Felixstowe Area “N” Gauge Group
APRIL 2019 NEWSLETTER


CLUB OPEN DAY
Some pictures from the Open Day last month:










MARCH OPEN DAY REPORT

I would like to thank everyone who came and helped on the day. We had pleasant weather for the day with no rain.
Layouts:
Firstly; Sutherland, our American layout, ran well with no problems all day, Trevor and John operated it, and I thank them again.

Secondly; Great Street Junction, Dave’s British layout, he told me it ran all day with no problems as well. Dave was helped out by Alan, again thanks chaps.

Third and last; The Modules, I tried a ‘C’ shape setup this time, to make it easier for access to the centre of the layout, and that part was very well liked and successful. But it cuts down the running quite a bit, not good for the viewing public, so back to the normal shape next time. We did however have a problem with the Limeworks Module, none of the systems worked at all. So now it’s back to the workshop to get it fixed. Chris (the younger), Mike, John and myself, a little, kept the modules running all day, with some help from a couple of young boys, who had great fun running the trains.

The Clubroom; Thanks to Chris (the elder), George and Sam for keeping the clubroom open for the day. Showing the public the things we get up to when creating our layouts. Finally, many thanks to Gillian and Sue for the refreshments to the public and members.

Anyone out there with a layout for our October Open Day, please let me, Kevin, know. Thank you.


CLUBROOM UPDATE

Trimley Station - Many behind the back changes have been going on with this layout, as Chris has been constructing the GER period removable fiddle yards and sorting all of the many connections and plugs required for this - as anyone who’s had a go at building a modular fiddle yard will know.
Avro Halt - George and Sam have been working on re-ballasting their door layout, after some earlier attempts. They are also are moving ahead very well with the detailing and bringing it to life with vehicles, people and planes.
Broadlands - With the wiring almost complete and its testing in the final stages, Richard and Peter are taking a break from soldering for a while and making a start on the ballasting and the construction of the hills and cuttings for the layout.



Old Depot Module - The top tunnel mouths have been secured in place and Dave is now in the process of working out where he wants the placement of his trees and bushes, so he can know where to paint and flock the earth and grass. The edges have been painted in two layers of matt black so that they blend with the other modules.



Stony Gulch Module - With the last of the base landscaping completed, a coat of mid brown has been painted over the rocky parts of the module, giving it a much more solid appearance. Most of the ballasting is done, only the bridges sections have been left. Currently Kevin and Chris are working on the painting design for the rocks and adding the mud and gravel for the dry gulch and the sides of the railway lines. For the mud they are gluing (ballasting style) used teabag leaves as a nicely textured ground cover.




WHERE TO SEE OUR LAYOUTS NEXT

13th April, Norwich Exhibition. Grundberg (Continental) Kevin & Chris Hart
8th June, Felixstowe group exhibition
16th June, Leiston long Shop museum. Felixstowe Group modules and Great Street Junction Dave Ransome
22nd June, Ipswich Transport Day. Group modules


MEMBER’S HOME LAYOUTS by Kelvin

Two photos of my “East Midland” HST which Kevin was very kind enough to swap with me. He said he would like to see what it looked like on my layout, as you can see it fits my main platform very nicely. I bought the rake of 5 coaches not realising they were HST ones, (senior citizen’s moment) but now I have the end units it looks great.