l&dmesunofficially2

3rd of March, return of the rain

2012-03-04T02:55:00.000-08:00

It was boiler testing day and we were rewarded by the presence of two of the best boiler testers in the club, the other best one was at work. However the turnout of boilers was to say the least, disappointing, Roy and Lawrence had the SECR P Class and Holmside tested, Les brought his traction engine boiler, but omitted to bring a suitable fitting for the test pump, preferring to refer to an obscure web site for advice rather than asking a boiler tester, it takes all sorts. Rod and Maureen acted as a crowd and watched the proceedings, Trevor and Barry came and went, meanwhile Bob was busy lining the inside of the tunnel roof. Rain came and curtailed the running round the track, tea was taken and Boiler paperwork made out in the hut. Normal work then had to be undertaken, Terry and Lawrence continued with the portal of the exit from the tunnel, Les and Roy attacked some of the signalbox painting in the comfort of the workshop. After lunch, Neil arrived and in the the now warm sunshine took the weedkiller truck and Roy for a walk round the track.

This was not for boiler testing today but will be arriving
at the track soon complete and ready to run!

Roy contemplating the coverage of green paint

Les muttering "I may not be able to bring the
right fittings but I can paint a mean coat of gloss"

26th of Feb here we are again!

2012-02-26T01:11:00.001-08:00

I suppose that an apology of sorts is needed for although Terry and Lawrence, aided by Bob worked all day on the tunnel, and Les and Roy aided by Chris worked on point motors and hidden wiring and Neil and Rod cleared up leaves and winter debris from the new station, there was nothing that was really photogenic to save from the day, so the only two pictures are from a short lived section of the club that was formed in 2003. the object of this small, select group was to combine Yoga with model engineering. I leave you to form your own opinion.

The founder of the group demonstrating
the "Dying Crab" position

2 months later the position shown is called
"After the Guinness"

Warmer at last on the 18th of Feb

2012-02-18T13:30:00.000-08:00

Two shifty looking pikies, especially the one in the hat.

A heavy day in prospect as it is the day for a scrap run, that means that the portable track trailer has to be unloaded and the scrap loaded and then later it all has to be done in reverse. Rod arrives and Dave B turns up to ride shotgun with him, all goes according to plan and the trailer is loaded and the more valuable items are sorted into different buckets and secreted in the boot. Then off they go and we start to do work, Les and Roy build more of the signalbox (Is signal box one word or two? Answers on a postcard please.), whilst Lawrence and Terry finish the portal of the inlet end of the tunnel, Bob then coats it in black emulsion and uses the rest of the can to do as much as he can inside the rest of the tunnel. The doors at the other end have the MDF fitted and a start is made on the framework. meanwhile the Pikies come back and after we have all guessed how much the trailer load would make we find again that we have all underestimated the amount that we received, so that's OK.

This, I was informed, is not four panels for the signalbox, it is 2 ends and 2 sides, apparently that matters!

Talking over tea we realise that there is not much time before the start of the season and there is so much to do, even more now that the moles are starting to throw up molehills in the trackwork in the new station, that is work that we can do without.

An even colder 11th of Feb

2012-02-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

You may or may not notice a difference to the layout, click on any of the stories to open it fully, you may also click on either of the two arrows in the top left hand corner to move forwards or backwards between entries, then when you are finished click on the "X" in the top right hand corner to return to the beginning. Please be warned that this change will not make the content any more interesting.

It's not a posed picture, it was actually one of the warmest jobs going on.

Roy and Les claimed the record for this week for the coldest with temps of -14 and -13 respectively. After we had removed the ice from inside the Baby Burco we were able to have a cup of tea. Work in the workshop (where else on a day like today) consisted of signalbox woodwork, posts being sanded and primed, timbers being cut and assembled to form an end. Rod had turned up to do the scrap run, but we decided that it would be too much for him to do it alone in the cold as none of us wanted to go outside, reluctantly he agreed. Not much else to say really, the weather is starting to slow us down somewhat, someone up there turn the heating up for next week please.

Feb the 4th

2012-02-05T01:48:00.000-08:00

The hand pump by Les and the now slightly insignificant handwheels by Roy.

Did temperatures of -6 (or -8 or -4 depending on to whom you spoke) deter members from attending, No! Did it bring out more members than usual, No! So once the hut had warmed up Les and Roy brought out what they had created in the week. Roy proudly displayed three handwheels that he had made for his Pompom, this was then trumped by Les' Boiler Test. to do.
The original working planwas for Rod to do a scrap run, however he has had a fall and slightly injuredhis shoulder, so no Rod, he will if fit do it all again next week. That beingso, Roy and Les attacked the pile of new wood in the workshop and created what can be seen in the picture, 50% of the walls of the signal box for the old station. Terry and Lawrence also decided that it would be a good idea to work inside, spent the day sorting scrap and regrading it so that the best price will be obtained.

The first of the wall panels for the new signal box.

28th of January

2012-01-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

Something slightly different about the field when we arrived, no, not the ever advancing mole hills (they have now penetrated the new station as far as the through line, this is getting serious), but a ladder leaned up against the cricket pavilion, strange. Approaching said building one had to wade ankle deep through abandoned beer bottles, then you could see that the pavilion had been broken into, the door wide open the shutters on both windows smashed. Aaah the youth of today!

Rod notified someone and cricketers appeared to check the pavilion and the square.

Us seven however were in fine form, huddled around the heater in the mess hut, discussing the endless possibilities of a new club loco, or two! Work commenced, Trevor and Rod started to clean the new station and shred the piles of foliage that Bob cut down a couple of weeks ago, Terry and Chris went to Listers to collect timber for the new signal box, Roy installed the new water heater in the mess hut, Lawrence fabricated a new locking assembly for the inside of the tunnel doors, Bob painted the inside of a dark tunnel with black paint, a job only beaten by the application of black mastic to black paint in a dark tunnel. Chris and Terry started on the manufacture of a modified portal to the entrance to the tunnel, a job only delayed by their combined lack of design skills. Roy mixed concrete and reinstalled a door stop on the new end doors. All in all a pleasant day in quite warm sunshine. No picture as black paint looks like black paint, especially in the dark

21st of January, more tunnelling!

2012-01-21T12:48:00.000-08:00

Wet and windy, Chris, Terry, Les, Lawrence and Bob got stuck into the job of moving the doors from their original position to the end of the tunnel extension, a job that once started has to be completed in one day as it would leave the tunnel unlockable.

Doors repositioned, last two side panels fitted.

In spite of the threatening weather a start was made and fortunately completed in spite of heavy downpours. The doors were cut off and the existing 6 hinges removed, during which time, Chris and Terry disappeared to purchase timber for the new signal box at the old station. Les and Bob cut the panels to size and after the side rails were welded into position drilled and fitted the panels. Around this time Mark turned up and trialled his 5" Class 58, successfully as it turned out. The first door was then offered to the frame and using Chris' setting device it was welded in position, the second door was offered up and with micrometer like precision was found to be an inch too wide for the frame. It was discovered that the frame width had been measured and set in concrete using a measurement that was twice the width of the doors, however investigations (measuring with a tape) revealed that the doors are not identical as was thought, one is wider by an inch than the other, consequently the other one is narrower by an inch than the other one. The answer was to hack (carefully remove) the necessary amount off the frame nearest to the field side (so that it won't be seen by the casual observer), this has resulted in a pair of doors that fit perfectly, just as well as the sun had gone in and it was getting cold. Progress made and enthusiasm is now begin generated for the tunnel works to be done at the rear of the workshop, as soon as this one is finished.

Sub zero weather and a mass turnout, 14th of Jan 2012

2012-01-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

Compare this to last week's picture to see the progress.

Neil enthusiastically weed killing.

Roy finishing off the roof installation

3 or 5 degrees below, depending upon to whom you speak did not deter 8 (eight) members turning out. (Even a new prospective member turned up to check us out). The reason behind this was not mass enthusiasm, but the fact that it is cheaper to have the heater on in the mess hut than to have your own on at home! However, as there are to be planned absences next week it was decided that as many as possible would work on the tunnel extension. Rod and Neil creosoted the last of the side sheets, Roy and Les attacked the roof and Lawrence and Terry worked on the side metalwork, whilst Bob removed the adjacent thorny hedgerow so that there was safe access to the roof. As the work progressed and jobs were completed Trevor arrived and so it must be tea time. As Neil and Trevor have been members for a while and have proved themselves to be stout fellows they were offered a chance to be promoted to the ranks of weed killing machine operatives. This they jumped at and immediately undertook a successful training course and then spent a couple of hours massacring weeds around the track. They then volunteered to be hedge trimmers as well, an offer we could not refuse! Work progressed on the tunnel as the sun rose in the clear blue sky and people jostled each other and generally got in each others way, such was the pace of the work being done. At the end of the day the roof has been completed, steelwork welded and two side panels fitted. All that remains nest week is for the doors to be moved, the last two panels to be fitted and the lining to be installed.

First day of 2012

2012-01-08T02:12:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2012. The day brought out the usual band of workers, Bob, Lawrence, Les, Roy and Terry. After a warming cup of tea in the hut, Terry and Lawrence set about extending the tunnel behind the cricket pavilion towards the site of the Burger Van. 4 holes were dug and 4 steel uprights were planted, followed by the welding of longitudinals and cross members, the steelwork was then painted. The others tunnelled in a different manner, laying a cable run and pulling through for the planned installation of electric points adjacent to the crossing gates. That completed they made minor adjustments to the new tunnel mouth on the station side to improve the appearance of the doors when they are in the open position.
Finally it has come to my notice that some people are unaware of the buttons at the top of the page, left click on any one of these to reveal pictures or information that relates to the title of the button, no point me putting them there if no one reads them!

A start made on the 2 bay tunnel extension, hopefully it will look better then the pavilion to the right.

Happy New Year to all my readers.

28th of December the Boxing Day Play

2011-12-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

A Play Day designed to blow away the cobwebs and blow it did, and cold, all were wearing everything that they had brought with them. Roy, Bob, Rod and Toby ran round the rest

socialised, and a good turn out it was with members from as far afield as Norfolk attending.

The ladies took refuge in the cabin and made tea, very welcome.

The farmer had been busy cutting hedges adjacent to the track and along the entrance road, perhaps the wind will blow his cuttings away in time. Chris brought his Dougal to show progress and ask advice, and John brought Edward and gave driving lessons.

Happy New Year to my reader.

See you in 2012.

Toby with Glenda and Kate cresting the bank:

Toby passing the mole hills:

Unable to think of a suitable (printable) caption:

Roy approaching the old station followed by Mark driving Bob's Deltic:

The yard:

Just to prove that the Chairman does not always have his hands clasped behind his back!

Toby, with Andy and girls on a cold lap:

Always, always there is a driver who can't read.

Chris showing off Dougal, Andy rubbing his hands trying to keep warm, John picking up his passengers.

John giving his driving lessons:

17th of December, last working day of the year

2011-12-19T01:37:00.000-08:00

Cold and drizzle did not stop, Lawrence, Bob, Roy, Trevor and Les from stripping out everything from the carriage shed. Following on from the OWE and Santas everything had become a dumped pile of tangled stock. Owe equipment was relocated neatly to one side, tables were repaired and fitted with new tops as necessary, chairs stacked neatly, old redundant gear burnt, squirrel nests removed and a lot more space created. The new water cube brought a couple of weeks ago by Andy has been stored against the creosote facility that has benefited from a new polythene cover to tidy the area up. The water was then drained from all the pipework and a Merry Christmas wished to all and we departed to go our separate ways unti the 28th.

SANTA SPECIAL DAY 2, 11th of DECEMBER (and the day before)

2011-12-11T13:04:00.000-08:00

Saturday was cold, expletive cold, so the work done had to be vigorous. All the gear left out from last Sunday was still in place and hadn't been touched, so there was no need to work there. Lawrence and Terry got out the digging gear and set off for the new station and dug out for installing the edging stones. Then mix ballast and cement and lay stones, repeat and repeat again. Les and Roy, with Rod installed the final touch, a train position indicator to the pointwork in the tunnel, when that was finished they helped complete the edging work. The edgings now run from the foot crossing at the signal box to the tunnel mouth and look rather good.

Sunday dawned with the promise of rain followed by more rain. The set up of last week was repeated and at 10o'clock we were all in position and ready for the first passengers, at 10 past ten we were ready, at 20 past ten were ready. Where were they all? Then slowly in ones and twos they drifted in and we were off and running. Toby, Ray, Roy and Terry doing the honours. The ladies, as usual, Kate, Maureen, Glenda (busy writing poetry), Pam, Hilary etc. were on duty in the cafeteria. Rod by now was handing out presents to child after child, the threatened rain held off and the trains got heavier. On the station two snowmen in the form of Les and Lawrence marshalled the passengers, by now the reason for the late start became obvious, a Christingle in Scarle church had overlapped with our start. So the morning passed, all drivers carrying an obligatory dewdrop, passengers sporting red noses. Then it came to an end, the last passengers arriving at 20 past one, they got one quick lap, then all hands to packing up at a quarter past two, the last car pulled away as the rain started. Another year of Santas and another year of good fun and happy passengers. Again look at the tab for today's pictures.

SANTA SPECIAL 1ST WEEKEEND 4/12

2011-12-05T00:36:00.000-08:00

It started on Saturday, in reality it started weeks ago with planning and shopping and baking etc., but the work on the ground began in earnest, with a mass clearing of the track, huge amounts of leaves to be moved, all the track to be cleaned of debris and a fallen tree. The old station area was fenced off and all the necessary provision made for the safe and convienent access of the public on Sunday.
Sunday saw locos being prepared, the ladies in the workshop that had been transformed into a Christmas Kitchen and serving area laying out Mince Pies and Drinks, outside the gazebo was erected, newly born (just made) reindeer were erected, decorations and fairy lights erected. Signs directed the passengers onto the platform that had been split into two, one part for unloading and the sceond part for loading with acccess to the loading area controlled so that the numbers on the platform are manageable.
Half past nine saw the gang mower appear and the football pitch was mowed.
Ten o'clock saw the first passengers arrive as Lawrence, Terry, Ray and Toby (with two engines) running trains. Rod was in position in his grotto and working his brand of magic on the children. Glenda, Marina, Pam, Maureen, Hilary, Kate, et al, were busy serving in Santa's kitchen. The football match kicked off, their whistle not interfering with ours and vice versa. The weather was chilly and suddenly the temperature noticably dropped with black clouds threatening. The new tunnel drew favourable comments and Terry said that he drove through it slowly, not for any safety reason, but that it was 10 degrees warmer inside. One o'clock arrived and the gazebo was dismantled, Santa disrobed, the takings were counted and we congratulated ourselves on a job well done and departed ready to do it all again next week.
To see the pictures click on the tab above, Santa Specials 2011.

26th of November and almost back to normal

2011-11-26T10:52:00.000-08:00

Well, as normal as I can be. Cold and blowy was the field as we took up our respective places on the jobs in hand. Roy and Bob worked on the x-ing gates, or rather under the gates sorting out cable runs for the signalling in the new station area. Les, Lawrence and Terry attacked the remaining work on the tunnel. Terry painted the outside of the tunnel and the doors with green wood coat and then moved inside to do an art work in a dark tunnel that consisted of painting with black emulsion in the dark, not easy to see if he had missed a bit. Les made up the "stones" that formed the ring round the tunnel mouth whilst Lawrence applied the grout to create the appearance of granite blocks. Andy arrived during the morning to deliver a water cube, ready for next years OWE. Bob, now being surplus to Roy's requirements joined the tunnel workers and fitted the inner lining from the roof to the tunnel entrance, to create the effect of a "lead-in" to the tunnel. By now Les had finished cutting his stones and these were no-nailed to the portal after being painted a different colour to the existing granite blocks. The finished result is considered to be satisfactory, especially as it can be seen from the mess hut door. The downside is that when the door to the other end of the tunnel is opened, it is still the effect of driving through a shed, so after the Santas, the next job is to do the other end.

Unfortunately the tunnel has already been taken over by local homeless troglodytes.

The 19th of November and an explanation for the recent absence

2011-11-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

Following on from complaints that the blog has not been updated, I must admit to feeling quite satisfied that I have been missed! However it proves that some people have quite sad lives. So, why nothing for a couple of weeks, well several things, a house move, no phone or internet access for 5 days, and a poorly computer. House move, I'm sure that you can imagine what it means, then no phone, expensive calls on the mobile to arrange repair. Eventually the man from BT arrives and announces that there is a fault exactly, yes exactly 171 yards from the house, but he doesn't know where, anyway it's time for his break, he'll be back in an hour.
The when all is repaired it appears that the computer is not a happy bunny, I blame the new line and after more calls it appears that the machine is on the blink. This is being written on a nine year old laptop, apparently nowadays memory is measured in something more than kilobytes, it's called progress.

Excuses over, what has been happening? Well the usual number of people turn up, a combination of Rod, Bob, Neil, Terry, Lawrence, Les, Roy, in various combinations. The work in brief over the period has involved the fitting of a shunt dummy, complete with a feather that has been assembled and wired up by Roy and fitted in place in the new station with Les' help. When bought it appeared to be a trifle expensive, but installed it is worth every single penny, a real gem, especially when you consider that the point that it protects is now in darkness in the now almost complete tunnel extension, so it really shines. The tunnel extension has had the roof and sides previously fitted, and this week, work to almost finish it was carried out by Rod and Les, fitting MDF to the doors, Terry and Lawrence fitting MDF to form the tunnel mouth, Neil and Bob fitting black polythene to the inside of the roof of the tunnel to enhance the darkness and to block off minor light sources. Then Les had three brainwaves, (all in one week). As the tunnel mouth had been formed, there was a significant amount of unavoidable MDF offcuts, Les suggested that they could be used to line the entrance to the mouth, to form a foot wide lead-in to the tunnel, a simple piece of work that transformed the appearance.

The face of the tunnel had by now been "roughly" painted in an effort to try and replicate the appearance of granite, to be followed when dry by the addition of white lines of "grout". As the ground was by now littered with smaller offcuts of MDF, Les suggested that the "stone blocks" around the entrance to the mouth of the tunnel, instead of being painted, could be actually cut out of the offcuts and mounted to provide a real 3D effect, another gem of an idea that will be done next week. So all that needs to be done to complete the job, is the addition of the grout, Bob to fit a "curtain" of polythene from the mouth to the roof of the tunnel internally and the lining of the far end of the tunnel, and a coat of black something to the side boards, and a fresh coat of green to the outside of the doors. Hopefully by then I will have found my camera and will provide a suitable picture instead of a thousand boring words!

Saturday the 29th of October

2011-10-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

4 of us. Terry, Roy, Lawrence and Les, later joined by Bob. All four commenced work on the tunnel extension, Roy and Les fitting the roofing sheets that Terry had collected from Market Rasen in the week, after they had fitted a new 240v socket to the platform end at the new station and Lawrence and Terry working underneath them fitting the ply side sheets. Various branches slowed the upper works and various hawthorn twigs similarly slowed the lower gang. Judicious "pruning" improved access to both work sites. By the mid afternoon the 4 steel box corrugated roof section had been securly fitted and the last of the 6 side sheets bolted in place. All that remains for next week is to remove the doors, fit new hinges and refit the doors at the tunnel mouth, 12 feet nearer to the station. No photo, just look at the last one and try to imagine the extra bits.

Saturday the 22nd of October

2011-10-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

Following a visit by Terry last week to the Lindsey Rly, we were promised a visit by three 5" locos. However on reflection after Terry had left the proposed visitors felt guilty that they had invited themselves and on the day only one turned up. That news left us feeling a little disappointed that there was to be just one loco. But what a loco it was, on it's first real outing, a brand new A1, King's Courier. Dave had arrived to deliver some materials and stayed to see a real loco at work.

The day did carry on in a normal way, Terry, Les, Lawrence and Trevor worked all day on the new tunnel, being interrupted every now and then by an A1 storming through. Assisting on the tunnel work, was Rod (!) and Neil, creosoting the ply sheets that were to form the sides of the tunnel. The Lindsey people finally packed up and departed after having had a great time, Neil got his loco out and had a play, whilst the rest of us packed up and took a well earned rest after a very satisfactory day.

Saturday the 15th of October

2011-10-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

You would have thought that the frost would have put off people from coming, not a bit of it. John, fresh out of Gainsborough Hospital and back in harness rubbed down and undercoated the first of the 4 crossing gates, assisted by Trevor. Lawrence and Roy, cleared away the surplus limestone from the platforms in the old station and then ballasted the sides of the main and loop lines, a job that was cut short by the OWE.
Whilst all this was going on Andy (boat Andy, not Andy Andy) and Terry (not normal Terry, the other one) were storming round the track on Andy's 5" OS tank engine. Taking turns in driving confidence was obviously growing as the lap times became shorter and shorter. The fun was eventually called to a halt by a mystery fault in the valve gear.
By this time the gate painters had gone home, so Roy and Lawrence turned their attention to laying 7 edging slabs in the new station from the water tank towards the tunnel, progress was rapid as the soil was light and dry and the absence of roots was appreciated.
So ended a very pleasant day.

8th and 9th of October

2011-10-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday, surprise, surprise! Loads of people all busy and getting stuck in to various jobs. Dave brought back the amplifier gear after repairs, the posts were put out, Neil painted the new tunnel steelwork, that sort of thing. The weather curtailed things as the drizzle turned into heavier and heavier rain.

Sunday brought the last Car Boot of the year, it also brought out 11 stalls. Toby was the only person to run with his 08, Rod took over after a while whilst the other few members manned the gate and the xing gates, not everone was delighted manning the gates however, Dave as Station Master, actually rode as guard, there being that few passengers. So the year ended with a whimper rather than a bang, roll on the Santa Specials!

The first day in October

2011-10-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

There must be a beer festival on some where, perhaps an Oktoberfest, that's where everyone must have been. Never mind, Terry and Lawrence worked on the erection of the new station tunnel extension. This is the extension that was to have been completed in time for the Santa Specials, last year, so only about a year late. Steel had been delivered and cut to length at home and transported to Scarle, holes were dug to plant verticals in, ballast and cement were mixed in a dry mix and the verticals duly planted. The hottest day in October ever, just the sort of work that you can do without! Once they were plumbed true a couple of horizontals were welded in place and then two cross pieces were tacked on the top to keep all in place until the mix in the ground has gone off.

Not the most exciting job ever done, but progress and a feeling of satisfaction.

The last weekend in September

2011-09-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the "day after the Lord Mayor's", a bit of a let down after the OWE, however there were things to be cleaned and put away, that done, Terry, Roy, Lawrence, Neil, Trevor and Chris all mucked in and the last 10 edging slabs from the new signal box to the start of the platform were laid, ie, one gang dug out the trench, another mixed the concrete, another hauled it over and half a dozen hands laid and levelled the pieces.
Then all hands again, including Barry who had arrived, either carted chippings from against the mess hut to line the track edge along the whole length of the edging stones, or when that was done the barrows were used to move the last couple of tons of chippings into the bunker against the carriage shed. This means that the grass/carparking against the mess hut fence is now restored to normal, probably the quickest that 12 tons of stuff has ever been shifted. The weather did not help, it got hotter and hotter, with many jumpers and jackets being discarded.
Finally a dry stone wall was built from the fence opposite the platforms at the new station to the big tree near the point motor so that it complimented the edging slabs on the other side.

Whilst all this work was being done, fairly new member, Neil opened his boot and brought out his new " Maxitrack" Hibbert Planet loco. He has had the wheels turning on th bench but that is all. He was given a master key and we sat back in the sun to instruct him on how to get onto the track, slight hitch when it was found that his coupling heights were different from ours so a dedicated drawbar was knocked up for him. Then off he went lap after lap, until we suggested a truck or two, this made a different, but not as big a difference as we he took Chris as a passenger and the trip came out approaching the rear of the workshop, two trucks OK, two trucks + Chris not OK. No picture as the camera had been forgotten.

Sunday, the penultimate CB of the year started a little damp and cool but didn't get any worse. Not a lot of booters and not a lot of passengers. New Neil as he had expressed an interest spent the day in the signal box and was coached by Chris, that released Roy to go out on his loco passenger hauling that promptly failed passing through the old station. His two young passengers seemed thrilled to be taken off one train and having to wait for the next train to be stopped specially for them to get on. Roy, after packing up took up post on the exit gate. Terry, Ray and Lawrence did what passenger hauling there was to be done with a brief stint by Bob, with Colin and Liz on the gates and Barry, Trevor, Nick and Rod amusing themselves in various ways, with the ever faithful Dave as Station Master.
New member Anton joined today and became the youngest at 5 years old, and then had 10 laps round the track, so he has almost got his subs back already. Well equipped with a whistle he soon learned the position of all the whistle signs and enjoyed his trips round and was finally treated to being able to sit in the steaming bays and watch Lawrence dispose of his loco.
The track was also visited by two track bashers. I am aware of fullsize track bashers (where you try to travel on lines not usually open to public trains, works lines, collieries etc.) but not minature ones. They draw up a scale plan of the layout and then travel on as much of it as they can. Takes all sorts!

OPEN WEEKEND 2011 DAY 4 (use button above for pictures)

2011-09-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

The weathermen had it wrong for Saturday and were no doubt hoping that their forecast of rain all day would correct this time, wrong again as it turned out.
On arriving at the field, the children, Toby, Wills, Hayden etc. were still gathered around visitor Tom's "BBQ". It is the only BBQ that ought to have a licence you need to see it in action to appreciate it! So a natter with them, the Chairman joined us on his way back from breakfast at the pub, and then a long talk with Adrian on building a T/E. Then finally as I made my way towards the steaming bays, desperate cries of help from Brian, two sets of lights had failed, the failures were eventually decided to be mechanical failures by Andrew, until on one of them we had to do some electrical work, so that ended one all.
Two different visitors on the railway from Saturday, one from Wisbech and someone from the Doncaster area who had done a driver experience day at Gilling and had become a convert, with a 5" 0-6-0. Three different really if you count John who was T/E on Saturday and rail today, the only person to do both.
The weather was getting warmer and warmer and the T/Es gathered in the ring for a parade and the prize giving. Tony Bickerstaffe won best railway and best overall and in his absence Hayden collected trophies on his behalf, best T/E, was won by, see picture, I wrote the name down and promptly lost the bit of paper, best other was judged to be Roy for his work on signals and points. Prize giving over the road run commenced and terminated at the pub as is usual, all very leisurely in the baking hot sun. The railway people continued to play, some of the host members slowly and unobtrusively packing items away that were no longer needed.
The Chairman then called all members together at the steaming bays for the now traditional presentation of flowers to the good ladies for their sterling work, as they do every year. Finally he announced that there was a special award for the work done over the weekend by Hayden, Nick, Wills and Toby, they rushed to the front muttering about cans of lager or other such teenage delicacies, however they were also presented with a bunch of roses each, which went down surprisingly well!
By now the day was drawing to an end and all hands helped to pack away the ring, the cabling, the tables and chairs, the lights, ashtrays, water bowser and hoses, the ropes and all the other bits and pieces that are needed. It really was a case of many hands make light work etc., and much appreciated by those who were there. People were drawing out of the gate and waving goodbye as the very first drops of rain gently fell, some one somewhere must like us!

OPEN WEEKEND 2011 DAY 3

2011-09-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

So the weekend has arrived, with the weathermen forecasting doom and gloom, well they were wrong as were all the other doom merchants. With a healthy enough turnout on the field and a bumper one on the railway the day was set for us all to enjoy, and enjoy we did. With friends old and new on the field and railway (Spud made it inspite of being busy at work) the worst fears of Adrian, Mick and Andy failed to realise and they started to relax.
Terry had brought his rake of new wagons so he could play with the GL5 people, Hayden, Toby and Wills shared a tent whilst Toby slept in his van, they then played and worked in varying degrees, all of it satisfactorily. Tony Bickerstaffe from Wakefield brought his monster US outline and trundled around with it. The weather remained fine as the field set off for the road run, this caused the rail people to queue at the crossing until all had passed, they then had their own "enforced" enforced cavalcade! The rare sight of two Nigel Gresleys together is enough, the fact that they were running nose to nose was even more unique.
As the tarmac men returned from the pub and regained their places outside tents and vans, the heavens opened, mercifully only for two or three minutes, then it stopped as quickly as it had started, so nobody became too wet. As it was about finishing time it was all acedemic anyway.
Next the best bit of the day, the bring and burn! The club barbecue was set up under the gazebos and eventually powered up, then 25 or so of us brought and burnt, swopped knitting patterns (I promised not to mention Andy's name) and watched older Andy try to get a BBQ going, wives chidded husbands and we all had a good time. Toby brought out a guitar, Hayden played nonstop for about an hour, visitor Tom played the accordian and Toby with his ukele busked for us, wha a brilliant end to the day.
Too tired to do pictures but will do the rest of the weekend later.

OPEN WEEKEND 2011 DAY 2

2011-09-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

Different start to today, chucking it down but it stopped after a while, at least it keeps the dust down. People have arrived and there are caravans dotted around the site, the early arrivals are here. Rod entertained them by showing off his Chairman's stance, hands behind back! Mick and Adrian were again busy, as was Trevor with his blower thing, not a spare leaf in sight anymore. Both Andys were there, the man arrived to service the Fire Extinguishers and condemned two of them, didn't like the old colours anyway.
Brian arrived to sort out railway things and told us of railway people who had been told that the weekend is off, we now think that Mr X.X. must be a sort of Max Clifford, a good publicist, but with the wrong story. Andy A mixed a barrow of cement for Lawrence, Terry and Roy to finish the public viewing area fence, and then he was saved further backache as the skip lorry arrived and had to be shown where to go. Brian erected the floodlight, Mick started to fill the skip with barrow loads of rubbish, no point it going home empty, then sorted out the ash tins for the T/E boys. Everybody busy doing what needs to be done, all the time with one eye on the sky, then late in the afternoon the 5"GL started arriving, and much to the delight of all, Spud has come for the weekend!!
Roll on tomorrow!!!

OPEN WEEKEND 2011 DAY 1

2011-09-15T13:33:00.000-07:00

Thursday 15th, started bright with half a dozen members working to prepare for the weekend. What a shame to have a tale related that included a man at a Rally in Sandringham last weekend bemoaning the fact that it was his last rally of the year as Mr X. X. (fill in the appropriate initials yourself) had told him that this years rally at Scarle was off. Fortunately Mick was there to put him right and told him to get himself here.

Terry and Lawrence put out car parking poles and stakes for a roadway, and then cleaned the track and laid chippings as well as maintaining the steaming bay equipment. Mick, Adrian and Rod erected the ring (a vague rectangular shape) and set out the field markings for the caravans etc. Mick was almost unable to control his white line machine and had to be restrained by Adrian. Trevor demonstrated his leaf blower/vacuum to great effect and also showed how the generator can't supply it with enough juice.

The week ending 10/11th of September

2011-09-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

Three members visited Scarle to lay out the ropes for Sunday and then proceeded to move some ofthe new ballast chippings from the drop site to the bunker. Two others went to the track at Illshaw Heath, home of the Birmingham Society. They appear to have a problem, they have a raised 3½"/5" track and a 5"/7¼" ground level outside of it, both of them with lots of locos running. Inside the raised track were three large (Two 6" and a 4") traction engines, on the same site as locos, the drivers were friendly and there was no bar! Something wrong here!

Sunday was a fairly quiet running day, Dave did a hydraulic and steam test on Lawrence's Nigel, Wills, and Hayden manned the crossing gate, John was on the exit gate, Terry, Roy and Ray did what running there was to do and Rod was station master. Terry also had a lesson on the lever frame s othat he would be able to relieve in the box on the open weekend.

Extraordinary meeting Wednesday the 7th of September

2011-09-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like an Extaordinary Meeting for pulling in the crowds. That is if you want a very small crowd, rule changes, a special meeting and there are about 16 members, just the usual crowd. The two proposed rules changes were discussed and accepted.
At the end of the meeting Dave Brookes was made a Life Member and presented with a "gold" card, in honour of over 4 decades of service to the club. Modest Dave summed it all up when he said "I just do my bit so that people can enjoy themselves". There are too few people about like that.
The next bit of news was that John Lee has had a fall and injured his shoulder, last Sunday and is still in hospital, we wish him a speedy recovery.

Saturday the 3rd of September

2011-09-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo? Romeo of course is not a member, but he was not here, along with a lot of other members. Why the need for members? For a long time we have been trying to obtain some new ballast to finish off the old station area, on Wednesday it was finally ordered, from Cemex, a company based in Mexico, (that may explain why it has taken so long). 12 tonnes coming from Grimsby, after being quarried in Cumbria. The delivery was arranged for Saturday morning, when there are usually members present who can swing a shovel. However this week, there were just two, Lawrence and Terry. The driver arrived on time and tried hard to tip near to the side gate, to save barrowing, this was not to be, due to low branches and a high exhaust, so it was tipped at the end of the mess hut instead and he was rewarded with a cup of coffee. Then the Olympic Triathlon team started training. Triathlon? Three simple actions, shovel, barrow, rake. The before and after pics ought to tell the story. Anyone could do it. After about 4 tonnes had been shovelled, an average 100 yard journey, but only half of it loaded, the return is with an empty barrow, then raked to level, Barry arrived. Hooray, a helper! The difference that another pair of hands made was out of all proportion to his efforts. Not to denigrate Barry, but the sum of the parts was greater then the whole if you get my drift. Then all too quickly, Barry had to go (SWMBO). Another 6 or so tonnes were moved, the storage area for limestone was altered to make room for the ballast one and a few loads tipped into it, this will enable next weeks workers to see where it goes. The wheel barrows were then pleased to finish for the day, as we were. We enjoyed it so much that we will be having next week off, unfair to deprive others of the joys of a Triathlon, that is being unable to stand upright without the help of your shovel at the end of the day.

More from the weekend of the 28th

2011-08-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

Sunny and busy ws how the day started and so it carried on. In contrast to the previous running day there were engines to cobble dogs with. Terry, Roy, Ray, John all ran carrying passengers, Lawrence stuttered and spluttered and was of no help in passenger carrying. Ray has had Andy doing some work on his smokebox internals and was well impressed by the resulting performace of his loco. The newly (almost) completed public viewing area was christened by two members of the public, so the work was worthwhile. There were plenty of passengers and the morning passed pleasantly, with a member from Nottingham Club being shown the lever frame in the signal box, keep your eye on the National Model Engineering press for an article about us. With Wills on the exit gate, Barry and Brian on the crossing gates and Trevor, Nick, Ron and John in the steaming bays we were never short of someone to talk to. Then as always it was all over and as the clouds gathered we all went home.

The weekend of the 27th and 28th of August

2011-08-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

The holiday is over, retirement from Portable Tracking has been achieved and so at last one is able to return to the mundane, the weekly visit to Scarle. I'd like to say what a joy, after almost 2 months away, to see the changes that have been wrought during one's absence, I really would like to be able to say what joy, however in fairness the weeds have been killed and covers have been fitted to the new point locations, apart from that well, joy is notable by it's absence.

So today work was undertaken with gusto, all were prepared for a scrap run and car boots were emptied of various heavy, lumpy and interesting items of scrap, only to discover that the run had been postponed to next week. So Roy and Les fabricated the cover for the point lever frame, lots of grinding and bending and painting. The rope was put out for the boot tomorrow and Trevor, Barry, Lawrence and Terry turned their attention to trying to complete the viewing area.

Newly delivered slabs, piled in the viewing area were moved and the remaining area levelled. Trevor laid the edging bricks to completion, whilst the others moved the ballast that was in the way and transported limestone in the other direction. The final Terram was laid, covered in limestone and Wacked, then the top coat of pea gravel laid, and the bench from the old station installed. What a transformation! The area looks splendid all it now is for the fencing to be completed and the final concrete slab to be laid.

Lincs Steam Rally 20/21st of July

2011-08-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

The weekend started as usual the night or rather the afternoon before the weekend. People assembled and erected the stand and built up the layout, there were a few slight confusions as some items did and other items didn't appear. In the end all was well and the stand presented in all it's glory. The weekend followed with the usual pattern, except that Saturday was better attended than Sunday as is normal. There is a rota for stewarding the stand and again as usual it went out of the window, as the weather was hot and members returned early to the stand to get out of the sun.

Then as always it is all over and the stand is stripped and all go home, and that's it until next year.

Another hardworking weekend, 29th-31st july

2011-07-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

It started at about 2 o'clock on Friday afternoon, Terry and Roy put out the posts for Sunday's running day, assuming that there would be no-one there to do it on Saturday, Lawrence and Dave, with the other two, sorted out the trailer with the portable track on it and all the other gear that goes with it, loaded Terry's van with two riding trucks, (as it is Heckington, two engines run all the time along with a heavy set of points.) Then convoy to Heckington and meet Ron and Rod there, set to and erect gazebos, lay track, sort water, coal, erect the fence, etc. etc. then all go home apart from Rod and Maureen, who stay over in their caravan and act as night watchmen.

Saturday and a very busy hectic Heckington with blue skies and lots and lots of passengers, without looking it up, it is believed that the takings were a record, all down to the efforts of Roy and Toby. Toby, incidentally came of age and stuck to the job all day. Sunday was just the same, hot and busy, and the newly created record of the previous day was beaten by the old stagers, Terry and Lawrence, ably assisted by Rod, Ron, Maureen, Glenda, and Dave. Then same procedure as Friday only in reverse, pack up and convoy to Scarle to unload, so ended another 12 hour day.

The day was notable in one respect, the retirement from Portable Tracking by Terry and Lawrence after 15 and 11 years respectively, they had a celebration picture taken.

Whilst all this was going on, some of the rest of the club was at Scarle, Dave doing boiler tests, Brian acting as station master, and Roy running for the club for the second day running, only just enough people there to enable them to keep on top of the job.

Sunday the 24th

2011-07-24T12:50:00.001-07:00

Totally forgot to listen to the radio!! So don't know if we made it.

Still on the same week

2011-07-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

Chris assisted by Lawrence spent a good part of Wednesday almost finishing the installation of the mimic board and the new lever frame. What is not shown are the wiring diagrams and charts drawn up by Chris to make the installation simple and easy to follow by anyone else. The wiring completed the operation of signals and points was checked and found to be satisfactory. Not the easiest of jobs but all that needs to be done is some "cosmetic" work to complete the job, but the new station is now fully operational with a lever frame. There now should be a round of applause for those that have done the work.

The 18th to the 23rd of July

2011-07-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

Following on from the previous day, Rod, Lawrence, Terry and Maureen were back at Scarle to be interviewed by Judy Theobald of BBC Radio Lincs. She is doing a piece on Sunday the 24th about Heckington Show and as we will be there, we are to be included. First she interviewed Lawrence, followed by Rod and then she had a closer look at a loco, will be interesting to listen to see if we make the Beeb!

The 16th/17th of July

2011-07-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

Was going to go to the Myford sell off until I was told that RDG had bought all the spares, and what was left for sale wasn't that cheap, so in the end I was dragged into town (kicking and screaming). As I was about to eventually set off for Scarle a phone call told me not to bother as it was bucketting it down, those that were there had got drenched putting out the posts, so they went home. I went into the workshop.
Sunday was bucket day and not too bad weather wise. Dave and Andy were boiler testing, Rays loco didn't get past the starting post, problems with a corroded blast pipe, Lawrence, Terry and assorted Toby locos did the running, with other the Andy, Les, Rod and Brian doing car parking duties. On the gate, the ladies, Maureen, Hilary, Glenda and Marina collected the coinage, and in spite of Marina helping there was a good bucketful. What a joy to have a real banker in charge of counting the bucket, all bagged and labelled, it took me minutes to cash up at home instead of the usual hours, my grateul thanks.

Saturday the 9th of July, Portable Track Day

2011-07-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

Another portable track day event. One of the regulars at Boultham Park. In the paperwork we were told to se someone on arrival as our usual pitch is now a brand new adventure playground (no shortage of money with Lincoln Council then). We eventually found the "man in charge" (written in parenthesis as we were not quite sure of the in charge bit), after wandering around for a bit, being shown various options including a tarmac path with a bend in it and a short area of grass that looked like a well ridged field, he suggested that we just find somewhere.

So we did, not the levelist run that we have ever had, but with a lot of packing and a short downhill on the start and a monster uphill at the end of the run we made a start. The start was downhill for about 15 feet then there was a visible steep rise which caused most of the passengers to receive a present from the loco, especially when well loaded. The bonus to the site was that we were next to other stalls and stands, rather then being all alone as is usual. It was nice and safe being next to the police car, but they did keep demonstrating their siren for the benefit of small children and the Community Support Officer.Once of twice the wind got hold of the gazebo but we managed to save it, then after a fairly busy day it was pack up and travel to Scarle to unload, then home, and unload loco, hours in harness 11, deserved rest for the remainder of the day.

Fun night Friday the 8th of July

2011-07-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

Fun night, most of us had to negotiate flooded roads to get there and then when we did the heavens stayed open. The ladies gathered in the mess hut, the men gathered in the workshop and we waited for the rain to stop which eventually it did. Toby and Nick and Wills braved the elements and played running round in the opposite direction to usual.

Then Toby donned his cooking gear and aided by Kate provided pie and peas for most of us and fish fingers and peas for the southern veggies.

Now fit enough to be outside in the somewhat humid atmosphere, we all had a trip round behind Toby's electric which stormed up the bank in fine style, going hard enough to shake the water off the trees and onto the passengers at the front, all ladies as it happened.

Andy and Lawrence had a digging competition on the viewing area and between them cleared more ground than Rod and Nick have done since the job started in April.

Then it was time to go home.

The first full week in July

2011-07-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

Apart from spending all of Monday, all of it (I can't believe it) repairing a blower, Wednesday night was spent at the meeting listening to the guest speaker. Thursday was one of the best days so far this year. At the track, we (Terry, Lawrence, Rod and Maureen) entertained the Swinderby Village pre school Playgroup. It consisted of about 40 pre schoolers and attendant mothers and a couple of fathers to a two hour session on the track. They had built their own booking office and printed their own tickets and even had a Booking Office Clerk. They had ordered a Bouncy Castle and he wanted to be near the trees (sheltered against the wind) near to the new station, so it was decided to start from the old station and do a lap and a half and drop them at the new station, now called Bouncy Halt.

To start with they all decamped at the Halt and the train continued empty to the old station to collect new passengers that were held behind a closed gate until the train had come to a stop. Then when the novelty of the Castle had worn off, we were ordered to continue for two full laps. The passengers then piled on board and the process was repeated, again and again without a break for two hours, probably the most intensive running ever done at Scarle.

Whilst this was going on the Tennis Club were in full swing (excuse the pun) with a training session (another pun).At the end of the session we were thanked by all the children and treated to three cheers and a round of applause!

The first weekend in July

2011-07-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

It starts well before the weekend of course, phone calls to arrange what happens on the Saturday, tests to organise, portable track to be loaded.

Saturday had Dave doing a retest on Fil's TE, Andy had come along to be a witness, Terry returned the Wacker after it deposited oil on the patio at home (it does that if you don't keep it level, perhaps with hindsight we ought to have told him that before he borrowed it!), Roy came to test his Class 33 loco and then set out the car park posts assisted by Toby and then prepared the track for Sunday, Lawrence and other Terry loaded his van with all the paraphernalia for the portable track.

The day continued after negotiating the lengthy queues for Waddington Airshow and taking detours to avoid traffic, Rod, Maureen, John, Terry and Lawrence arrived at Potterhanworth Village Fete, the least said about the day the better, noisy aircraft screaming overhead, and not exactly a hive of activity, we won't be going there again. The only "interesting" item was the failure of a coal shovel, (head or handle fell off, depending on your point of view) this was remedied by purloining a dessert spoon from the village hall and hammering it to a suitable shape.

Sunday lived up to it's name. The sunniest Sunday for a long time, it brought out the crowds, members and locos. Colin and Liz on the gate, Barry on the exit gate, Roy in the box, Dave, Ron and John doing the station, Kate came for a cup of tea, new member Neil joined, Toby (2 engines, assisted by Wills and Nick), Terry, Roy (testing his Class 33 again, this time successfully), Terry, Lawrence, Ray and John all running, later Dave and son Adam arrived to play with the (right hand drive) 4F. Enjoyable, just as it should be!

The 18th and 19th of June

2011-06-21T01:41:00.000-07:00

Saturday brought people out in droves, hardly any room to sit in the Mess Hut, where did they all come from I wonder. Toby had brought along his 5" Jinty, ex Percy, ex Bill built. Percy had had it in a partly dismantled state and Toby is seeking to restore it to running order with professional help. He has been advised to start with the boiler and to remove it from the chassis for a through clean and subsequent preparation for a hydraulic. It will make a nice learning project for him (and probably us as well).
The usual works were carried out, parking posts, misc repair to a point blade, ongoing works to the old station cabling system, the train ready button in the new station has been repaired, John painted, the hedging was given a light trim all round, Nick and Rod added more to the viewing area, Lawrence and Terry laid more edging at the new station. Concreting work was caught in the middle of a tropical downpour, which meant rather sloppy mixes.
A wander round Boot End was made and thought given to the S & S Club's ideas for improving the area. Incidentally there is a good site for Scarle Village that is being given new life with the election of a new dynamic Chairman, we are mentioned on it.
http://www.northscarlelincs.co.uk/index.shtml

Sunday was less enjoyable, a small field, no doubt driven away by the weather, takings well under half of what we would have expected normally. Stalwart doing most of the running were locos provided by Toby, Ray had to retire early as did Roy. Only real item of interest was a visitor from the US, here serving in their forces, he is a member of a similiar club over there.
Sunday's report courtesy of Roy.

11th of June a Saturday in 2011

2011-06-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

A slightly different Day, not many of us there, and those were there didn't do a lot! However, Dave turned up for a boiler test that had been arranged, making use of the now regular time and place for a boiler test. New member Fil had brought along a 3" Burrell that he has acquired, and this was his first test. There were one or two issues that prevented a full hydraulic but now he is able to go away with a list of jobs to do and how to do them.

The warm weather had sapped what energy Rod and Barrie had and after a little work on the viewing area they went home. Dave finished his flask and he went home, that left Lawrence and Les who both attended to one or two little jobs and then they went home as well. Not much of a story, sorry about that!

The story of the week ending 5th of June

2011-06-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

Normal Saturday, sunny and lots of work done. Nick, Wills and Toby played with all the trucks and tested out both of Toby's diesels. Unfortunately they had to be persuaded to stop for a while and help laying out the car parking posts. Roy and Les dug more holes and trenches and laid more cable run ducting. Assisted by Maureen, she provides brand new shiny bulk soup containers, empty, and these are used as terminal boxes, concreted into the ground. The public viewing area has had some of the fencing erected. A minor power supply interruption was rectified, eventually.

Sunday brought a change in the weather, cold and windy. Lawrence and Ray provided the motive power and there were just enough passengers to keep them busy. Apart from that there is little more to say. The day was all too much for Ed Wood who passed out on the grass, but recovered later.

Something a little different for the week ending the 30th of May

2011-05-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

Starting on the Friday night was an invitation (for me anyway) to the National Railway Museum to see the unveiling of Scotsman in wartime black livery. Lots of people there but it didn't make me gasp when the covers were pulled off, to my eyes it looks a little like an airfix kit that has been airbrushed satin black. Not sure what I was expecting but that wasn't it, so long as the bits under the paint are OK that's all that matters.

Saturday, the club (well two of us) set off for another invitation event, this time at Stapleford Park Railway. http://www.fsmr.org.uk/This is the place for big boys toys and for perhaps the only time in my life I will admit to a GWR engine being the best one there a Saint, the Curwen Atlantic doesn't look like anything that I know, the East African is better, but the US locos leave me cold, splendid engineering and lots of wheels that they are but not my cup of tea. A complete open day with around 12 local clubs invited, we had free access to wherever we wanted and rode behind every loco. The BBC were there filming for a program called "Inside Out" due for screening early next year.

I believe that some of the others, Rod, Nick and Wills amongst them had a day at Evergreens.

The story of a running weekend 21st and 22nd of May

2011-05-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

Saturday was nothing special, miscellaneous repair jobs undertaken, fence posts welded and painted on the viewing area, more underground cable runs laid, car parking posts put out etc., even an on time builders lorry delivery, as planned. Path edging slabs laid new the signal box, just an ordinary Saturday.
Sunday brought a windy start, in more ways than one. The S & S had failed to arrange anyone to do the carparking, so it was left to Rod and Barry to cope as best they could until the sheer number of cars meant that there was no need to help, too many cars no spaces. Ray and Lawrence were steaming, with Rod as station master due to Dave being on holiday. Terry was pressed into service on the crossing gates due to a shortage of numbers. All the time the wind was getting wilder and wilder.
Eventually Ray ran out of fire and he and Terry swopped places, just as the number of passengers threatened to overwhelm the supply of trains, John arrived with his Garratt for his first visit of the year. Three trucks were coupled and he set off fro a few laps. Unfortunately his day was curtailed by the wind. The hedge along the dyke side was plastered with windblown carrier bags and the rest of the track was covered in different dead twigs ever lap. As John passed along the dyke side some debris became entangled in his motionwork and caused him to retire. By this time Ray was back in steam and the glut of passengers was being coped with. However the wind was causing more problems, a large branch blew down in front of a train and a driver and the passengers were attacked by another windblown branch. This was enough to call a halt to passenger hauling for the day.
A special mention must be made of young Wills, a junior member for only 14 days he was entrusted with the exit gate and carrying the bucket for the aforementioned no show car parkers until Barry was able to help him.
All in all a successful morning , but the windyist (is there such a word?) that I have ever steamed in. Hopefully next time the S & S will arrange some parkers.

The weekend of the 14th and 15th of May, Memorial Day

2011-05-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday was another normal working day, for the men anyway, the ladies were at home cooking and baking ready for Sunday. Various jobs were undertaken, long thin holes were dug and trunking laid ready for the cabling for the signalbox in the old station. Innovation was to hand with the utilisation of empty plastic tubs to use as chambers for cable junction boxes. John continued painting, Rod and Barry laid more edging for the public viewing area.

Sunday brought grey skies and spots of rain, but many members and ladies and T/Es requiring boiler tests. Locos were run, T/Es tested and run about on, gazebos erected, a catering area prepared in the workshop after Wills had swept the floor and the small of burgers, bacon, onions, sausages and steam oil soon pervaded the steaming bays as the ladies got to work with what they are best at.

Rod eventually gathered the crowd into the front of the workshop and called on Sue (Scarle villager who is close to us) to present the Man of the Year Award, (as voted for by the senior committee members and previous MOTY) to Brian West for his outstanding work on the Vacuum Brake Trucks. Then it was time to eat the cooked food and then attempt to eat the home baked cakes. The weather could have been a little warmer, but we all enjoyed it.

BBC Radio Lincolnshire

2011-05-09T03:54:00.000-07:00

Look at the link to see what they've put.

http://www.facebook.com/pirategold?sk=info#!/photo.php?fbid=200472966656006&set=pu.114974081872562&type=1&theater

and use the Previous and Next buttons to scroll through the pictures.

The weekend of the 7/8th of May

2011-05-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

You may wonder what happened last weekend as there is no report, well we all have to have a holiday. This weekend however I'm back, sorry. Saturday brought the usual quota of work, John scattering creosote in all directions, Terry and Lawrence hedge cutting, Roy and Bob digging holes all over the place and laying piperuns for new signals.

There is also a picture of a new toilet roll holder, not unusual to get through 8 toilet rolls on a running day, with the new holder, only 2, wonder if the lock has anything to do with it.

Saturday night brought a lot of rain over the area, sufficient to reduce the car boot to miniscule proportions, but the weather improved, this was important as it was our Bucket Day and the railway had been chosen by BBC Radio Lincs to be the location for "Pirates Gold" a program where a member of the staff has to find a location using clues live on air. The "Gold" is a flag that was placed on Lawrence's Holmside. Amanda, the star of the show arrived just in time and the broadcast program finished on the station platform. It was also the day that we had arranged for the ladies to attend and we all sat and had a picnic after running had finished, the sun shone and it was all very pleasant. In all there were 8 engines present, Toby being greedy by now having 2 locos. For his forthcoming 18th birthday he has been presented with Class 10 that had belonged to the late Percy. John and his Class 20, Terry and Bob with Deltics, Ray and Colin with Romulii and Lawrence with Holmside.

The story of an April Saturday, the 23rd.

2011-04-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

Roy and Les usually work closely together and it was therefore no surprise when both of them announced that they had shingles.

This was fortunate as they were then able to spend the rest of the day fitting them to the roof of the signalbox.

Roy having arrived early had applied the final top coat to the door and frame of the signal box.

Terry and Lawrence erected the car parking fence and then laid the edging strips alongside the signal box which now delineates an area that will be planted with suitable vegetation, namely cotoneaster. As they were in the mood a start was made on the edging for the public viewing area by the steaming bay, more barrow loads of ballast and cement to be mixed in the blazing sun.

Meanwhile John applied white paint to another "off white" gate and Bob made and fitted a new top to the outside dining table.

The story of an April Saturday, the 16th

2011-04-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

Sunny and snided out with members. John applied white paint (Army style) to stones, the ground, plants and as luck would have it some also landed on the gate close by. Terry and Lawrence started to cut the hedge, broke the genny, mended it and finished cutting the hedge, then as it seemed to be a good plan started on weedkilling, broke the pump, Bob mended it and they carried on killing weeds. Meanwhile ace signal box builders, Les and Roy laid out and shuttered the base of the box for the old station, then mixed and laid the base for it. Rod has now qualified for the Olympics by completing the fencing assembly and construction and sorting out sufficient steelwork for the uprights. Dave arrived early for an arranged boiler test, and as the boiler was not that early he was offered gainful employment, however he declined, preferring to hold himself in readiness for the test. Eventually the Peter arrived with his Showmans and the test was successfully completed. Bob assembled the Memorial Bench which now puts the other seating arrangements to shame, the bench was then tested by having lunch sitting in the sun. Other work included a start on the laying of edging strips on an area next to the new signal box, not the brand new one, the old one at the new station, the new one is at the old station. Decorative chippings were laid at the old box. Then the sun took over and it was time to sit in it and reflect on life in general.

The story of a running weekend 9th and 10th of April

2011-04-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

The writing will be brief, as will become evident later. The weather was glorious, both days. Saturday had Terry and Bob and Chris and Les and Roy doing a lot of talking and planning for the site of the new signal box and the layout and design of the new signals, apparently, as I was not there, not a lot of work was done, after all it is a hobby. Sunday, 2nd running day and just like old times, queues to get in and loads of sunshine and passengers. To save me writing out loads of boring details, look at the video, titled "Running 10th of April" (hover over the thumbnails to see the titles) provided by the ShakeyVideo Co. to see what was running.

The story of....Saturday the 2nd of April

2011-04-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

Dry and warm, well most of the time it did spit and spot on and off. Eight of us beavering away, Roy and Les in the box erecting the shelf that Chris had prepared the previous week and other minor works were carried out. Terry and Lawrence adjusted the track along the bankside, by removing a couple of lengths and making various adjustments. John had taken home the Memorial Bench woodwork a couple of weeks ago to fit the plaque for Percy, this was returned and the remainder of the wood was cleaned ready for linseed oiling next week.

As there are now less than 500 days to the opening of the Olympics, the Society is proud to announce that we have been sponsoring the Fencing Team and the Team met for their first training session today, not sure that 500 hundred days will be enough.

The story of a running weekend, 26th and 27th of March

2011-03-28T01:13:00.000-07:00

After a week of sitting in the garden and supping tea enjoying the sun, why did the temperature drop like a stone on Saturday? Must be something to do with global cooling. It was back to the old routine, put out the stakes for the car parking barrier, but first, using the cunning jig to locate the holes for the post, the holes were enlarged, deepened and lined with some tube from the scrap heap. Now the posts will be easier to fit next time. Next job, walk across to the new station and check the water tank, nearly empty, walk back to collect water hose trolley and wheel to manhole near the cricket square. Oh dear! All around the manhole is water, cool clear running water. This water had combined with nature and caused the lid to remain firmly in place, walk back, fetch more tools. Result, concrete lid (homemade) with thin stainless cross bar eventually lifts, next time the thin stainless bar will depart company from the concrete and leave the lid in place. Now revealed is a hole with water gushing out of it, subterranean water and b cold, after an eternity it appears that the tap is not turned off completely! Fit hose pipe, difficult, upside down in cold water, that done break for lunch whilst tank fills. Lunch over, tank is almost full, remove hose, tap refuses to shut off, hissing water nicely. walk back, collect ring spanner, apply ring spanner, tap now shut tight. Make reminder to find out where the next stop cock up the line is. (If there is one). Track is also cleared all round, raked both sides all the way round, leaves and twigs removed from the stations. Rod, (special mention for this job) took a bucket of warm soapy water and washed the green mould from the crossing gates, well worth doing. New LEDs were fitted to the signals and a shelf manufactured for the signal box, and the window frames top coated. Riding trucks were checked over and the seats given a wipe with an oily rag and we are ready for the first running day of the season. Sunday morning arrives and so do a fair number of Booters. Rod is in charge of allocating spaces on the field as the replacement for Eric only found out about his duties at the last possible minute and asked Rod to officiate. Cool enough again, but pleasant enough. Toby and his Class 08, Bob and his thing, Terry and the Deltic, Lawrence and Holmside, plus surprise arrivals of two boiler inspectors. Andy had brought Ray's new loco and Dave came to complete the hydraulic that it failed at the boiler testing day. Andy was absolutely confident that there would be no problems. Hyd passed, it also passed a steam test and Andy drove it round several laps. Passenger receipts were satisfactory, attendance by the public and members was higher than was expected, so roll on next running day.

The story of the club, week ending Sunday the 20th of March

2011-03-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

This may not be interesting, but I'll write it anyway. On the 2nd of March I posted the insurance renewal off along with a cheque. As Wednesday this week was a committee meeting and I had heard nothing I rang the company, they had received nothing. So I wrote another cheque and sent off a copy of the renewal. Then on my bike and off to the bank to stop the first cheque, no problem, no charge. Early on Friday morning the new certificate arrived, less than 48 hours later, so the Post Office can do it. I was impressed. At lunch time the insurers rang, the first cheque had just arrived! Bored by now? Just another day in the life of a treasurer.

So to Saturday's events. As you can see from the picture the roof repair is in progress. All that was needed was a dry week, sunshine and a little motivation and Topol jumped into action. (Topol, Fiddler on the Roof remember?).

Anyway, Roy and Les cleared the winter debris off the roof and looked for the obvious leak spot. None to be found, the roof appeared to be in perfect condition. So roof leak gunge was daubed all over bolts, seams and everything else, hopefully this will cure the problem.

Now in the groove, they also attacked the roof of the tunnel behind the workshop.

They then made a rain strip and had it welded in place over the access door to the carriage shed.

Lawrence and Terry addressed a slight defect on the inner loop that has been revealed since they had previously pronounced that the work had been completed.

Bob cleared the track and erected a board to try and stop the rabbits depositing their tunnel diggings onto the track.

We also spent a while in the sun, nice to sit in and drink black tea and coffee.

The story of a boiler testing day....Saturday the 12th of March

2011-03-12T12:55:00.000-08:00

As promised, a testing and fun day. We had three boiler testers, 3 locos and 1 T/E for inspection and 3 others just for fun, as well as about 20 members. Terry brought a rake of his wagons for a realistic display of how it was done with a full size mainline freight train.

Lawrence's and Roy's locos passed their steam tests. Being the first steaming of this part of the year enabled Roy to forget his footrests, Les showed his metal and created almost out of nothing, a pair a stylish footrests for him, one side being higher than the other just to add to the fun.

Ray's newly acquired loco was not as lucky, a problem with blanked off clacks prevented a successful test according to the assembled boiler testers. I don't know what the collective noun is for boiler testers, perhaps a "failing" of testers, has a better ring than a "passing" of testers. Ray was off and gone before I could take a picture of it.

John's T/E also had problems of a different nature, safety valve adjustment woes, machining and another test are required. Andy supped tea as John...well you decide what he was doing.

The rest of the day involved steaming round the field or track, newbies looking in the signal box and going ooh and aaah!

Around two o'clock the field cleared and we decamped off to Swinderby Station to watch Oliver Cromwell steam through on his way to Lincoln.

The story of the club, the week ending the 5th of March

2011-03-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

First of all a slight deviation from the normal run of reports, OK the weather was cool and damp, but forget that for now.

This humble blog attracts visitors to the site from all over the world, well not exactly all over but from one or two unexpected places, Sri Lanka, I can understand, the US, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, yes them as well, but the Czech Republic and a repeat visitor from the Sudan, this is all a bit too much, whoever you are I hope that our exploits entertain or spur you on to greater efforts in your own sphere of the world.

So what happened this week, Club night on Wednesday with a throughly entertaining quiz, well it was entertaining for me, a total of 35 questions, the winner had a grand score of .....5!

The best part of the night was when Roy brought in the newly painted and finished lever frame for all to see and play with, even Hilary has got in on the act, she printed the lever labels. The picture shows Roy demonstrating the action of the interlocking mechanism to a bemused Steve.

So, back to Saturday, lots of work to do, and the welcome return of John after his recent illness, he brought back the small gate that he started painting, well ages ago.

Chris and Les overhauled the points in the new station and modified the mechanism to ease the strain on the point motor on one point, then they tested and passed as OK all the systems at that end. Nick and Bob cleared the track of the winter's accumulation of leaves, twigs etc. Nick then cleaned the points at the old station whilst Bob dismantled the Memorial Bench ready for John to take home next week, in order to add Percy's plaque to the bench and to clean and overhaul the finish to the wood work Lawrence and Terry finally finished the re-alignment of the inner loop, this has taken more time than was anticipated, mainly due to an inability to understand the finer points of fabrication and the resulting creation of internal stresses that result in a pleasing to the eye but not very functional corkscrew effect on the track.

Rod graced us with his absence.

The roof continues to leak and the finally someone has taken the plunge and removed a section of the roof lining inside the mess hut to reveal the cause of the water ingress. All this did however was to leave a large square hole in the roof and not much else. The search is now on for anyone skilled in roofing repair work.

The story of the club, Saturday the 26th of February

2011-02-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

Another wet and chilly day, but no great problem, however another late start to the day, more interesting things to look at. Roy last week had taken the box of signal lever bits home and turned them into a proper working signal frame with full mechanical interlocking, absolutely brilliant work and a complete joy to operate. The base fashioned from a piece of aluminium plate and the interlocking bars from lengths of brass strip with the buttons from stainless bar, the working logic, from his own head. Just look at the work, and him a southerner! Eventually we managed to get to work, Bob removed the old turning chambers at the entry end of the new station that are now obsolete, this involved digging out the old concrete and back filling the holes.

Rod and Nick started work on the public viewing area next to the steaming bays, 8-9" of soil to dig out, back fill with limestone and wacker it, then top off with pea gravel. First of all the accumulation of dead leaves and bonfire material had to be cleared, the layout marked and then the serious digging could begin, soon gets boring that does as well as being hard work.

Roy and Les continued with the minor details to complete the signal box, the fitting of a small strip lamp caused more work than enough. Roy nipped to B & Q to fetch one, only to find that his wallet was safe and sound in his bag in the mess hut, nip back to Scarle, nip to B & Q again. During this time Les wandered around like a lost soul.

Lawrence and Terry worked on the inner loop round the back of the workshop, completed the work and will start again next week to do it again, this time properly. (Don't ask)

John popped in to show us his latest creation a Roundhouse loco.

All too soon it was time to go home, looking forward to the meeting on Wednesday.

The story of the club, Saturday the 19th of February

2011-02-19T12:55:00.000-08:00

Chucking it down, cold and sleet in the air, not what we wanted, however, it took 'til tea time to get out of the mess hut. First the table was wet, the usual roof leak, Roy first there, had emptied the bucket and assumed that some of the drips had missed the bucket, later it was revealed that the bucket had a hole in it, a new bucket was placed on the table and the table henceforth remained dry. Second delay tactic was that Lawrence had brought in the first set of signal levers that he has been building during the week. This created much animated discussion on the subject of limit switches and their location, the matter of tappets and the throw of levers etc. The picture shows the result so far, laser cut parts machined by Lawrence, brass lever caps by Les, electrical components and small fasteners by Chris, criticism by Terry. Now it is over to Roy to measure up and design the base and the mechanical interlocking system, see the result next week.

Eventually it was off to work, Lawrence and Terry continued on the last part of the inner loop rebuild, Nick, who has rejoined the Club, and Hayden did a splendid job clearing leaves from the steaming bays and the new station. Chris, Les and Roy installed and tested the operation of the "old" signalling system, and with the exception of a couple of blown bulbs, all was well. Now to set up the operation of the station merely requires the signal box door to be opened and one mains switch turned on, simples. The picture shows what's inside but does not do justice to the work that has been carried out.

The story of the club, Saturday the 12th of February

2011-02-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

Bright and warm (I like to start with a weather report, you may have noticed), after tea and the usual natter the progress made with the various components of the lever frame was displayed. So far all the levers have had a hole drilled and the 2 cutouts for the latch lever have been machined, 1 day to make the jig, 15 seconds to drill and machine each lever, such is the way of the world. An assembled lever was shown and admired (?), this now needs to have the latch made and fitted so that Roy can work out the exact throw of the lever, this is necessary in order to design the interlocking tappets. Other components, micro switches, M3 fasteners 8 core cable etc. were shown and discussed. The drawing and finished work so far.

After this, Roy, Les and Chris commenced to rewire the control cabling of the new station, this has involved the removal of the existing point from which the points were operated, the point of this was to install the original operating point into a new point in the signal box. Clear?

Toby busied himself with fitting a locking device to the inside of the tunnel doors to make them a little more secure. Lawrence, Rod and Terry continued with the re-alignment of the track on the inner loop to the rear of the workshop, now leaving only one length to complete the job. Terry crouching down and Rod walking away.

The story of the club, Saturday the 5th of February

2011-02-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

After the winds of Friday we were lucky only to have rain. Roy and Les and Chris worked on the signal box and finished the installation of the insulation and roof lining as well as the sliding window and also finalising the incoming mains layout. Work then commenced on new wiring to the points at the far end of the station, lots of headscratching and words like "voltage drop" (I know that's two words but you get the drift) and "8 core cable" etc.
Bob and Toby (remember him?) cut up and removed a tree that had fallen in the aforementioned winds. Bob then spent a long time looking for his dog, unfortunately he found it, or it found him.
Rod and Lawrence corrected another length of track in the tunnel at the rear of the workshop and have started on the curve that leads out of the tunnel, a method of correcting the cant has been developed and works well, the method does eat a lot of slitting discs though.
Snap times were spent looking at the drawings for the point levers and the prototype handles that Les has made. It is no surprise that there are always several ways of achieving what is represented in the drawing and this of course leads to much "discussion" The result was that material/fastener/switch/relay shopping lists have been drawn up and persons designated to do the shopping.

No photos, too wet and windy.

The story of the club, Saturday the 29th of January

2011-01-29T11:06:00.000-08:00

In last weeks post, it was stated that John Lee had returned home from hospital, this was incorrect. At the time of writing he was still in intensive care, he has however now returned home and is recovering.

A rerun of the previous Saturday, cold and crisp and the same number of people doing almost exactly the same jobs.
Les and Roy have now almost completed the insulation and internal lining of the Signal Box, this has included moving the incoming electrical supply. Opening and closing the box has revealed one or two minor jobs that need attending to, one of the external locks is a tight fit in it's hasp, a couple of the fastners that retain the shutters need easing. After a few minutes work next week to complete the lining, the pulling through of the new cabling from the points and signals can commence.

Terry and Lawrence carried on with the refurbishment of the track to the rear of the workshop. As we still have not been able to obtain any new ballast yet, resort has been made to a riddle and a shovel and the mixture of limestone, soil and ballast that has been moved to enable the track to be worked on has been riddled to obtain almost pure ballast. This job meant that the weather was not important! Warm work, riddling. We now have a uniform supply of ballast, (one barrow full only) but not pure granite, it also contains the same sized lumps of limestone, still it looks a little better.

Bob had brought his loco to test his new brakes and he also "tested" and area of track that was relaid last year and after finding that one truck would derail along the same two foot length of track, investigations proved that a slight alteration to the suspension solved the problem.

During the week a rather heavy parcel from Polly Models arrived, it contained laser cut parts for the lever frame, as below, that will be in the signal box. The design is by John Lopez of Nottm SMEE and they use Polly to access laser cutting. Work will be put in hand to manufacture the other parts that are necessary for completion.

The story of the club, Saturday the 22nd of January

2011-01-22T12:36:00.000-08:00

We have heard today that John Lee has suffered a heart attack, but he is now out of hospital and at home and recovering, we wish him well.

Cold and crisp dawned the day and we were ready for work, Les and Chris fiddled about with mains wires in the signal box before Roy arrived and then Chris glazed and Les and Roy fitted insulation and lining boards to the walls. Lawrence and Terry finished altering the couplings of the "old" style riding trucks so that they are the same height as the new ones. They then started to overhaul the loop track at the rear of the workshop, after clearing away tons of wet dead leaves.

Plans are afoot for the purchase of cable to rewire the point motors to the new point levers.

The story of a Committee Meeting...Wednesday the 20th of January

2011-01-20T00:27:00.000-08:00

I know that it's not usual to report on the exciting evening that is a Committee night but this one is an exception, for two reasons.

As Terry has been Secretary for a number of years and has for the last two years carried out the job under duress as no other member would take on the role, we were pleased to welcome as an observer, Hilary, wife of Roy. Both (and as man and wife they would of course do it together) have recently moved to this area and are members of the Society. Hilary has indicated that she would like to stand for election to the role of Secretary at the AGM and has come to witness the proceedings at first hand to gain an insight into the job.

The second reason for reporting is a little more important and will impact on some members.

The members that organise the Open Weekends (and have almost to a man organised them all), have been looking for new blood to assist with the work. To this end all members in the club have been circulated with a letter setting out the duties, the work involved and the fact that some members feel the need to step back and let others take on some the workload.
The response to the letter was frankly disappointing, but has indicated to the Committee that there is no interest amongst the membership in assisting with the event.
After a series a proposals and counter proposals were made and discussed, all of which were aimed at keeping the Open Weekend in one form or another, it was realised that whatever type of event was to happen, the people who would do the work would be exactly the same people as before.
Therefore, reluctantly, a final vote was taken on NOT having an Open Weekend in 2011, this was carried by a majority.

All present believed that it was a sad day for the club, but the responsibility of the Committee is to carry out the wishes of the membership and therefore this decision has been made.

The story of a Signal Box ....15th of Jan 2011

2011-01-15T12:31:00.000-08:00

Much has been written recently about this bit of a S/box been cut/drilled/ primed/ undercoated etc, etc. Finally today the end is in sight, well almost. It is not the end but at least it is the end of the beginning and the start of the beginning of the end.

From a desolate windswept corner to a gleaming box all in one day.

All the recent planning worked out and the assembly went like clockwork, even the weather was kind, very windy but dry. Bob swept the leaves and debris from the concrete pad, Terry's van was loaded up with sides and bits of roof, tools and cables, then a convoy of 4 or 5 cars set off for the site.

A post was erected and the back clamped and screwed to it, the nthe next post and then an end, another end and then the front, all as it should have done. The assembly was bolted to holes drilled in the concrete, whilst Chris glazed the windows, at the same time slabs and limestone were being laid round the box to provide a pathway. The roof was fitted, by now the wind was quite high and Bob was engaged fulltime holding roof sections and felt in place as Roy secured it.

The door was fitted and the finally the shutters fitted to the windows.

The inside is still to be lined and sheets of ply are in the workshop ready for next week, the wiring has to be transferred from the original layout to the platform to inside the box, a shelf for a tea cup will need to be installed as well. All in all it was a really good days work.

The story of the club, Saturday the 8th of January 2011

2011-01-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to my reader. Holidays and bad weather are now a thing of the past and it is back to the old routine. How things change, exactly the same number of people at Scarle as there were the last time that we were there. Today was spent as a dry run rehearsal for the erection of the new signal box next weekend.

Roy and Les with Bob assisting altered the layout of the mains electricity supply at the box position, this ensures that we have electric there next week so that we can use power tools instead of rechargeables.

Then they completed the roof so that it just needs fitting to the building.

Lawrence and Terry undercoated the shutters and topcoated the rest of the box, the colour looks rather good, no pictures though as the trusty camera has decided to give up the ghost.

John came and dismantled the gate from the turntable to the sidings and took it home to be fettled up and painted.

In the Mess Room we stared at the ceiling and wondered where the leak is and when it will stop, strategically positioned buckets have prevented a mess though. Last year's calendar was removed and a new one stuck on the notice board. Next week's erection was thought about and every possible tool/screw/nail/everything else was thought of, as once the job is started it will have to be finished in one go so that it can be left in a secure condition.

On that note we packed up and went home.

ps please note that all typos are intentional to see if anyone is reading it.

The story of the club, Saturday the 18th of December

2010-12-18T08:40:00.000-08:00

Well the weather has relented sufficiently for 5 of us to make the usual Saturday pilgrimage to Scarle. Why, well it's better than shopping on the last Saturday before Christmas. Roy was first there and he was able to provide a warning to all those that followed into the mess hut, "Beware of the floor!!" It was a solid sheet of ice all over the place and sure enough even though you had been warned you still slipped. The roof had done it's usual trick and drained the roof onto the table and thereby onto the floor, icicles on the biscuit box, paperwork frozen to the table top. Once we had put all the heating on and Bob had mopped up it became like a sauna.

Terry and Lawrence moved the limestone pile and built another depot for the chippings that we have promised to get for a long time, it was the only job that they could find to keep warm. A walk round the track showed that the moles keep busy even when it is frozen hard, they must have tipped claws, rabbits also have been busy, parts of the track are a foot deep in frozen soil.

Meanwhile Roy and Les do a bit more to the signal box and over tea plans have been hatched to erect the box in it's permanent position on the Saturday January the 15th. This will involve drilling holes in the concrete base, altering the mains electric supply and lots of other details that we can get wrong.

Also we have jointly resolved to solve the riddle of the leaking roof and as an interim measure the table has been moved and the floor covered with buckets.

So to all of my reader(s) have a good bah humbug period, see you next year.

The story of the club..Wednesday the 16th of December

2010-12-16T01:43:00.000-08:00

A Wednesday, surely a misprint, but no! Chris has been out there on his own trial fitted, glued and screwed into place all the fixed windows, the sliding one just needs to be trimmed slightly and then that can be assembled and the glazing bars fitted to all the windows. All being well the frames will be undercoated and ready to fit after Christmas along with the glass.
Amazing what some people will do to avoid Christmas shopping.

A price has also been obtained for the signal levers and these have been ordered from Polly.

The story of the club "Santa Special" 12th of December

2010-12-12T00:55:00.000-08:00

Oh dear, beaten again by the weather.
A visit was made to the track on Friday to see the state of play, in spite of Bob having been the previous Saturday and having dug out the turntable, it didn't take much looking to decide that it was not on. The field was well covered with snow and there were still concerns from the Playing Field Committee about damage that could be done to the grass.
The station platforms and the area where the gazebos were planned to stand would have taken a lot of clearing. The water in the continers in the mess hut was frozen solid, fortunately the mains was off and drained.
To prepare the ground, erect the equipment, lay out the electrics would have been a mammoth task, to say nothing of clearing the snow from a third of a mile of track. So considering the labour that was available and the predicted weather the decision was made not to proceed.
We retired to the mess hut, made a cup of tea, after turning ice into water to fill the kettle and chewed the fat for a while.
Rod left to try and dispose of 200 Selection boxes that the ladies had spent a day and a half wrapping.
Chris had brought some bits of signal box from home and these were adjusted to fit the window frames.
Saturday was also called off as a working day and we left looking forward to next Saturday when perhaps we can get back to normal activities.

The story of the club "Santa Special" 5th of December

2010-12-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

Yet another very short post! Blame the white stuff again. The state of the roads, the amount of snow that would have to be moved from the track and the probabilty that there would be very few people able to make it, caused the event, for the first time to be cancelled. Just as well, as the Newark Advertiser had an entry saying that we were open from 10.00 to 17.00, would have been fairly cold after 7 hours!

I had to walk down the road and see Nigel taking a trainload of Londoners to Lincoln to the Christmas market. What do you do in a cold and snowy Lincoln when you were expecting a market?

The story of the club, Saturday the 4th of December

2010-12-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

Another very short post, I didn't go, the white stuff was all over the place and non too warm either.

The story of the club..Wednesday the 1st of December

2010-12-05T11:42:00.000-08:00

Not a lot to tell really, it was called off, must have been a significant event as straightaway the Lincoln Christmas Market was also cancelled, powerful stuff, snow.

I was ready with a small handful of interesting "bits and pieces" to show off with, but it's not to be.

Just spotted that the snifting valve is upside down, sorry about that.

The story of the club, Saturday the 27th of November

2010-11-27T12:11:00.000-08:00

Snow!! First real snow of the winter, the ground covered in clean white snow, the tree branches glistening with hoar frost, a gentle crunch underfoot from the frosted white stuff, wonderful. I was there on my own for 15 minutes, almost through my cup of tea, I was giving it 5 more minutes and if no one came I was off home, then Terry turned up and I had to stay, then Les and Roy arrived, eventually Chris. It was deep and crisp and even, so we all decided to work inside.

Les and Roy and Chris butchered wood and made windows for the signalbox, Lawrence and Terry finished the tidying up of the workshop which is all now ship shape and tidy fashion, woebetide anyone who makes a mess here.

Let's hope it stays like this for next weekend wouldn't Santa look nice in the authentic stuff?

The pictures show the finished workshop, notice the clean debris free worktop, the other one Santa's Elves that are locked in the workshop until next week.

The story of the club, Saturday the20th of November

2010-11-23T14:47:00.000-08:00

Now for those of you that requested it, here it is! Just another Saturday, apart from a new member turning up and eventually being banned from the Mess Hut. The track that was removed last week had the minor defects in it rectified and it was then replaced by Terry and Lawrence.
Les, back from his wanderings assisted Roy in various jobs including the finishing off of the pig sty and some more work on the signal box door, they also completed the brick edging around the previously relaid slabs in the new station.
The workshop continued to be sorted out with more space being created by moving things around. Bob was raking up fallen leaves when Barry arrived to help but he broke the rake, cut his hand and then went home leaving Bob to finish off alone.

The story of the club, Saturday the 13th of November

2010-11-13T12:50:00.000-08:00

Today could almost be a rewrite of last Saturday, except that Toby didn't appear, obviously didn't fancy slab laying in the crisp but bright weather. Les had gone walkabout somewhere as well, however, John continued painting, Bob oiled and broke things on the new trucks, Roy finished the pig sty, Lawrence and Terry relaid the slabs in the new station after cutting off another ½" off some roots that stopped the slabs lining up properly.

Roy fiddled about with some of the signal box sorting out the fitting of a security hasp, now he wants another one the same size, that's promised for next week. The track alongside the dyke from the exit gate had four panels lifted and four new ones installed temporarily, until the old ones can be refurbished and replaced next week.

The final old riding truck that has been sold was collected and the day came to a slow end so there was just enough time for another cup of tea and then it was goodbye.

The story of the club, Saturday the 6th of November

2010-11-08T01:41:00.000-08:00

A busy day! Terry, Lawrence and Toby attacked the slabs on the new station that are being lifted by tree roots, it was going to be a small job, however by the time that the roots had been "hacked" out and the tools that Toby had broken been collected, there was not enough time or energy left to complete the job. The slabs were put back into their original positions and they will be lifted and properly laid next week.

Bob was given the job of running in the newly completed riding trucks and as the Chairman of NAME visited us he was given a ride to christen them. NAME man who came from Evergreens had come to collect one of the old trucks that he had bought from us, one was collected by another buyer the previous evening and a third one was collected later in the day. A deal was struck and the last remaining truck that was for sale has now also been sold. That leaves us with one of the old trucks and the two that belong to Dave.

Roy and Les were busy building a small pig sty at the rear of the mess hut that will be used to house the rope trolley and the hose trolley, this will free up room in the tunnel, so that there will be no equipment to move in preparation for running.

Some recently purchased tool racks were installed in the workshop and Toby put a green top coat onto the signal box corner pieces, along with a neat green pattern along the floor.

Bob also assisted in the removal of overhanging dead branches at the new station.

John carried on with his self imposed task of painting gates white.

The story of the club..Wednesday the 3rd of November

2010-11-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

Club night, after the boring bit, reading the minutes etc. an old fashioned Slide Show, by Peter Auger, father of Committee member Andy, old slides taken by Peter mostly on the subject of traction engines and rallies (with one or two showing Andy in short trousers). The most interesting part was the derelict engines that he had photographed on two visits to Ireland in the seventies, nearly all of which have been subsequently saved for preservation.

The story of the club, Saturday the 30th of October

2010-10-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

8 of us today on a bright autumnal day, John continued with his painting activites, fed up with black he has now moved onto white, the entrance gates to be exact. Les and Roy worked on the signal box, and installed the new "battery box" for all things to do with batteries.

Chris and Hayden plumbed in some new electrics over the bench at the new end of the workshop. Hayden tried his hand at painting, first bit of top coat on the signal box corner posts.

Lawrence and Terry finally finished the new riding trucks and all nine were wheeled out into the sushine. Brian popped in on his way home after a trip to the NYMR.

Jobs were planned for next week which will include the delivery of three sheets of ply for the new storage shed and a start being made on correcting the deficiences of the inner loop behind the workshop as well as relaying slabs in the new station which have been affected by tree roots.

The story of the club..Wednesday the 27th of October

2010-10-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

On a Wednesday, what's going on? Rod has been to a wholesaler to get Selection Boxes ready for the Santa Specials, Chris, Roy and Lawrence went to the Nottingham SMEE at Ruddington to have a look see at their signal lever frame. They have shared their drawings with us and altered the CAD drawing while we watched as our requirements were slightly different from what they already have.

Now we await a price and then some will be ordered.

The story of the club, Saturday the 23rd of October

2010-10-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

Don't know what had happened today, but there were 9 (nine) members present, that's nearly 15% of the membership! The nine on the truck is just a coincidence, not representative of the number that turned up.

Anyway, Rod sorted out the way that the Santa Specials will be run from the new location of the new station, so a lot of measuring up and deciding on the layout of gazebos etc.

Toby, Lawrence, Terry and Chris worked hard to complete the riding trucks, with the result that just the upholstery needs doing to finish the job. Fortunately somebody forgot his packup so had to return to Newark to fetch it and was then able to go and get some jigsaw blades so that Chris could cut the seat bottoms from a sheet of ply.

Bob, Roy and Les, altered the lighting in the tunnel and built a door for the signal box, whilst John continued painting the steelwork round the steaming bays. The last job round the rear of the mess hut was to dig a significant hole and then to fill it in again.

The story of the club.....Saturday the 16th of October

2010-10-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

After a period when there various absences from Scarle caused by work, holidays, or by visits to other functions it was almost a full turn out today. John who has actually volunteered to do painting undercoated and top coated the metalwork on the fence round the steaming bays in readiness to creosote the woodwork next week. The weedkilling train did it's round all round the track and then Bob and Lawrence fitted the ends, footboards, ally trim and internal planking to three of the new riding trucks, Les and Roy painted the signal box sections and Chris visited after work to measure up the window openings.

The story of a running Sunday.....October the 10th

2010-10-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

To give you a flavour of the day, when I arrived there were 14 stalls and 11 cars. There were almost as many of us as there were of them, not a new event this year. So, one steamer, Lawrence, then Terry, Bob,and Toby, in all eventually we carried a grand total of 40 passengers. By now the sun was out and it was pleasant so we had a little play on our own, Chris took Holmside round, he is a little, to say the least, a little on the large size, but notwithanding that head down and arxe up off he went, three creditable laps for a first time with a loco that he had never driven before, not a bad result.

So ends the regular running for this year, lots of fun, some good weather, lots of indifferent weather and about 1700 passengers less than the year before.

Next we have the Santa Specials to look forward to.

The story of the club..Wednesday the 6th of October

2010-10-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

The evening was planned along with the usual meeting to have been a talk given by Gordon Kobish on the Ironstone Railways of Northamptonshire,unfortunately Gordon was not well enough to attend. So Terry arranged that we had the big tele in our room, but the room had been booked for a ladies darts match so we were in the big room where the big tele is anyway. Armed with a couple of Gordon's videos we had an entertaining black and white evening watching the worlds biggest dragline being built in the open air with a refreshing lack of H & S.
Also at the meeting was old member John who has rejoined and a new member Dave joined on the night.

The story of a running Sunday.....September the 26th

2010-09-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

If I start by saying that we had a total of 41 passengers, that may give a clue to the day. Alright it's near the end of September, the weather was OK, I counted 23 stalls on the field. The car parkers parked the cars against the stalls to make the field look fuller than it was. The members almost outnumbered the passengers, terry, Roy, Bob, Lawrence and Colin had locos there. the most exciting event was Roy being derailed by overactive chickens along the bank side, busy scratching chippings onto the track, if only they could be trained to scratch the other way!
At least with a quiet day, there was no problem with Dave counting the takings, even he can't get 41 50pences wrong. If it carries on like this we shall have to find another revenue source!

SAD NEWS, Saturday the 25th of September

2010-09-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

I have to report that Percy passed away early this morning in Lincoln hospital after suffering a heart related illness. He will be greatly missed, our thoughts are with Kate and the rest of his family.

The story of the club.....Saturday the 11th of September

2010-09-11T00:59:00.000-07:00

Sparse attendance, even for a Saturday, must be the weather and the amount of work needed to be done for the Open Weekend next week.
Terry and Glenda had been in the week to apply the weedkiller by hand (not exactly "by hand" but not using the electric pump) with a bit of luck it will show it's weedkilling properties before next weekend.
So put out the poles and rope for tomorrow and then remove the portable track from the trailer as Rod and Bob made a scrap run. It will tidy up the end of the mess hut and make it a little more presentable.
Then it was time to carry on tidying the insde of the workshop and getting ready all the hundred and one things for next weekend, the cabling, the extensions, the chairs, tables, entry signs, rubbish bins etc. All need to be located, checked and made ready for easy positioning next week.

The story of a visit to another club....4th of September

2010-09-05T01:19:00.000-07:00

Following the invitation by the Nottingham Society of Model and Experimental Enginners Andy was tasked with arranging things. So today a small party travelled to the track site at the Nottingham transport Heritage Centre, Bob, Terry, Lawrence, Andy and his Dad, Rod and Maureen, Mickey and Sandra, and Roy.

Unloading is in a purpose brick built steaming bay, with three roads each with a hydraulic unloading ramp. We were shown how to offload, where the coal, water and toilets were and left to steam up. The 7¼" track is on the floor, the 5" is a raised track, there is also a gauge 1 layout adjacent to the 7¼" steaming bays.

Coupling up to a rake of three air braked riding trucks took a little while as couplings heights and holes were incompatible, this was sorted by having one specially made.

Driving out of the steamings bays through the tunnel and then along the side of the site past the station and up a steady 1 in 90 climb to a 180 degree bend at the top and a similiar fall to enter the station. The raised track is on the inside of the ground level track, with its own unloading and steaming bays.

During steaming each train is provided with a guard who can control the brakes, as can the driver. You have to remember to periodically to "top up" the air cylinder in the brake to prevent the brakes leaking on.

Also on the site is the standard gauge line that hopes to join to Loughborough, the Transport Museum with buses from the surrounding area.

Lunch and tea was provided in a room adjacent to the well equipped workshop, outside which was a small stall selling the usual bits of metal and surplus tools. I bought some hexagon bar and Bob got carried away and bought a lathe, as you do.

The then came off, blew down the engine, loaded it to the transport and enjoyed being a passenger and watching the other engines.

The story of the club...on a Friday, Friday the 3rd of September

2010-09-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

What on earth are we doing there on a Friday? Well it's only two Saturdays until the OWE, and there will be nobody at Scarle tomorrow, we are off to Nottingham. The hedge wants cutting, the track needs weeding and with Percy probably not available due to ill health, the ladies needed to find their feet in the Mess Hut.
The hedge was cut, but the weedkiller decided not to work, so Terry will have to do that by hand in the week. Glenda and Maureen gave the hut a good mucking out and have found all the things that they will need for the OWE.
There were one or two other small jobs done, that seem to take a lot of time and at the end of them there is nothing really to show.
So as much as possible has been put in hand for the OWE.

The story of the club..Wednesday the 1st of September

2010-09-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

Not often that there is a report about a club night, this one was for the arrangements for the Open Weekend, everyone had remembered this fact and therefore the majority had stayed away in case they were given a job. Never mind it was all sorted out.

The second part of the night was a talk and slide show given by a representative of the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance, very entertaining and informative. Did you know that the first evacuation of wounded soldiers by air took place in 1870? No neither did I, by hot air balloon not helicopter.

After the talk we presented the cheque for the money raised by the 24 hour run. The picture shows the man from the AA, Terry who did all the organising for the event and Rod who did a lot of the publicity and brought in a lot of donations from local businesses. Total amount, £2342.58, not at all bad.

The story of a running Sunday.....August the 29th

2010-08-28T12:48:00.001-07:00

It may be because it was a Bank Holiday weekend, it may have been to the dismal weather, it may be due to the Whisby factor, whatever it was due to, there weren't many people here again.

The threatened rain appeared at intervals during the morning and by half ten most had gone home.

The lack of custom and surfeit of locos enabled Terry to be given a lesson on how to operate the points. This will be necessary due to the forecast lack of personnel at the event this year.

With his level of achievement perhaps we ought to cancel point operating until he improves.

Apart from Colin passing a steam test and the new coupling pins being used there was not a lot to talk about.

The story of the club.....Saturday the 28th of August

2010-08-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

We gathered as usual at Scarle and Terry informed us that Percy is not very well and will be unable to attend for time, we all wish him a speedy recovery.
The day was spent continuing the tidy up session that has been going on for some time. The posts and rope were put out as usual, the water barrel at the new station was filled. Filled to overflowing, one of the cricketers turned the water off for us, that was nice.

Chris and Roy carried on with the signal box, Roy having been there on Friday painting it. It was time to carry a couple of pieces across the field to see what it will look like in situ. Having done that it was time to carry them back again. The last two truck bodies were painted until we ran out of blue paint do only one was done. The final eight bogies were centralised and fixed ready for assembly into the bodies. The Baby Belling in the kitchen has been fitted onto a new shelf erected by Roy.
Chris took time out from the box to fit the hoods tha the has made for the colour light signals.

Roy (again) had provided some coupling pins that he obtained at the Steam Rally, to use these it was necessary to open the holes out in the drawbars of the new trucks, along with the links. These new pins have a safety pin that clipped in position prevents the pin from being removed or working it's way out of the truck. They are too big however for the old trucks, this problem will resolve itself once the old trucks are phased out.

The story of the close of a Rally.....22nd of August

2010-08-23T01:42:00.000-07:00

A few close ups of the exhibits in case you are unfamiliar with them, and then the end of two days of hard work by the stewards, Terry, Les, Roy, Rod etc. The instructions given by the show are that you will exhibit and not move anything until 5 o'clock, however there is a queue going out of the gates and low loaders rolling down the bypass by a quarter past four.

So around half past four we start to strip the stand, remove and pack away the alarm, then the "prize" for exhibiting has to be collected. Everyone that was in the catalogue receives a small momento of the event, this year No 10 in a series of Lledo minatures, a showmans engine, in the show logo.

Back to the stand, the prizes are carefully handed out and logged by Glenda, there are only just enough. The public get in the way by watching what we are doing, Dave (loco Dave) strips the tablecloth from his stand under the 4F and wheels it outside to his trailer, parked against one of the tractor hauled water bowsers that cart water to the full size engines all weekend.

Then Dave (T/E Dave) wheels his part built Burrell out to his trailer outside. As this is going on the exhibits that can be manhandled are rapidly disappearing, cars are backed up to the door and loaded. As well as us there are all the other occupants of the hall doing the same, so it's a case of get your elbows stuck out and get stuck in.

The green baize is carefully ripped in places then removed and folded up, the banner removed, again it was a couple of inches higher then when it was put up only two days ago!

The club's stuff is packed into Terry's van and then all of a sudden the stand is bare. Job done. Well not quite, as each person takes home his own entry the club's stuff has to be transported to Scarle and unloaded, the stand, the brake truck, the alarm the green baize the lights etc. etc. No great problem, except that it took over half and hour to get the A46 such was the level of traffic on the A15, then to Scarle and unload, then it is job done.

The story of the club at the Steam Rally...Saturday the 21st of August

2010-08-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

This is why we do it, a crowded stand and happy faces, hopefully people learning what we do and enjoying it. The fact that it was pouring down with rain when the picture was taken is to be ignored!

The best bit was my little mate standing in front of the stand.

The story of the club at the Steam Rally...Friday the 20th of August

2010-08-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

What makes a good show? The weather, beer tent, lots of entries and of course our stand in the Exhibition Hall.

What makes it all come together. To start with a lot of hard work by the secretary, booking the stand with the show organisers, handing out booking forms to members to exhibit, chasing said members to get the forms returned, organising said members again to arrive all together so that the stand can be erected mob handed as some of the exhibits are on the heavy side.
Before this he has to travel to Scarle to collect the relevant items needed, green cloth, lighting stand, alarm, labels, banners etc.

So the plan is to meet at about three o'clock and most people arrive just before that. Lay the green cloths (all from tables at the snooker club), erect the banner advertising the Open Weekend, the wire that it is tied to seems to get higher every year. Then according to Terry's plan, lay out the models, starting with a 6" Burrell Devonshire (No 249, the catalogue number) traction engine at the far end from the door see the picture of the man with two heads and then Les' 2" Fowler (254), Rod's Tram engine based on Toby the Tram Engine (251), Ivan's Wallis and Stevens Simplicity Roller (253).
In front of these and lower down on the white covered stand, see the picture with Les and Brian, is other Dave's 7¼" Midland 4F (not in the catalogue). Seen above the number 251 is Terry's 2" Clayton Steam wagon (250). Above the 4F is Ron's Southern tender for a 7¼" Schools loco (261).

The next view shows a 5" Maid of Kent (252) by Andy, other Terry's 5" Bogey Bolster loaded with scale rails fresh from the mill (262), the brass tender belongs to Roy (259) along with his part completed LNER J11 Pom-Pom and beyond that, leaning at an angle is one of the club brake trucks made and entered by Brian (260) and in maroon above it is Terry's 5"Scenery Van (262).

Looking at the picture with half of Terry to the side shows Stuart engines Nos 4 and 10V (255 although the Canon is labelled as 256 which is an error,) entered by John and Gordon. Just visible is the number of Andy's Stuart Turner 5A engine (257), (258) is the number of 7¼" Holmside by Lawrence and to the rear of that is a non catalogued 7¼" Midland tender.
I think that that covers all the entries (I hope, apologies if I have missed one).
Then we all have a look at what we have done then it is alarmed and covered and we depart on our separate ways, some to home others to look round the rest of the field, some straight to the beer tent.

If you need more information about the stand or the exhibits, I suggest that you visit the Show!!

15th of August ......the story of the club

2010-08-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

Running day, sunny, but again, not many on the field, holidays perhaps. Still a good turnout from us, Sam had a boiler test, done by Dave and then joined Terry, Lawrence, Bob and Ray on the track, however there were not enough passengers to keep us all going, so Terry came off after a few runs light engine with his new (ish) Class 47 and went on the exit gate. By noon the booters were packing up so we did as well. Quiet but pleasant.

14th of August.......Story of the club

2010-08-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

Another Saturday, put out the posts ready for tomorrow. Then Terry and Lawrence put a top coat onto two of the last four new riding trucks. Bob, testing his loco, took the previous two new ones (Nos 4 & 5) that Percy had just finished the upholstery on, out for a test ride, after some adjustments to the suspension, Rod and Les pronounced them fit for use tomorrow.

The rest of the day was taken up with a re-arrangement of the internals of the workshop, as part of it's tidy up. The bench structure along the tunnel wall was removed and consigned to flames along with another load of timber and boards that were being saved as they might come in useful. As some of them had came from Boultham Park, if they were not needed by now then they never will be. The wall against the coal shed was stripped, the old desk there, that Dave had brought when his shop closed (almost in pre-decimal days) was similarly warmed up outside.

The contents of the bench, the one that has the grinder attached, were removed and examined.

The electrical cabling end was easily sorted, a variety of miscellaneous lengths of various sized cables and wires were collected and it was decided to donate them to a suitable scrap yard in exchange for money.

Following complaints by some people about the extension cables drums that are used a new modern drum on a stand was purchased and approved, this meant that the existing extensions, some on drums, some a tangle, were condemed and are to be replaced by two more user friendly ones. Again as part of the updating of the workshop.

The bench was then turned through 90 degrees and placed against the aforesaid wall to the coal shed.

The tarpaulin that covers the portable track trailer was removed, it's a two man job. The trailer was measured and a piece suitable to cover the trailer was cut out. Another piece was measured and cut to use as a curtain to cover the left hand end of the workshop, to keep any mess out of the sight of visitors.

12th of August....The story of the club

2010-08-12T00:31:00.001-07:00

It has taken a long time to collect, or rather to almost collect, the money for the 24 hour run is what I'm on about. A lot of people gave money up front, before the run, others took away a sponsorship form. Some companies in the trade were sent letters asking for donations, amongst them were Doug Hewson, Grimes Coal Merchants, Dan Jeavons, and Tracey Tools, these responded almost immediately with cheques.
It was the people who took the form that have been the hard ones to collect from. Some due to holidays or work committments etc. One group has been holding us up, contact has been made, phone messages left and still no response, so we have decided that they won't be donating.

So finally the amount raised was just £2340, almost £100 an hour.

A large bag of notes, cheques and coins was taken to the bank and paid in, a request was made for the bank to make the money up to a nice round figure, but this was denied. Not bank policy apparently.
A presentation cheque has been made out and all we have to do now is to present it to the Air Ambulance at the next meeting.

Fianlly thanks to all those that helped with the running of the event, who ran locos and the donators.

9th of August......the story of the club

2010-08-09T05:22:00.000-07:00

A chance email to Dave resulted in Lawrence and John both arriving at Scarle at 10.00 today, Lawrence for a renewal of his almost expired steam ticket and John for a repeat hydraulic and a steam test.

All three tests were successful, including one where an injector had been plumbed in backwards, no names, no pack drill. (a clue he is not in the pictures).

Good job we were there as a dozen burly blokes from Staffs wanted to camp and had no idea as to who to contact, name and phone number taken off the mess room wall. Perhaps a sign at the caravan site entrance would make things easier for new visitors?

7th of August.....The story of the club

2010-08-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

Another day another job. Best news of the day was the return to the site of Les. Fitting a pacemaker hasn't improved him in any visible way, but nice to have him back in harness.

Seven of us eventually, Lawrence and Terry assembling the last four of the riding truck bodies and then giving them a coat of undercoat. Percy fitting woodwork and number plates to trucks nos. 4 and 5. Roy, Les and Bob completing three of the four sides of the signalbox, only running out of shiplap stopped them completing the job. Another 20 metres to be ordered. Heavyweight levers fitted to the points in the old station to improve matters. The job was finished and the gear packed aware until it was realised that the point in the tunnel had been missed, another day another job to do.

Last job was to burn and clear an accumulation of rubbish.

6th of August....The story of the club

2010-08-06T14:29:00.000-07:00

What are we doing at the track on a Friday? Well in order to finally get close to finishing the building of the last 4 of the new riding trucks three of us decided to have a days overtime. The frames of the body were already done so we had to drill and bolt the body sides in position and weld the frames for the end panels.
Also to make better use of the workshop, some re-arranging of the tunnel and the storage areas was also carried out.