Come and see Cliddesden today!

Come and see Cliddesden at the

The Astolat Model Railway Circle

Sunday January 21st 2018
from 10.00 a.m. 'til 5.00 p.m

at
The Surrey Sports Park, University of Surrey,
Richard Meyjes Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7A

We are all setup and ready to go. The doors have just opened.

Cliddesden Refresher Video

To refresh your minds of our N gauge Cliddesden layout. Here is a video of the local goods train and passenger train arriving and departing from Cliddesden station.

You can see it in person at: 

The Astolat Model Railway Circle

Sunday January 21st 2018
from 10.00 a.m. 'til 5.00 p.m
at
The Surrey Sports Park, University of Surrey,
Richard Meyjes Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7AD.

Ed

Exhibition Time...

As guests of The Astolat Model Railway Circle, we will be exhibiting our Cliddesden Station N gauge model railway, at their annual show:

Sunday January 21st 2018
from 10.00 a.m. 'til 5.00 p.m
at
The Surrey Sports Park, University of Surrey,
Richard Meyjes Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7AD.

Cliddesden at BNHMRS (2015)

Come and see this rarely seen, award winning layout...

We look forward to seeing you!

Ed

Expo. Prep. of Cliddesden Pt. 3

Scenic repairs were undertaken. New rows of turnips are growing well, Cabbages growing in Station Master's garden and fallen wheat stooks up righted.

Electrics

Power controller and turnout motor control survived storage without fault and the layout is operational.

Running Lines

The weak link is the connections between the scenic section and the two outer boards that hold the return track curves. The power between boards is conveyed by copper strips soldered to the rails. These strips touch each other when the boards are locked together. At the join broken solder joints and track out of alignment are recurring problems. These were corrected but may well manifest again. Our method of track connection across board is not ideal and a more reliable method might be devised in future.

Our LSWR M7 tank engine runs satisfactorily. All we need to do now is run train sequences and resolve any other operational problems that might arise before the show.

We'll announce the show venue after Christmas.

David

Expo. Prep. of Cliddesden Pt. 2

Damage Assessment - non electrics

The first obvious sign of damage was our famous Lunchbox Controller. The plastic box seems to have gone brittle; has been dropped at some point causing the plastic to fracture and break away in a few places. Don't know yet if the electrics still work. We will probably live with the box damage as it is not too severe and its a big job to change the base unit as the style has changed at Sainsbury, where it was bought, so the entire box would need changing and control panel in the lid rebuilt.

The best way to check for scenic damage is to vacuum the layout to remove dust as this forces the eye to look at every square millimetre. I used the home vacuum cleaner on a low vacuum setting and brushed the scenery with a soft artist brush. It was not too dusty as the layout was covered in storage

There seems to have had an infestation of rabbits as the turnip field has been decimated of its crop and the Station Master's cauliflower patch also gone. We will need to grow new crops.

Some of the wheat field stooks have blown over and need replacing.

The buildings are in very good shape with only a couple of minor repairs required.

David

Expo. Prep. of Cliddesden Pt. 1

Cliddesden has been in storage since 2015. On Sunday we retrieved it from store to prepare it for an exhibition in January 2018 (details to follow).

At this point we don't know what, if any, repairs are needed.

This will either be a short series of postings or longer depending on what we find.

David

Triumph Model H Motorcycle

Anyone who read our Cliddesden layout article in March 2016 Railway Modeller magazine may recall I alluded to a cameo scene recorded in Edward Griffith's book of the line that I had yet to model for the layout. With Cliddesden scheduled for exhibition again in January 2018 (details to follow near the date) I decided to take time out to create the scene.

It concerns a motor-cycle, delivered to the station for its new owner to collect. It was 'borrowed' by the Station Porter who took great pleasure riding it around the countryside for a week without the owners permission. The Porter arranged for a green flag to be placed in a tree giving the all clear and a red flag if strangers were in the vicinity.

I do not know what type of motorcycle or which period this story relates to. I chose a Triumph Model H, which was in manufacture from 1915 to 1923. The 'N' gauge model was 3D printed in plastic but being so small with few details you would not recognise it as a model H but it does have the style of early motorcycles. The Porter is modelled using a wire armature and Milliput epoxy putty. He is shown leaving the Goods Yard for one of his jaunts.

Can you spot the green flag?

David