Today we were turning our attention to Diesels and once the circuit was up and running various examples of these strange life forms were soon running round. Martin and Fred ran some BR Class 08s with Fred’s being heavily weathered as were the tank wagons it was pulling. Roger then ran his Network South East Class 33 Diesel pulling a number of Cargowagon bogie vans. There were also a pair of GWR railcars, one in chocolate and cream livery and the other in red and yellow (is that rhubarb and custard?). David G ran his BR Class 20 Bo-Bo and Ross ran two tiny 0-4-0 diesels, one a Rushton & Hornsby 0-40, chasing each other around the circuit. Other diesels were also in evidence, but I have to admit that in all the excitement I didn’t manage to capture them all.
Over on the big table the great issues of the day were discussed and put to bed while some modelling activity took place with Doug working on his railcar, Steve cutting out transfers and Bill painting items for Queen Charlotte Dock.
Over lunch Geoff and Roger reported on the recent event at Pett which had been a very good show with some excellent layouts and 460 visitors attending. We agreed that our 40th anniversary dinner will take place in February or March next year although the venue and precise date are yet to be decided. John D agreed to co-ordinate our efforts to have as many locomotives as possible at our meeting on 25th October to commemorate 200 years of railways. We may not achieve our original objective of 200 locomotives but will give it a good go and get as many locomotives covering as many eras as possible. David L and Barry carried on working on Queen Charlotte Dock getting it ready for its next
outing at the Bexhill show on the 9th August. We hope to run the layout using the fiddle yard cassettes on both the upper and lower levels which should keep the operating team on their toes. Finally, David Ho and Tim kept up their good work in the catering department making sure that we were all suitably supplied with teas and coffees until we headed off home. Chris
