Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Announcements, recommendations, visit reports etc. Discussion of the Society's own shows.
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Paul Willis
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby Paul Willis » Sat Apr 17, 2021 7:22 am

Morning all,

Having just gone over to the show to avoid the morning rush and the queue for bacon rolls, I'd like to thank all organisers and contributors to it. It is absolutely superb.

I haven't started on the layout videos yet (not wanting to risk waking the better half who had her first Covid jab yesterday), but the Showcase is wonderful. It shows such a diversity of modelling, and so many examples of projects that I was entirely unaware of.

Well done everyone! I can only encourage members to have a really good browse and enjoy the show...

Cheers
Paul
Beware of Trains - occasional modelling in progress!
www.5522models.co.uk

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Tim V
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby Tim V » Sat Apr 17, 2021 12:07 pm

Just watched the Buckingham video, which was actually more informative than running through a sequence!

I have Peter Denny's book PECO book from 1972, plus I'd seen Leighton Buzzard (Linslade) at shows, but the video made it all clearer.

Thanks Tony
Tim V
(Not all railways in Somerset went to Dorset)

ralphrobertson
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby ralphrobertson » Sat Apr 17, 2021 12:12 pm

Spent a few hours watching a lot of things and learning new things. Thanks guys, excellent presentation yet again.

Ralph

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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby DaveHarris » Sat Apr 17, 2021 4:35 pm

Just had a few hours watching the show. Will have to go back tomorrow to complete my viewing and go back over the parts i need to totally comprehend.

An excellent show, well done guys! (the only thing missing was a real time train journey to get to the show) ;)

Tony Wilkins
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby Tony Wilkins » Sat Apr 17, 2021 5:26 pm

I too have spent most of the afternoon being entertained by the on-line show and enjoying several of the videos. Wow! There are some big projects out there.
The experience reminds me of a scene from the Hitch Hiker's guide to the galaxy when Zaphod Beeblebrox has an appointment with Zaniwoop, but the secretary won't let Zaphod in. The conversation went something like:
Zaphod: Isn't Zaniwoop in?
Secretary: Yes he's in, but he's on an intergalactic cruise right now.
Zaphod: An intergalactic cruise I can dig, but in his office I can't.
As I said to my wife this morning, I shall be at a model railway show in my workroom. Such is the technology we have available today.
Anyway, to all those involved in setting this up, congratulations on an excellent event.
Regards
Tony.
Inspiration from the past. Dreams for the future.

Tony Sullivan
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby Tony Sullivan » Sat Apr 17, 2021 6:57 pm

I have Just spent a very enjoyable couple of hours looking at layouts ( Did Heckmondwike really have such tight curves or is it a trick of the Camera?)
and a couple of the Demo's

I will be back tomorrow for more!!
Congratulations on a fantastic S4North
Hopefully we will all be in Wakefield this time next year

My heart found thanks to everyone involved for their hard work

Best Regards

Tony S

ken kirk
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby ken kirk » Sat Apr 17, 2021 7:14 pm

Many thanks for a great show. All the hard work and creativity has paid off.
I watched the Duke's funeral but caught up with things later.
Thanks once again,
Ken

Tony Wilkins
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby Tony Wilkins » Sat Apr 17, 2021 7:55 pm

Tony Sullivan wrote: Did Heckmondwike really have such tight curves or is it a trick of the Camera?)

Best Regards
Tony S


Hi Tony.
I'm afraid they really were that tight. The width of the shed where it was build was the main factor, plus a degree of transition curvature bringing the minimum radius down to 3' 6" or there abouts. These combined with super elevation nearly resulted in a freight only layout.
Regards
Tony.
Inspiration from the past. Dreams for the future.

dclift
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby dclift » Sun Apr 18, 2021 1:16 am

I spent nearly all of yesterday at Scalefour North and visited all of the layouts, which I found most inspiring. The video of Buckingham was particularly enlightening and provided me with a lot of ideas. I also managed to get to several demonstrations and made a start on what I know will be a long visit to the Showcase. Visiting from the other side of the world meant that I was able to avoid the crowds by arriving nine hours early though I didn’t manage to track down the Crocodile Sisters. My day was rounded off by a most enjoyable catch up with Danny, Steve and Derek in the West Riding Lounge. Today I hope to see all of the remaining demonstrations and to finish admiring the skill of the contributors to the Showcase. If there is any time left over I will spend it in the cinema lounge, but first I need to get together an order for the Stores to take advantage of the free postage.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone involved in putting together a fantastic event which has only increased my determination to get to Wakefield some time in the next few years.
David Clift.

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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby ralphrobertson » Sun Apr 18, 2021 8:20 am

I didn’t manage to track down the Crocodile Sisters


That is the main highlight of Scalefour North, good food from a great team of people.

Enjoyed learning about your track building experiences David, comes at a very convenient time for me. Thanks.

Ralph

Brinkly
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby Brinkly » Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:58 pm

Just a quick thank you from me to the organisers - I really enjoyed watching the video clips and reading the different articles. Thank you all very much to everyone who has contributed: a lot of time and effort has clearly gone into this.

Kind regards and best wishes,

Nick.

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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby andrewnummelin » Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:27 pm

A brilliant weekend’s entertainment, much inspiration and many useful techniques shown. Very many thanks to all involved for all their hard work.

One aspect stood out for me that I would love to see at the next physical event: a similarly full showcase of individual models. That’s not up to the organisers - it’s up to us, the individual members.
Regards,

Andrew Nummelin

David Knight
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby David Knight » Sun Apr 18, 2021 8:31 pm

A big vote of thanks to the organizers for giving someone from over the pond the opportunity to appear, albeit virtually, in a Scalefour Society show, something that under normal circumstances I would not have been able to do.

Cheers,

David

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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby grovenor-2685 » Sun Apr 18, 2021 8:33 pm

A good show, and especial thanks for including the video of Heckmondwyke, whoever put the sound to that did a great job, very atmospheric.
Regards
Keith
Grovenor Sidings

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John McAleely
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby John McAleely » Sun Apr 18, 2021 9:21 pm

Thank you for the impressive event. I've particularly enjoyed watching the layout videos, and will continue to watch them for a while yet!

Philip Hall
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby Philip Hall » Sun Apr 18, 2021 11:09 pm

Yes, thanks to everyone involved for an enjoyable and inspiring weekend. Beautifully presented, too. I have enjoyed the Cinema Coach very much, especially the Golden Arrow film. Still more to see though, to distract me from modelling over the coming week!

Like Keith I was very taken with the film of Heckmondwyke. Operation of the trains was very smooth indeed and the choice of music was great, being introduced to a railway that has its own saga by music written for the BBC's 'Forsyte Saga' was very good. Did the film makers have any thought to the fact that Soames Forsyte was played by one of our members, the late Eric Porter, I wonder?

Philip

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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby DougN » Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:12 am

Yes it is wonderful to see all the items at S4Nth. Like David Clift It was lovely to sit down on Saturday morning to watch some of the Youtube items. Heckmondwyke was particularly nice to see. Tony Gee with the Buckingham branch was also extremely interesting. I must also say that David Clift's Track work tutorial was particularly interesting. I wonder who keeps carrying on about you getting around the room :D :D :D :D to run his ;) locomotives.

I will have to go back over the entire collection of things again in time.

Congratulations to all involved it was a wonderful production and I hope you all enjoy a job well done. You can now get back to some modelling.

The stores will be quite depleted again and I will enjoy the bits I ordered!
Doug
Still not doing enough modelling

Tony Wilkins
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby Tony Wilkins » Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:56 am

Philip Hall wrote:Like Keith I was very taken with the film of Heckmondwyke. Operation of the trains was very smooth indeed and the choice of music was great, being introduced to a railway that has its own saga by music written for the BBC's 'Forsyth Saga' was very good. Did the film makers have any thought to the fact that Soames Forsyth was played by one of our members, the late Eric Porter, I wonder?

Philip


Keith wrote:A good show, and especial thanks for including the video of Heckmondwyke, whoever put the sound to that did a great job, very atmospheric.


Thanks for the nice comments about the Heckmondwike video. The visual quality has suffered a bit being transferred from 8mm film to Video tape, then digitised and finally youtubed, but the content is still there. As one of those originally involved with the project, I feel quite privileged in retrospect in view of its legacy. One of the NLG members worked for the BBC at the time and managed to persuade a friendly sound engineer to create a new sound track to replace the original background music, so he had access to the BBC sound library, which probably explains a lot. Whether the Eric Porter connection was made, I don't know, but I always felt a bit sorry for him. A great Shakespearean actor who is always best remembered for his role as Soames Forsyth, which despite having watched the series, I hadn't realised the music came from.

Incidentally, Heckmondwike used the same basic control system as Buckingham. Set the road, pull the signals and the power was set for you. We knew it as "Conditional Link Control" (As used on the Hawker-Siddeley Model Railway Society's layout), but it obviously wasn't new even then.
Regards
Tony.
Inspiration from the past. Dreams for the future.

Philip Hall
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby Philip Hall » Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:29 pm

I made a typo, which was that Eric Porter played Soames Fortsyte. Not Forsyth, as in Sir Bruce. Predictive text again and a late night! We have the DVD set from the series. I remember (when I were a !ad) that we went on holiday for two weeks in the summer mid way through the series, and I only saw the ones we missed thirty years later when we bought the DVD set!

Wonderful memories, triggered by a piece of music maybe not thought of by the original makers of the video. In itself a brilliant piece of work...

Philip

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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby nberrington » Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:00 pm

Thank you to the organizers for the enormous amount of effort it took to pull this off. It probably felt like herding cats, getting all the submissions in and collated. Some superb new content to view to be sure. Posting historic material (especially Heckmondwike) is so valuable - preserving this material is in my opinion, vital.

Thanks again for letting me participate from afar. Apologies for missing my zoom session, but sadly duty called.

David Thorpe

Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby David Thorpe » Mon Apr 19, 2021 3:03 pm

How did the Zoom chat sessions go? Did many people attend?

DT

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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby martin goodall » Mon Apr 19, 2021 4:05 pm

Philip Hall wrote:Did the film makers have any thought to the fact that Soames Forsyte was played by one of our members, the late Eric Porter, I wonder?

Philip


I don't think it was widely known that Eric Porter was a member of the S4 Society. I never met him myself, but I remember seeing him at Scaleforum one year (in the days when we held it at the City University). He was deep in conversation with Mike Peascod at the time, so I didn't think it right to interrupt.

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dcockling
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby dcockling » Mon Apr 19, 2021 4:20 pm

David Thorpe wrote:How did the Zoom chat sessions go? Did many people attend?

DT


A total of 14 people booked in, although we had one no show, but you'll see that from the post before yours.

I hosted all of the sessions myself via my own paid for Zoom account so we didn't have to observe a 45 minute limit, but I passed the hosting to others for some of the time so that I wasn't chained to the computer for the whole weekend.

Some of the sessions had no bookings and so didn't take place and the most popular session was the 2pm one on Sunday which ran on its merry way until 4:15.

We did try something like this before for the Warley Virtual event last November, when only one guest turned up, so I was pleasantly surprised at the number of guests this time, whereas I think Derek was hoping that the take up would be greater. What didn't happen was Derek's idea that possibly a group of friends who might have met at the real event would all book together and have a social with us via Zoom.

However, everyone who did come along seemed to enjoy themselves and I felt that it went very well and was worth doing.

Where were you David?

All the Best
Danny

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dcockling
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Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby dcockling » Mon Apr 19, 2021 4:26 pm

I did know that Eric Porter was a Society member.

Rather than the Forsyte Saga, the thing that I particularly remember Eric Porter for was his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes' arch enemy, Professor Moriarty, in the Granda Television series in the 1980s starring Jeremy Brett: great stuff.

All the Best
Danny

David Thorpe

Re: Virtual Scalefour North International - 17th and 18th April 2021

Postby David Thorpe » Mon Apr 19, 2021 5:39 pm

dcockling wrote:Where were you David?


Gardening (the weather was beautiful and I was under some domestic pressure!), building a model, walking the dogs, cooking Sunday dinner, and falling asleep after it. I did think of booking in, but I didn't really want to commit myself to some specific time and I was also worried that I'd be the only person to turn up, or that I'd arrive at a meeting with people I didn't know who were discussing some esoteric subject about which I was clueless, That's not to say that it wasn't a good idea - I'm usually all for ideas that enhance the social aspects of the Society - but I wonder if next time there might perhaps be fewer slots in the hope that more people will go to the slots that are available? And in that event, there might be no need to have to book in?

DT


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