MagNnet Newsletter of the Yorkshire Area Group of the N Gauge Society November 2016 For All N Gauge Enthusiasts Whatever their modelling interest. 2016 Page 1 Copyright Yorkshire Area Group, NGS
Contents Front cover photo : view of the hall first thing Sunday morning at the Open Weekend (David Milburn) Grace Quay Fiddle Yard Some pictures from the Open Weekend Revolution Trains TEA FREEMO Update More from Revolution Trains Tony Harrison (+Ed.!) David Milburn David Milburn David Milburn Steven Bateman Date for the Magnet diary Club Meeting Dates Nov 26th Dec 10th Meeting Venue Meetings are held (normally) on the fourth Saturday of every month but this can vary so please check dates. All monthly meetings will be held at Heworth Community Centre, Stray Road, Burnholme, York YO31 0HG (off A1079 within York Ring Road). By bus from York station: Using Coastline 840, 843 or 845 (Coast bound) leaving at c.7, 27 and 47 minutes past each hour to Stockton Lane. Return from Stockton Lane at 06, 26 and 46 minutes past each hour. Using First York Bus nr 13 to Stockton Lane (Junction Hempland Lane) leaving at 22 and 52 minutes past each hour. Return from Stockton Lane at 21 and 51 minutes past each hour. Using First York Bus nr 11 to Applecroft Road/Stray Road (right outside Centre) leaving at 05 and 35 minutes past returning at 01 and 31 minutes past each hour until 6.00 pm. From Stockton Road walk along Whitby Road (Medical Centre on left) follow road around to left and then right into Applecroft Road. Community Centre is on the right just past Hempland School. Map and driving directions are available from Editor if required. NB. YOU ARE ADVISED TO CHECK THESE ION ADVANCE from the Coastliner website 2016 Page 2 Copyright Yorkshire Area Group, NGS
EDITORIAL Welcome to the November issue of MagNnet well the Open Weekend has been and gone, this year we had a lot of visitors on the Saturday, but only a few on the Sunday, which allowed members to have an enjoyable time playing trains. and we have the possibility of 3 new members. Thanks to all who brought layouts, to those who helped set up on the Saturday, and the few who stayed behind to clear up on the Sunday all much appreciated. Also good to see Mike (and his scratchbuilt buildings) again - rolls back the years!! Just one more meeting after this before Christmas-any suggestions for the Xmas meeting gratefully received. Look forward to hearing how the Heworth Sidings team got on with their long-haul trip to Stuttgart! NEWS To recap on a note from October, it has been suggested that we do not send Christmas cards to each other this year if I forget could some please raise this at the lunchtime meeting A new boiler for hot water has been installed at the hall Dates for 2017: January 14 th and 28 th February 11 th and 25 th March 11 th and 25 th April 8 th and 22 nd May 6 th and 20 th June 10 th and 24 th July 8 th and 22 nd August 5 th and 19 th September 9 th and 23 rd October 14 th and 28 th & 29 th November 11 th and 25 th December 9th Just a reminder that the N Gauge Society are offering to commission a wagon for each Area Group, subject to the Group coming up with suggestions. The model must be based on one of Dapol s wagons (21t mineral, 21t hopper, gun-powder van, 7 plank open). Any ideas for a Yorkshire Area Group should be presented to the group at this Saturday's meeting, or emailed to Steven Bateman. Notes of Meeting Saturday October 22nd No meeting Open Weekend Next meeting on November 26th 2016 Page 3 Copyright Yorkshire Area Group, NGS
Grace Quay Fiddle Yard Cassettes Tony Harrison brought his Grace Quay layout to the Open Weekend, and as well as running trains, he showed off his new neat idea for a cassette system in his small fiddle yard The layout is 6ft x 18 with an 18 x 12 fiddle yard attached to the left hand side. To improve operation, Tony has installed a cassette system using Kato Unitrack. A small piece of Unitrack is fitted to the extreme left hand side of the scenic board. Unitrack connects together with a snap-fit so that the tracks don t easily come apart. To separate them again you need to twist the track, not something you can easily do when the track is attached to the baseboard! Peter Hetherington came up with the idea of altering the Unitrack by cutting off the locking lugs on the Unitrack joiners so that the track can be easily joined and removed, whilst maintaining electrical continuity. BEFORE AFTER Cassettes consist of Unitrack fixed to pieces of wood to give the correct height to match the scenic board, which is accessed through a small hole cut in the backscene. Tracks now connect (and can be removed) very easily. It just needs a bit of ballast to hide the Unitrack, but allin-all is a really neat idea! TH/DM 2016 Page 4 Copyright Yorkshire Area Group, NGS
Some pictures from the Open Weekend 2016 First four pictures are of Mike s Peacehaven layout The picture on the left is of the grain elevators at Pablo on the group's Freemo setup. I didn t have a minute spare to take photos on the Saturday. So apologies to John (only there with his layout on Saturday) and Mike Burden (also only there on Saturday) for his superb display of scratchbuilt buildings. DM 2016 Page 5 Copyright Yorkshire Area Group, NGS
Revolution Trains TEA tank car Mark had a rake of these running on Heworth at the Open Weekend and very nice they looked too! I don t know a great deal about them apart from the fact that they are completely sold out!! 2016 Page 6 Copyright Yorkshire Area Group, NGS
FREEMO Update The FREEMO Threesome are busy planning new modules to allow greater flexibility with layout setups. We would like to host a weekend event next year for other groups to come and participate in, but we are still a bit limited in what we can do. We have a large fiddle yard (Watts Crossing etc.) 16ft x 18, but can only use the 2 small fiddle yards at present. So, using a couple of spare existing boards, we (in the person of Sandy!) are in the process a constructing a Wye - as shown in the diagram below. This consists of two 4ft x 1ft boards which will fit face-to-face when not in use. The leg of the wye will have a Peco double crossover and 4 tracks going off the board to the left. This can then be used to connect to the large fiddle yard (or other modules) With the addition of 2 corner boards (which we already have) it widens the scope for the layout so we could have 3 long legs each with a fiddle yard at the end and modules in between. A further restriction we have is that we have no endloops to allow for more continuous running, so we are planning a simple endloop as shown in the picture below. The lop is still at the planning stage, but as well as the loop itself, the central track will go under the RH edge of the loop to allow for tracks beyond to the right; and the wings on the sides of the loop will be designed to be removable, to allow the loop to become a simple (corner (in either direction). Careful planning at this stage will allow the building of boards/modules which will allow the greatest flexibility for setups. Anyone interested in building a module.. Just ask! 2016 Page 7 Copyright Yorkshire Area Group, NGS
More from Revolution Trains Those of you who attended the Open Weekend last month may have seen Mark's new TEA bogie tankers which were produced by Revolution Trains. Whilst the TEAs may be "too new" for those of you who model the BR steam and early diesel era, Revolution Trains are now proposing something that is more suitable. The 35t Class B tank (as modelled in OO Gauge with the well known Airfix kit) came out of the BR modernisation plan of the mid 1950s. The class B tanks were slightly smaller than the class A tanks and were used to carry heavier fuels and oils such as diesel fuel. They would have been seen from the 1950s in block trains or in smaller numbers in a general freight train. The last few survived until the end of the 1980s. Six different livery versions are planned ranging from plain black, through Regent and Esso to United Molasses. The CAD images (courtesy of Revolution Trains) show the proposed liveries and the early CAD images. Please note that the only way to get these models is to pre-order via the Revolution Trains website (www.revolutiontrains.com). Without enough pre-orders these wagons will not get produced! SB Prices : 19.50 single, 58.50 triple (Ed) Pictures taken from the Revolution Trains website 2016 Page 8 Copyright Yorkshire Area Group, NGS