April 2017 meeting

This month, special correspondent Andy Peggie provides the report:

Four FCAG members held the fort, while others took advantage of the spring weather on holiday or other springtime pastimes. Alisdair provided the usual venue complete with home baking for the delectation of the attendees Alistair, Stephen and Andy.

The arrangement of the Sauchenford layout boards had been under discussion in recent weeks and the team proceeded with adjustments in the set up. The front display section was lowered and re-jigged to give a better arrangement in the operating mode, presenting a better viewing height both for front viewing and for the rear operators.

The rear board was permanently secured to base and firm connections to the front assembly inserted to allow a more rigid structure to be achieved during packing and moving the layout while maintaining a neat footprint for storage. The back scene was trimmed to remove the unsightly foxed edge which had developed.

The lighting arrangement then came under discussion and was altered in both height and the type of illumination, which it was agreed was too dark and cast inappropriate shadows on the scenery. Addition of strip LED lighting seemed to help the overall look while not being too garish due to the softening effect of the existing lights. This is to be implemented by Alisdair for the next meeting.

During dismantling the layout the lost point lever (as related in the February post) was discovered hiding in the structure and will soon be returned to its proper place on the layout!

These proceedings took place both before and after lunch and were followed by the usual wind down discussion session including the now commonplace appearance of diesel motive power on layouts which are now considered to be in the traditional area of railway modelling formerly held fast by Steam. Wagon names were also discussed regarding the use of animal notation for some as opposed to code numbers which it is understood to be as a result of the need for quick and clear calling up of stock over telegraph lines.