CHEAG relaunched

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Paul Willis
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CHEAG relaunched

Postby Paul Willis » Tue Nov 16, 2010 8:18 am

It was with a fixed, and regular, meeting schedule that the Cambridge, Herts & Essex Area Group reconvened on the first Thursday of the month. I have moved house and am now able to offer a hospitable location to CHEAG on a permanent basis.

There were a total of six Society members that met at my home in Sawbridgeworth. From the original group that first met in the summer there was Geraint Hughes, Brian Page, Martin Wilkinson and Adrian Brady. I was also very pleased that we had two new members join us: Richard Dunning, who came up from Epping, and John McAleely who came down from Cambridge. they are both very welcome! There continues to be a diverse mixture of interests in the group, with, IIRC, Richard having interests in the S&D in the 1950s/60s, and John modelling Blue electrics in the mid-eighties.

So what did we talk about? Well, first of all there was much jocularity of getting lost finding my house. On an unlit country lane, on the outskirts of a village, it's not the easiest place to find on a November evening. The good news is that last Sunday I has a session communing with the electrics (not the local Class 86 though) and we have a working light at the front of the house...

After that, matters moved on to modelling. I started off by bringing down the demo board that I've been building for the Society Stand, and there was much nattering about the different track-building methods used. I also used the phrase "never again" in the context of building interlaced turnouts with both thick and thin sleepers. That was a lesson painfully learned! I also brought down some of my wagons to push through the pointwork and prove that it did actually work without things falling off.

This also acted as an opportunity for Richard to bring out a couple of British Railways departmental wagons - a Dogfish and something else... I really must remember a camera for future sessions. These were pushed around as well, and looked very smart.

Geraint had brought along a couple of buildings from his Danish layout that is under construction. These used the double-skinned plasticard method of construction that I had first seen back in the eighties in the "Bodmin" series of articles in the old MRC. There was a discussion about how robust plastic buildings were, and Geraint explained his methods and how this was ensured. An impromptu trip to the carpet by one of them (no names, but you know who you are...) proved that they were indeed very strong. Geraint also pointed out his technique for representing brickwork, using individually laid strips of plastic for the horizontal courses, then nicked vertically to give the separate bricks. It was a very convincing effect, and had been developed from the laying of individual bricks for the Cambridge Area Group's project to build a model of Saffron Walden.

As well as mutterings on all sorts of other subjects, there was also a discussion of where to meet in future. Whilst I am very happy to host the meetings on a regular basis, I'm at the very south of the catchment area, and it is a long way for some members to come. Therefore Martin suggested that he would look for a venue that was more towards the heart of the CHEAG area. It seems that he was successful in this, and I will announce the details very shortly.

The next meeting will be held on the first Thursday in December - the 2nd. It will NOT be held at my house, but at a venue closer to Saffron Walden, the original centre of the group. More details to follow in a separate announcement...

My thanks to all those that trekked to my house. It made a very pleasant evening to share with you. As ever, any members that would like to come along are more than welcome. Please just get in touch.

Cheers
Paul Willis
Area Group (dis-)Organiser
Beware of Trains - occasional modelling in progress!
www.5522models.co.uk

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