Felixstowe Area “N” Gauge Group
APRIL 2022 NEWSLETTER



NEWS FROM MEMBERS
John – I would like to thank the wife of a new member, (sorry, don't know his name) who got up at 5.00 o'clock to make the delicious cakes that were brought to the Open Day. They were very good indeed, I hope that we get more!
John Brady still has some space for a small layout at the World Wide Group exhibition at the Crewe Heritage Centre. The WWG is sharing space with the European Railway Assoc. It's a two day exhibition with food, travel expenses and hotel accommodation provided. The centre is situated by the west coast mainline. What more could one want. If you are interested let me know.


CLUB OPEN DAY by Iain
I would like to say how much Kevin and I enjoyed our time operating my layout, "The Assington Branch" on 26th March.
Having been invited to bring it along for its first ever showing to the public, I was pleasantly surprised at the complimentary comments it received.
I know I belong to the Felixstowe Group but I felt we had a great example of inter-group cooperation. I am a long time member of the Ipswich Railway Modellers and Kevin, who lives opposite me, belongs to the Sudbury MRC.
We also appreciated the regular cups of tea and cake. 
 


OPEN DAY REPORT – by Kevin
 Our open day on the 26th March went very well, sadly we did not have as many people as usual, but still a very nice crowd. All the layouts ran well and were enjoyed by the public.
We had a kiddie’s area with a small push-along layout for the first time, it was a great success, as voted by the parents of small children. So, a big thanks to Alex for her suggesting it. and supplying parts as well.
Trevor turned the outer track on the modules to DCC for the day, and by all accounts it was successful. So, you people out there with DCC engines and would like to run them at a show, have a word with Trevor and I’m sure he will set it up again.
Dave and Alan kept the clubroom open for the day, and had a good day with a nice lot of people.
And finally, I would like to thank everyone who helped out on the day, and it was nice to see some of our new recruits, who came along and helped very enthusiastically, so thanks again to all.


A couple of pics of Dave's Great Street at the Open Day....




NORWICH SHOW REPORT – by Chris
 On the 9th of April the Norwich railway club had their show, and Alex, Kevin and I attended with my 1930’s German tramway layout.
I had been cramming in the hours beforehand to get the layout further along in the progress and had been still adding a few last-minute details the evening before packing it up for the show, but it was worth it.
It has been so long since the layout has been shown that I had to test everything again to make sure it all worked, thankfully it was all still good.
At times the show was packed, with shuffle room only, but the public seemed to like it and we all had a good day.
Ours was the only N gauge layout there, so it drew some interest; with the compact nature of the town and the life I managed to add in with about 200 people added on (half the amount I plan to have on there), the formal gardens finally made, working street lights and the start on the overhead wire support webbing.
Having a look around I would say the other layouts were of pretty good quality too: mostly British OO, but there was a British OO9 gauge, an American narrow gauge and a 1:35 German WW2 moving diorama too.
We got a surprise at the end on the show, for my layout had been voted by the public as ‘Best in Show’, which was nice. I’ll be bringing the tramway to our clubs next show, so I hope to get some more it done on it before then. Here are some pictures of Hartenburg....