Oldham Goup

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham Groups meeting 12th October, 2024. cont/d.

Tony brought over his former exhibition layout Matthew and Son (009) which had been in store for a while. Various diesels and stock were put through their paces on the circuit of track. It was really good to see the layout again.
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Paul T brought two sections of Wood Brook (00n3) with a couple of locos from Model Engine Works and a little stock for shunting around. The photo shows David H's Skylark loco on regauged Kato 11-110 chassis on the layout.
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[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham Groups meeting 12th October, 2024. cont/d.

The meeting was quite an exclusive event! Maybe we'll have to look more carefully at a date for the autumn meeting in the hall next year.

Thank you to every on who was able to attend, there was plenty to see and discuss.

The meeting raised £22 for the church, thank you for everyone's contributions.

The next meeting dates are:

At Grasscroft – Wednesday 13th November starting at 8.00pm

On Zoom – Wednesday 11th December starting at 8.00pm.


S.P.T.

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham Groups meeting 13th November, 2024.

Six group members attended the meeting in Grasscroft on Wednesday 13th November – Alan, Bob, David E., Peter, Tony and Paul.
There were apologies from Andrew, Charlie, David H., Mark and Philip.

Alan brought along his model of a Black Hawthorn 0-6-0 saddle tank he had constructed, 'The Countess of Antrim'. He showed some pictures of another 0-4-2 Black Hawthorn saddle tank he wanted to make where the rear wheel is smaller than the driving wheels but fixed in the frames. Various suggestions were discussed as to how a chassis such as this could be constructed so all six wheels would make contact with the track.

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Bob had brought 3 different railcars he'd constructed. Two, the accumulator railcar and 3D print Billard A80D were in 3mm scale and the third, a Sentinel railcar for his L&B layout in 4mm scale. All were given a test on the track (the Sentinel restricted to the straights as the 9" radius curves were too tight for this vehicle).

There was discussion on introducing rear wheel pick up to the accumulator railcar to improve running. A task to be accomplished in the forthcoming winter evenings.

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Accoumulator Railcar

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham Groups meeting 13th November, 2024. cnt/d.

Tony showed us a number of recent acquisitions including a Paul Windle freelance Hudswell Clarke on Bachmann (left) & a MD Models Skylark (right) on Bachmann Percy chassis along with a Billard loco tractor he was in the process of painting. In addition there was a small rake of Snailbeach hopper wagons, one a PECO, two from Nigel Brooks (3D printed) and one from Dundas. Tony spoke about the merits of each. All were given a run on the test track.

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Paul had set up one section of Clogher which now had in place the two similar (but not identical) water columns. These had been constructed from brass wire and tube, card, tissue paper, envelope address label and plasticine. The next task will be the challenging station building – and in card.

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The more challenging down platform water column.

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The up platform column.

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham Groups meeting 13th November, 2024. cont/d.

The next meeting will be held on Zoom. This will be on Wednesday 11th December, starting at 8.00pm. Joining details will be circulated nearer the time.

s.p.t. 20-11-24.

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham/NW Groups meeting 11th December, 2024.

Eleven group members attended the meeting on Zoom on Wednesday 11th December – Alan G., Andrew, Bob, Darryl, David H., Hugh, Paul M., Phillip, Tony and Paul T. We were pleased to welcome Allen H. to his first meeting.

There were apologies from David E., Ian, Peter and Stuart.

Alan G. explained why is next project is a Black Hawthorn 0-4-2 saddle tank from the Ballymena Cushendall and Red Bay Railway.  He has recently completed the chassis and described how he overcame the problem of the rear wheels being fixed in the frames and not a bogie.

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Allen H. showed us some hand made track he'd constructed in 9mm gauge including a point and cross over. His latest trackwork uses code 40 rail.

Andrew showed some pictures and a video of his recently completed left hand side of his railway.  To break up the long loop into the station rather than use an Abergalslyn tunnel he used a rock shelter as something different.  Like all model railways they are never fully finished and within days of starting to run train the pin on one of the seep motors sheared off.

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[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham/NW Groups meeting 11th December, 2024. cont/d.

Bob had modified one of his scratch built French bogie railcars, to provide additional power pickup from the trailing bogie to improve running.  

He showed pictures of two attempts at split-axle wheel sets, and two bogie frame assemblies (the first attempt proved to be too wide to negotiate sharp curves).  This bogie, together with a modified pivot for the Tomytec chassis used as a power bogie allowed thin phosphor-bronze wires on the body at each end to carry power from the trailer bogie to the motor.  Initial running trials showed much steadier running through pointwork, and fewer derailments.

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Darryl was putting up a section of 00 track with train to entertain the grandchildren at Christmas. We also discussed the format that people preferred to see a model railway; at an exhibition, on DVD, at a club or in someone's home, or as a computer simulated model railway? Would the latter be acceptable in a model railway magazine?

David H. showed us the the pickups bending jig he'd developed to converted the Kato 11-110 chassis to 12mm gauge

He'd also redesigned the Hudswell diesel footplate so that it will accept either a Halling or a Kato 11-110 chassis with no mods required.

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[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham/NW Groups meeting 11th December, 2024. cont/d.

Hugh showed us a few pictures from the Great British Model Railway Show at the Moto museum in Gaydon on 26/27 October that he'd attended with Angst-Lesspork.

Grouped in the "009 room", along with the Society publicity stand, were:

Richard Holder's Wantage Tramway;
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Peter Cullen's Wellford Coppice;
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Mark Holland's Spirit of Weshpool;
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[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham/NW Groups meeting 11th December, 2024. cont/d.

Charles Insley's Ulvaryd (Strand);
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and his Angst-Lesspork.
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It was busy both days and a lot of young families came along which is all to the good!

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham/NW Groups meeting 11th December, 2024. cont/d.

Hugh has mounted the gibbet cage on a - well - a gibbet - and added a couple of crows from Modelu (in the absence of Ravens!)
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And the latest rabbit hole is the arrival of Bachmann (US)'s "Emily" from the Thomas range in "N" - a 4-2-2 (which is mechanically a 2-2-2-2 with the second pair of wheels on the front bogie being driven).
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[I believe it's watch this space – Ed!]

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham/NW Groups meeting 11th December, 2024. cont/d.

Paul T. had completed a few projects. Firstly he'd completed both of the water columns for Clogher – similar but different. These turned out to be 'multi media with brass tube, brass wire, cardboard, sticky paper, tissue paper and plasticine.

Due to a false start he had a spare that had now been installed on Melton Market.
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Re honing his soldering skills he'd also constructed a third Ravenglass & Eskdale Rly third class coach.
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Final with the help of David H. (see above) he'd regauged a Kato 11-110 to 12mm gauge.
It's now held together with electricians tape and probably has no warranty(!) but does run well.
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The next meetings will be held on Zoom. These will be on Wednesday 8th January and Wednesday 12th February, starting at 8.00pm (both confirmed). Joining details will be circulated nearer the time.

s.p.t. 18-12-24.

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham/NW Groups meeting 8th January, 2024.

Fourteen group members attended the meeting on Zoom on Wednesday 8th January – Alan, Andrew, Bob, Darryl, David, Hugh, Ian, John, Mark, Phillip, Richard, Tony and Paul T. We were pleased to welcome Peter to his first meeting.
There was an apology from Stuart.

Alan mentioned a member of the 3mm Society was now the custodian of Derek Naylor's 00n3 Aire Valley Railway layout which first appeared in the July 1972 Railway Modeller. It is hoped that some of the layout can be displayed at a railway modellers weekend organised by the Ffestiniog Railway the weekend of the 17/18 May. Details will be published on the Ffestiniog Railways web site nearer the date in the events section.

Andrew showed some photographs of stock he had created by converting some Triang TT bogie tankers to OO9 'scale' using both Kato and PECO bogies.  The key issue with the PECO bogies being the need to alter the chassis through thinning down the thickness of the mounting plate and widening the pivot hole.  The Kato bogies being a lot easier to fix in place with the correct size screw - and they also run much better!

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Re-purposed TT tankers



Bob (and, separately, Tony, as it turned out) had visited Pete Waterman's "Making Tracks" event, at Sandiway, near Northwich over Christmas.  Pete's team had brought 65 feet of his West Coast Main Line layout (as seen in Chester Cathedral in past years).  For this event, he had Bushey viaduct, Watford Junction station and tunnels, and Roade Cutting, near Northampton.  The other side of the "oval" was a large fiddle yard. An excellent standard of modelling, but simplified to suit his exhibition needs - no points on the scenic section, for example, and electric stock running with pantographs down!  But it was very popular, and visitors of all ages were encouraged to walk round the layout with a mobile phone, controlling one of the many trains in use.  There was coffee available, and opportunities to chat to Pete and his team.  Visitors were given a "goody bag" containing Bachmann and Accurascale catalogues. 

Whilst not the sort of model we would generally favour, and not narrow gauge, Pete is certainly doing his bit to encourage people into the hobby.

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[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham/NW Groups meeting 8th January, 2024 cont/d.

Hugh showed the results of a bit of programming (in Javascript) to create a couple of animated demonstrations of the Murray Semaphore system – on which the "Clacks" tower on his layout is loosely based.

One shows each code for letters selected from a table, the other is a bit more sophisticated and allows the user to enter a sentence (early Text message?) which it then turns into the correct sequence of codes along with a "Message starts" and "Message ends" code, and displays them.

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Screenshot

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Sample code - this is "C" used for "Start of Message"

Hugh also reported that David Hurst has been designing 3D printed bodies to fit on the latest Bachmann US "N" gauge engine in their Thomas range – the 4-2-2 Emily (see photo in December meeting notes).

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David Hurst's test prints

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham/NW Groups meeting 8th January, 2024 cont/d.

Ian had made progress with his Scalescenes Canal Wharf boxfile diorama. Lighting, some furniture and posters had been added for internal details. There were downloadable windows for printing out on an acetate sheet. Ways to reduce the brightness of the LED's were also discussed.

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Darryl gave us some feedback on the windowsill layout he'd put together for the grandchildren. Their moving buildings around had been a success effectively changing the layout.
He'd also visited a model shop - Harrogate Models – which also doubles up as a Post Office. It was packed with all sorts of models and accessories including railway items.
Darryl's new years resolution is to complete some models that have so far been started and left unfinished.

John had started on the conversion of the Berne tram trailer for a narrow gauge compressed air powered tram loco. These preceded the introduction of electric trams in the city.

Peter asked about the various ways that people used to mixed their paints.
Some had battery powered hand held mixers, others used coffee stirrers or large paper clip.

[Hugh Norwood]

Oldham/NW Groups meeting 8th January, 2024 cont/d.

Tony had started work on a Peckett loco, the parts of which he had been given to him by David H. at a previous group meeting.

He'd smoothed it off where possible then given it a coat of matt black from rattle can.
The loco shell was smoothed again and another coat of matt black was applied.

He'll give it a final smoothing and will then paint with the finishing colour (still to be decided upon.
The cab internals will be cream.

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The Peckett in progress

He'd also purchased a Bemo shunter with crane from Stan (left) which ran well on Grimbledon Down at Rainhill exhibition.
He'd then purchased another version from Culcheth Models Railways (right) via eBay for £50. He's fitted a new buffer beam and coupling which were damaged on the model purchased.
Currently there are 3 on eBay, all over £100, so a good purchase.

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Bemo Shunters

Thirdly he'd completed work on a Skylark from MD Models. It was a very fragile print and needed some strengthening. He's also added NEM coupling pockets added.

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