Page 6 - November December 2008

UNCOUPLED
CARS
(all items by the Editor unless otherwise credited)
John Hey says . . .
“I and Mary were delighted and honoured when I received the ‘Freedom of the Re- gion’ award at the Kegworth Convention banquet. This unexpected tribute recog- nises long-term services to BR, with which we have now been involved for many years.
Although we are retiring ‘Big John’s Trains’, we both hope to attend, and help with, BR events for many more years to come, and look forward to seeing the Region continue to flourish and prosper into the future.
Regards from John (and Mary) Hey.”
Sue Wynne says . . .
Well! That’s it for another year. Kegworth 2008.
Ladies, do you really want non-rail activi- ties? For the last few years, the organisers of the Convention have arranged for craft sessions for the ladies. They have also paid for these sessions. On the assumption that up to 15 crafters will attend each ses- sion, sufficient materials have to be pur- chased for that number. This year a total of 17 places out of 30 available were taken. There were a few very welcome new faces but mostly the group was made up of faithful “regulars”. We had a lot of fun, became more familiar with each other and gained new friends as well as taking home something we had made ourselves. There is no pressure; the more skilled help the less so and we all achieve something.
However, I can foresee the day when a decision may be made to abandon these activities because at the present rate of attendance, the sessions are not cost effective. Those ladies who attended this year made a beaded necklace and a decorated Styrofoam sphere suited to any occasion depending on colour choice of ribbons etc. The cost of materials sufficient for 15 necklaces, 15 spheres plus a small choice of colours (beads, ribbons etc) came to a massive £140!
The attendees this year contributed £2 per session (a 100% increase on previous
years) yielding a total of £35 (an extra £1 contribution making up the total). The remaining £105 was on my credit card. I am very happy to subsidise the activities as I much enjoy them myself and there are always materials left over which are given to me to keep. Obviously, I don’t feel I can expect to be paid for
these, as I am all too well aware of the need to ensure sufficient funds are gener- ated to cover the costs of the Convention. I was asked how much I wanted and I elected to take £50 (which was less than I was offered) for this reason. However, if the ladies don’t want these sessions, I am reluctant to subsidise them to the extent I have done and find myself left with materials, which may or may not be of use to me personally.
If craft sessions are not what you want please contact the Swindon 2009 organising committee (Kay Rudge) and make your preferences known in time for that event and contact the BoD regarding non-rail activities for the NMRA 75th Anniversary Convention in 2010.
Maybe some of you have talents that you would be prepared to share with us. I’m no expert, just an enthusiast and game for a bit of fun among friends. Please be more pro-active and volunteer your ideas and suggestions – it’s your weekend as well. Of course, if all you want to do is visit the Spa or the shopping centre, that’s fine – just let the organisers know.
From Colin Duff . . .
In July Bachmann announced they are going to produce HO scale commuter double-deck push-pull passenger cars in four liveries, one of which is “Metropolitan Transportation Authority”. Oh good, I thought, modern Long Island Railroad double-deckers (I saw some at Jamaica station last year) – must get three or four. However, no image was available and I didn’t want to order in advance sight- unseen, plus I was nervous that the other three liveries were sounding very generic, such as silver unlettered and silver with red and blue stripes unlettered. Photos appeared on the Bachmann USA website last week; the MTA livery isn’t anything like LIRR and the cars didn’t look like any double-deck car I know of in North Amer- ica. I even spent a few hours on Saturday night searching for and looking at pictures of all types of double-deck commuter
cars in the USA (there aren’t many different types). So I have also regularly been Googling the product code to see if I can find a review. I finally got a match today which wasn’t to an online store hoping to sell me some – in fact to a discussion forum on the Bachmann USA website. So from the Bachmann horse’s mouth – four purely generic liveries on a Chinese prototype passenger car (no doubt will also be issued in Bachmann’s Chinese range) that China “is hoping to sell” worldwide. Also no cab control car, only intermediate trailers. Well that’s £100 to spend on something else then!
PS. I went into my local model railway shop today and just caught sight of a Bachmann Chinese range catalogue stuffed down the back of the cash register. So I helped myself to it and can confirm this double-deck commuter car does appear in the Bachmann Chinese range in several liveries, presumably realistic ones!
D&H HO Group
Tom Winlow has written with details of the new HO group on the south coast. They meet monthly at Bearwood Commu- nity Centre on the outskirts of Bourne- mouth and operate on a 26 ft × 11 ft layout. In addition to continuous running, this provides for members to attach their own single-track modules or layouts. For more info check out www.winkton.net/ Bearwood.htm. So, no matter where you live, if you can get to Bournemouth and would like to run some long trains, attach your own single-track layout or just come along on the day, contact John Curtis (01202 579997) or Tom Winlow (02380 261971 or tom.winlow@btinternet.com). Food may be ordered on the day.
Alan Wyatt says . . .
I have decided that I must live in an NMRA “black hole”, living as I do in Staf- ford. I’ve decided that if I want something local the answer is to put something back into the NMRA and have a go at organising it. So would anyone interested in a regu- lar/irregular meeting to watch videos, run trains or just talk trains in the Stafford area please contact me. My email is agwyatt@hotmail.com, phone and snail- mail are in the Directory.
YARD LIMIT
We wish to record a sincere vote of thanks to all those organisations who kindly donated gifts for the raffle at Kegworth.
These include gifts from Walthers; Kadee; Tony's Trains; Kalmbach, Model Railroad News; Blair Line; Rapido Trains; Funaro & Camerlengo; Sylvan Scale Models; Chooch Enterprises; Bar Mills Models; Micro Trains Line and Rocky Mountaineer Railtours.
The Region is very grateful that such concerns have taken the time, trouble and expense to make our raffle such a success.
 rOUNdHOUSe