The Club builds and operates layouts in a variety of scales.
Converting a Hornby Class 101 to EM Gauge
I’ve already got a blue Class 101 DMU for Minories. which was re-wheeled several years ago. This is the equivalent model in green, which I bought at a price it was difficult to refuse as part of a batch of stock that looked a bit mucky, presumably after being left out for a long time …read more.
Apr 21, 2020
Ingatestone Update – level crossing and backscenes
Although we can’t work on the layout at Keen House, luckily we managed to get some projects home before the lockdown, and making progress. I’ve been filling in more of the back drop today and I feel that its coming together. We have to think of this as some thing seen from afar and although …read more.
Apr 20, 2020
Quintart Build – Part 1
Our new club EM gauge layout “Orchard Wharf” is in need of some stock, and one of the items asked for the peak hour passenger service is a Gresley Quintart set. Why and what is a Quintart – because they are rakes of 5 coach bodies, with only 6 bogies with the coaches articulating and …read more.
Apr 19, 2020
Cory Wagons – for Copenhagen Fields
Taking a break from building Goods and Mineral junction Signal Box for Copenhagen Fields, in times of crisis somehow wagons seem to spring to life almost of their own volition: these are four new private owners in a very part-built state, bodies more or less done but merely propped up on the under-carts in the …read more.
Apr 17, 2020
Building for Bow Junction
I’ve been working on the buildings for Bow Junction. I have built a foam board mock up of Bow Station building which will help us design the final model. I am at the moment making plastikard sections of the classical mouldings that adorn the building , with a view to having them cast in resin. …read more.
Apr 13, 2020
Copenhagen Fields getting ready for a photo shoot
The layout continues to develop, and its a good time for an update in one of the magazines, so we’ve got a photo shoot coming up this Friday 21st Feb which is a n added incentive to get some details completed. Before that we’ve got a running session on the Thursday evening from 7-9 – …read more.
Feb 15, 2020
Bow Junction – ready for another busy year
Bow Junction is our 7mm scale layout, which is being built to Scale 7 specification. The main difference from standard finescale 0 gauge is that the track gauge is 1 mm wider and the back to back dimension is 2mm greater. Also the thickness of the wheels is less than finescale 0 gauge. It is …read more.
Jan 11, 2020
Busy on the Wharf
Inspired by the sight of us slaving away to get Orchard Wharf fit to show to the expectant public at the London Festival of Railway Modelling (usually known around here simply as ‘Ally Pally’ — we all know the mega life event to which we refer), one of our EM colleagues suggested it was high …read more.
Jan 1, 2020
Renumbering Coaches
Here’s a simple project to renumber coaches to avoid having duplicates on the layout or make them specific to your region. These are Bachmann Mk1 sleepers – for the ‘next’ project, and with 3 of both types (SLSTP and SLF) in the rake I needed to renumber at least 4. They’ve been converted to EM …read more.
Dec 29, 2019
Ingatestone – Christmas update
As we now come to the end of another year it’s time for an up date on our Ingatestone blog . This year has to some extent been dominated by remedial works which has lead to some improvements above and below the surface of the layout. There has been a programme of reorganising our power …read more.
Dec 21, 2019
Minories in Brighton
The final outing for us in 2019 was to the Brighton Model Railway exhibition in November. It’s an invite from our member Nestor that we’ve had to put off due to previous clashes with Tolworth and Wakefield, but it’s a reasonably quick drive down the A23 for a set up on the Saturday morning as …read more.
Nov 28, 2019
Minories at the Great Electric Train Show 2019
Minories made the trip to Milton Keynes in October for the Great Electric Train Show. It was a late evening set up on the Friday, and we only just squeezed between the layouts either side that were already up when we got there. A fault in the wiring on a board (that had worked fine …read more.
Oct 18, 2019