Felixstowe Area N Gauge Group
FEBRUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER


NEWS FROM MEMBERS

Trevor – Open Days and Exhibition
First a thankyou to those who responded to the request from David and myself last month. However, we are still looking for offers of layouts (particularly the March open day on Sat 23rd). Therefore, if you have something to offer, please contact David or myself.

Chris - After Mike’s plea for a few new contributors to the newsletter, will this be a bumper issue?
I always find it very invigorating to read about other people’s modelling triumphs, successes and failures that have learned lessons - whether it's in a national magazine or here in the local newsletter.
Whatever the scale, it's always great to hear and see what others are up to and how they have achieved it, even someone who's bought something new or secondhand and is very pleased to add that item (or often items) to their collection.
A lot of folk dread writing things down for others to read about, but even if you have the most simple item to write about, once you get going it just flows - it's no different to telling someone by word of mouth about your new toy, layout experience or how you sprayed yellow paint over your fingers that should have been on the front of your resprayed diesel!
All I can say is give it a go - in the worst case scenario, you might end up babbling on and on just like me, but there's no great harm in that...

...And I will sort out spelling/grammar, so don’t be afraid of that….Ed

LAYOUT PROGRESS by Mike
I somehow raised the energy to put the two boards featuring my harbour/viaduct up in the lounge, and have been working on a suitable backscene. I first painted the back boards sky blue, and then a representation of cliffs/hills in appropriate areas.
I have then built up the scene using sheets from Sankey Scenics, layering them to give an appearance of depth, and also giving the appearance of roads joining from off-scene. They come in A4 sheets on really good quality paper, and you cut them out and place them. I’m pretty pleased with them, I have to admit, as they are quite effective. By the time I have given the front rows gardens and hedges/walls, they should fit in quite nicely.






And finally, a little peek through the viaduct arches….


I’ve also made a bit of progress with the Scalescenes lifeboat. I have to confess that it is a horrible build in n gauge with my fat fingers!
I have to work on it in short bursts, I can’t cope with longer.


Once I’ve finished the lifeboat, I’ll be getting on with more of the cottages needed for the village section of the harbour.


NORTH NORFOLK N GAUGE EVENT by Chris
This event was going ahead at Smith’s Model Railways in Sheringham on Saturday 24th February, but unfortunately due to more than one reason has been postponed, and pushed on a couple of months into the summer, so watch this space for an update.
My two layouts that are due to appear at this event have come on considerably, but real life slows us all down on fun stuff, and this is the case here. A degree of automation is utilised in both layouts and this has stumped me in a couple of areas, but I think I've worked it out and will be wiring up shortly for a test session.


PECO WAGON KITS by Trevor
As we all know the price of RTR wagons has increased considerably over the last few years and decent size rake come at quite a cost. I was looking to add some 4-wheel fuel tankers to my modern image stock, which means you need 20-30 for a main line running rake. Graham Farish have recently produced an updated TTA wagon, but at £27 its £700 for a rake of 30. Peco also make a TTA (bit less detailed) but at £15 is £450. Peco produce the exact same TTA wagon as a kit. These work out at £5.50. Yes, you need to paint / assemble these and apply suitable transfers, but for under £180 you can get 30 wagons.
The kits have a very small number of parts and are very easy to assemble. The tank comes as a one-piece moulding, as does the chassis (guaranteed good running). There are a couple of sprues, with tank ladders and a discharge pipe to fit under the chassis. Plus, chassis weight (although the tank is quite heavy), 2x axles, 2x couplings and 2x small nuts to secure the tank to the chassis (Peco RTR tanks heat stake tank to chassis). Fox Graphics produce a suitable sheet of transfers with enough for 10 wagons. In the picture, I'd already painted the tank and chassis.


So, the tasks are; wash the tank & chassis to remove mould release agent. I then used a Halfords primer can, to key the tanks. I was going to use my air brush to paint the tanks (BR late freight grey), but having tested painting one by brush, decided the finish with this was OK, and brush painted the rest (brush strokes top to bottom). The paint produced a semi-gloss finish so I decided the transfers could be applied without needing a gloss varnish first. A quick internet search shows the position of the main labelling and how much variation there is with other labelling / information.
Some of the transfers are small and I bit fiddly to apply but you don’t need to use all of them. For the chassis, the TTA tanks with grey tanks have their solebars painted red. For this I didn’t bother with a primer as the rest of the chassis is to remain black. I also added a little yellow & white to highlight axle boxes, brake parts and discharge pipes. Final task is to assemble the parts (paint / fit the ladders to the tank first), drop the weight and couplings into the chassis and then (very carefully) tighten the nuts. I will weather the models as most were pretty grubby in later days.
I've previously used the Peco kit route to make large rakes of much earlier wagons. My first set is the bolster wagons that I run with my 1930s GWR stock (~40). Secondly and built for use on IRMAs Winsford Hill quarry are 50 x 5 plank wagons.

The TTA wagons were first built in the 1960s and have only just gone out of service. They were used for all types of fuel / oil and some for certain chemicals. Depending on what they were to carry they were painted in different colours (grey petrol, Green jet fuel, black oil), so plenty of variation. In later years the tanks were cleaned out and used for different fuels but remained in original colour. I've seen green (jet fuel) tankers in Ipswich delivering diesel to the refuelling point behind platform with the 'aviation' label painted out and new safety label stuck over. There are also some differences between builds, most noticeable with access ladders at the centre, so I'll make some with these mods next.
I should have these all complete for the open day.
Peco make a number of their models available as self-assembly kits and all are very simple to build and can be easily modified / enhanced as required.

RAILHEAD TREATMENT TRAINS by Chris
Well - who knew that these are so popular!!
As I mentioned before, I have one to make up, and Trevor blew us all away with his amazing model of one - superb job Trevor!
I also understand that another of the members has one too, I wonder how many more are secretly on the go..?
Mine is coming along far too slowly - it was supposed to be a quick turn round project, but unfortunately I have other projects on the go, plus a job and house to maintain etc so it's not come on as fast as I hoped it would.
Someone did comment that maybe it will be ready in time for the next railhead treatment season in autumn! What a cheek, but he's probably got a valid point...


NEW TOYS
A selection of our member's latest acquisitions.....



The J94 is the EFE version, purchased on a whim before Christmas, now fitted with a decoder.


A Farish 2MT Ivatt in BR lined green. This is DCC sound fitted. Was a Christmas (and next few birthdays) present from SWMBO.


Finally, a Farish 5MT BR standard in lined black, also DCC sound fitted. Another impulse buy post-Christmas as it was on offer from Model Railways Direct.


* * * *

Very excited this time, the Graham Farish Black Fives are out and in LMS and BR liveries.
I know they are not a totally new model, but a welcome addition - especially with six different variants to choose from.
A very powerful tender drive shifts the whole loco along, and after running mine in for four hours in various directions, they run like a Swiss watch!


The latest Farish Spring announcement shows models of the LMS diesels 10000 and 10001 in the LMS black and silver or BR green, these look amazing and I've already ordered one of each number in the LMS liveries, can't wait for them to arrive.
I thought it was an unusual choice for Farish to produce, but certainly not complaining, I'm hoping for an Ivatt class 4 next, no M&GN layout is really complete without a few of those - maybe they'll be in the summer announcement....
I've recently acquired a rake of secondhand Farish OBA wagons in EWS livery, that should give something for my more modern motive power to pull round the layout.



* * * *

I’ve always thought that Yeoman was a potato company, I’m sure that they were the Rival to “Smash” instant potato years ago. However, after Rails of Sheffield sent me an offer of Foster and Yeoman O&K JHA hoppers at vastly reduced prices I did some research, and it turns out that they were an aggregates company that was swallowed up by another company a few years ago. So, it was too good an offer to miss.


I have a Freightliner 66 that was originally painted in Bardon Aggregates livery, but was stripped of the lettering, but not resprayed, when they lost the contract. It looks excellent with these hoppers.


Finally, they have now been fitted with the excellent Precision limestone loads.


Now when I say finally, that’s a figure of speech! I thought that was me done for the month, but then Kevin Hart came to visit and said (tongue in cheek) that it’s a nice rake, but needs more middle wagons. Well, that sounded like a challenge, so back I went to the Rails site. I had bought all the new logo wagons, but there were a couple of the old logo ones available at the cheap price. I figured that they would have been running together at some point while re-liverying was in progress, so I bought them…


And now I have to blame Chris Moody, as the git got me interested in Network Rail rolling stock, and I noticed that rails also had some autoballasting wagons in the bargain section!
So, I bought one of each, one with generator, and one without, both weathered…


But then it gets worse, much worse. Browsing eBay (big mistake) I found some Tiphook telescopic steel carriers for sale from one seller, which I thought looked rather nice.
I bought them. He then told me that he had some more, so I bought the lot!


So now I have a huge hole in my wallet, but a very nice long rake of wagons.
But it gets worse still. I also spotted a boxed Dapol HST First Great Western power car set in dynamic blue. I’ve been searching for one of these for ages, having already bought all the centre coaches in anticipation of getting one. The auction came with three extra coaches, which I don’t need, but I was having it! I paid a lot of money, and it duly arrived. These are just the power cars, there are also two inner coaches in the box set.


It arrived, lights didn’t work, just one headlight in one direction. Googling the problem, I found that new blank chips can sometimes provide a fix, so it was over to Orwell to get some. After three goes and a lot of help from Brett (including him dropping some off to me one day when I wasn’t feeling well enough to drive), finally got the right chips, and had partial success – head and tail lights work in one direction, dead in the other.
Back to the seller and a renegotiation, he gave me a £150 refund. So, once the unwanted coaches are sold, it will have ended up costing me very little….or so you would think!
Browsing the seller’s other items, I noticed a four car Voyager Cross Country. I thought it was nice, but out of my area. When I researched it however, it runs through Bristol Temple Mead station on the Penzance to Aberdeen run, so of course I had to have it.


This one I got at what I considered a very reasonable price – and the lights work.
My research on the 220 led to me to watch a lot of YouTube videos of Temple Mead station, and it is amazing how many different operators, trains and liveries pass through there – plenty more scope for buying!
But it’s still not over.. whilst in Orwell getting chips I noticed some nice EFE Tiphook china clay hoppers, which I decided would look rather nice with the steel wagons. I was looking at them when my phone pinged – I had won £100 on the premium bonds, so the hoppers were taken straight to the counter.


So, having always said that I hate BR blue and grey livery, I now have rather a lot of blue wagons.
I need to go and lay down, that is definitely it for this month!

Although, just as I was putting this issue to bed, I received an email about a new release that is due imminently that I just have to get! More next month….