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Some recent important developments in our groups activities may be found in the News Flash section of this site.
Easter Saturday saw our first group visit to the Brynton & Snead Light Railway in Bletchley. This line has been developed over that last three years in a compact garden setting . The continious main circuit twists and turns round its colourful garden setting passing Quarry and a Harbour branches on its way
A week later and this time in bright sunshine WHAGS turned out in force to support the Brambleton Model Railway open day. The fine weather brought out the paying public in considerable numbers and with the new crowd control measures in place a trouble free afternoons running was achieved. A wide variety of motive power both steam and battery powered was in evidence on the 16mm line whilst on the O gauge tracks an intensive service was operated to the delight of the public young and old.
After the heaviest snowfall in the south east for over 20 years, on the 7th of February a few flakes of the white stuff were not going to prevent members of the group having a most enjoyable first outdoor steam-up of the New Year. The cold and slippery conditions were no barrier to nine members who enjoyed the woodland setting of Brambleton to run a variety of trains in the snow. The same bright sunlight created ideal conditions for our intrepid photographer Bob Deeley to take a great set of images capturing the in splend detail.
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Previously in this section we reported on the success that group member David Jones had in winning the Jack Wheldon Trophy at this years Stoneleigh AGM with his home build model of Taliesin. Now you can read the full story on how David developed his design ideas and turned them into a locomotive that has been described as ''Poety in Motion'' in the November edition of the Association Journal SMT 126.2008.
David describes his history of loco building, over some thirty years of trials and error, to today and the building of this award winning model. He modestly suggests that his methods may be unorthodox but they are based upon sound engineering supported by hard won experience and should act as an inspiration to all prospective loco builders
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Even though autumn is now with us the group have recently enjoyed several outdoor meets when, so far at least, the weather has been kind. Last Saturday, November 8th saw 12 group members attend, plus a well known guest Barry Milner from 'up north', who joined us at Andrew Hobden's line in Northwood Hills. The brave were able to venture through Andrew's recently created tunnel - no clearance problems were encountered.
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···················································································································································· ·· As July passes into August the group reports that most weekends have seen garden meetings on a wide variety of members lines, some at ground level, some raised and others in between. There has of course been action on The Brambleton line as one of our regular locations. So far this summer we have not been rained off, clearly the Weather Gods are members of the 16mm Association.
The following are some photos taken at recent meetings this time with a concentration on members rather than their trains.
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··· . The mixed spring weather has not stopped group members from enjoying themselves at our recent very successful garden meetings. The first was at Andew Hobden's relatively new line and more recently on the well established line of Francis Jones. At both meetings David Jones award winning model of Taliesin was seen in action. Also Colin Sagar introduced to the group his recently completed kit built Roundhouse Katie and very fine it looked with its satin black paint finish and blue lining. As always the cool weather added greatly to the steam effects so often lost later in the year. We hope the following selection of photographs conveys the spirit of the meetings.
The second half of May saw two further visits to members own lines. The first was to Pat Cossins rejuvinated waist height line. Pat had spent a greater part of the winter months rebuilding sections of his baseboards that had suffered from the weather over the years. ······
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The final Saturday of the month of May was given over to action on tracks of two widely differing scales. Pete Newman was our host and opportunities were taken to run on both his small and large scale lines. The 'Ride On' experience was greatly appreciated by those who are more used to watching their trains go by from a greater distance rather from driving them at ground level.
Although a very chilly and damp day we got away with it once again at the Brambleton MRCat their Open Day. ( 19/04/08.). The Brambleton Team did a fine job making the whole site look very attractive. We anticipated a fall in attendance due to the poor weather but this was only slight and were most surprised by the number, especially children. With 15 WHAG's in attendance we were able to keep the show on the road for all the open hours. A most enjoyable occasion for all.
At the AGM Stoneleigh group members gathered together especially to congratulate member David Jones whose model of Taliesin (as it appeared in the late 1870), receive his award as Class Winner of the Jack Wheldon Memorial Trophy. The development and building of this fine model has been an ongoing 'work in progress' for some time and David is to be congratulated on a job well done.
Max was in action on the Ttarrag Shed layout whilst our WHAGs co-ordinator Peter Hewitt exchanged greetings with Dan Keen.
Congratulations to WHAG member Iain Maclean on yet another article published in the recent Garden RailIssue 164. Called 'A Facelift for a Lady' it tells how he transformed his basic Lady Anne into the appearance of a real hard working locomotive. Full details and photos of how this was acheived can be seen and followed should you wish to add further detail to your own loco. Many thanks Iain!
The Newham Line. Also in the February 16mm TODAYissue 123, Peter Hewitt aided by Stuart Baker and members of the Merioneth Railway Society has compiled the history of the line created by the late David Newham on which the WHAG and the MRS are able to enjoy running.
March 15saw a good number of Group members assembled at Brambleton for a full days running before the rain set in late afternoon.
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At the Brambleton MRC Exhibition at Harpenden, Saturday January 19, the WHAG members shared a table with Brambleton. Photos and videos of garden meetings and running at Brambleton were displayed along with a small circular track for battery locos. Association membership was encouraged and a good number of WHAG's were present to talk to the public. The main feature was Ttarrag Shed which was down the centre of the main hall. Even though it was raining outside ticket sales were high and the whole exhibition in its 40th year was a great success and much enjoyed.
Model Engineering Exhibition at Alexandra Palace WHAG members David and Francis Jones helped with the running on the first two days of the Exhibition. David chose to run his new Accucraft Baldwin which behaved impeccably and caused considerable interest. ···
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