009 Society 50th Anniversary Exhibition - Statfold Barn

Last weekend the 009 Society celebrated its 50th anniversary with an exhibition held at the Statfold Barn Railway. Actually, "exhibition" feels a rather inadequate description.  It was my first visit to Statfold, which is a privately owned narrow gauge railway and collection.

The railway is nice, but the collection of narrow gauge locos in the roundhouse is astonishing...

Not just a collection - I understand that most if not all of these locos are in full working order with boiler certificate. 

There are more locos out of use. There was even one with my name on it!

The roundhouse was the perfect venue for the anniversary dinner on the Saturday night, a real celebration. There was a great atmosphere all weekend.

Well, back to the exhibiton, which had about 50 invited layouts from most of the area groups plus a few extra layouts brought by their owners on one or both days, and trade support including Peco/Kato and Bachmann. The Saturday was only for 009 Society members, and felt like a giant member's day, although with over 900 visiting members (on top of those exhibiting) it was busier than most member's days I've been to. It was great to see old friends and meet new people, including some forum members I'd never met in person. The Sunday was open to the public, and felt slightly quieter but still busy most of the day. 

I took Loctern Quay, and my son was due to take Slugworth & Co., but unfortunately was ill and unable to come. So, I ended up with two layouts. As you'll see below the Sussex Downs group was quite stretched, so I was thankful of help from Will Booth and Harry Mantheakis on the Sunday allowing me to have a better look around (and even a ride on the train). Both layouts performed well, although I was thankful for the continuous circuit of Slugwoth and confess that most of the weekend I just left a train circulating, periodically changing the train. 

Also from the Sussex Downs group were two other layouts - one was Llandecwyn by Martin Collins. 

The other was Kurseong by John Crane, a model of the real station on the Darjeeling Himalayan railway, which was deservedly voted "most appealing layout" by the society members visiting on the Saturday. 

I have uploaded a collection of photos of many of the layouts here, although not a complete record of all the layouts at the show, partly due to limited time and I focused mainly on layouts I've not seen before or rarely see, and partly because some of my photos didn't come out wheel (possibly because I rushed). You will see that the overall standard of the layouts was very good. 

The Society had comissioned a special anniversay limited edition van from Peco. Of course I had to get one, and by the time the show opened on the Saturday morning it was out of the box and running on Slugworth, where it looked at home. In fact it ran around Slugworth pretty much all day so I estimate it must have covered around 2 real miles or so already. 

The 50th celebrations were great fun, well organised, and memorable. Roll on 60 years...?

No crossed wires

As noted, the wall-wart 16V AC transformers have a very similar plug to the 12V DC power supplies used for the LED lighting. Clearly plugging in the wrong power supply could be bad (for the lights), so clear labelling is needed. 

I already colour code my controller (5-pin DIN) plugs red, and the power-box leads (6-pin DIN) blue. As previously explained, Slugworth can now run either from the power-box with the controller plugged into that, and the blue 6-pin DIN plugged into the layout, or with the controller plugged into the layout and a 16V AC supply connected. Here the 6-pin socket is coded blue (no AC) or red (with AC), with the controller plug (red) in place, and the 16V plug and socket coded yellow and labelled AC. 

The LED lighting plug and socket on the other hand is coded green and labelled DC. No confusion there. 

The AC supply into the "mini power-pack" for Loctern Quay is also coded yellow, the transformers being interchangable between layouts. 

And the Loctern Quay lighting supply is coded green. Simples!

Rethinking power supplies - Slugworth simplification

A while back I discovered that a simple Hornby "wall-wart" transformer could be used to power my layouts, a much neater and more compact solution than an open-frame transformer mounted in a home-made power box (see below). So I thought it worth getting another. This one is a Hornby C912 rather than the C990, it's rated 16V AC at 14VA which I make to be 875mA, so pretty much the same as the C990 which is rated 800 mA at 16V AC. Either type can be bought on ebay for less than £10. 

When I made the "micro" power pack I'd just hard-wired the power lead in, but it seemed neater to fit a plug and socket, and allow the transformer to be interchangable - not least as I like to have a spare at exhibitions. The transformer comes with a 2.5mm (inner) x 5.5mm (outer diameter) power connector, so I used a matching socket from Squires, and refitted a matching plug to the existing transformer. 

Now the folllowing gets a bit involved! There is a risk with these connectors in that the LED layout lighting uses the same/similar type for 12V DC. In fact, the 12V transformers seem to use 2.1x5.5 plugs which strangely fit 2.5x5.5 sockets, very confusing. I think if I adopt 2.1x5.5 sockets for the lighting they will still work with the 12V DC lighting supplies, but while the AC supply 2.5x5.5 plug will fit the socket the inner contact will not be made. This all seems a bit odd! In any case, some clear labelling may be needed. 

The convenience of the wall-wart transfromers has made me rethink my power box strategy. The original design provided not just 16V AC to both controller and layout, and so 12V DC from the controller, but also a high-frequency track cleaner, and a capacitor discharge unit (CDU) for points, all fed to the layout via a 6-pin DIN plug. The idea was that it kept all the complex and relatively expensive components together in a box that can power any of my layouts, rather than having to add them to each layout. 

Now, I no longer use a high-frequency track cleaner, modern motors don't like them and anyway the use of graphite on the rails has made them redundant. I've also found that the points on a small layout can be driven via a simple CDU made of 3 components in a choc-block connector, as provided in the mini power box seen above. However, some layouts - such as Slugworth - use manual points control and don't even need the CDU, so the mini power box is now simply a junction box. Clearly, it can be eliminated altogether...

So Slugworth has been modified by the addition of a 16V AC input socket for the transformer. This is wired into the 6-pin DIN socket. Now a 5-pin DIN controller plug will fit a 6-pin DIN socket, and fortuitously when I first wired my power box leads I matched the controller 12V DC and 16V AC pins between the 5 and 6 pin connectors (although for the controller the 16V flows in, from the power box it flows out). So here the controller can plug into the 6-pin socket and both it and the auxilliary 16V AC supply (e.g. for lighting) are powered from the plug-in wall-wart transformer, with no external junction or power pack needed. 

Of course, as the existing wiring is unchanged the power box can still be used with the controller plugged into that, and no separate transformer is plugged into the layout. This seems a bit complex but hopefully the diagram makes sense.

I did add a thermal trip to the 16V AC supply, I expect these sealed transformers have one built in but better safe than sorry. This trips at 1.6A which may be a bit high, but if there is a short it should trip. 

This view underside of Slugworth shows the existing socket (left) with the controller plugged in, and on the right the new power socket for the 16V AC transformer wired to both the controller socket and to the lighting power circuitry. Of course this is how many people already wire up their layouts, but the approach I've used maintains "backward compatibility" for the existing power box to be used instead, or as a back-up. 

This simple modification could be made to any of my smaller layouts to eliminate the need for a separate power box (and another lead), and just use a cheap wall-wart transformer. Layouts that need a CDU for point control could have the simple circuit added on-board too, although for now the micro power box used on Loctern Quay does that job. 

SWING 2022

Last Saturday was the "SWING" narrow gauge and industrial model railway show, this year conveniently held just down the road. The Sussex Downs 009 group brought three small layouts - my Loctern Quay, my son's Slugworth & Co., and The Old Quarry by Tim Sanderson. 

Here's our three layouts in a quiet moment towards the end of the day. Simon Wilson is operating The Old Quarry, Tim is sat behind it, Joshua is on the right behind his layout. The chair is my operating position for Loctern Quay. 

My favourite layout was Tony's Forest in O14, by Robin Edwards. I've followed this on the NGRM forum and it was at Narrow Gauge South last month, but at that busy show I didn't have time for more than a quick look. It was nice to have a closer look, and talk to Robin. I love the forest setting which is superbly modelled, and reveals hidden details such as this waterfall. 

Getting the camera to focus on the trains is tricky, and this end-shot shows why. The railway sits naturally amongst the trees. I wasn't the only one who liked it though, as it was voted best layout by the other exhibitors - well done Robin!

Robin invited me to bring some of my O14 stock to run. This hasn't been out for some time, but this Hunslet and my O&K ran sweetly with some of the wagons from Landswood Park - my couplings weren't compatible with Robin's. Tony's Forest provides a very long run compared to Landswood Park or Thakeham, my locos were probably breathless by the end!

I also liked Goathorn in 7mm scale by Peter Hollins. The railway was beautifully modelled according to the 3' 9" gauge prototype, but the scenic details like this beach scene brought it to life. 

For something a bit different, Lesobeng in 009 by Paul Spray, was set in Africa. 

Holmeshurst by Ian Burford is an O gauge light railway set in East Sussex. Although small by 7mm standards it is full of character, with a detailed village street at the rear making use of Petite Properties kits cleverly adapted to the local building style. 

As well as a good selection of mainly narrow gauge layouts the 009 Society and 7mm NG Association had stands, the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly and it was good to meet a few friends too. The venue works well (the local railway club use it too) but being one long narrow hall it is difficult to tell how busy it was, it didn't get crowded. I've uploaded photos of some of the other layouts here.

Narrow Gauge South 2022 (Part 1)

Last Saturday both Loctern Quay and Slugworth & Co. were at Narrow Gauge South, having been delayed a couple of years! It was good to be back at a large narrow gauge show for the first time since 2019, and see lots of familiar and meet new faces. NGS is always an excellent show, and large with around 25 layouts, although when showing a layout (or two) it is hard to spare time for a good look round. I did take some photos, though being rather rushed many of them didn't come out too well. 

Just before the show opened my son tests his layout, with the sweets ready for the kids (young and older) who can spot all the details. We had many comments on how much bigger/older Joshua looked compared to his photo when building the layout almost 4 years ago! On the left Phil Savage practices operating Loctern Quay - he did get the hang of the shunting puzzle eventually. A big thanks to Phil. Tim Sanderson, and Simon Wilson who helped us out at different times of the day. 

It was nice to see my old layout Awngate being shown by its new owner James Edwards. He has spruced up the scenery in places but otherwise it is unchanged. 

Fellow Sussex Downs group member Martin Collins was showing his fabulous 009 layout Llandecwyn, and using most of the club members to help out. 

I was pleased to see Nic Arthur's new layout, Hazelcombe (009). Nic has a real talent for scenery. I took these photos during set-up and had meant to take some more later...

Nic also has a sense of humour it seems!

The Dovey Valley railway (009) by Dick Wyatt is a true classic from 30 years ago, even featuring in a Two Ronnies sketch. It incorporates a long run of track and two stations in a moderate space, while allowing long trains. 

This was said to be Dovey Valley's last showing and despite its age, it deservedly won best in show. 

The Dovey Valley was an inspiration to me as a young 009 modeller, thanks to featuring in an old Model Railway Constructor annual. 

It was good to see Jamie Warne with his atmospheric Sandy Shores layout (009).

It's such an original imaginative layout, and nicely modelled. 

I liked Woody Green Basin (009) by Phil Russel, which shows what can be done in a compact space with both operational and scenic interest. 

Charles Insley's Ulvaryd (Stand) (009) is based on Swedish narrow gauge, and makes another attractive and unusual layout. 

This attractive scene is Tan-Y-Llyn (009) by Steve Flay. 

Next to Loctern Quay was Garreg Wen (009) by Matthew Kean. It's become a well-known and popular layout thanks to its superbly modelled locos and stock based on Welsh railway prototypes, as well as the Welsh-inspired scenery. 

I'll follow this up with a part 2 covering more layouts... 

Exhibiting Loctern Quay and Slugworth - The Great Electric Train Show 2021

 

Back to exhibiting then - at the Great Electric Train Show, in Milton Keynes, organised by Hornby magazine. This claimed to be the biggest exhibition of this year, although to be fair the shows at the NEC and Alexandra Palace have been called off this year. It is certainly be biggest show I've ever exhibited one of my layouts at.

Here's the main hall shortly after opening - it got much busier, suggesting the modelling community were pleased to get back to exhibitions. There were some big layouts, and traders too. We were on the second floor balcony, where this photo was taken from, and which was less crowded, 

Our two layouts set up (definitely the smallest two layouts in the show!), Joshua ready to start running trains on his layout. To the right of Loctern Quay we had also brought the 009 Society showcase, banner, and leaflets, and had an (intermittent) demo, with the help of a couple of friends in the Sussex Downs 009 group who also provided relief operator duties. We set up Saturday morning, having driven up Friday night. 

Slugworth was placed on the end of the row, set at an angle to allow visitors to see both sides. This little layout proved very popular with families, the list of items to spot entertained children who were rewarded with a sweet, but many people liked the detail that Joshua managed to fit into such a small space.

Loctern Quay with its shunting puzzle display board. I invited visitors to select cards from the shuffled pack to make up a train, they then usually watched while the train was made up. It was nice to get lots of nice comments too. Other than the odd reluctant coupling and a wagon that occasionally decided to derail, the layout ran well. 

Loctern Quay also featured a photo in the program!

It was a great weekend, although tiring, and it was great to get back to exhibitions. I will share a few photos of other layouts when I've had time to check the camera...

Returning to exhibiting

Big exhibitions are back. It's been a while, but since restrictions lifted over the summer there have been a few exhibitions. It was a bit of a surprise to be invited to a big show - The Great Electric Train show in Milton Keynes (2nd and 3rd October) - and with not one, but two layouts. I will be taking Loctern Quay, and my Son Joshua will bring his Slugworth & Co. layout too. 

The thought of exhibiting again brought realisation that some jobs needed doing. We've dusted and tested both layouts and their stock, although no need to clean track the graphite on the rails was touched up. A while ago Joshua bought a new loco at the 009 Society sales stand - this rather nice Lilliput 0-6-0 - which ran nicely but looked rather plasticky. Clearly it needed to look more realistic, but we had little time, so a touch-up and weathering was in order. I forgot to take a photo beforehand, but here's how it ended up:

In the end I painted the smokebox, chimney, roof, and footplate matt black (the boiler staying black plastic), the buffer beams in red (the front was black, the rear green), and dry-brushed some brass onto some of the pipes and fittings on the boiler. The valve gear was dry-brushed a mix of gunmetal and silver, with some graphite rubbed onto the moving parts. The whole loco (except moving parts) then got a very thin wash of dirty brown to dull down the plastic and add some relief as well as a hint of grime, followed by a dusting of brown weathering powders on the lower parts and black on the roof and boiler top. This didn't take very long, but has made a massive difference. 

My Minitrains Decauville was treated to the same weathering treatment. Further detailing may follow, but like the Lilliput it was mostly self-coloured plastic, and the toning down and extra relief from the weathering adds a lot of realism. 

The Decauville has a Microtrains coupling fitted to the rear, but I'd still not got around to changing the front coupling as it looked tricky. This is quite useful, as it can operate on Loctern Quay and Slugworth - since on both layouts locos only need a coupling on one end. The Lilliput is a touch large for Slugworth - the cab barely clears the scenery on the corners, and the rear overhang is rather large - but we found some stock it will pull coupled to the front. I also changed couplings on a couple of small coaches I found for Joshua to run, from one of my early layouts. 

As well as having spare locos I like to have spare controllers and power supplies for exhibitions, though I don't think I have ever had one fail. I have plenty of controllers, although one I'd picked up a year or so back still needed a plug fitting. I also have two power supply packs, but of course we will have two layouts, so a third could be useful. Slugworth & Co. only needs a controller input and a 16V supply for the lights, these are provided through a DIN plug, but with no point motors no CDU is required. I found an old Hornby 16V AC "wall-wart" transformer from Joshua's first train set, the rather nasty controller had failed but you never know when a transformer will come in useful!

It's not pretty but it works! The controller plugs in the DIN socket at the top (with the red marker), taking its 16V AC input from the transformer. The DIN plug at the bottom (with the blue marker) plugs into the layout, providing the controller input, and 16V AC for the lights (the same supply that drives the controller will be able to manage the lights too, it is rated 800mA). It's actually quite a handy compact power supply for my micro-layouts that don't have point motors. Sometime I can mount the terminal block into a suitable box rather than clingfilm, but time is tight and it works!

So all is ready for the show, if you are there do say hi!