2009
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Yet more parties

Tuesday 29 December 2009
Sometimes, the excitement just overflows. Two events in barely a week, namely the informal soiree at the club just before Christmas, and the pretty-well-as-informal do hosted by Tony (and Pebble of course) just after. No photographic record exists of the former, but the food spread at the latter needed photographing almost as much as it needed eating. Donation of an older-than-average single malt by James just added to the atmosphere, as did the inevitable railway videos, of which there seems to be an inexhaustible supply nowadays.

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Party time

Saturday 12 December 2009
SMRS knows how to party, it's just the details get a bit fuzzy as age increases. So a Christmas do was organised as a much-needed reminder. The chairman summoned up his legendary power to influence women and persuaded his nearest and dearest relatives to produce the meal, whilst the rest of us tried desperately to remember how enjoy to ourselves.

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Peter's trains

Wednesday 02 December 2009
Peter bravely opened up his garage today for inspection by SMRS members, complete with multi-track HO European layout and many, many locomotives and items of rolling stock, some going back nearly forty years. Its unique features include a track section whose height above the ground is dictated not by what might be suitable for viewing but what will permit a Lotus sports car to fit underneath. An admirable combination.

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Lanky, Lanky Lancashire

Tuesday 01 December 2009
It is a little-known fact that the 27th of November marks the anniversary of the formation of the county of Lancashire. Well-known however, to one of our number, who organised a celebration of the event in the form of a domestic train-running night, complete with appropriate beers, videos and of course hot-pot. Further celebration took the form of a barrage of home munitions, fireworks in common parlance. These were launched by the lady of the house, with an expertise which left one thinking the huntin', fishin' and shootin' set was probably missing one of their more practised members.

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Slideshow

Tuesday 17 November 2009
Tonight we were due to have a visit by Geoscenics, but the proprietor was confined to his sickbed, so Peter stepped in at short notice with a picture show of many and various locomotives, going back twenty years and more. Our favourite was No.4472 Flying Scotsman, which received a resounding cheer from all but one of our number, who unaccountably has a severe dislike of this magnificent machine, so in need of our financial support to prevent it from finally falling apart.

Peter used a strange but wonderful mechanical contraption called a 'slide projector' to light up the wall with coloured images. This modern technology will never catch on...

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Scholastic modules

Friday 16 October 2009
The 2009 exhibition passed relatively peacefully, bedding in nicely at its new school venue. The modular layout had its first outing as a working display, complete with DMU shuttle that hardly ever fell off at either end, thanks to some robust but springy foam buffers.

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Junior chemistry kit

Friday 12 June 2009
The deputy chairman applied salt as weedkiller to the garden railway, postulating that chloride and chlorate are spelled similarly so they must work in the same way. The professional gardener looked on approvingly, whilst the chairman pointedly disowned them both.

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Monsal Dale advances, taking no prisoners

Thursday 11 June 2009
Signs of rapid progress with Monsal Dale, as plans turn into reality with commendable speed. All those involved have, of course, been summarily expelled from the Armchair Section of the club.

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Here we are again

Thursday 16 April 2009
For reasons which are not entirely clear to me, three months have flashed past since the last post. One of these could be explained by my absence on essential railway research in the Antipodes (unfortunately not funded by the taxpayer, unlike some of our honourable elected members of parliament), but where the other two have gone is a mystery.

To recap, Monsal Dale is under way, mainly due to the energy of its principal sponsor, and recently some real modelling was seen happening upstairs, in the long-overdue application of ballast to the fixed dual-gauge layout. Where this burst of activity continues remains to be seen, but betting large sums of money on it would probably be unwise. Also we have been offered first refusal on an N-gauge layout by the son of its former owner. A Prompt Decision will be required, which is not something our Society is known for.

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New Beginnings

Saturday 10 January 2009
The first Meeting of 2009, with a Capital M. So important, in fact, that the Deputy Chairman was empowered to take the chair and lay out The Vision for the Future. The Chairman was safely hidden away in Cumbria, on urgent domestic business. Apart from reinvigorated effort on the existing layouts, there would be a brand new N-gauge layout, based on Monsal Head Viaduct, near Matlock. There was a Cunning Plan to allow it to operate effectively both in the restricted space in the clubrooms and in the full glory of an unrestricted exhibition. It would fold magically in on itself, to protect its sensitive scenery from the harsh realities of doorways and walls. And it would only take three years to build, give or take a decade. Dazed by the breadth of scope of what we were to achieve (and there would be no thought of failure) we stumbled out into the clear cold air of a globally-cooled night, inspired and ready for the Task Ahead. Until next Tuesday, at least.

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