Page 15 - July August 1998

watchful eye of Rex Martin, I saw Colin Raw, Dennis Armstrong and Gary Abrams doing the honours, along with many others. Modules were courtesy of Colin Raw, Gary Abrams and Tony Harratt and again the trains were circulating well. Trevor Austin had a small compact N scale pike called Thunderbird Pass in operation, with plenty of action and notable scenery.
My G scale N&SRR was working as a demonstration track to show large scale trains and, judging by com- ments received, it seemed popular. Also in the main hall were Steam Powered Video with their usual array of specialist American tapes in the capable hands of Mike Lenz. As usual I succumbed to a new video on the D&RGW narrow gauge Bumble Bee 2- 8-0 #268 - definitely worth the wait! John Hey was present with Big John’s Trains (well, it wouldn’t be an NMRA meet without him!) and a good crowd gathered round his stand seeking that elusive item.
Porter Wynn of Clitheroe, a specialist supplier of all those hard-to-find bits and pieces, were also in place here.
Up on the stage was our old friend Bill Eaglesham, resplendent in anoth- er of those priceless ties! He seemed to be doing good business with more members clustered around his stand. Alongside were the Popular Vote con- test tables manned by Les Herriot, the Contest Chairman. He had organ- ised this event to require a minimum of paperwork and, of the several entries, the voting went thus:
1. Jim Burghall with a beautiful CN caboose.
2. Jim again with an HO logging Shay loco.
3. Yours Truly with a G scale bal- last car adapted from an LGB model.
Well done to Jim and all the entrants. Keep up the good work and make the contest a feature of all the other meets.
In the Willow Room you would find Roger Nicholls with yet another of his layouts, “East Clintwood”. The stan- dard set by Roger, who builds layouts like shelling peas, is very high. Though in a small area, it all looks like it’s been there for years, and this one is definitely worth a look. Alongside Roger was Terry Page (LSWR Models) with Penguin of course standing guard over a wide variety of goods including plenty of brass.
Next door, in the Elm Room, the NMRA Business Meeting got under way at 11am. (My apologies to Steve Park for getting the time wrong!) Items on the agenda were discussed, concerning the rest of the year. Once again attendance was rather poor
and the meeting got somewhat bogged down in nit-picking. The Minutes will be presented elsewhere in Roundhouse.
In the afternoon this room was used for the Clinics. First, Tony Martin presented “Route Selection by Pushbutton”, very well received by all accounts. Following Tony MMR Dave Gunn presented “Construction and Finishing of Wooden Kits”. This also went down well and carried on till quite late. This was a ‘first’ for us and in view of their popularity will proba- bly be repeated.
Before going upstairs I must mention the “Bardsley Diner” on the ground floor. This year we were short staffed and the kitchen was manned by my Joan, Joan Nelhams, Betty Burghall and Margaret Rodgers. These ladies dispensed countless beverages, bis- cuits and lunchtime sandwiches - quite a feat in itself. Down the hall the bar dispensed the stronger stuff! The raffle this year was a great suc- cess, due in no small measure to the efforts of Graham Goulding and John Sammans who traversed the premis- es twisting arms to get the money in. Many thanks to John and Grahan for their efforts, which raised £189.
In the small hall upstairs were the bring-and-buy tables under the watchful eye of Alan Whitehead. As usual these proved very popular, with much haggling over bargains. There weren’t enough tables of course, there never are, but one year we’ll get it right! At the far end of the hall was “Kluless Springs”, an L shaped HO pike belonging to the Martindale Bros. Though not yet finished, a lot has been done and trains were run- ning. You never know what to expect from Peter and Mike, but one thing is sure, you’ll have a laugh with them. Alan Rodgers’ latest offering is HOn3 Chama Yard. This is to the high stan- dard we have come to expect from Alan, a talented modeller who has captured the nar-
row gauge “feel” with this layout. I look forward to seeing it fully com- pleted in the very near future.
Ken Needham’s Ceepeear stand presented a mix of new and used models - there is always something hiding away on his stand, you never
know what you will find. John Parker Models (this was John’s first appear- ance at Rainhill) had another large selection of N and HO items for sale. Calvin Everett was kept very busy as a non-stop parade of members made use of the Region library.
Lastly the two NMRA/BR 4’ x 2’ HO modules had another outing with Tom Winlow in charge. They have come a very long way since I last saw them. (Ed. Members can read all about the development stages of this “Region Exercise”, serialised in Roundhouse.) Finally a few “thank you’s” are in order. Firstly to Rainhill Village Hall for allowing us use of the venue, next all the Calder Northern members who so freely give of their time, and without whose help and encourage- ment the meet would not have been possible.
Our thanks also to all the traders, who travel great distances to be with us. They help make the occasion a great event, and we are very grateful to them. This applies equally to the layout owners - without your support there wouldn’t be much of a show!
A final word to the ladies - what would we do without you! They undertake all manner of tasks with- out turning a hair. Our sincere thanks to you all, it is greatly appreciated.
If I say so myself, it was a good show - I think everyone enjoyed themselves, at least I hope you did. All too soon the clock had beaten us. 16.00 hrs and time to pack up everything till next time.
...AND ON TO ULVERSTON!
Ulverston Weekend
(NMRA Early Summer 1998 Meet)
The months fly by and on 19th June we are yet again at the Coronation Hall, Ulverston. A good mix of lay- outs arranged by Derek Milby, with only Z scale missing to have had a full house.
Thorn Tree Flats, NMRA (BR)’s display module was on display at both meets. Chris Hopper’s layout design envis- aged a mix of main line trains and switching.
AUGUST 1998 15
Tom Winlow