Does anyone ever enter anything on here?

[Brian Harrap]

Does anyone ever enter anything on here?

[Tim V]

No.

[John McAleely]

No.

I feel perhaps I should delete your posting Tim. Purely to maintain logical consistency...

[essdee]

Pithy, Tim - albeit immediately inaccurate?

[Brian Harrap]

Quite a hive of activity at DRAG last night. Not seen so much going on since that gang of web challenged spiders ran amok amongst the catenary on QUAI:87 (which, incidentally, had a good last outing at Nailsea at the weekend). Back at DRAG we had Balcombe viaduct assembled in all its (long) glory, roller skates are recommended for moving from one end to the other, and who'd have thought that a six car emu could look lost on a bridge, but it did. Elsewhere (its quite a large village hall) there were etched bicycles being assembled, some with flat tyres - I think - and at least one, I know has rotating pedals. Amazing. A chassis was being put together for a loco, I forget what I'm ashamed to say, for the forthcoming Bodmin layout and timetables (with design team award winning coloured graphics) for the delight of the unwary, for an upcoming project. Someone was even seen fiddling about with a loco that had a stud contact skate dangling underneath, ughh. And of course there was another lathefest going on, we had one once before, - three lathes in a row, two Unimats, one with the old type motor and one with the new, and a rather splendid Shereline (spelling?), all employed reprofiling Hornby and/or Bachmman wheels so as to run on P4 track (P87 in my case). It is quite rewarding and enlightening to see how quickly a [novice] lathehandler, albeit one wearing two pairs of glasses and one (me) using a telescope, can reprofile a wheelset from tinplate, essentially by eye, to something which will trundle through, no make that 'glide through effortlessly', protoscale turnoutwork. A jolly good evening all round.
Brian.

[Rod Cameron]

Many thanks for that report Brian

John and I were too engrossed in the viaduct and associated fiddle yard loops electrical troubleshooting (only one problem to be fair and we know what it is) to notice what else was going on. Just as well there was so much given it would have been a challenge to put TT2 up with the viaduct layout (well half of it) there!

[Brian Harrap]

Another action packed evening at the Holcombe village hall again last night. I didn't count but I reckon there must have been a pretty well full turn out of local members. The test track had all sorts of trains roaring around in all directions, many steam types I couldn't identify, diesels on freight and passenger and even a Brighton Belle (sans third rail) doing its stuff. It got from one end to the other (or back to where it started) in well under four minuets so breaking the record on that famous bit of film. Elsewhere bicycles were still being turned out faster than in China, the stop me and buy one being particularly attractive, but sadly no ice cream to try. I also saw for the first time a cardboard gearbox fitted into a loco chassis - amazing. Track making with all the correct chairs and wider sleepers at the rail joints, heck I'm going to keep mine in the street - much easier. Up the far end amidst much noise and cussing odd bits of crescent shaped baseboard sections were being hammered into some sort of pattern trying to prove or disprove that you can or cannot make a circle out of 360 deg. "Well is makes a bloody circle here, why didn't it when we took it (with the famed Balcombe viaduct I'm told) to the exhibition at Horsham last week" I hear someone muttering. I don't know I wasn't there. Bourbon and fly cemetery biscuits and apple puffs to go with our coffee ended a wonderful evening. Brian.