Quite a few visits have been made to Butterley, including the may 16mm meeting at which Andrew got his new loco " Jess ", sadly on the day she did not run well, but has now been sorted out by expert repairer Matt Acton at his Berry Hill works.
During may and early june 5 new engines have arrived, see the sm32 page , loco no's 3 , 31 , 32 ,33 ,and 42.
A first time visit was made to Roger Coleman's line at Sutton Junction.
Over the late may bank holiday weekend, we set off in the Ford popular , complete with tent for a couple of days around the Southport area and visits to the 15" gauge Lakeside miniture railway and the Southport pier tram were made on the saturday, whilst sunday was spent at the excellent West Lancs light railway, where we had the chance to take many rides behind Hunslett 040st " IRISH MAIL " and also took a ride the whole length of the line in her very small cab.
JUNE.
Later in the week, we had a day out at Derby and Matlock, visiting the Markeaton park railway and the Hall Leys Park 9 ½ inch gauge miniture railway at matlock.
16MM visits have included Bob Newton's and a first time visit to Matt Acton's at Berry Hill , Mansfield.
On 11 june we again visited Wickstead park, for the steam in the park event and yet again it was a fantastic day with 1 diesal and 5 visiting steam loco's.
Motor rail 4wdm 2197 .
Hunslet 040st 3904 "Jack Lane "
Hunslet 040st 3905 " Jennie "
Willbrighton 040 vertical boiler " Paddy "
Andrew Barclay 040 side tank 1871 " Jack "
Kerr Stuart 040st 4256 " Peter Pan "
On the 14th another great 16mm running day was held at Ian Shields and a first time visit with "Lady Carol ".
The Amerton steam gala was attended on the 19th and loco's in steam and running both frieght and passenger trains were,
Hunslet 040st 3903 " Statfold "
Hunslet 040st 3905 " Jennie "
Andrew Barclay 040 side tank 1871 " Jack "
Kerr Stuart 040st 4256 " Peter Pan ".
On the 20th, we had the chance to visit a new 16mm line the Nedrag light railway , owned by Dale Gamble of Shirebrook.
The visit was arranged to collect the 3 bogie pipe wagons and brakevan which Dale has kindly built for us.
We are very impressed with the wagons and can definetly recommend Dale to everybody.
Plans for the rest of the week were dropped, as I did not realy feel too good, so we stayed at home.
The E.V.L.R.'s largest and smallest diesals arrived this week.
The smallest, No 34 is a simplex loco scratch built using Brian Clarke parts and was built about 20 years ago, but never had it's own railway.
At the moment 34's name has yet to be decieded.
The largest is no 30 " Wolverhampton Wanderers " and is works no 5 from Bill Bramleys Maidstone works.
I have been a bit under the weather and missed a couple of the tuesday 16mm gathering's and also stayed home over the weekend of 25/26 june, so it was nice to get out again on the 29th with a evening visit to Butterley, just me and Andrew. We were hoping to have the first running session with new diesel no 30 , but after one circuit of the line, she failed, with the gear wheel coming loose and removing itself from the motor , a problem I could not fix at the time, as I will have to talk to Bill to find out how to strip her for repair.
As we knew we would be on our own, it was nice to have a battery powered evening, with a bit of steam thrown in .
Steam loco's ran were no 12 "Stephanie " and no 13 "Jess " , both of which pulled the new rake of 3 bogie pipe wagons and brake van with no problem at all.
Battery loco's ran were , no 11 " Andrew " , no 23 "Paul " , no 29 " Cwmorthin " , no 31 " The Professor " , no 33 [first time out ] , no 34 [ first time out ], railbus no 42 "Lafayette" and the powered skip no 44.
Most of these pulled a small rake of skips and skip chassised wagons , and at one stage we had 5 loco's running at once, all nicely spaced out.
No 34 , the Simplex is in my opinion a very lovely loco and is definitely one of my favourites , despite her small size , she had no problem with the six small wagons and has two speeds, the highest of which is suitable for running a small passenger train !
The light night's are great, we came away after 9.30 pm and it was still plenty light enough to run !
During may and early june 5 new engines have arrived, see the sm32 page , loco no's 3 , 31 , 32 ,33 ,and 42.
A first time visit was made to Roger Coleman's line at Sutton Junction.
Over the late may bank holiday weekend, we set off in the Ford popular , complete with tent for a couple of days around the Southport area and visits to the 15" gauge Lakeside miniture railway and the Southport pier tram were made on the saturday, whilst sunday was spent at the excellent West Lancs light railway, where we had the chance to take many rides behind Hunslett 040st " IRISH MAIL " and also took a ride the whole length of the line in her very small cab.
JUNE.
Later in the week, we had a day out at Derby and Matlock, visiting the Markeaton park railway and the Hall Leys Park 9 ½ inch gauge miniture railway at matlock.
16MM visits have included Bob Newton's and a first time visit to Matt Acton's at Berry Hill , Mansfield.
On 11 june we again visited Wickstead park, for the steam in the park event and yet again it was a fantastic day with 1 diesal and 5 visiting steam loco's.
Motor rail 4wdm 2197 .
Hunslet 040st 3904 "Jack Lane "
Hunslet 040st 3905 " Jennie "
Willbrighton 040 vertical boiler " Paddy "
Andrew Barclay 040 side tank 1871 " Jack "
Kerr Stuart 040st 4256 " Peter Pan "
On the 14th another great 16mm running day was held at Ian Shields and a first time visit with "Lady Carol ".
The Amerton steam gala was attended on the 19th and loco's in steam and running both frieght and passenger trains were,
Hunslet 040st 3903 " Statfold "
Hunslet 040st 3905 " Jennie "
Andrew Barclay 040 side tank 1871 " Jack "
Kerr Stuart 040st 4256 " Peter Pan ".
On the 20th, we had the chance to visit a new 16mm line the Nedrag light railway , owned by Dale Gamble of Shirebrook.
The visit was arranged to collect the 3 bogie pipe wagons and brakevan which Dale has kindly built for us.
We are very impressed with the wagons and can definetly recommend Dale to everybody.
Plans for the rest of the week were dropped, as I did not realy feel too good, so we stayed at home.
The E.V.L.R.'s largest and smallest diesals arrived this week.
The smallest, No 34 is a simplex loco scratch built using Brian Clarke parts and was built about 20 years ago, but never had it's own railway.
At the moment 34's name has yet to be decieded.
The largest is no 30 " Wolverhampton Wanderers " and is works no 5 from Bill Bramleys Maidstone works.
I have been a bit under the weather and missed a couple of the tuesday 16mm gathering's and also stayed home over the weekend of 25/26 june, so it was nice to get out again on the 29th with a evening visit to Butterley, just me and Andrew. We were hoping to have the first running session with new diesel no 30 , but after one circuit of the line, she failed, with the gear wheel coming loose and removing itself from the motor , a problem I could not fix at the time, as I will have to talk to Bill to find out how to strip her for repair.
As we knew we would be on our own, it was nice to have a battery powered evening, with a bit of steam thrown in .
Steam loco's ran were no 12 "Stephanie " and no 13 "Jess " , both of which pulled the new rake of 3 bogie pipe wagons and brake van with no problem at all.
Battery loco's ran were , no 11 " Andrew " , no 23 "Paul " , no 29 " Cwmorthin " , no 31 " The Professor " , no 33 [first time out ] , no 34 [ first time out ], railbus no 42 "Lafayette" and the powered skip no 44.
Most of these pulled a small rake of skips and skip chassised wagons , and at one stage we had 5 loco's running at once, all nicely spaced out.
No 34 , the Simplex is in my opinion a very lovely loco and is definitely one of my favourites , despite her small size , she had no problem with the six small wagons and has two speeds, the highest of which is suitable for running a small passenger train !
The light night's are great, we came away after 9.30 pm and it was still plenty light enough to run !