The Club builds and operates layouts in a variety of scales.
Off our trolleys?
It is often said that rail fans are off their trolleys! But the guys working on Ingatestone 00 are now firmly on and in control of their trolley’s. We have been putting in some painstaking work (gold star for Mo for his skill and guidance) to build some trolleys so the layout can be …read more.
Nov 16, 2015
Leaves on the line
We are looking for an 00 scale modern tractor as tractors of today are quite big and sophisticated as can be seen from the pic of a New Holland (monster sized) tractor crossing the level crossing at Ely. Does anyone know of a 4mm model? So why the obsession with a farm tractors? …read more.
Nov 7, 2015
Progress on Copenhagen Fields
We have had a very productive two days working on the layout. The track plan at the southeastern side of the goods yard, especially at the front, has been finalised and has gone to Keith Armes for turnout manufacture. We have included an extra crossover to allow a twelve-wagon run-round in the goods arrival sidings, …read more.
Nov 5, 2015
Class 127 DMU
Class 127 4-car DMUs formed the local passenger services on the Midland main line south of Bedford, so have always been on the list of stock required for Minories. A club member started work on a unit back in 2007, but it didn’t get very far. In the interim, I made a 3-car 116 …read more.
Oct 19, 2015
On our way to Peterborough
Our invitation to the National Festival of Railway Modelling has been the incentive to get a few more things progressed on the layout. A major resignalling scheme has seen searchlight starter signals mounted on an etched brass gantry installed, replacing the Berko 3-aspect signals originally installed as a temporary measure hours before the first …read more.
Oct 15, 2015
When you want water on your layout…
Water runs down hill. So, front and centre should be the wettest part of the layout because it it the lowest. I always find myself drawn to water on layouts so I thought I’d add something. The first problem is that there is no space for a sizable water feature. Adding to this, most of …read more.
Oct 15, 2015
Grass laying on Empire Mills
Early on we decided to cover the front and back of the layout, most of the actual scenery, with carpet underlay. This produced a good effect, especially with a little bit of effort. It did, however, leave us with a dilemma about the middle of the layout. We tried a few different techniques for the …read more.
Oct 14, 2015
Empire Mills – Getting ready for Portsmouth
I haven’t posted for a while – this doesn’t mean we haven’t been doing anything we have – well I haven’t but the team has. However, with an exhibition looming we have had a burst of activity that quite frankly puts our gentle summer progress to shame. The show – its all about the show …read more.
Oct 14, 2015
Update – Track laying and Carpentry.
Above we see a couple of pictures taken by Lawrence Robbins this afternoon at Keen House. These show the great progress being made on Ingatestone. Mo, Tom and Kevan are seen building the base for the new dollies that will take boards 5 & 6 in due course. The second photo shows boards 5 …read more.
Oct 4, 2015
U2Can in filming debut
Several times a year, we get asked to provide a model railway for some sort of filming – TV news, feature or advert. We oblige whenever we can, assuming we can adapt one of our layouts to suit the brief (or the brief can be adapted to suit our layouts!). We were asked to …read more.
Sep 13, 2015
Ingatestone Summer progress report.
The last few weekends have seeen further progress on both tracklaying and making handholds. All boards have now had the handholds routed out, which will be a major safety and comfort feature on the layout, enabling a firm grip to be kept when manoeuvering the boards around. The first track on boards 5 and 6 …read more.
Aug 24, 2015
A busy weekend for Ingatestone.
A gloriously sunny Saturday June 27th saw Mo, Bob, Tom, Kevan and Chris head for Ingatestone to take measurements for the next stage of the 4mm layout: The buildings. After checking in with the Station Manager, we measured the footbridge piers, the station buildings before turning to the level crossing. With the assistance of the …read more.
Jul 5, 2015