Club Outing - Great Central Railway Our next club outing will be to the War Weekend at the Great Central Railway on Saturday, 14th June. On our visit last year we parked at Quorn & Woodhouse and after viewing all the exhibits there we moved on to Loughborough and finally down to Rothley. Club Outing - Didcot An early start on a frosty morning with eight members travelling down in two cars. A pleasant drive with a beautiful clear blue sky and trees just starting to show their Autumn tints. A short stop was made at the Little Chef on the A43 Oxford ring road for refreshments. Arrived at Didcot about 11:00, parking in the large car park west of the station, which was probably the original goods yard and sidings. Walking to the station and crossing the main Bristol line via a footbridge just as a First Great Western HST thundered by. Entry to the Didcot Railway Centre is through the station subway, the decor clean and bright changing to the original steam age decor on entering the centre premises. The first part of our visit was to walk up to the coaling stage, counting sleepers for working out the space needed for our "00" layout. A group photo was taken by Adam, amongst great amounts of laughter as Adam struggled to understand Les's digital camera, managing to take a photo with Les missing. We all went our separate ways upon entering the old steam shed, no locomotives were in steam but plenty of work was being done. The last time I visited Didcot (81E) was back in BR days in February 1965 as part of a trip to Swindon Works, which also included visits to Banbury and Oxford, the good old days. Back to today, the shed was full of ex GW locomotives including various tank engines from a small 0-4-0 saddle tank to a large 2-6-2 prairie, Hall and Castle class 4-6-0s and a freight 2-8-0. In the Locomotive Works behind the running shed we saw work going on with King 6023, restoring it to early BR days with single chimney, this was painted in blue, possibly undercoat or maybe early "BR experimental livery," also under restoration was Castle 4079 and last was a project to build a County class 4-6-0 (1014) using parts from various other loco's including a Stanier boiler as no county class locomotives were saved from the cutters torch. Various wagons and coaches were also on display, most in very good condition. After a coffee in the refreshment rooms some of us returned to the station to photograph modern image. EWS class 66xxx, various multiple units and HSTs. A short journey to Long Wittenham for Pendon Museum, with its fantastic display of "00" gauge railways and buildings. The Madder Valley Railway originally built in the 30s, The Dartmoor Scene with the impressive wooden viaduct and upstairs the Vale of White Horse Scene with the incredible village setting including many thatched cottages, ponds and streams. A great day out was had by all, many thanks to Chris and Les for chauffeuring us on the day. Photo's can be found in the gallery here and some are in Les' gallery here. Master Classes Demonstrations and hands-on by some of our expert members. Two master classes have already been held - dealing with SOLDERING and PLASTIC KIT CONSTRUCTION. Both were a great success with more to follow.
Club Newsletter The club newsletter "Between The Lines 2" is to be issued after each committee meeting so that all members are updated with items discussed. Other items of interest will be included. |
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