CAG Meeting Reports for 2014

Moderator: Will L

User avatar
Will L
Posts: 2516
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:54 pm

CAG Meeting Reports for 2014

Postby Will L » Mon Jan 13, 2014 12:31 pm

My tradition is to split my blog of the Crewe Area Group monthly meetings into batches of a year. So here we go with 2014. As always this little preamble gives me the opportunity to remind anybody reading this that this is my blog, expressing my views, and any correspondence to the collective view of the Crewe Area Group is entirely accidental. As always, I'm very happy if CAG members, or any other Society members for that matter, want to post their own two pennies worth.

While I’m here it is also a good time to say that the Crewe Area Group welcomes new members or occasional visitors to our second Sunday in the month meetings. These are mostly held at members’ homes, but, on occasions, will be a visit out to places of interest to railway fans, modellers or both. Anybody who feels they would like to attend one or all of our meeting should contact area organiser David Burton, see the blue sheet, or PM me, and we’ll tell you how to find us.

Happy 2014

Will

User avatar
Will L
Posts: 2516
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:54 pm

Meeting 2th January 2014

Postby Will L » Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:51 pm

AGM’s are us.

As always our January meeting is also our AGM, and just like last year, the meeting was held in Tony M’s palatial model railway room. Here the nine members present were able to sit comfortably in the operating well in the centre of the layout, along with a couple of useful bits of machinery and several Ambergate layout board ex travelling cases now acting as tables. All this with plenty of space to spare. Here we all are, you will note that liquid refreshments were properly available and the chocolate biscuits plate was also present although not visible in this view.
2014 Jan 1.jpg

The first and last order of the day was to run trains round Tony’s continuous run which happily gives the lie to the view that large P4 layouts don’t exist /won’t work.

As usual for our AGM we began the business of the day with an attempt to try and remember what it was we decided last time, and if that’s what we actually did. We then moved on to re-elect to positions of responsibility those so foolish as not to have got out of the way last time. Strangely, despite the fact that this blog is quite clearly and explicitly my view of things, and not to be taken in any way as a representation of the groups agreed and official view, my position as blogger to the group is now one of those official positions. Anybody wishing to see a proper and official record of our proceeding should of course approach our official area organiser.

The membership of the Crewe Area Group is quite widely dispersed across Cheshire and the adjoining counties, and there has been an observable tendency for meetings held at the northern and southern extremities of the Group to be attended mostly by those members living relatively close by. Hence there was a discussion as to whether this was something we might wish to recognise when organising the meetings. What was clear was that, with anno domini taking its toll, some members now wished to avoid long drives home from meetings on dark winter evenings. Thus the logical thing to do was, where ever possible, to arrange that the meetings in the winter months should take place in areas central to the group, while trips to our more outlying members should be organised for months where the long summer evenings make the drive home a pleasure not a challenge.

We also discussed the likely topics and themes which the monthly meetings could address, not to mention places worthy of a group visit. We’ve been at this for some years now and vigorous use of the imagination is required to come up with a meeting topic/theme which we haven’t already done. While this is an issue, it did become clear that there was a general view that just holding a get together was a good enough reason to want to attend, and while a theme or purpose for each meeting was a worthy aim, it was not so much necessary as nice to have.

The other significant item for discussion was the fate of Knutsford East once its last outing, to Scaleforum next September, is over. I’m afraid there is no doubt that the current arrangements must come to an end, but whether or not the layout can be found a new home has yet to be determined. The basis on which any change of ownership of the layout, or its constituent parts, might happen was aired, but here and now is not the place to share these discussions. It is probable that this is not the last you will hear on this subject, one way or another.

Given Adrian Prescott’s recent death it was entirely natural our thoughts should turn to him and his family, and our own warm memories of meetings and modelling projects shared with him. In my case, this is particularly the odd Tuesday lunch time spent with him and Ron in the Bears Head over a pint and a meal. Some of you will know that, before he turned to model building for a living, he had a long career as a police driver. As he lived just down the road from me, we often used to car share when going to CAG meetings, and it did cross my mind to wonder what he was thinking when it was my turn to drive. Needless to say he was an exemplary passenger, no matter what was going on inside his head, and he limited his comments to wondering what that **** thinks he’s up to when he spotted another road user doing something unexpected that he hoped I had notice too. He will be missed, and some of us will have to start contemplating the need to paint and line our own models again.
Aug meeting 3.jpg


Will
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Will L
Posts: 2516
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:54 pm

Meeting 9th Febuary

Postby Will L » Tue Mar 04, 2014 10:19 pm

Giving Us The Run Around

O dear, if I don’t get this report done shortly, the next meeting will occur before the report of the last one. As I have commented elsewhere recently, I have the literary equivalent of the average modellers selection of part built kits, but, it does appear that deadlines are a useful spur to getting things to the top of the pile and finished.

On this February occasion, our meeting was held in Dick P’s enviable railway room, where he keeps the other Knutsford Junction. The invite was to bring along something to run, so we did. The artfully edited picture only shows seven out of the eight attendees, as I’m a bit old for selfies. At this point I should take the time to welcome Dave Millward, aka Tor Giffard of this parish, who has recently thrown in his lot with the increasingly geographically diverse Crewe Area Group. David M is the second David from the right, identifiable by the horizontal stripes. The rest of them will know who they are.
2014 feb 1.jpg

Our theme was "bring something to run", so David M did and introduced a new and unusual sight to Knutsford Junction, a mainline GW diesel. Not the first infernal combustion engine to grace Dick’s oval, as the industrial that shuffles the MOD sidings at Knutsford East had apparently found its way up the branch and was parked in Knutsford Junction yard, but it was certainly not a common occurrence. David M has been doing some RTR conversions and although not yet cosmetically complete both examples be brought along showed themselves to be entirely competent performers. The picture shows one of them on its way. I’ll leave the identification to those who know what they are looking at. The wagons, equally foreign to Knutsford Junction are also David’s and ran as well as the loco. If David wasn’t a railway professional we might have been tempted to pointed out that the train was terminally deficient, but hay, it was his first visit.
2014 feb 2.jpg

Other visitors on the day included a little steam powered GW interest from the other David, which for some reason avoided the photographer’s attention. Perhaps being prominently branded GW has its effect. There were also a couple of part built Buckjumpers, still missing significant parts of their anatomy and not yet competent runners, though, just about, capable of moving under their own power. These are subject to work in that literary unfinished pile so documentation of their looks was left for another day. What didn’t escape the cameras was this product of our society P4 ready to run locos initiative, being one of the Jintys produced for sale at this year’s Scaleforum. The truly knowledgeable will realise this isn’t entirely true, but as there are yet more unfinished words involved here too, that’s close enough for now.
2014 feb 3.jpg

Despite the shiny self coloured plastic finish, the Jinty also performed faultlessly showing, if you didn’t already realise it, that simple RTR conversions are a viable source of motive power these days.

One final loco was worthy of a picture. This is Ron’s 8f. Some time in it life, this was a Hornby loco, but that was before it was brought together with the Brassmasters detailing kit and received the loving attention of Adrian Prescott. The result is a fine and fitting memorial to a man we, as a group, are going to miss.
2014 feb 4.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Tor Giffard

Re: CAG Meeting Reports for 2014

Postby Tor Giffard » Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:04 pm

...thanks for the welcome Will...brakevans for TG currently number around 10 but none are serviceable just now....will try harder next time.

BTW....unless someone very thin is hiding behind someone of more generous proportions I only count six bodies in the picture.

Dave

User avatar
Will L
Posts: 2516
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:54 pm

CAG Meeting 8th June.

Postby Will L » Sat Jul 05, 2014 11:08 pm

I have been most remiss, I have let three CAG meetings go past without comment. It has to stop. It is true that the attendances haven’t been all they might have been, but none the less we have had a pleasant afternoon each time, mostly putting the world to rights. Don has not had a good time over the last few months, firstly with a family bereavement, then a fall which put him in hospital. Perhaps it was his absence that has made the meetings seem less well attended. I gather he is recovering so we wish him well and hope to see him again soon.
None the less June is the regular spot for our yearly garden meeting, with partners and cakes. This was held at John S’s home, and I really can’t let that go unreported.
2014 june 1.jpg

Here is the happy throng enjoying the garden, before it started raining. This is England after all. John had somehow managed to lay on a fly past by a WWII Hurricane, so we enjoyed watching that too. The photo showed the traditional spot in a big sky, which is all I ever get photographically when attending an air displays, so you'll have to forgo the evidence and just believe me.

As regular forum readers will know, John has given Don’s old Central Cheshire Line’s layout a new home. So, once the excellent spread provided (thank you Vicky) had been done justice too, the male members of the party adjourned to the railway room, to see how the layout was getting on, and to run a train or two.
2014 june 5..jpg

Among the loco’s allowed out, there are a couple of old friends, plus a couple you will not have seen before.
2014 june 6..jpg

Of note here is that rare thing, a P4 converted Dapol Beattie well tank. This acquitted itself well pulling a fair length train of John weight items of freight stock, and staying on track that John has yet to finish fettling to the standard he desires.,

Our thanks to John and Vicky for a very pleasant afternoon, and no prizes for me for taking weeks to produce this write up.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Will L
Posts: 2516
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:54 pm

Meeting 13th July

Postby Will L » Mon Jul 14, 2014 3:11 pm

Our meeting this month was a welcome return visit to Don’s home near Whitchurch and 6 of us turned up to see how he was getting on. He has been in the wars a bit recently but is definitely on the mend now. While he is much improved, Don’s new radio controlled layout has been in abeyance while he is on the mend, so our visit was more by way of an afternoon modeller's chin wag. While the layout was in a packed up state, it was clear that, despite his recent issues, progress has indeed been made since our last visit.
There was also on display this a loco, which is much longer in the tooth than is apparent form the look of it. It started life as a Stewart Reidpath cast white metal kit in 1954, and is by far the heaviest loco for it size I have ever lifted. White metal has clearly undergone some evolutionary changes since. Further details can be found along with a much better photo, hot off the presses, in MRJ232
2014 july1..jpg

One other member, John B, did have some goodies to inspect. In this case part completed bits of a couple of D9s, the development of which is the subject of his thread Genesis of a model locomotive design. He did comment that that thread was falling well behind the actual model, mostly because trying to write it up as he was going along was slowing progress to a crawl. An effect I am personally only too familiar with.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Tor Giffard

Re: CAG Meeting Reports for 2014

Postby Tor Giffard » Sun Nov 02, 2014 4:13 pm

Aft'noon all,

Very many thanks to Will for organising such a successful get together at 'The Vicarage' today. A smashing venue with great food and beer. Good to see you all and we look forward to the next event.

Best regards

Dave

User avatar
Will L
Posts: 2516
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: CAG Meeting Reports for 2014

Postby Will L » Fri Dec 19, 2014 12:51 pm

Last six months of 2014

I have been a bit remiss in not posting any meeting records recently. We’ve definitely been having them but somehow I haven’t got round to writing them up, so let’s have a look at the major moments.

In September we took Knutsford East down to Scaleforum for its last outing. A small operating team were pleased to see our efforts recognised by the presentation of the MRJ chalice, which was nice.
2014 Scaleforum.jpg

In November it was our annual dinner, on this occasion we used a new and rather better venue, the Vicarage Hotel near Holmes Chapel. It used to be the Old Vicarage, but it’s been extensively refurbished recently and isn’t apparently old any more. It was a disappointingly small turn out of only twelve, including significant others, but the meal was good and those that weren’t gallivanting round the world or were otherwise unable to attend missed a very pleasant occasion
2014 nov dinner.jpg

Finally this month (on December 14th) we have had another of our annual events. On this occasion it was the ritual eating of mince pies. This year the meeting was hosted by David B who plied us with a fine selection of the said pies, sausage roles, tea and coffee. We had a really good turn out with twelve members present and Xmas cards were exchanged. For our amusement we inspected: the latest Hornby LMS 50ft PBV, which Dave M had brought along; the pre-production samples of the latest Brassmasters EasiChas (the LMS 4F),exhibited by David B; and Don’s most recent radio controlled tender (a Stanier standard 4000 gallon job, suitable to control any appropriate 12 volt loco). We also had a free and frank exchange of views on use of the wrong profile wheels. Not a practice that finds much favour in this part of Cheshire apparently. It was good to see you all, and lets look forward to next year.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.


Return to “Crewe (CAG)”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: ClaudeBot and 0 guests