Latest News:
It is with regret we have to announce the death of Martin Boyask, editor of Roundhouse magazine. Martin had edited the magazine for the past 34 years and he will be a hard person to follow in this task. The future production of Roundhouse will obviously be a subject that the BoD will want to address quickly as the June issue should be with the printers almost immediately. I will keep you informed of progress regarding the magazine when I hear from those responsible. Martin was a great friend to many and he will be sorely missed. It has been suggested we decal one of our buildings in memory of Martin reflecting his occupation as a dental specialist. Perhaps “Boyask Dental Products” might be the type of branding or maybe the Shelby Printers building showing “Boyasks – Printers of Roundhouse Magazine”?
Stuart Wood managed a visit to Crewe to se us. It was good to see Stuart as he has suffered a heart attack and stroke during the past few months. He has brought along a wood trestle structure and other items which will be on permanent loan to the group. We wish Stuart well and hope to see him at one of our meetings now the weather is getting warmer and as soon as he feels well enough to come along.
John Massey tells me his replacement knee operation has been done and whilst he has still some pain it is hoped he will be free from that soon and back with us at meetings and with the Wednesday Gang.
The work on the new HO scenic board on the back wall is complete except for the backscene panel and the respective buildings. One of the buildings (the Cornerstone Heritage Furniture one) has been titled Ingham Paper Box Co. to acknowledge the role Michael Ingham played in the early days of Calder Northern when he and his wife hosted many meetings at their home in Grappenhall, near Warrington. The auto uncouplers are in place and working and for those not familiar with them you will need to first ensure the 12v transformer is powered up under the end of the barge slip layout. Then it is a case of pulling back on the appropriate switch which will then show a blue led light between the rails – position your cars couplers over the light and your cars will uncouple. If you want to spot the cars to another position then draw back slightly and move forward again propelling the cars before stopping and pulling back leaving the car behind. Do remember to push the switch forward to turn it off.
We have a few more uncouplers which we will use on the front of the layout once we have consensus as to where is the best location for these. A further supply will need to be ordered from Rapido Trains to complete this project.
Next work on North Western Mills is to get the connection to the traverser completed and then we can fit the buildings which Tony Gath is working on prior to sorting out the stopping sequence for the traverser bridge. Once this project is finished then it is the installation of the new curved switch and extension of the rails to join the current transfer track in front of the brewery building. This is to allow us to move a train from the wayfreight yard direct to the shortline without having to reverse the train in the industry yard. We will also be able to exit the station via this track and gain the main line loop track without interrupting trains on the main line. One of the main advantages of this is it will mean greater flexibility in operation when a person is on their own at a weekend when all he will need to do is operate the window end control panels of the layout when running two trains.
The “1952 Dream Liner” headboard is now in place in the clubroom as is the O. Winston Link framed picture in memory of Michael Coates. I will be sending a picture of the headboard to the new editor of Roundhouse very soon.
Additional information to note –
May 13th/14th Mech Models at Burton on Trent is holding a Model Weekend.
On 16th May “Flying Scotsman” locomotive will be visiting the Heritage Centre and will be on site for approx 3 days. Would those wishing to volunteer to run our model trains on Wednesday and/or Thursday please contact Mike Lenz who will co-ordinate this task whilst I am on holiday.
May 20th/21st is the Model Train event at Manchester Museum of Transport, Boyle St, Cheetham Hill, Manchester. We have been invited to have a table to promote our Group and the Heritage Centre if we can find the volunteers to take roller banner posters, brochures etc and man the table for the weekend. Please advise Terry if you can help.
The Manchester Airport Aviation Society Extravaganza event which we attended last year had been planned this year for the same dates as the Heritage Centre’s 30th Anniversary weekend and we had sadly declined to attend. However, I have just learned that essential road works to the tunnels under the runways have been agreed and the Aviation Society event has been cancelled. The organizers however, are arranging a series of events to replace the original and these will be held as follows:-
Airport Aviation Weekend to be held on 22nd/23rd July
Further planned events during the summer are – a Steam weekend; a 1940’s weekend and a Classic Car weekend, dates for these will be advised soon. Again we can perhaps choose one or more of the events to have a table to promote our activities.
Terry Wynne
Secretary