Oldham Goup

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham Group notes

March 16th 2022

Contact: Paul Titmuss – see the 009 News for contact details.

There were a "bakers dozen" attending the March Zoom meeting with 3 apologies.

As usual locos dominated the meeting:
Hugh with a Model Engine Works Hunslet VC that had been adapted to run on a Bandai 4 chassis (construction started);
Tony with a Harlech Castle loco running on a Farish 03 chassis (Society stand purchase);
Garry had several locos completed, one from the Bingley Works range and others using a chassis and boiler components from David Molton and completed in the livery of the 'Chandrapur Light Railway';
Rob had completed his adapted Sierra Leone loco with bunker for Turtle Bay;
Charlie showed us photos of (amongst other things) a completed Delta Railways Bagnall, a Sharp Stewart on a Fleischmann chassis and small Swedish loco – completed in a week – running on a Porter loco chassis.
Alan showed us how he built the chassis for his 00n3 Co. Donegal Class 1 loco 'Alice'.

Paul M. had purchased a coach in teak finish for his proposed Spanish themed layout and Ian had more or less completed the rake of Dundas Models GVT coaches.

Bob was able to share with us the progress he is making with the TTm layout of St-Trojan where several of the buildings were nearing completion and there had been a test set up of the track ready for laying.

We also chatted about the success of Narrow Gauge North where several group members had displayed displaying layouts.

Future meeting dates:
13th April – Zoom meeting starting at 8.00pm.
7th May – group meeting at Greenfield Methodist Church hall starting at 2.00pm.
15th June – meeting in Grasscroft starting at 8.00pm.

(uploaded by HN, 26 March)

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham Group Meeting 12 April 22

Eleven group members made it to the rearranged Zoom meeting on Tuesday evening, there were 4 apologies.

Darryl began the meeting by asking about the age 009 locos can expect to run to. A hundred years maybe? He had been putting some of his 40+ year old locos on test and they were still running well.



David had started a station building, inspired by Beddgelert station on the Welsh Highland railway. It combines two Wills SS60 station platform building kits and some additional doors and windows from the Wills SS86 pack.

[Hugh Norwood]

Continued...

Rob discussed some developments with the Turtle Bay loco fleet. A New arrival at Turtle Bay was a Windle built 'Little Ande' is seen on shed as a similar loco passes by. Also in the shed is a NGG16 which has had some repairs to its front tank.'

[Hugh Norwood]

Continued...

Garry had constructed two Czech oil tanker wagons. Technically TT kits but just the correct size for Colonial 009 stock. They ran on Lilliput bogies.  He had built examples of the new Innisfail wagons which looked very smart.

He had also repurchased on eBay one of his old models sold many years ago. It was built from a Tal-y-llyn coach body with a Thornycroft bonnet. It has subsequently been re motored with a Tomytec chassis.

[Hugh Norwood]

Continued...

Andrew had been very busy modifying a Scalescene castle to enhance a corner on his layout. There had been a number of modelling challenges, all of which were successfully overcome.

[Hugh Norwood]

Continued...

Bob showed us how he built some French ng points with working mechanism and  progress with the loco shed turntable.

The St -Trojan layout is now coming together and track is in place ready for final testing before the ballast (a covering of sand) is put in place.

[Hugh Norwood]

Continued...

Philip showed us some Dundas Snailbeach hopper wagons. One is cut down to a two plank version. As a matter of interest one is filled with material collected at Snailbeach from the tip and contains minute particles of lead so not a lot of extra weigh was required. The locomotive is unpowered at the moment  - a scratch built Kerr Stuart 40 hp version of the 60 hp loco used on the Welsh Highland for a time.

As we discussed they are not the easiest kit to build but In my mind having seen the new Peco versions much better in the fine detail.

[Hugh Norwood]

Continued...

Tony had progressed a couple of locos that he had chassis's for.

The brown loco is a cheap 3D print from the sales stand which has not required much work other than priming. It will get a top coat in due course plus handrails, exhaust and a crew.

The other loco is a Rushby's Resins Deutz, bought cheaply off eBay. 4 days in a jar of Dettol and a lot of scraping to remove the thickness of paint and messy glue then cleaned up and spray painted green. A horrible kit which still doesn't sit quite square despite filing and jiggling. Will need more work before I'm satisfied and I won't do another one!

[Hugh Norwood]

Continued..

Richard showed us photos of various locos he'd seen on a recent visit to the open day at the Statfold Barn Railway. Additionally photos and movie of the forthcoming quarry Hunslets due to be released next year.

[Hugh Norwood]

Continued...

Paul had completed two card coach models (Mallorca 3' gauge, Brown Marshall) and a further T&D bogie brake. The technique for making bolt heads has been refined and they came out more successfully than those on the wagon in the challenge put forward by Tony in the NW Groups newsletter.

[Hugh Norwood]

Thank you to everyone who was able to contribute info. for this report.

The next meetings are:

May 7th. Greenfield Methodist Church. Start 2.00pm. Contribution of £2 towards room hire appreciated. Tea, coffee and biscuits.

June 15th. Wednesday evening, 8.00pm start, Grasscroft.

June 29th. Zoom meeting starting at 8.00pm.

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham Group Meeting 7th May 2022

There was a good turnout at our May meeting held at Greenfield Methodist Church hall. 4 apologies were received.

Bob was able to show us progress with his French model of St-Trojan-les-Bains in 3mm scale (TTm). This is now beginning to look like a layout with the beginnings of the landscape and various buildings. There were several items of rolling stock and running was mostly successful though I believe that further work on one point was planned as a result of demonstrating in an exhibition style setting.

Alan C had brought along various items of 5.5mm scale Tal-y-llyn Railway stock including models of all the regular steam locos, 3 coaches and brake van. They had all been scratch built and were completed to the highest of standards, definitely museum quality work. They were able to run on the 12mm gauge test track and impressed.

Alan G showed us his latest Co Donegal locos, also 12mm gauge and built from scratch, of the Class 1 locos Alice and Lydia, the former finished in the original apple green livery, the latter the later black. They ran very smoothly and were an impressive couple of locos. Additionally there was a chassis for another new build, CVR No 4, the former Castlederg & Victoria Bridge loco.

Charlie had a number of locos to run along the test track known as Cranbrook End, essentially a micro layout. Noted were several locos seen recently at the Zoom meetings including a Swedish steam loco and steam railcar. Also running were the new Kato/Peco 'Prince' along with an example of the separately available chassis which will be a boon for many modellers.

David brought MEW island for display with its 6.5mm gauge track (so about 18" gauge) with working lighthouse and convincing waves around the cliffs and beach. Apparently it is a bird watchers paradise.

Garry showed a collection of stock we had been treated to view at the Zoom meetings over the last few months including several locos for the 'Chandrapur Light Railway' as well as coaches and wagons.

Hugh had a box full of the new 009 Society handbook to sell and it returned a lot lighter. Our thanks to Hugh for bringing these along.

Mark visited with his extensive stock of Irish 3' in TTn3. There were many locos, coaches and wagons all excellently finished along with several projects in the planning stage. These were joined by Charlie's TTn3 locos and other stock and they made for an interesting comparison. Quite a display when they were all set up.

Along with all the above Richard had brought along 3 recently built locos, at least one of which ran on the group's 009 test track and David had completed the Beddgelert style waiting shelter he had been busily working on – though I believe at some point it will receive an interior and lighting.

There was plenty of talk and my thanks to all who attended and especially to those who brought items for display.

The next meeting is planned for Wednesday 15th June in Grasscroft.

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham Group Meeting 15 June 22

There were 11 at the latest meeting with half a dozen apologies. It was good to get back to a meeting around the dining room table (it's not that big! A few had to squeeze into various free spaces).
Both the test track and Melton Market (still very much a work in progress) were out to help with running.

Bob brought along some of his stock from St-Trojan-les-Bains, his TTm layout, running on 9mm gauge track. There were a couple of Corpet-Louvert 030-T locos with coaching stock and a Billard A80D in undercoat that were put through their paces on Melton Market.

Charlie showed us several locos he had been busy working on and these took turns running around the circuit with a Swedish coach, van and wagon. The locos were based on a variety of prototypes and not just from Sweden. All ran well.

David had painted a FR Hibbard Planet diesel body that was now ready for detailing, glazing, couplings and placing on a Kato chassis. This I believe was a 3D print from the Merseyside and SW Lancs group enterprise.

Garry had 17 new steam locos, most of which had been constructed this year. A significant number were in the livery of the 'Chandrapur Light Railway'. They were given a run round the circuit of the test track, most with success. Set out they were an impressive loco stud that would be the envy of many a light railway.

Hugh also brought several locos including a print of tram loco inspired by those running on the Wisbech tramway and several dock lines. There was also a Belgium type 23 Garratt tram loco from Model Engine works. This is a large machine, even so it negotiated the 9" radius curves with no issue.

Rob had produced a 3D print from his own machine inspired by diesel locos that used to run on the Thai metre gauge network. It ran on a Roco diesel chassis, a smooth runner. Two trial prints were also available for inspection. Detailing was required and we look forward to seeing this loco develop.

On the 00n3 front there was a C&VB Beyer Peacock designed by David Hurst and printed by Thingymaker, a CDR brass coach from N-Drive Productions (formerly Backwoods) and the chassis for CDR coach 30 (Worsley Works). Curiously the buffer beams had to be made from scrap etch – truly a scratch aid kit...

Next meetings:
Zoom, Wednesday 29th June at 8.00pm – details to be circulated to group members.
Grasscroft, Wednesday 20th July at 8.00pm.

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham Group Meeting 29-6-22 (Zoom)

There were 11 at the latest meeting with 2 apologies.

Alan showed us the progress he had made in constructing the Clogher Valley Railway 2-6-2T in brass (00n3). The loco had come from the Castlederg and Victoria Bridge line following closure and needed some modification to adapt it for use on the much longer CVR. Following the presentation of construction shots there was a video of it running along Alan's Ballyshannon branch line.

Bob had prepared a scale drawing of the proposed extension to the St-Trojan-les-Bains layout (TTm) which included a roadside tramway section and train turntable. He had made good progress with a 3D print of a Billard A80D which was now painted and awaiting final touching up and glazing. Also shown were the designs for a de Dion Bouton railcar with turning mechanism which showed good promise.

Darryl reported on a steam tram and coach that was available and also on the WW2 rail gun project. A diorama had been created and the gun could be hauled with a Dean Goods 0-6-0. Hopefully we'll be able to see this project completed at our next Zoom meeting.

Garry continues to be busy with loco production with 5 finished examples at this meeting. First up was a Sentinel narrow gauge tram loco that needed very little doing to it other than painting for completion before attaching the Kato chassis. This was followed by 2 Cyprus Gov't railway tender locos from Roxy Mouldings and finally two tram locos for the Chandrapur Light Railway utilising chassis and smoke box from Dave's Railway Bits (David Malton) on Shapeways.

Ian had taken photos of the Chivers Finelines latest bogie wagons from the Innisfail Tramway. There was a useful comparison shot with the Bachmann WW1 bogie wagon – those from Australia were longer, wider and a little higher.

John is in the process of creating a new industrial building for the Ghylldale Light Railway. A card mock up has now been followed up by a structure using Wills sheets for the walls and roof with windows, etc also from Wills. Good progress had been made. There was some discussion on how to cut the plastic sheets which will be useful to us all. Hopefully more photos when the project is complete.

Paul M had purchased a couple of Peco GVT kits with the intention of creating a bicabine loco for his French railway project. He was pleased to discover that he had in stock the necessary Farish chassis. Another project is a Bagnall loco in 00 that should be straightforward to complete.

We were able to see a number of photos of Tony's developing layout 'Windy Bottom' which included an original Minitrains Geminder, the updated version and a 3D diesel loco of more British outline from A1 Models that uses the Geminder chassis. An effective piece of modelling by Tony.

Paul finished the business part of the meeting with photos of 3 projects – a CD&VB Beyer Peacock (Model Engine Works), CDR coach 30 (Worsley Works) and a CDR panelled coach (N-Drive, formerly Backwoods). Additionally there were photos of the recent event organised by Stan at the West Lancs Light Railway and entrance to the Sentinel works (Shrewsbury).

Next meetings:
Weds 20th July at 8.00pm (Grasscroft).
Weds 17th August at 8.00pm (on Zoom) – awaiting confirmation.
Sat 29th October at 1.30pm (Greenfield Methodist Church)

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham Group Meeting 20-7-22

There were 5 at the latest meeting with 6 apologies.

David had completed the construction of a 'Varikit' tram loco with the open skirts and balloon stack chimney. It had been very tidily finished in acrylic paint. It ran incredibly smoothly on a Bachmann Thomas chassis. Details such as lining, changing the wheel colour and a change to more appropriate couplings were the only outstanding jobs.

Rob had a former Paul Windle loco, a Baldwin style 2-8-2 loco, initially constructed for Paul's planned South American layout which is no longer a project. It is just the job for Turtle Bay. The Thai style diesel that Rob has designed and printed went on several rounds of the test track, initially with two styles of bogie van (L&MR and BLR) but then with an ever growing train eventually consisting of a L&M Centre Models coach, L&M flat wagon and transporter wagon with flat standard gauge wagon on board. We were also able to inspect two Chivers Finelines Innisfail wagons – one with square ends, the other with rounded ends.

Stuart showed us a DB H0e brake van that he had purchased at Arcadia Models in Shaw (a very useful shop). This also had a run around the test track. As there were no H0e locos available an 0-4-2T Skylark loco stood in to do the honours.

On the 00n3 front were etched brass coaches, CDR coach 30 (Worsley Works – what a challenge), and N Drive Productions CDR coach 12 (formerly Backwoods Miniatures) along with the CVR (ex C&VB) Hudswell Clarke No 4 built by Alan Gee and much admired.

The next meeting is on Zoom (17th August)
followed by a meeting in Grasscroft (prob 14th September)
and the meeting in Greenfield Methodist Church hall (29th October).

If there is demand I anticipate a Zoom meeting early October.