Page 22 - November December 2016

The Gospel According to St. Saviour - NMRA Members spend the weekend in Church
Mike Ford
Overview of the 6th Midlands Railex held at the East Midlands Railway Centre, Butterley, Derbyshire
13th - 14th August 2016
We were behind schedule when we set off for Butterley on the Friday afternoon. Unfortunately non-railway related issues had conspired to delay us and the forecast of ‘Riviera’ weather over the weekend had brought the caravan brigade out in force, which did not help either the temperament or the journey. We followed the directions provided by Dave Bush to access the site via the ‘tradesman’s entrance’, the warnings about the state of the road and the ‘traffic calming’ humps were totally justifiable - not ideal for vehicles carrying railway modules of a delicate nature. We checked in with stewards on the gate, were handed a sealed brown envelope, and were told to go to the church - I knew we’d traversed the road
slowly but didn’t think it had taken that long.
All was revealed around the corner. The ‘American’ annex for the weekend was St. Saviours, an original tin tabernacle church which was originally sited at Westhouses - a railway community close by - but subsequently dismantled and re-erected at Swannick Junction to form part of a restored railway village. Before the church was originally built the station hall had provided for the ecclesiastical needs of the railway staff. The church was dismantled in 1995 and erected on its new base in 1997, winning a commendation from the Ian Allan National Railway Heritage Awards in 1998.
We met up with Dave, Mike Hewitt, Tim Shaw, Tony Curtis and Nikki Clements and set about taking over the church. The pews had already been moved to the side by the organisers, to provide room for the HOn3 modular layout and our HO switching layout. Subsequent moving of the pulpit and font, not a particularly light item, still left the end-of-line turntable balanced precariously in a window recess. Like a well-oiled machine module legs were fitted, modules were bolted together, wires run and the flags (Stars and Stripes of course) were raised. All this effort, punctuated with copious amounts of tea/coffee, soon had the church filled with the sound of steam locomotives and the bark of 2nd generation switching diesels. The weather was getting warmer and the prospect for the weekend looked decidedly sweaty - visions of the sweat box in Von Ryan’s Express for the film buffs amongst you.
Saturday dawned dull but dry. We had chosen to return home the previous night having failed to spot the option for accommodation on the booking form – will not make that mistake again! The drive in was relatively free of the holiday makers with their glass fibre and wood boxes in tow. By the time we got to Butterley Steve Dennison and Nick Summers had set the NMRA stand up, set out the display boards and covered the table with ‘know how’ leaflets, membership forms and some copies of Roundhouse. The Advertising Banner was placed in the doorway to the church (contact Mike Hughes if you want to borrow for any local event you may be attending), unfortunately the breeze was too strong to display in a more prominent position outside. Supplementing the stand was a small N gauge oval which with the static display (a set of identical cabooses in three different scales) and the other exhibits showed the diversity of railway modelling open to the hobbyist at large.
Official opening time was 10.00 hrs and there was interest right from the start. Bear in mind that we were vying for attention in the face of other attractions such as, British outline (all scales including 12” - 1 foot) and traders in the ‘Diesel Shed’, 2’ gauge industrial (steam and diesel), 31⁄2” and 5” miniatures with live steam, traction engines, vintage vehicles, birds of prey (no American Eagle unfortunately as he would have looked the part perched on the NMRA banner) and not least the National Forklift Truck Heritage collection. There was a steady stream of visitors to the church throughout the day, it was
quite busy over the lunchtime period, and with hindsight we could have done with a couple of additional operators to cover just to give everyone more of a break. The afternoon operating session finished at 16.30 hrs and we were ushered out to the waiting train to take a short ride to the end of the line, well the end that used to join the mainline before some track was removed – can’t leave anything lying about nowadays! From the carriage window we were able to look across to the mainline in anticipation of big steam in action. Sure enough we were treated to the sight of 60163 Tornado on the return leg of The Robin Hood - an excursion organised by The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust - between London (Kings Cross) and Chesterfield.
Our class 47 locomotive, having run round our train, and took us back to the station where following time to stretch our legs, and sample some local ale; the fish and chip supper was duly served. Sunday
The journey to Butterley was much more relaxed although the speed humps on the approach to the site hadn’t got any less uncomfortable even at snail’s pace. On arrival we spent some time admiring a Bullnose Morris pick-up which was parked on the approach road. Not museum quality but an everyday user by the looks of it - LED marker lights - starting handle. Dread to think how my back would have coped over the speed humps with the earliest of suspension but someone was obviously used to it.
We did the pre-running checks on the layout - there was a little bit of time before the public turned up so we did some extra running on the HOn3. We were joined by Richard Brooks - long-time Black Diamonds member, tree builder to all gauges and DC stalwart. No DCC for Richard - he’ll never go to the ‘dark side’ - but check the photographs, isn’t that Richard with Digitrax controller in hand, and no he wasn’t just holding it he was actually controlling a train! Unfortunately the Sunday attendance was not as good as the previous day, there was some interest but not to the same levels as previously. By 16.00 hrs we were ready to pack up; there was no sign of further interest, casual or otherwise.
By about 18.00 hrs all the modules were packed away ready for the journey back to their respective bases. Flags were taken down, a double check to make sure nothing was left behind and we went our separate ways. We express are thanks to the organisers who invited us to participate – managing such a diverse range of attractions was no mean feat and it was faultless, from our point of view at least. Was it worth it - I think so. There had been plenty of interest in the NMRA, membership forms had been distributed and Steve had preached the gospel to many willing listeners. Facilities were good - copious free tea, modestly priced fish and chips, and a diversity of things to see and do (when not operating). Over the course of the weekend, some of our group were able to sample cab rides on a Class 46 and 47 locomotives and partake in guard/conductor duties. Would we do it again - I think we would.
All photos by the author, except where noted.
22 ROUNDHOUSE December 2016