a slightly odd experience as the show took place on the platforms of the cities mainline station. For the event Balloons 701 and 708 and Jubilee 762 were given ‘Virgin Stockport’ branding and destination blinds were changes to read ‘Virgin Trains Stockport’. Admittedly the decision to do the branding was taken only 24 hours before we were due to exhibit so was a little rushed, but none the less well worth the effort. This was also the last show we ran the layout in its current ‘overlooked’ presentation form, before major upgrade work was undertaken to improve the presentation and operating experience. During the show we only had two failures, 624 again, even with a new chassis! And widened balloon 719 with gauging issues. Stockport marked the end of our summer shows, and so we had a much needed rest and time to repair and service the stock after 3 almost back to back exhibitions. November marked the end of our season (almost) with the last two exhibitions. Show five was that of the Wolverhampton Model railway club, this year being held at a new venue for the first time. This show was to be our one and only two day event of the season. For Wolverhampton we bought forward a number of key updates to the layout, including new lighting and surround boarding and branding including new custom printed hoodies complete with the ‘TG” logo, all in our corporate blue scheme. Also for the first time we used our experimental interactive sound system, the layout being fitted with speakers and a touch screen PDA computer. Operations wise all trams were running apart from 719 which was kicked back into life by Sam during the show. The car took it in turns with 762 as they both share the same CV decoder address for our DCC system. Balloons 701 and 708 ran separately for the first time since the beginning of the year, 701 having almost lost it ‘Virgin’ branding apart from the front red shields. During the removal of the paper ads it was found the glue used was pulling the paint off as well, so 701 received some emergency touching up before the show. As a result 708 was left with its ‘Virgin’ branding intacted and ran with the branding until the end of the season. On day one of the Wolverhampton show, we had our first visiting tram car in the form of John Marfleet’s version of Balloon 701, this took to the rails for a short time as well as lining up with our home 701 for a twin photo! And Finally… Rounding off 2013 was our local show, the Bayston Hill exhibition, Shrewsbury, this one we ran prity much off the back of Wolverhampton show. According to the organiser numbers were down on last year, and the future of the show is in some doubt, however it did fall on the same Saturday as the Warley NEC exhibition and being only 50 minutes away from the NEC its not surprising numbers were hit. I along with most of the other exhibitors wanted to be at the NEC and would go as visitors the following day! On the rolling stock front most tramcars were running but a busy year was starting to take its toll on the stock and the layout! Although all cars did finish the show Balloon 726 which retains its original Bachmann Brill trolley chassis was having issues come mid day, and although not failed it was sidelined on the centre loop. The two centenary cars ran okay for most the day, but again like 726 were in need of servicing, 624 being pulled early and 641 ‘Kit Kat tram’ might have surcome to a spit gear but managed to finish the day! In the last 15 minutes of the final hour of the show and our 2013 season all active 11 exhibition cars were lined up for the ‘end of show’ photo, a tradition we started last year. Balloon 701 leads the line up. So what next? Well…. As it happens our 2014 season is all most fully booked, I’m actually taking bookings for 2015! In the meantime we as a team have a lot of work to do. I’m working on some new tramcars, as well as additions to the layout, some elements need replacing whilst others need building! In addition all current tramcars need a full clean and service as well as cosmetic attention, this will no doubt keep us busy until April next year when we do it all again for another year! But that’s not quite it just yet… No, although the last tram has ran for this year, one or two cars have a final engagement for 2013… more will follow! Other then that and maybe the odd post about some of the things I’ll be doing, that really is it for this year. So thanks for following us, and keep posted this thread will jump back into life again real soon!

The night before the show, a quick update. Have spent Firday evening over at the church setting up... well I say setting up it was more like chatting to other people for half an hour and drinking tea.... however once again were ready for the one day event. Above: Ready to go.. and thank god (appropriate as were in a church) for the new lighting as the 'house' lights used in he building are just awful, a horrible dim yellow... our lights give a nice clean white glow in amongst the gloom! I worry for layouts that dont have there own lighting rigs! Above: The few show plaques we have been given (so few shows give you any these days!) have been added and weigh a ton! Before you ask the dedication plaques is for my friend the late Pete Walford who was part of the team but sadly died aged 23 a few months before our first outing back in 2012. Thornton Gate is dedicated to his memory. Above: An overview of most the layout.... who needs a trackplan! Above: And finally on test once again our new sound app software, generating the atmos sound affects for the layout.. So were all ready, bring on the final show of the year!

Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury 2013 Exhibition Another year almost over... we limp over the finishing line! Thornton Gate will make its last show of our 2013 season this Saturday at Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury. This is my local show, and its were I cut my teeth doing my first public exhibition about 11 or 12 years ago so I do like to support it, even when i dose suddenly clash with the NEC..... It is a really good friendly and quite large local show, well worth a visit. For this one I'm mostly patching the layout back together, after Wolverhampton, however I have been playing with some Japanese lorries which I've added to the layout today... amazingly I bought these two for just £3.00 each! Above: The lorries really look the part, especially exiting Cleveleys industrial estate. So a full show and end of season report will follow...after I've got back from the NEC myself, visiting on Sunday... a busy weekend ahead!