Amberley rail gala

It's the time of year again that the Sussex Downs 009 group take the 009 Society showcase and demo stand to the Amberley rail gala. 

Sadly the model railway side of the event has diminished over the last few years and there were just a handful of layouts, some seen before. I can't resist an original cameo though. 

The event doesn't seem to attract the numbers of enthusiasts that it used to, and while many of the visitors were interested in the models I can't imagine it resulted in much business for the couple of traders present. I did manage to have a productive day modelling, although that isn't really the point of a demo stand! However, it's never a bad thing to show model trains as a hobby, particularly with kids around (they do love our little demo layout).

Outside there was a visiting loco, Lily, a rather smart Decauville, which was on passenger train duties alongside the resident Bagnall, Peter. The two train service seemed well patronised. 

Of course there was the usual line up of small internal combustion engines in action which the Amberley museum shows off so well. 

I'll leave you with a shot of the morning steam-up on shed. 

Amberley

The Amberley Museum hold an annual rail gala weekend with lots of narrow gauge trains running and a model railway exhibition in the railway hall, and as usual the Sussex Downs 009 group support with our society stand, which I helped with today. 

We have a small demo layout and a showcase to show what is possible in 009, and a modelling demo to show how, and answer questions. Here's Tim and John. There were a handful of layouts and traders, although it's not a big exhibition. This event is unusual in that it is both narrow gauge railway interest and a general public/family attraction, so a real mix of visitors, and the model railway exhibits in the railway hall are a side attraction to the rest of the museum and the full-size railway goings-on. That means at times it can be quite quiet in the hall, so having some modelling to do is useful! 

Outside amongst lots of interesting 2-foot gauge industrial trains, it was nice to see three of the four Thakeham locos, The blue Hunslet was in use on demo freight trains. 

With Polar Bear out of service for a boiler overhaul an alternative yellow loco was on passenger duties, this relatively large and modern Baguley Drewry. I was lucky enough to have a cab ride, thanks to Gerry Cork (seen driving) and Pete Smith. 

The cab is spacious and comfortable, if a little noisy, and the view through the large windows is excellent. Here's a view over the nose with Peter waiting. From above, it's clear the bonnet really needs a repaint! 

Always nice to see Peter in steam, a charming loco. A pity the rain came in by the afternoon, the demo freight trains had to stop as they slipped on the wet rails, and the afternoon loco "calvacade" was cancelled, not that many would have stood around in the rain to see it anyway. 

Amberley 2022

Last weekend the Amberley museum held its annual rail gala exhibition, I was there on the Saturday. The format was much the same as usual, with two passenger trains running. The weekend marked the official return to service of Peter the Bagnall saddle tank after its major overhaul. 

It also marked the last weekend of service for Polar Bear, whose boiler ticket was about to expire and so would be shortly withdrawn for overhaul. Both steam locos were looking superb. 

In between the passenger trains ran industrial diesels with trains of wagons. Here's one of the largest, Peldon. 

This Hudson Hunslet appeared in a James Bond film, as did the "mine" tunnel in the background. 

Here's a Motor Rail Simplex. At 3pm the usual parade of locos was held, with all the serviceable locos on display, although there were no visiting locos this year.

This "tank" is actually a wooden cut-out used as a target, it sits on a motorised target trolley which would run behind an embankment to provide a moving target. I visited a target railway of a similar type to the one this trolley would have run on last year. 

As well as the trains, steam road vehicles were in use. This steam roller was one of two, and I believe a traction engine was in steam too. 

The open top of this fabulous bus proved popular. The road vehicles, like the trains, appeared to be full every trip. 

Indoors was a model railway exhibition, although this year it was pretty small. Just a handful of layouts, mostly N-gauge for some reason, and a mix of traders who can't have been doing well judging by the low numbers inside (the sun was shining, the shed was hot, so why stay inside!). I was helping the Sussex Down 009 group who as usual had a display stand and demonstration, except this year we had taken an under-construction layout to work on. I spent much of the day sticking and carving foam, which as well as progressing the layout, seemed to be of interest to visitors to see how the layout was constructed.

Amberley Railway Gala - a step towards normality

The Amberley Railway Gala is a regular in the calendar of the Sussex Downs 009 Group, we always provide a 009 Society stand with the showcase and demonstrations, and often layouts too. Of course last year there was no Gala, but this year the event went ahead, albeit a little different to normal, and I went along today to help with our group stand. The exhibition was smaller than previous Galas, although the large railway shed allowed plenty of space for social distances and large doors for ventilation. With our group only recently having started meeting in person again after months of Zoom meetings, it was great to have the first railway event since March last year.

Our stand had more tables than usual to allow social distancing. As well as the showcase and demo layout, Simon brought a small "pizza" layout. It looks like he is wishing it had more operational interest!

Tim also brought a small layout, "The Old Quarry", which features a passing loop and some attractive scenery. Despite very tight curves the running was excellent. 

There were a few other layouts, mostly small like this O-16.5 shunting layout, although there was a larger modular American On30 layout too. 

Outside there was steam courtesy of Polar Bear, though the other steam loco Peter is undergoing overhaul. There were no visiting locos, miniature railways or traction engines though. 

Even so, the usual Gala intensive service was operated with the larger diesels helping with passenger trains, and the smaller i/c and battery locos running demonstration goods trains. The trains seemed reasonably well patronised, although it definitely seemed quieter than previous Gala weekends. 

The usual afternoon loco parade took place, and I'm sure the volunteers enjoyed getting all the toys out as much as the socially distanced crowd enjoyed seeing them all. 

There's a great collection of NG locos at Amberley, but it is nice to see a new restoration. This little Brush battery-electric was built for ammunition factory use in 1917. It's cute and delightfully simple, though the ancient motor (which fills all the space under the seat) is not very powerful, and I can report that the cab is more cramped than it looks!

So life may not be back to normal quite yet, but it this was an encouraging step along the way. 

Amberley rail gala 2018

Last Saturday I was at Amberley, where they were having the annual railway gala weekend. This year the event celebrated the 100th Birthday of Peter, the Bagnal 0-4-0ST.



The format of the event was similar to previous years, with two passenger trains running, interspersed with demonstration goods trains and light engine movements, so there was always something interesting happening.



It was nice to see a line-up of three ex-Thakeham locos, although they were not running.



Inside the shed was the model railway exhibition - smaller than it has been some years, but still plenty to see. Richard Glover had brought his new micro layout Brockles Ghyll in 009.



John Wilkes was showing his layout Coleford, the subject of several magazine articles and now the feature of a book published by Narrow Planet. John manages a different perspective which makes the layout interesting and different. Just look at that track-work, and the winter trees.



The cameo scenes on the layout certainly avoid the usual cliches. Like this fly-tipping scene!



I was there helping to man the 009 Society stand with the Sussex Downs 009 group. Our usual approach is to run a demonstration stand alongside the display case and our small demo layout, which often gets people interested in what we're doing and the scale in general. Here's my work-space.



I'll soon post an update about the projects you can see... in the meantime, more pictures of the event can be seen here.

Off the rails

Last weekend Amberley Museum held their annual Rail Gala, I was there on the Saturday with the Sussex Downs 009 group demo / 009 society stand. There were some good narrow gauge layouts in the exhibition hall, while outside both steam locos operated an intensive service with most of the extensive selection of i/c locos running demonstration trains and generally having fun. There's a collection of photos here.

At lunchtime my son and I decided to eat our sandwiches on a bench at Brockham station, to enjoy the fine weather and the trains going by. This is the mid-point of the line where trains cross, and we watched a goods train set off behind a Hudson Hunslet diesel, before stopping suddenly...



Caught out by the catch point! Oops.



As you can see, the loco is well clear of the end of the rails. Even travelling slowly it takes a while to stop. So, out comes the jack and some big timbers.



And slowly the loco is jacked up to be slid sideways onto the running rails.



"Nothing to see here!"

The passing loop being blocked meant only one train running for a while.



"Problem? What problem?"

Finally re-railed, and with no damage except a slightly bent but functional point operating rod (and perhaps someone's pride), normal service was resumed. Still, it was an excellent demonstration chaps!

Thakeham Hunslet Progress

Earlier in the year I mentioned starting on a model of one of the Thakeham Hudson Hunslets, using the Nonnesminstre kit as a basis. I'd prepared a motor bogie, and assembled the frames and footplate. In July I managed to take measurements of the prototype thanks to the helpful folks at Amberley.

Then, out of the blue, I was asked if I could take Thakeham Tiles to EXPO-NG as another layout had pulled out. Since Thakeham was built for the EXPO Dave Brewer challenge three years ago I'm delighted that the organisers think it worthy of showing again, in it's own right, as it were. However it struck me that if I was going to build a Thakeham loco to run on the layout, now is the time!



So the dimensions were translated to a scale drawing, albeit at 1:40 scale to match the kit (slightly over scale for 1:43) and a couple of tweeks to match the kit frames. Then it was time to start cutting plasicard to see if I could get the cab looking right. I find calipers invaluable for marking up plastic; as well as setting and transferring measurements, they can score a faint mark which with pencil rubbed in, becomes the cutting guide.



The cab sides are 20 thou plastic with the roof, floor, front, and rear from 40 thou. The windows were a challenge, the beading is formed from micostrip, which is then shaped with a fine blade and emery paper to give a rounded appearance. It's a little over-scale but they are a distinctive feature so needed to be present. Glazing has been cut to fit, and put away for later. Getting the tapered front to the cab to fit together was tricky too.



The next challenge is the bonnet. The prototype has an extended bonnet from the original loco, so the kit component wouldn't work. An inverted tray was made from 40 thou plastic, with a triple layer top for shaping, and internal bracing. Once the curve looked right, a sheet of 10 thou plastic was fitted over, warm water helping the shaping. As with the prototype this finishes short of the cab, sitting on the fuel tank.



So the outline shape comes together, so far it looks OK but there are a lot of details to add. Nothing is assembled yet.

As a reminder, here's the prototype. You can see how open the internals are, with just some linkages and cables filling the space behind the engine, which adds to the challenge of a convincing model!

Amberley Rail Gala 2016

This year there were more than enough volunteers to man the 009 society stand. However with the weather looking fine and my Son up for a visit we went along just to enjoy the trains and exhibits, which made it a much more relaxed day than usual.

The format was the same as always of course, and while there were some very nice layouts on show, most have been there previous years. Trade wasn't great either, while there were a couple of good book stalls I couldn't find anywhere to buy basics like paint (though my son picked up a wagon for his train set, so he was happy!). However while it would be nice if the model railway exhibition were better supported, the main attraction at the Amberley rail gala is the real railway.

This year had relatively few visiting locos (especially compared to last year's Lister-mania event!) however two fine steam locos were visiting from the privately owned Richmond Light Railway in Kent. These were running both demonstration freight trains and the passenger trains too - although double-headed as only Jenny had air brakes. It has to be said that Amberley is not exactly short of locos anyway, and can put on an impressive display of industrial diesels, while it is always a delight to see Polar Bear running!

Having more time meant that as well as riding the trains and the old bus, we could visit some of the other exhibits around the museum, which are excellent. My son enjoyed printing in the print shop, playing with the phones in the telecoms exhibition, and the demos in the electricity hall. So a good day out and well worth the trip.

You can see more photos here - covering both full size and model trains!