Ex-South African Railways Class 16 Garratt locomotive simmering at Caernarfon on the Welsh Highland Railway
Photo by Tony Richards.
Comment
A brief ‘in between’ update to remind you all of an imminent event and also bring you up to date with some recent developments.
But first of all, we heard very recently of the sad news that Don Hamilton had passed away a little while back. Don will have been known to older members as he was himself a member for many years, leaving only because Club nights clashed with his other major interests. He kept in touch however, visiting us on open nights and other times: a laconic Canadian with a desert-dry sense of humour, it was always good to see him. The sad news of Don’s death was accompanied by our finding out that he had left a small collection of model railway stock to the Club in his will. This was so typical of Don and we are grateful for his thoughtfulness.
Stock sale
And now, a reminder of the above which will be taking place on Thursday the 8th June – a week this coming Thursday. As well as members being able to sell their own stock, the Club will be selling various items which have either been donated or have come with a request that we sell them on a commission basis. You may be interested to know in advance some of what the Club will be selling:
- Three Hornby boxed sets [all with track, track mats and controllers] comprising an unused Flying Scotsman set [with four teak coaches still wrapped in tissue] and two 0-4-0 freight sets [almost unused]. The freight sets in particular would be ideal children’s starter sets
- A large number of OO wagons and trucks all priced at £1 each – ideal for repainting/detailing or enhancing starter sets
- A small number of OO coaches [including Hornby early-type BR-livery Gresley coaches in good condition].
- A number of steam and diesel locos in OO
- Quite a lot of unused Hornby track, including straights, curves, points and various unused track packs
- Various Hornby buildings and items of scenery [including a station terminus with overall roof and a gas holder]
Unusually, we will also have some items of Bachmann and Broadway On30 stock to sell. This is American steam outline to the American ‘O’ gauge but running on OO/HO track. This attractive stock includes:
- Various boxed bogie wagons
- Two boxed DCC Bachmann Moguls [2-6-0]
- One boxed Broadway DCC sound-fitted Mogul [2-6-0]
On30 items very rarely come up for sale and can be really hard to source commercially. This is quite a special addition to the sale and comes from the estate of the late Don Hamilton.
Club sellers – pleas remember to let me know no later than June 1st if you want a table from which to hawk your stock.
Various Committee and Show changes
David Lane recently stood down from his SRMG Secretary and Show Manager roles. Scott Rhodes will take over the Show Manager role, assisted by Steve G as Deputy. The SRMG Secretary position will be managed jointly by Tony Richards and Ted Hylton until the Club’s AGM early next year when the position will be up for election.
Whilst David has left the show in good hands, he undertook much of the hard work attracting and corralling traders into some sense of compliance whilst managing the rest of his team himself, so that all of the traders and exhibitors have now confirmed their attendance. David’s work will contribute significantly towards the show being the success we anticipate and all wish to thank him for his considerable effort.
Some other show items
Club member involvement over the show weekend.
This is really important and we need volunteers from within the membership to help with a range of tasks over the Friday night [set-up], Saturday and Sunday. There are insufficient of us on the Committee or Show team to manage this alone. Tasks will include helping with set-up, acting as stewards throughout the weekend, assisting on the Club’s stand and helping on the wagon sales stand. Please - please – consider whether you can assist us with these jobs: you would not be required for the entire weekend [unless you wish to] and a rota will be developed to identify names against times and tasks. Remember too that you will receive free entry over the entire weekend and get your parking refunded. See Scott Rhodes for further details.
Next year’s show
Planning is commencing already! We will have to start booking exhibitors and traders very soon and the date for the 2018 show should be announced in the June or July newsletter. 4 layouts have already been booked.
The Tirdonkin Trio wagon commission
Mentioned in the last newsletter, photographs of the three different wagons being modelled are now on the Club’s website in the ‘Products’ section. Such is the nature of these commissions that there has already been interest in purchasing them. Colour images will be available soon[ish] and you’ll see them here first.
Finally...
Thanks must go to Steve G for the work he is undertaking in the Club’s workshop area. It’s near to completion and will be ready for use in the near future. However, before anyone asks [and this means you particularly Scott], NO new layouts are going to be built in there...!
Best wishes all and have a great Bank Holiday weekend: hope the fabulous weather holds.