In very benevolent weather (I had the top down on the EOS) about half of our members arrived at the Club for a pleasant Sunday arvo of messing about with trains.
As to what happened - that's a bit harder. Both Geoffs and Dale had a bit of a blitz on the store room which included putting one of the cabinets out of the layout room in there. The corner cupboard seems to have become the home for all things electrical. The shelves now hold a range of tools and scenic materials. A box of "Help yourself, we don't need this" has materialised. George went off to the quarry again. The dark side of the Club went about their business. Their efforts with concocting a raspberry pi appear to have borne fruit (ugh!), in that I did see Greg driving a loco from his mobile phone. One day, they will let us all in on the secret. If it involves a smart phone, there lies my own first problem.
Port Gary
Speaking of problems, Dave and and I had a review of problems relating to convincing beautiful brass locos of 1980s vintage to join us in the digital age. Specifically, fitting a DCC sound decoder into his Samhongsa (BGM) VR X Class Diesel. With some help from a 3D printer, I think we will get there, apart from the lights at the short hood end. That's a brazed/soldered closed box, and it's such a beautiful bit of kit that I simply refuse to take a Dremel grinding disk to it. VR generally ran long hood forward, so at least it will have lights at the front.
Turntables are now in place at Mousehole and Sayer, and the loco facilities sidings are in place at Sayer. Finished, except that I might add a couple more stub lines off the table to give somewhere to park out of service locos. It's now over to Derek to do the electrickery bit.
As threatened, Geoff the Sec rolled out a list of things to discuss over tea. Proper minutes will appear on the notice board at the Clubrooms one of these days. Bits that I recall were that, while Martin has the final say, we thought that dates and prices for the 2019 show will be unchanged. Gingin will be renamed, simply as "Steward". Our Sec will talk to Jack about G gauge and to Paul about a web site for the club. We will struggle, and I think fail, to get a layout to Stawell for their show this year, but will able to support them next year. Still not too late for some one to stick their hand up. Helen had packed up all of her cake tins ready for her move Mornington way, so the farewell feast was strawberries, melon and grapes. Not the only reason we will miss you, Helen. There is a trestle bridge that relies on your supports, and one day fairly soon the Helen/Judy forest will take root on the layout. On the medical front, Geoff the Pres's sister is now recovering well from her close encounter of the equine kind, and we wish Alan well with his upcoming operation.
At our show, the club was donated the remains of a Triang Minic train set (circa 1947). Geoff the Pres, an inveterate collector of archaic things mechanical also has one that does not work. We decided to donate the Clubs bits to Geoff to see if he can make one working unit from the combined remains, on the condition that he brings it to our Show as a working "novelty". At 70 years old, everything old is new again! Some (many) of the early plastic bits have cracked/broken/distorted so it may be the 3D printer to the rescue, and everything new will be old again.
Late in the day, George's extended family came to collect him and made complementary noises when they came in and had a guided tour of our work in progress.
That's plenty for now, see some of you on the 11th
Peter
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