- Kingston -

9 November 2015: Great news as the Club has been notified of additional premises at an acceptable rate. With effect from 1 January 2016 SRMG will have exclusive use of the former ground floor gymnasium. It measures 23’6” x 17’ 6” from an operational layout perspective. The room has to be cleared of junk and an assessment made of what needs doing before we decide on what we’re going to use it for.

20/11/2015: Club Committee agreed exclusive use of new area for 0 Gauge. Scott Rhodes to run layout build. Landlord agrees to clear out junk but temporary storage until early December for some items.

26/11/2015: AGM advised and agreed with room use. John Hammond to chair meeting to discuss layouts etc. Scott + 3 moved out some junk.

30/11/2015: First 0 Gauge Meeting.11 present. John Hammond in chair. Agreed a hybrid DC / DCC continuous 1950’s/1960’s layout with additional modules which may / may not be taken on exhibition. NB will investigate layout insurance whilst on exhibition and G0G reimbursement exhibition policy and for how many. Some track discussions led to SR to price a layout using Marcway points so members might have some guide as to cost and what might be built. Next meeting set for 7/12/2015.

17/12/2015: Good work saw the room cleared of the remaining junk earlier than expected from the former gym. Plans made to remove 2 x single radiators and replace with a new double one on the corridor wall. This would prevent baseboard warping whilst retaining heat in the room. All exposed pipework to be boxed.

31/12/2015: Scott supervised painting gangs with Richard Grigg, Mal Houlihan, David Lane, John Meredith and Phil Skinner all helping. John Allnutt agreed to change fluorescent light fittings for a strobe (anti-flicker) variety to permit filming in the room without picture distortion. Mal Rowe would obtain these new tubes. Nick Kerslake would provide his painting tower for members’ use.

31/01/2016: Malcolm Hill, our plumber friend, did the necessary radiator removals and installation at a good price. The exposed pipework looks a mess. Decision taken to ask Nick to box in the pipework as a paid job. John Allnutt simplified some light switches. The painters have been hard at it and finished the work.

29/02/2016: All preparatory work finished and carpet ordered and fitted by KCS. The finished room looks good and everyone well pleased with work to date including FOYD our landlord.

31/03/2016: The carpet has been fitted although there was a hiatus over measurements and a cheaper carpet replaced the original version to retain the same price. John Allnutt decided to add new power points to finished baseboards to prevent the awkward use of existing points located on walls well under the baseboards. Scott asked Steve Giffard to prepare and install the wooden frame and baseboard (with members’ help). Steve will prepare cost specification and also identify time slot for the work. 

15/04/2016: Committee approved Scott’s budget for Project 0 – now named Kingston (a big name for a big layout). This states: £700 for framework and baseboards, £550 for straight track, £879 for pointwork, £312 for 2 packs of point motors, £200 for track sundries, £600 for wiring, electrics and controllers and £800 for scenery and trackside buildings. Total cost approved by Committee = £4041. No Gauge 0 Guild grant being sought as SRMG seeks its own independence as the favoured option. Further expenditure above the sums for each category will need committee approval. Scott’s position is as Shedmaster with John Allnutt as his Deputy. David Lane is overall Layout Controller for Kingston and all other layouts.

30/04/2016: Steve’s done a great job with the framework and baseboards are now in place – see photograph. Initial problems getting Marcway to a) make contact and b) understand what we needed. The company asked for a detailed analysis of some of the pointwork so as to explore other crossover options i.e. a scissors crossing. Scott is working on this aspect of the pointwork. 

31/05/2016: John Allnutt finessing power point placements.

31/10/2016: First sets of points have come in from Marcway.