Club Meeting 3rd December 2017

Hi All,

The end of the day marked the end of "normal"  activities for 2017.  So what normally happened?

As promised, Derek courted death by soldering iron, out of sight of most of us except Rod who kept making holes in the baseboard and poking bits of wire at him.  David plastered the hill which the quarry is trying to cart away.  Geoff the Pres and Dale finished putting up the back scene on the branch line side of the divider, and protected Rod from further injury by neatly fitting capping strip to all the rough edges.  Thank you, gentlemen, it was only a matter of time before I too came away bleeding.  In fact, I guess that most of us are at the stage where the skin and the blood are thinner than they used to be.  Judy had brought a bunch of new, double sided name tags to be laminated.  Why double sided?  For the show, instead of risking more blood-letting by safety pin, we will all have name tags on lanyards (with which to hang ourselves, or each other).  And we all know which way around name tags want to hang on lanyards.  Geoff the Sec had forgotten to bring any tools (as if the Club doesn't have any!) so amused himself by coupling a couple of metres of freight cars behind my NSWGR 80 Class and hauling that lot around at freight train speed.  After a while he disappeared into the store room and claimed to be sorting things out.  Grant walked back and forth, hither and yon, creating cerebral scenery, and wondering where to put the Pub.  Or was it the Church?  If I remember town planning from my days in Ireland, they are on opposite corners of any given crossroads.

I had a quietly fruitful afternoon sorting out bugs that I had built in when I laid the Stanley Creek freight yard trackwork.  During the week I had taken the Porter 0-6-0 home and introduced him to Marco the UPRR gondola.  These two are now inseparable companions, and Marco Porter is now a 4-4-6-0 combo who unhesitatingly explores the length and breadth of the Stanley Creek yard.  He can escape onto the main line if some one leaves a point open. 

I also found that while he did not have any problem pulling a 4 foot train of wagons on the home track, there are a few freight cars on the club layout that he can barely move on their own without wheel spin.  Time for a bit of maintenance, or release the handbrake, or suchlike.

As foretold, next Sunday is set as a running day, so bring along your favourite loco (or use a Club one) and stretch its legs along the main lines,  or fight your way through oncoming traffic on the branch line. 

The 17th is still to a cakes (but no ale) afternoon.  Not to over cater, if you just bring enough for one, there will be enough for everybody when we mix and match.

And somewhere in there, there is a bit of tweaking to be done on the U-Drive.

Peter