Scaleforum 2016

[Russ Elliott]

Tony Wilkins gave me some video of the tippler to upload on the CLAG site in due course.

[kelly]

The DRAG team had great fun on the test track, and found out a few things about it ourselves (!) as well as providing test facilities for others. This included enabling Highpeak to test and run-in his first chassis as he mentioned above; testing some locos for Kelly prior to putting them in the Bring-and-Buy; and some work-in-progress testing on a Brassmasters Princess.

On a more light-hearted note we had Ivan Tan with his East German stock on Saturday, complete with national anthem and uplifting Communist marching videos (also thanks to Alan Monk for making his East German stock available throughout the weekend); and Bernie Baker's clockwork P4 0-2-2-0 on Sunday. Bernie also took me (a DCC novice) through the basics of consists with his double-headed Class 14 tanker train. DRAG were also made redundant for much of Saturday afternoon as several younger visitors drove the trains.

We had a much better drive back to Devon than the one up on Friday, with the van unloaded at DRAG HQ by 10:30 and delivered back to the hire company just after 11.

Only one of the locos was tested for bring and buy sale, the others were prior to putting a decoder in for DCC.

Thanks for the assistance as I presently lack the facility at home to do so and I had no idea if any of the old Lima items worked at all, though fully expected the Heljan 'Falcon' and Bachmann '66' to work without fault, but felt it better to check before chipping them (Coastal DCC very kindly did so for me after Alan Monk had suggested I asked), though I worked out during chipping why some of the lights weren't working on the '66', a wire was disconnected internally it was discovered.

[Horsetan]

The DRAG team had great fun on the test track, and found out a few things about it ourselves (!) as well as providing test facilities for others. ...On a more light-hearted note we had Ivan Tan with his East German stock on Saturday, complete with national anthem and uplifting Communist marching videos (also thanks to Alan Monk for making his East German stock available throughout the weekend); ....

Given that I was playing this year's show strictly for laughs, I can't remember enjoying a Scaleforum more, so many thanks for making the test track available in the first place.

Hopefully my East Germans will run better once they're on P87 wheels....

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[PeteScR]

A BIG thanks to Terry and the team for yet another splendid Scaleforum. Thanks also for inviting DEFine along to fly the flag for D&E Modelling. We had lots of people stop to chat and ask questions both of the two WIP layouts we had but also stock we were working on. Seemed to be very sociable this year.

Pete

[kelly]

Have sorted my photos and the few bits of video I took.


Sidmouth

Ferring

Ferring again

Green Street wagon tippler

Shelvington's Solari describer

Shelvington

And the photos are located here.

Hopefully they'll be of interest to some

[Trevor Grout]

Rod Cameron "AKA DRAG Centurion" was spotted standing Guard over the Devon Riviera territory.

DRAG Centurion Cameron.jpg

[Horsetan]

"Romani ite domum!"

[Noel]

More an Aquilifer* than a Centurion, I would suggest...

*the legionary standard bearer

[martin goodall]

Literally the "eagle bearer" - Aquila = eagle , plus the verb fero, ferre, tuli, latum = to bear or carry.

(50 years on I still haven't forgotten my Latin!)

[Rod Cameron]

Should I have held it in my left hand and held my right fist over my heart?

[martin goodall]

Going back to the previous quote (sorry, I am reading this thread backwards), the quote from "Life of Brian" was "Romanes eunt domus", which as the Centurion (John Cleese) pointed out, is meaningless.

What the 'Brian' should have written was something like "Romani, ite ad domum" although even that (though grammatical) really doesn't sound right somehow. "Ite, Romani" might have been more pithy.

Ah, the joys of Latin grammar!

[Horsetan]

^^
Quod erat demonstrandum

[Captain Kernow]

I was extremely sorry to have missed the show this year, I was supposed to be on the DRAG Test Track operating team, but had to pull out at the last minute due to family illness.

Anyway, here's my Latin contribution:

'Vacca herbam edit'.

[Paul Hutfield]

I too would like to jump on the band wagon and thank everyone involved with Scaleforum for another excellent show! I was there all weekend and thoroughly enjoyed all my time there yet feel there was still so much more I could've look at! A sign of a good show IMHO!

Well done to the new team on the bring and buy, great to see this facility be continued due by popular demand! Not the easiest of jobs available this weekend I'm sure and you all did a cracking job! I spent far more than I was ever intending this weekend (all on the bring and buy I'll add!) but I'm very happy with my purchases!

A special thank you to the DRAG group too! I felt the presence of the test track was very much welcomed and I certainly made use of this facility on more than one occasion over the weekend, including the testing of my most expensive purchase over the weekend! I know it wasn't planned to be at the show this year, but I felt it certainly deserved to be there. Looking forward to future society shows I for one would like to see this facility as a regular feature on the line up. Perhaps the society would consider the investment of society funds to procure such a facility rather than relying on the use of the DRAG test track? After all we'd all like to see Balcombe at a show in the near future and it'll be a bit unfair to twist their arms to bring both!

Best Wishes

Paul

[Albert Hall]

I too was unable to attend Scalefour despite my best intentions. It was one of those weekends which found me in such pain with my back and hip that I just couldn't face the journey of over 100 miles. Ironically it had all settled down by Sunday afternoon. I was looking forward to spending some money too. Maybe next time!

Opting out of Latin was not an option at Bristol Grammar School back in the 60's. Declensions weren't any use in my railway career and I can't ever remember having to conjugate a verb even once during that time. Perhaps it had more to do with order and discipline. The only time I found Latin to be of any practical use whatsoever was in understanding that hilarious sketch in 'Life of Brian'.

[Rod Cameron]

A special thank you to the DRAG group too! I felt the presence of the test track was very much welcomed and I certainly made use of this facility on more than one occasion over the weekend, including the testing of my most expensive purchase over the weekend! I know it wasn't planned to be at the show this year, but I felt it certainly deserved to be there. Looking forward to future society shows I for one would like to see this facility as a regular feature on the line up. Perhaps the society would consider the investment of society funds to procure such a facility rather than relying on the use of the DRAG test track? After all we'd all like to see Balcombe at a show in the near future and it'll be a bit unfair to twist their arms to bring both!

Thank you for your kind words Paul. We at DRAG are happy in principle to accommodate future requests if we can, and I'm not sure that the Society procuring its own test track is viable (who would build it, where would it be kept etc). Just for clarity Balcombe is not strictly speaking a DRAG project although Bodmin General is. The logistics and manning of more than one 'layout' at a time may or may not present difficulties - Balcombe has other options for operators from outside DRAG for instance.

Anyway, for those who weren't there here are a couple of videos of what was on offer (done quickly on my phone so forgive the 'hand-held' look).

https://youtu.be/fUq6GMO-6-g

https://youtu.be/_HziMMen8HQ

[Rod Cameron]

I was extremely sorry to have missed the show this year, I was supposed to be on the DRAG Test Track operating team, but had to pull out at the last minute due to family illness.

Anyway, here's my Latin contribution:

'Vacca herbam edit'.

Cows eat grass?

We missed you too Tim.

[Andy W]

Sadly I couldn't stay too long on Sunday and like Paul left feeling I'd not seen everything. However what stays in my mind are the examples of early P4 modelling. Wheels drilled out by hand??? I'll never complain about our current suppliers again!

[David Knight]

Thanks for the pictures and the video clips Kelly. Very helpful for those of us over the seas and far away .

Cheers,

David

[Paul Willis]

So, a 500 mile round trip for my first visit to Scaleforum (although I have visited S4N a number of times).

Great show, good location and I managed to pick up a few bit and pieces so congratulations to all involved.

I do, however, find myself asking if I'll go again and I think the answer is no. There was nothing at all wrong with the show, I thoroughly enjoyed it but I'm just not convinced that, for me at least, it offers much that S4N doesn't already offer to justify the journey...

John

Hi John,

We appreciate you sharing your thoughts. It's completely understandable that you take that view. The good news for you is that from the planning we've seen so far, Scalefour North 2017 will be just as good as ever.

The flyers for it were out at Scaleforum, and I'm sure we'll start sharing the details of the layouts on show soon.

Cheers
Paul Willis
Deputy Chairman

[Paul Willis]

This was my first visit to Scalefour and I have to say it was worth every penny it cost to make the trip from the USA.

I was able to take my first effort at locomotive building (an Easichas Bachmann 3F) over and after some attention from Paul Willis see it benefit from a couple of hours running in on the DRAG test track, for which I am deeply indebted to Rod Cameron and his team. No way of doing that with the little piece of track I have so far built.

I learned a lot in the time I spent with Paul, John Chambers and Howard Bolton, and a special thanks to Richard Simmons for his encouragement and advice.

As the advert said (at least in the US) for the airfare, the rental car and the hotel there's Mastercard, Scaleforum was priceless.

Neville

Hi Neville,

It was great to chat with you. You had certainly made a very nice job of your first P4 chassis. You mentioned you felt the pick-ups were a bit of a lash-up, but they worked well and looked rather neat as well. Perhaps you'd be good enough to post a picture or two of how you did them. They certainly impressed me.

After the initial issue with the crankpin nuts unscrewing themselves which was easily fixed, your locomotive ran very well for most of the rest of the day. The lads from DRAG commented how much more smoothly it was running after a few laps were under its belt.

And I haven't forgotten your request for a posting on storage boxes. More on that coming up soon...

Cheers
Paul Willis
Deputy Chairman

[John Donnelly]

Hi John,

We appreciate you sharing your thoughts. It's completely understandable that you take that view. The good news for you is that from the planning we've seen so far, Scalefour North 2017 will be just as good as ever.

The flyers for it were out at Scaleforum, and I'm sure we'll start sharing the details of the layouts on show soon.

Cheers
Paul Willis
Deputy Chairman

Hi Paul,

Thanks for that, I wanted to make it absolutely clear that my post wasn't a criticism of the show at all which was thoroughly enjoyable, it just makes for a very long day out from the North East.

Having said that, Terry did ask about my Pelton Level layout for next year so I may well be making the journey again

John

[Philip Hall]

Early on Sunday morning Chris Challis had one of his brilliant ideas and sent me up to the viewing gallery to take a picture of everyone before opening time. I am relieved to say it came out quite well so here it is. I thought many looked a little bit serious (understandable when you were gently getting your exhibit ready and were dragged away for a photo by the enthusiastic Mr C) so I got everyone to wave, which I think worked. I think there must be a few closet rollercoaster enthusiasts amongst us because I got a few rollercoaster waves (both hands up!)

There is also the Sunday picture of first time attendees to come but that is still being worked on. Also, I took pictures of virtually everything in the two showcases over the weekend, so if anyone would like a picture of their models, please email me.

Philip

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[kelly]

Thank you for your kind words Paul. We at DRAG are happy in principle to accommodate future requests if we can, and I'm not sure that the Society procuring its own test track is viable (who would build it, where would it be kept etc). Just for clarity Balcombe is not strictly speaking a DRAG project although Bodmin General is. The logistics and manning of more than one 'layout' at a time may or may not present difficulties - Balcombe has other options for operators from outside DRAG for instance.

Perhaps different area groups could each build a suitable one (small) or a module that can operate independantly or joined together at bigger shows that Scalefour is at (assuming exhibition managers want that of course).

A test track doesn't have to be very big really to test a train to some extent, so something that could traverse the length of the show display stand perhaps? something to think about and put to the area groups perhaps?

[Philip Hall]

I now have to hand the Sunday picture of first Scalefour get together attendees. A friend at our church, Chris, helped a lot with this one as it needed some work quite beyond me!

Philip

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