Storm Damage

Severe gales with wind speeds of around 80 mph sliced off the tops of three trees in the Cliddesden hedgerow. Thankfully new growth will restore the majesty of the trees.

What you have just read is fact and fiction and shows how a bit of imagination gives life to a model railway.

The truth is that we have experienced a severe storm, not August 1916 (the period of the model) but October 2013. The worst storm since 1987. It is also true that the model trees did suffer damage, not from a storm but from a corrugated cardboard cover placed over the layout to protect it during transport. Unfortunately it had collapsed flattening the trees somewhat.

 The tree above may not look to bad to you but it should have more of a dome shape.

Here are the replacement trees, a work in progress. They are made from sprigs of dead Sedum flowers glued together. To finish they need to be painted green and scatter material applied to represent the leaves.

David

More LSWR Cattle Vans

Another auction, another win. Two more Graham Farish SR cattle vans re-badged LSWR and weathered completes our rake of three cattle vans for the Wednesday cattle train that served the three stations on the line. Details on the conversion can be found here.

David

Show Time - Thank You

Cliddesden made its public debut on 12th October 13 at the Farnham MRC expo. in Aldershot. This was not only Cliddesden's first outing but was also the first time the operators had exhibited.

Having unloaded the kit some electrical connectivity issues on the layout were manifest due to damage in transit but, like good boy scouts we were prepared with an array of tools and it was quickly corrected. Thereafter everything went smoothly and the 'hand of God' was not evident as much as we feared, except for uncoupling wagons on the layout - how do you elegantly separate Rapido couplers?

Farnham MRC gave us a great pitch and were well organised in providing services and hospitality. We would like to especially thank Noel and Kevin of Farnham MRC for their welcome and others who's names escape us.

The layout was well received by the public who seemed drawn to it by the fine details and/or overall ambiance of the scene, which is actually quite easy to create when a layout is of a real place. Cliddesden did not make it into the top four layouts voted by the public, but it was 'mentioned in dispatches' at the after show party.

To everyone who voted for us - thank you.
To those who enjoyed our little layout and voiced praise - thank you.
To those who attended because they read about it on this blog - thank you.
To those who saw Cliddesden and are now following this blog - welcome.
To the children who were enchanted by it and dragged their parents back for another look - thank you.
To the adults who spent an inordinate amount of time transfixed by the layout - is that healthy?
To those who recognised Clidddesden from their own connections with the real place - we hope it rekindled fond memories.
To those who cited Buggleskelly, Oh Mr. Porter or The Wrecker - you know too much.
To Trevor (brother & uncle) who gave us a break towards the end of the last day by operating the trains - Thank you.
To those who were inspired to start or finish their own layout - that's why we exhibited.


How the layout was received by the public was a test as to whether or not we would exhibit again and start our long talked about Thornycroft project (the factory being a few miles up the line). We received two invitations to exhibit at other shows and are pleased to say we would be interested in attending shows within our local area. With regards to Thornycroft - watch this space.

Finally, one visitor who viewed all the layouts voiced his praise of Cliddesden with one word - "unique".

Ed & David

Spectators

Guest operator

1 week till show time

The public début of our Cliddesden N gauge model railway. Is scheduled to appear at The Farnham MRC annual exhibition, Connaught Leisure Centre, Tongham Road, Aldershot, GU12 4AS Saturday 12th October 2013, 10-5 and Sunday 13th October, 10-4.30.

We have done a trial dismantle and set-up, so we know that it all fits in my standard 5 door car, and we worked out we can have it all set-up in under 1.5 hours.

In order for you to find us, I have designed a Banner for our stand, it represents the station sign as it would have been, with some simple pictures showing the actual station as it was during it's early life. We have also included a QR code, so people at the show can find out more by reading this blog. A QR code is a simple bar-code which smart phones can read (provided you have the right app), which will open the URL to this blog.

Here is a sneaky peak of our Banner so you know what to look out for at the show:

It's full colour, and printed by our local printer directly on 5mm Foamex (30cm x 184cm). We simply hold it in place with a few clamps to our frame.

We hope to see you there...

Ed