For some reason, "rollicking" comes to mind as the word for yesterday's
activities.
For a start, it was the school holidays and Geoff the Pres arrived with one
small person as escort. Then Rod came with an horde (they did not stand still
for long enough for me to count them). This lot were consigned to the learning
curve layout and relative calm descended on the bedlam around the new layout.
Grandpa still had to duck out occasionally to give an umpires decision on fair
play in the other room. I did not see any red cards handed out.
Geoff the Sec ( having arrived independently of Dale), Rod and I dominated
various sections of the infield, laying main line track. Derek , having drilled
little holes all over the place, spent most of the time on the floor poking wire
up through the little holes to Trevor. Who is Trevor? He is the bloke who came
to visit Derek for a quiet weekend. Meanwhile, George had arrived , bringing
Jane in some futile attempt to prove that he played trains on a Sunday
afternoon, rather than visiting his Cowes mistress. Sad, really! When Grant
showed up, this lead to the formation of the BDS (Branchline Debating Society) -
Dale, Geoff the Pres, George and Grant - starting from a completely new
Mousehole station layout, moving baseboards to new levels, cutting river
valleys, designing trestle bridges, surveying for a Portland rock quarry, and
generally creating the usual mixture of order and chaos in an anti-clockwise
direction. Helen and Judy threaded a circumspect route through all of this -
then vanished, shortly to reappear with the news that tea was ready. I am sure
that there were 10 of us around the tea table - who have I missed?
We spoke a little about the sign that might be mounted on the back of the
Hall. I think the current sate of play is that it will simply say "Model Train
Club" and have the Club's web site as a contact point. Not finally settled. I
have received some information about PWM controllers from a fellow in WA, if any
of you DC dinosaurs want to improve slow speed running without going to DCC.
George had bought a job lot of USA rolling stock that included some freight
stock that is too long for his home layout. If you are interested in acquiring
70' or 80' gondolas, oil tankers, box cars etc give him a call.
Then it was back to hammering in track pins, slicing baseboards, or wagging
tongues. George left early, which gave Geoff the Sec an opening to join the
BDS, in time to arrive at Port Gary. When I, too, left a little early, they
were in full song. By next week I expect to learn that Port Gary has developed
into a full blown container terminal fit to rival Shanghai.
Looking forward to next week
Peter
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