Mike Bellamy

ELSBRIDGE (7mm standard gauge tramway) Exhibited by the Trent Valley Area Group in memory of Neil Blair. This is an edited version of the original layout description - photos appear above. Elsbridge is the top terminus of the Elsbridge Tramway Company, Neil's alternative take on the early years of the Ffarquhar branch line made so popular in the Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry. The station is situated on a cramped town centre location, surrounded by buildings. The layout reflects the line's horse drawn origins, with the addition of a short loop to enable locomotives to run round. Passenger services to and from the station are well patronised, and the station serves as the railhead for goods traffic for the surrounding Els and Callan valleys. The layout was to have been operated to a sequence, that would have covered a timeframe of approx. 40 years, from the 1880s through to the early 1920s. Motive power is a fleet of small tram locomotives, although locos from other Sudrian railways may also make appearance. .

Not long now before those who are narrow minded gather at Burton for the 7mmNGA annual exhibition. As mentioned above this will be a day of mixed emotions following the recent passing of our good friend Neil Blair who has done such a lot locally for the Association, as well as being the editor of the newsletter. Details of Layouts, Traders, etc below LAYOUTS Books Bridge (O-16.5; Stuart Marshall) Chuffineque (Oe; David Jane) Dinas (8mm/ft; Peter Booth) Donaldsay (O-16.5; Brian Fryer) Elsbridge (O; Trent Valley Group, in memory of Neil Blair) Melinau'r Abaty (O-16.5; Chris Featherstone) Mousehole (O-16.5, Jürgen Heinritz) St Petrock Quay (O/O-16.5; Angus Bentley) Steyning Slim Line (O-16.5; Peter Farrell) The Basin (O-16.5, Stan Summers) Walton Lane (O-16.5/O; David Hoyle) Whiteoak (O-16.5; Allen Law & Niall Rudge) Withins (O-16.5, Dave Butcher) Yellow Pelican Mining Co. (1:27.7, Tony Harwood) 5.5mm Modular Group (5.5mm/ft; Peter Blackham & Steve Jones) TRADERS 422 ModelMaking A1 Models Andrew Neale Books Blackham Transfers EDM Models GL Railways IconicRail Lcut Locos n Stuff Mannin Models RAILStuff 7mmNGA Publications 7mmNGA Modelling Goods DEMONSTRATIONS David Wright - Buildings and scenic features Paul Holmes - Working with etched brass SOCIETY INFORMATION Corris Railway Fairbourne Steam Railway Slim Gauge Circle Stafford Railway Circle Talyllyn Railway .

I feel your pain and you have my sympathy. Our van was involved in an accident last year when white van man crashed into the back of us in slow moving traffic. Needs new rear panel but for that to be done awning rails etc need to come off. Also want replacement shower cubicle as that was on the back left corner that took the impact. Van has finally gone to the factory for repair so that the manufacturers can maintain the warranty but they wanted everything taking out including all upholstery, mattress, carpets etc to give a completely empty van. That's just what we thought as the estimated repair time was minimum 8 weeks and I know from talking to the dealer that he's still waiting for one from January. The same model but 2 years younger came up for sale not too far away from us and so we cashed in every saving, pension and investment we have to buy it so we get the opportunity to benefit from the summer holidays. Should then get most of cash back when we sell the old van (with full warranty). .

This from Matt Chivers And this from the Father of NGRM, Roger Chivers .

We had over a year of various jobs being done around the house and SWMBO never cleaned up once - she described the dust as being a 'protective layer' on the furniture. Of course now the work's done and we don't create any dust, she's cleaning all the time . . . . . . . .

It is all explained on their website . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A bit too much information there - some of us are trying to have our breakfast . . . . . 🤣 .

Best chippy in town was Cecil Street just around the corner when we lived on Harrowby Road (1960 to 1976 for me and to 2017 for Mum and Dad). If you met JH when he was passing through town, I guess it would have been the Windsor on London Road. .

The 7mm Narrow Gauge Association Annual Exhibition will be at the usual venue of Burton Town Hall, but a week later than in previous years. Saturday 17th June 2023 10.30am to 4.30pm Adults £7 Assn Members £4 Partners and accompanied Children Free Burton Town Hall King Edward Place Burton-Upon-Trent Staffs DE14 2EB For those who haven't been before, please don't follow "Town Centre" signs expecting to find the Town Hall as it isn't in the centre ! It is however just a few hundred yards from the station served by trains on the Derby/Birmingham line. There is off road parking nearby as well as a couple of car parks but from what I can recall, part of the area is the station car park and the other part is for the Travelodge - they have different charges and so make sure you get your ticket from the correct machine. Full details later but we have 15 layouts booked along with 12 specialist traders, plus demonstrators and narrow gauge society stands. As some of you may have seen elsewhere on RMweb, our close friend and area-group co-ordinator, Neil Blair passed away suddenly and most unexpectedly last week at the far too young age of 35. His 7mm standard gauge tramway layout, Elsbridge is featured in the latest issue of British Railway Modelling with photos by @AY Mod - thankfully he got his copy of BRM a few days before he died and was so pleased to see his layout in print. Elsbridge was scheduled to appear at Burton and will still be there operated by his friends from the Trent Valley Area Group.

Agreed. Email received has been copied below - nothing to say it is for renewal as it is for new Premium Members. Also typo with "duration of membership" duplicated. Sorry for @AY Mod who seems to have been let down again by the back office team as I assume they must have sent the wrong email ??

Another tale from Israel about language and translation. I was there assisting at their Graduation Ceremony in a huge hall with several hundred graduates and a top table of invited dignitaries. There were about ten there from the UK and we all had headphones for the not quite simultaneous translation - when the head of the local college made a few jokes it was a few minutes later when we were told what he said and so had to try not to laugh out loud as by then he was on a more serious part of his speech. However when the Vice-Chancellor from Derby spoke he was speaking in English - he started by talking about the wonderful opportunities for students after graduation - in his particular case he had volunteered to work in a Kibbutz in Israel, which obviously got a round of applause, he had met his wife in Israel (more applause), his first daughter had been born in Israel (more applause) and then he continued his speech in fluent Hebrew !! By now the audience was almost in uproar. We quickly put on our headphones to find that the translator had disappeared - she returned soon after gasping for breath and trying to catch up on what he was saying. One last funny incident from the ceremony - a few graduates shook hands with some of the staff who were on the stage as well as VC who was handing out certificates. A guest speaker was the Minister for Science and Industry and when one young lady came for her award (MBA I think), she leant over the table and gave him a big kiss - we found out later that she was his wife ! .

About 20 years ago, the University of Derby had a partnership with a college in Israel (along with many other UK universities). Originally students were taught following the Derby syllabus but in Hebrew. The local universities and colleges (who were finding their student numbers dropping) complained that a programme originating in the UK should be taught in English as it was the UK institution that would be issuing the graduation certificate and employers would therefore expect the graduate to have a good command of English. The Ministry of Education was in partial agreement and made it a requirement that 30% of the tuition should be by staff from the UK institution. Our staff were already going there to do 'guest' lectures in English and when these new rules came into force, the University sent about 30 staff out there for around 6 weeks to do intensive teaching across a number of study centres (at one time we were delivering at ten location). However close scrutiny of the rules showed that it wasn't actually a requirement to be taught in English and so the college there arranged for three of their staff to be transferred to Derby, they moved to the UK, were on our payroll and they taught by "Interactive Distance Learning" - an early version of programmes like Zoom. However many other overseas institutions were not prepared to make this investment and many of them closed their Israel partnerships. There were always questions being raised about the quality of the teaching and the achievements of the students. Large numbers of assignments were independently translated and sent back to UK for marking and we also used Hebrew speaking External Examiners who were employed at other UK universities or were at universities in Israel. We then had to confirm the quality of the samples that had been translated. A Google search found me a translator who agreed to compare the original Hebrew with the English copy sent to UK. However much to the surprise of the Israeli staff, he said that every one of them was of a poor quality - further investigation found that he was a "technical" translator - the sort of person who would translate the operational manual of a jumbo jet where if you pressed the wrong button the plane would crash !! We dispensed with his services as we needed someone from an academic background who could tell us if the student had been disadvantaged by the quality of the translation - did the text actually convey the correct meaning even if not every single word was 100% accurate. By coincidence we found him at a college about 25 miles away where I had gone to give them a talk about our work with partnerships. I made a light hearted comment about going to visit exciting places like Mansfield but also said I had been on several trips to Israel. He came to speak to me afterwards and it turned out that he was the son of a New York Rabbi who like many American Jews spent some time in Israel. He was at that time already married, but whilst there he met his soon to be second wife. He said he really was the "black sheep" of the family as not only had he got divorced, he had then married a miner's daughter from Clipstone" (one of the many local pits). .

As well as a close modelling friend, Neil and I had worked together for about 10 years in the Quality Office at the University of Derby until I retired towards the end of 2019. For many years he was seen as my 'apprentice' as I taught him all he needed to know about the job - however we were often told to stop talking about trains! I was devastated when Andrew told me this unexpected news as we had all been talking on zoom only a couple of days before - as our local narrow gauge group had been every two weeks since lockdown put an end to our pub meetings. Neil was so proud to have his layout featured in BRM and we will ensure that Elsbridge will be at the 7mm Narrow Gauge exhibition at Burton next month. Mike

When we had a new tumble dryer, SWMBO hadn't paid the extra for installation or disposal of the packaging and the old machine. However when it was delivered, they asked if we wanted this service which she declined as she though I would enjoy taking the old machine to pieces, recovering some nuts and bolts and then taking the remains to the tip. However as it was their last delivery of the day, they had an empty van and took the lot free of charge - what a good result as I've already got boxes and boxes of nuts and bolts I inherited from my dad who collected and saved everything he could ! A friend recently had a new kitchen fitted. He had done all the preparation for the job and so the old kitchen was already in bits in the back yard. The kitchen was from one of the large DIY stores (orange not green or blue !) and they had arranged to take away all the packaging and assorted debris from the installation. When the clear up crew arrived, they had no idea what they were due to collect so my friend pointed them towards the remains of the old kitchen which they took, saving him several runs to the tip as that hadn't been factored into the contract price. .

Well that's two secrets in the same announcement as our club members have known about the move to Accurascale and the purchase of 43025 for a while and so now it's been made public, we can all add our congratulations to Alex. I must admit that it was a bit of a surprise to see such a large photo of his face on a big PC screen whilst trying to drink my early morning tea - it's bad enough seeing him twice a week at club !!🤣 For those interested in 43025, have a look at this on YouTube which shows the transfer from Ely to Ruddington https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y6hoSL9qd4 As for the next model to be produced, I think I might know - it's another of Alex's favourites, he's sitting in it in that first photo and it can be seen in the video link above - after all, if Rapido can make buses, why can't Accurascale make a model of a Volvo V70 - I have lost count of the number of different ones he's had over the years. .

Funny how the conversation has already moved on to the catering for the day. Depending what's already available at the venue, I could bring the bacon grill that the Mickleover Group bought to feed the customers at our swapmeets. At the narrow gauge meeting in January when I last borrowed it, I cooked enough for 100 cobs. That reminds me, we also have 14 6ftx2ft tables we can bring as well. .

I believe they were representing some of the Commonwealth countries or were they from the Realms where HM Charles III is still Head of State ? .

Hi Jay As one of the organisers of the very first get together back in 2007, how can I resist your invitation! @AY Mod was organising the event at Chasewater but for various reasons that fell through and so I offered the use of Mickleover Community Centre where I was Chairman, and the local model railway club have their clubrooms next door. Andy called in a few days later to see the building, and the next day the new venue was announced. It was a great success and was the start of other gatherings such as those at Stafford and of course Taunton. I remember @Captain Kernow bringing some of his crew from SWAG and more locally @RedgateModels and @Ramrig were among many others who were there. Somewhere there is a photo of us all together complete with names - sadly there are also some who are no longer with us. Looking forward to a visit to Dubrek http://www.dubrek.co.uk/ Mike

New laws were introduced just a few days ago https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-order-bill-overarching-documents/public-order-bill-factsheet I can't be sure but I thought I heard something about that being available " on the red button " ?? .

A friend of mine runs EDM Models, a specialist narrow gauge supplier and he imports On30 (16.5mm) track in Code 70, 83 & 100) from MicroEngineering in USA. At one time a few years ago there was a shortage of track and when he enquired about when stock was expected they told him they were waiting for the rail to be delivered from Sheffield. As he lives in York he couldn't believe that the rail goes half way around the world to come back to Yorkshire ! .

Thank you Simon. I remember when Howard came to one of our 7mmNGA events at Mickleover (Derby). He had bought the layout " Crackington Quay" the day before and had never operated the layout. As he was vertically challenged, we had to find him a strong enough box to stand on so he could see over the top of the backscene ! .

SWMBO was a Teaching Assistant at a local secondary school and a volunteer group leader for the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. During one of the expeditions, one of the female teachers who was authorised to drive the school minibuses took her to one of the checkpoints to meet the groups. She was being driven down a narrow lane and said " Watch out, there's a dyke on the left" to which the teacher replied "And there's one on the right as well". SWMBO had no idea about the teacher and was full of apologies, saying that she had been brought up in Lincolnshire where all ditches were called dykes. They both had a great laugh when they met up with the other staff and repeated the story. .

Thanks Mr Bear - I almost missed that one especially as the Birthday was mentioned on Early Risers and that's where the other responses have been. I know I'm not the only one to forget which topic I'm reading. .

Thank you all for the Birthday wishes. it's been an interesting weekend with eldest son and husband staying with us. They have a small and rather old motorhome so we took them to the local dealer (Don Amott) to have a look around and they're now think of upgrading to something more modern - could be an expensive visit. We all went out to lunch today and soon after they left, middle son and 7 year old grandson arrived with an Easter Egg for me. Jacob claimed he sixty but he did admit that most of these were very small ones ! However what made it interesting was what happened early Saturday evening when I was called at around 6.40pm by a club member who was in the clubroom with a colleague working on improvements to the N gauge layout. After hearing a noise outside, one went outside to see what was going on and they then locked themselves in as there were a couple of youths outside who were banging on the outer metal door, the inner wooden door, the windows and the end 'fire door'. This then escalated to them shouting that they were going to break in and they later got around the end of the building and onto the roof. This had been going on for some time and they called me for assistance. I said I would be there in about 10/15 minutes and that in the meantime they should ring the Police. They also rang another member who lived locally who then also rang the Police but I don't know which call went through first. There was an immediate response as when I arrived, there was already a Police car in the car park and the two officers had disappeared in pursuit of the offenders. I went to the door and after identifying myself the door was unlocked but this was difficult at first as there was a lot of broken glass in the entrance as at least one beer bottle had been smashed against the door. Another Police car arrived with four officers and one offender as they had called for backup. Soon after a third car arrived and later a Police van - so in total their response was eight officers and four vehicles. A lady who lived nearby had taken some photos which were shared with the Police and so they had a description of the second person they were looking for who was later apprehended and brought back to the clubroom as his coat had been left behind - a Police Officer went over the fence into the space behind the building to recover it for him !! Full details were taken from the two members there and the lady with the photos. I also contacted the Community Centre manager next door about their CCTV which might have shown the offenders depending on their location. In addition, the Centre Caretaker had been there and also witnessed some of what was happening. When I asked the Police about them wanting the CCTV, the offender in the back of the car looked rather shocked that we might have some for their actions on film - we have been asked to retain the video in case of need. We were told that the first offender who had been taken to the Police Station earlier had later been taken home to his parents and so we assume he was under age. The fate of the second offender is currently unknown. I returned home about 8.30pm and the others were happy to remain and continue with their work. they regularly attend on a Saturday evening and let others know that they are going to be there. People walking by were asking what was going on as they had never seen so many Police and heard sirens in what is normally a very quite residential suburb of the City. Top marks to Derbyshire Constabulary. .

Sorry Peter, I haven't a clue about that although I do recall that a cricket match at Buxton had to be abandoned in the 1970 (?) in June because of snow. I never have been able to remember dates except for today 9th April as it's my birthday and next year will be three score years and ten . . . . Also have to remember a date in February (not the 14th !) which was our wedding day 45 years ago and SWMBO's 20th birthday - at least they are both on the same day . . . . ! ! .