This Train Orders is one where we have a number of thank you messages to get out of the way before we go on to other matters.
First, thank you to those persons who turned up to help move the layout on the Wednesdays either side of the Railwayana Auction at the Heritage Centre on 25th April – your help is much appreciated. A second thank you to those purchasing the freight cars offered for sale by Phil Riley. We are pleased to say all the cars have been sold and as Phil kindly stated Calder Northern were to receive 50% of the sales total, so we will benefit to the tune of £400 for club funds – Thank you Phil for your generous offer.
A thank you letter received from a member of the public following an Easter visit to the Heritage Centre highlighted the friendship, help and assistance given by everyone they met on their day out. The letter mentioned the model railway and the general cleanliness of the site especially the North Junction Signal Box areas. It is this particular item that prompts a vote of thanks to Andy Wicks, Len and Susan Ford, Mike Turner, Terry Wynne for the sterling work undertaken to the Clubroom, Signal Display Room and Corridor which were cleaned (‘vacuumed’, dusted and washed down) till they were sparkling clean. The Trust Chairman asked us to thank those involved for their efforts.
Our friend Tom Griffiths from ‘New Joisy’ has informed us that he has just completed the final element of his MMR and is awaiting his certificate which he hopes will be presented at his Region convention later this year. Congratulations Tom, we knew you would achieve MMR status having seen the splendid models you create. Your chair in the clubroom will now have to be updated to reflect your elevation to the peerage! Tom is now MMR #557
Crewe Heritage Centre has recently introduced some new procedures for volunteers, one of which affects Calder Northern members. Any member coming to the Centre to operate our layout at a weekend or Bank Holiday, or coming to work on the layout on a Wednesday must sign their arrival and departure times in the signing-in book located just inside the Cafe Area entrance of the North Junction Signal Box. When attending Calder Northern Group events you do not need to sign the book in the Cafe Area. You will of course need to sign the sheet in the clubroom when attending Calder Northern events and pay your dues. It would also be appropriate to wear your name badges when coming on site. Please see Terry if you need a new badge.
A new Crewe Heritage Centre website is being created and this will also incorporate a new updated Calder Northern Group page. More details to follow on this matter. In the meantime anyone who has any hints or tips which they think will be useful to other members and can be put on our website please let Mike Lenz know so he can coordinate any upload of information to the new site when it is ready.
This is a request to those who are operating on North Western Mills layout. Please be aware that stretching the coiled cords on the throttles is putting undue tension on the connection that fits into the UTP sockets. If you need to move away from your control point then please, carefully disconnect the cable before moving it to another socket closer to where you need to be operating. We are going to fit additional UTP sockets very soon. Please also note that locomotive settings on other than your own model locos should not be altered. Some have complained that momentum, consisting and sound settings have been altered without them knowing. If you feel you need to make changes then please ask the loco owners permission before making any changes and then reverse those changes at the end of the day.
At our next Group event on May 16th Terry Wynne will give a short explanation of the electrics under the baseboards of North Western Mills layout – what each item is and its role in the operation of the layout. It won’t be an expert explanation just a sufficient amount of detail so that you know what each element does and where to look if a problem arises.
George Neyman has asked me to include a request for other members to think about giving a talk; a summary on a subject of their choice, a show and tell presentation or just something that will help to make our events more interesting. There must be so much knowledge and expertise in our Group which is being ‘hidden under a bushel’. Come on guys give it a whirl!
Make a note in your calendar for the weekend of July 11th/12th. We have in conjunction with Crewe Heritage Centre booked two tables to showcase our organisations at The Aviation and Transport Extravaganza in the Aviation Viewing Park at Manchester Airport. Over 15,000 visitors are expected during the weekend. Tables will be in the Concorde Hangar under that iconic aircraft. For further information on the event, post this site into your browser http://tasmanchester.co.uk/TAS_Festival.html – you will be amazed as to what is going to be on show!
If anyone has a small layout on a table they could display that would be very useful. We will need to transport magazines, leaflets and some static models to put on our table plus perhaps our display panels with some new photos on them. So any help with transport would be appreciated. Mike Hughes is going to provide some display items and give-aways. We will of course ask you the members to help be on duty on the stands during the weekend. More information will be given at our next meet on the 16th of this month.
Terry Wynne
On behalf of George Neyman
Leave a Reply