A new home for some old layouts

Thanks to John Marshall for his time and negotiating skills, we now have a new building for the group and the documents are to be signed shortly.

All hands to the pump now then because we need to clear the building, repair and fit doors, block up windows, paint and fit electrics.

There are several retired members and some will take holidays to help get it ready for the earliest date.  We are all excited because the new building solves many problems and offers far more space.

The existing building is large and we filled half of it with a very large 7mm layout ‘The Summit’ which has inside scenic boards but the outside ones could not be fitted in situ without breaking down the layout.  In the new building we will be able to erect the whole layout and have space for viewing all the way around.

We will also not have to share parking on club nights with others nor mow the grass to be able to park.

The new building is taller which means no more banging of heads! and far more flexibility for putting shelving etc. against the walls.

All together it will be a good move for the group and should help attract new members to the group with the better facilities we will create.

Every cloud has a silver lining…

A pool of ideas

After meeting to discuss the move group members have come up with many avenues to pursue.

It’s good to see resourcefulness at the club but I should not be surprised it is one of the traits of YMRG that we all help when needed.

Watch this space….

All Change!

After about 11 years of using this old Chicken Shed as a clubhouse we have been given notice to move on.  Our landlandy is flexible about dates but we are going to start packing now!

There is much to do just stripping down the layouts and our interior fittings but the search is on for a new place.

An exhibition in the life of the Gas Works

An invitation to attend the Yeovil Railway Centre exhibition with Gas Works was met with a good amount of enthusiasm by club members.  Gas Works has been there, done it, and got the tee shirt many times and is always well received whereever it goes.

Of course it is now of Railway Modeller fame where it was mentioned last Christmas and filmed earlier on in 2008 for the special Railway Modeller DVD.

Well, last Friday evening came and we had a good team to help load the van, Paul R, Dave, Paul H, Olivia, Peter C and Bob A.  The van was smaller than expected but that was no obstacle to the ‘team’ and when done you could not fit another box in the van.  We then travelled to the Yeovil Railway Centre and set up Gas Works in the Transfer Shed.  A quick test to prove we could run trains and it was home for the night.

Saturday saw another selection of members to help run the layout, Paul H, Olivia, Bob A, Bob O, Ernie, Peter C and Paul R.  Olivia was tasked with handing out leaflets and was seen at one point pursing them to the canteen to make sure they had one.  I don’t think anyone got away!  That activity combined with Gas Work’s appeal caused several genuine enquiries about the club.

Well a last minute decision to bring a laptop and show the 10 minute DVD of the first night of the Summit film met with disaster, I picked up the DVD case not realising that I had taken the DVD out!  We resorted to setting up the club web site to display and that also attracted some interest.

paul-gasworksfront

We all arrived at 09:30 but by 10:00 we were all in panic mode as the electrics failed for the front track and decoupler units.  Investigating a plug left us with a couple of wires off so they were soldered back into place.  We got the front track working but did not push our luck on the decoupler magnets.

The next club night will see the plug rewired to a better standard and some items that did not work investigated and fixed:

  • Electromagnets for decoupling
  • Extractor fan on side of building
  • waggon turntable
  • Gasometer rising and falling
  • Lights in main centre building

It is important to fix these as it looks like we may get a short notice request to attend another exhibition in November.

erniebackapprentice

I was going to write about two club members Paul R and Ernie who were new to operating the Gas works layout at exhibitions and how well they both did but they were upstaged by a young girl about 10 years old who was fascinated by the layout and ended up being trained to work the coal train in and the coal train out process.  She was as good as gold and just to watch her concentration and ability with this task made the whole day worth double the effort.

Well the rest, as they say, is history, the layout was packed up and taken back to the club house.  There is always a special atmosphere when club members pool their help and expertises to work an exhibition.  Long may it continue.