The circuit was worked pretty hard today with a lot of members running stock mainly in line with our focus on Welsh, Scottish and European. The Welsh contingent was well represented as Paul W ran a Brecon & Merthyr Keir Stuart 0-6-0T pulling some north Wales private owner wagons, Bill ran his GWR 43XX No 5355 2-6-0 with some south Wales private owner wagons and I ran an SECR H Class with some private owner wagons from a quarry in south Wales. Page 2 of 6 For Scotland David G ran his recently completed Class J71 pulling a mixture of Great North of Scotland and Highland Railway wagons and Fred had a number of LMS locomotives, including a Jubilee, a Fairburn tank and a Crab, some of which might indeed have run up to Scotland. Roger flew the flag for Europe on his own with some bogie cargo wagons and an Ermefer tank wagon. Others seen on the circuit today were John B with his orange diesel and three wagons, Rob with his ex-LSWR B4 0-4-0T and a short train, John D with a Class 121/122 railcar and Ross with his Class 48 DS diesel pulling a Quarry Hunslet narrow gauge 0-4-0 on a flat truck.
Back on the big table Peter was sealing an MDF building, Bill was adding dummy chairs to the Queen Charlotte Dock track, Johns B and D were discussing garden railways, Rob had a Canadian Railways caboose and Steve had some little industrial diesels.
Over lunch we returned to the subject of the proposed trip to the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway and there being sufficient interest Paul W will contact them again and see what they are able to do for us. David Ho said that the Bluebell Railway also did free guided tours and having been on one could confirm that it was a good day out. David undertook to contact the Bluebell Railway with a view to us possibly having a trip there some time next year. Martin told us that he is having an open day at his house this coming Saturday and invited everyone to come and play trains with him in his garden. And finally, David Ho kept us all provided with teas and coffees until we headed off homewards into the sunshine. Chris
