Felixstowe Area “N” Gauge Group
SEPTEMBER 2022 NEWSLETTER



NEWS FROM MEMBERS
Events Diary – Trevor

The Group / members will be supporting a number of forthcoming events this autumn. I’ve also included some other local events that are happening.

Sat 17th Sep - Ipswich club open day, at their Norfolk Road clubroom (10-4).
Sat 1st Oct - Sudbury exhibition. New venue ‘The Stevenson Centre, Great Cornard’
Sun 2nd Oct - Stowmarket swap meet at Needham Market.
Sun 9th Oct - Exhibition at Chappel & Wakes Colne museum
Sun 16th Oct - Lions exhibition at Felixstowe Leisure Centre. We will be attending with Sutherland and Daves ‘Great Street Junction’. Help with setup & running would be appreciated. Chris is co-ordinating this.
Sat 22nd Oct - Charity exhibition at the Memorial Hall, Trimley St Martin, organised by Colin De’ath. Group members will be supporting with own layouts.
Sat 29th Oct - Group Open day at Welcome Hall. Kevin Hart is organising this.


MEMBER’S DAY – by Chris
Our member’s day on Saturday 3rd September went very well, with plenty of help and a great atmosphere of fun and enjoyment.
There were two layouts present; our club modules in a 4x1 arrangement and Kevin’s G gauge setup on the stage.
Both ran very well, and overall it was a great day all round. I feel these members days are well worth hiring the hall for.
Here is a selection of some of the pictures I took on the day:









LAYOUT PROGRESS by Chris
Well, not much has happened on the colliery/quarry shunting layout since the last newsletter, but I have decided it will be a colliery - partly due to the new book I obtained, see new book section!
However - a few years ago I was experimenting on an old board I had, with ponds and pond depth. I routed a hole in the board and made it quite deep (possibly too deep...), made the sides slope with plaster filler and that's where the actual pond experiment halted.
A length of track was added to it, weathered and ballasted with a new machine I'd just acquired, which then went into a tunnel that appeared in one of my 'playing with small ply and PVA' moments.


In my true fashion, other projects overtook this one and it was placed on the back burner.
That was about 4 years ago and in a clearing up session, it was brought back out into the light of day once more.
So, in the last fortnight whenever I've had a moment to spare, I've added a few more pieces to it. It has now got my standard contoured, 5mm ply front and ends, which match the ground levels. I’ve got the ground in there, using crumpled up newspaper which is then covered in plaster cloth, which in turn is then covered in plaster filler. I find this combination a very easy way to make smooth or rough contours, and is sturdy enough to plant trees in too.


Once complete to this point, the whole plastered section will then be covered in brown paint before all the growth goes on.
So - the next bit is grass etc, but time ran out before this newsletter, look out for the next instalment on this in a month’s time!
I have discussed with friends whether this is a diorama or a layout? I believe it's a layout as the track is wired and I can run a train on it. To me a diorama is a display that is stationary, what's your view...?




MY NEW MODEL by Richard


The British Rail Class 205 DEMU (nicknameThumpers), was built for Southern Region. The body is for N scale model and it is powered by a Tomix motor.
They were nicknamed "Thumpers" due to the noise they made while in motion, owing to the four-cylinder engines.
The design was based on the 2HAP Electric Multiple Unit EMU
Built in 1957 to 1962, to be used on lines which had not been electrified at the end of stream. They were designed with an expected working life of 10 to 15 years, as the lines it would be working on would electrified or closed by then, but they lasted in service well into the 2000’s


MEMBER'S NEW TOYS
We have recently acquired a nice Japanese railway ‘super rail cargo’ train which is a little different to anything else out there.
As you can see there are two sets that form a nice long train, but what is odd is that there are four pulling units, two at each end that also have space for containers in the middle on them.


In the set only one end is powered, the other three are dummy units, but there is more than enough power and grip to haul around the 16-car set with ease.


I was browsing the incredible bookshop on Weybourne station at the North Norfolk Railway the other day, and came across 'Modelling aspects of the coal industry' by Rob Johnson, an amazing book for just £2!!


The book is worth its weight in gold just for the photographs alone, this has swayed me to make the shunting layout a colliery sidings instead of a quarry - thanks Rob for that push in the right direction!

Taking a camping break in Wales the other week, we decided to call into Aberystwyth.
Last time we went about 4 years ago, there was a tiny, old fashioned model shop called 'Albatross Models', which I'm pleased to say, is still there!






Upon browsing the small, dusty and tucked away N gauge display cupboard, I was ecstatic to find some Graham Farish motive power bargains.
It was a little extravagant, but I ended up coming home with four locos, all brand new, but with very dusty boxes. All were at incredible prices as he's clearing his stock in the belief that N gauge is finished, as the prices are now way too high.
So, joining the fleet is a WD 2-8-0 in BR black, the western version (anyone that's read my scribblings will know I couldn't leave a Farish WD in the shop!) a 2MT Standard class loco and a couple of pannier tanks.
Although I have a tiny collection of GW stock, it's not my main interest, but these were just too good to pass up.
Got them home and ran them, all perfect - a success story if ever!