September 2023 FCAG Meeting

Saturday was the monthly meeting of the Forth and Clyde Area Group, where eight brave souls ventured out in soul melting heat to model the railways of yesteryear in the Finest of Scales (see what I did there?)  Alastair, Alistair, Jim, James, Nigel, Stuart, Graham and Martin were in attendance this month. 

There were two distinct themes to this months meeting, with the modelling projects falling nicely into two discrete categories, the Group Layout and locomotive works, with only minor diversions along the way.

Work continued on the Group Layout.  Jim had been beavering away at home continuing the wiring and testing with his fleet of Caledonian Railways locomotives, some of which were on show.  However, it was pointed out that there had almost certainly been no diesel traction gracing the irons.  Well, Nickle/Silvers.  And so, several of these locomotives, from Class 26, to Class 37 to Class 121 were ran through the various turnouts in various orders to check gauging and movement - with Jim's admonition that "Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseasels" ringing in our ears.

This did throw up a couple of issues running under DC which were rectified in short order by Jim and Nigel, and before lunchtime, all of the roads and turnouts had been tested under the wheels of several diesels, and one or two of Jim's CR locomotives.

This work also threw up a couple of running issues with Martin's Class 26 and 37 - the 26 wasn't running at all under DC, and the 37 was making an awful noise - and no, not the agricultural sound of the engine for Martin has not fitted the loco for DCC Sound (yet) - something was clicking in the mechanisms, somewhere.  Confessing a lack of knowledge in how to remedy either of these issues, Nigel stepped in to inspect the issues and help remedy them, resolving the issues through careful inspection and fault finding.

The Caledonian Railway "Jumbo", resplendent in the "goods black" livery of the Caley, one of Jim's newer constructs, from his own etches.

Another of Jim's vast loco fleet, this time CR No.29, the flagship of the 29 Class, equipped with condensing apparatus to allow working underground through the Caledonian Railway routes under the city of Glasgow.

On the subject of the Group Layout - Alistair had constructed a miniature mock-up of the layout to aid in understanding how the backscene would go together.  He continued looking at various books and photos for inspiration, a plan appears to be coming together.

Nigel and Jim discussed the "fiddle stick", the exterior attachment to the layout to allow stock to enter and leave the scene without the hand of god, or at least a 2FS modeller, reaching in and out at random.  Jim had prepared a sketch, which he and Nigel discussed and debated.  The hole to the real world was cut into the side panel too, with a couple of locos used to test clearances.

Graham, in his first of two entries this month, had brought along some 3d test prints of the engine shed which will be the primary focal point of the layout.  Based on the design of Forfar, he had been testing brick spacing and course depth to create the optimal structure.  There was some discussion on painting the brick and mortar, with three strategies suggested:

1. Don't - it's too small to see in 2mm

2. Paint the mortar colour as the basecoat, then drybrush the brick colour over the top.

3. Paint the brick colour first, then varnish.  Apply a wash of a very thinned down sand/offwhite oil paint, leave for around an hour, then use a cloth/cotton bud dipped in thinner to wipe the excess of the top surface, leaving the lighter colour in the appropriate places.

Not falling into either of the two well defined categories, was Stuart, who was continuing work on his N Gauge Mill building(s).  Last month we saw how he used 1mm clear acrylic to make the main shell of the building, using the white backing paper to create the window detail, and used mountboard to create the outer shell, with windows cut out and brickwork scribed in.  This time round he was painting the whole of the mountboard with a grey acrylic paint as a base.  He paints both the inner and outer face to prevent warping, and ensures to get the insides of all the windows so none of the card colour shows through.  The next step is to use Humbrol weathering powders to create texture and colour more towards the brown of the prototype.

For those who may be new to the Blog, this is the first scratchbuilt building Stuart has ever attempted! "I've got a thirteen arch viaduct to do next" he told us as we looked on in wonder.

On the locomotive building front, four of our members had brought chassis to work on.  The idea of the Beginners Locomotive Workshop, being hosted at the end of the month, is for those of us who haven't bult a working chassis, or have to limited success or confidence, to have a go and make a good attempt at getting something running, then use the experience of the tutors to correct any issues and get a clean running chassis.  Several of the Group have evidently left the whole "have a go at building a chassis" to the same last minute as this reporter, and were using the session to make a start, or progress.

Graham was working on a chassis for a Class 08.  He'd opted for the Graham Farish conversion etch and had procured a body in Network SouthEast livery (we really are a broad church...), rather than the Association "kit" which allows one to build both the chassis and the body (see below...).  He had the chassis together and square and was proceeding with gearing ready for the beginners locomotive workshop being held at the end of the month.

Alastair was also working on a chassis, this time for a Class 03.  Sitting down to start the process of gearing he realised he didn't have any axle steel and was at a loss at what to do, until a kind soul donated a length.  

The build progressed at a fair pace with gearing installed by midway through the meeting.

Alastair had also been busy with his 3D printed North British wagons, some now progressing through the paint shop.  His next step is detailing and numbering before weathering.  Whilst the Association does stock the Modelmaster NBR transfer sheet, Alistair is toying with the idea of 3d printing some stencils to apply the markings in a more prototypical fashion.  He was also displaying his first PCB built turnout, now complete and tested.

Martin made a start on his Class 08, between servicing the Diesels, taking photos and joining in with the conversations and discussions, he made it as far as putting the PB bearings into the frames.

This Class 08 the full "kit" from the Association.  This differs from the conversion etch in a number of ways (for one, having the cab/body to build and detail oneself), but primarily in the lack of the cantilevered gearbox seen on other etches, with the worm being sat directly on the skew gear using the Associations 3d printed motor mounts, for which there is a flap in the etch with appropriately sized holes for the feet.  There is potential for some etching in Martin's future, as a couple of the locomotives he wishes to run either aren't available in N Gauge to convert, or don't have specific conversion etches available and he thought this setup was a very clever idea he may "borrow".

Martin had also brought along his J94 chassis, now running under power on the rolling road.  Mostly.  He had found that the cantilever gearbox, previously discussed, has a tendency to flex whilst the motor is turning, disengaging the worm from the skew gear and preventing the wheels from turning.  This was an issue a couple of the others had seen, and the suggested fix is to solder a sufficiently gapped PCB Sleeper to the open side of the gearbox and the opposite frame to hold everything in place.  This may be reported on again at the loco workshop.

James had brought along his chassis to work on, another Class 03, but in setup of his MERG DCC controller and test setup (see last month's blog), a buzzer was sounding which indicated a fault, however, it wasn't clear which fault the buzzer was specifically indicating! so James spent some time fault finding, dissessembling and reassembling his controller.

He'd also brought along his Volt-Wagon.  That is not a typo, rather a novel idea for testing track voltage "as the loco might see it".  He and another P4 modeller had created one from a proprietry van during the 2020 lockdown, James designing the electronics and his compatriot building the van.  James wanted to test whether it was possible in 2mm, and so, using a spare Peco van, he was in the process of installing the electrics to turn it into a voltmeter, on wheels.

The P4 compete model on the right, with the 2FS model under construction on the left

The P4 Model "under test" so as to show how it works.  An ingenious idea!  This also shows James' home built controller, capable of running DC and DCC to both the test tracks on top, and via a set of leads a whole layout - much of the testing of the Group layout was done using this setup.

And so concludes this month's FCAG meeting.  Lots of modelling going on around the room, lots of projects underway.

Our next meeting will be the Locomotive Workshop on 30th September - there are still places available, if you are at all interested in visiting the Central Belt and joining us, details are in the Association Newsletter which accompanied the last magazine.

The next monthly meeting is due to be Saturday 14th October, guests always welcome.

August Forth and Clyde Area Group Meeting

Last saturday hosted the usual get together of the Forth and Clyde Area Group, at our usual meeting place at the premises of the Edinburgh Society of Model Engineers, near Livingston.  Numbers were increased  on last month's gathering with ten attendees present.  We boasted a full compliment of the Al's, Alisdair, Alastair, Alistair, Jim, James, Andy, Graham, Simon, Stuart and Martin.

Work progressed on the Group layout - Jim spent most of the session hidden beneath the board, still working on the electrics.

There was a steady stream of quiet, and awfully polite, cursing as droppers magically detached from the rails, and a section that would be towards the back of the shed turned out to have never had a dropper soldered at all.  Whilst not quite complete at the meeting - Jim has reported that, after some faultfinding relating to a short, a loco has now ran across all the wired sections successsfully under power.

Jim had also brought along the finished Water tower, pictured, in-situ, below:

On the theme of Mearns Shed, James was working on the control system.  As a paid up member of MERG, he was working on the boards and other sorts of electronicy trickery required to make the Group's own, dedivated DCC Control system.

For those previously as clueless as I - thank you Google... - MERG is the Model Electronics Railway Group - a companion group to many of the scale societies whose purpose is to advance and support the use of electronics in model railways.  They provide, much as we in the 2FS Association do, publications, journals, advice and kits to support this aim.  A new member they may have found...

Sold as a "pocket money kit" by MERG, both the DCC control unit and handset retail (through the members shop) for around £35 a piece.  Whilst requiring some assembly, the kits are (I am assured by James) easy to put together, with excellent instructions.  Given some DCC systems can be in excess of £400 - my own Prodigy Express set me back ~£200 - this seems a devent way in for, not an awful lot in the grand scheme of things.

Alistair continued to sketch ideas for the backscene, taking measurements for a technical drawing to assist.

There was much discussion about the upcoming "Scottish Locomotive Workshop", namely appropriate models for construction.  Andy had brought along a Fencehouses J38 etch he'd sourced some years before, which was admired by many of the Group - some even trying to work out how to convert to another, similar locomotive for their prototype.  The recommendation of those organising and mentoring the Workshop were for one of the RTR conversion etches offered by the association.

The discussion continued around which of these was most suitable for a number of the members needs and/or interests, the J94/Austerity tank being brought up on a number of occasions, allowing me to show off my current WiP and discuss moving forwards with the flexing gearbox and body, which led on to some more discussion on 3D Printed bodies, their pros and cons - particularly relating to weight of the loco.  One compromise was perhaps to use something like the P&D Marsh cast boiler/saddle, or an ex-Farish body, and 3D print the cab/bunker.  With the detailing kits available from RT Models it was felt this could be a good way forwards.  However, with the recent Bachman/EFE Rail annoucnement of a J94 and Association conversion etch TOS, this discussion was put on the back burner and other prototypes discussed in a similar vein.

Talk of 3D Printing segueways nicely (almost like I planned it), to Alastair who continues his production of 3D printed wagons.  Regular readers will remember last month Alastair had been working on the 3D CAD for a NBR 3 Plank wagon (no judgements, we're a broad church in FCAG, well, mostly no judgement...)  This month he'd brought along some of the initial prints.

The eagle eyed reader may notice towards the rear of the photograph are prototye prints for an NBR Brake van (daigram no. escapes my memory suggesting I should start taking real notes...).  Alastair explained that these still required the underframe to be developed, as the wagons run on an identical underframe to his previously shown mineral wagons, but the CAD work on this was ongoing.

As well as showing off the 3D Prints (which garnered a great deal of attention from the rest of the group), Alastair was working on a turnout of the PCB sleepered variety.

Talking of turnouts (I'm getting good at these segueways), Alisdair was also working on a turnout - in this case a Finetrax one which shall be framed with descriptive information to display the finess of this scale for the various shows that we attend with the Further North Roadshow.

The look of surprise was at being caught actually doing some modelling at an Area Group Meeting...

Stuart, who models in N Gauge, admittedly using the British Finescale Code 40 range for this scale (see, I said we're a broad church), continued work on his Cotton Mill buildings.

Stuart had chosen to construct the shell of his buildings in 2mm Acrylic sheet to provide a rigid frame, the white colour seen inside is actually the protective backing paper from the acrylic sheet, not yet removed.  A template was then applied and the windows marked, allowing the protetive sheet to be removed in these areas only and provide the detail of the windows themselves.

Next, texture is skrawked onto 1mm mountboard using a pen, and if necessary a scalpel to give the stonework.  It was this long and laborious process, which does provide exquisite results, which Stuart was engaged in during the meeting.

Stuart announced to a stunned audience that this was his first building he'd ever made.  Talk about diving in at the deep end...

Talking of the deep end - Simon, one of the founder members of the Steamboat Special Interest Group, had brought along his pair of Clyde Puffers, well, one Clyde Puffer and one Admiralty Victualling Inshore Craft, which were progressing beautifully.

Unhappy with certain aspects of the kit, Simon had fabricated masts, propellers and the likes himself to enhance the detail on show.  Alisdair, another founder member of the SSIG, recounted how he'd lost, then found mangled the fine etch of the aft-handrails to many pained expressions of those listening.

One of whom was Graham (yes, it's getting more tenuous).  Graham, once again relieved from press officer duties by this Junior Assistant Intern writing, was continuing work on an LNWR van which he'd been building, on-and-off (by his own admission, more off) for several weeks.  The underframe was mostly complete, with the body well underway.

Graham even had the instructions out, a sign of just how seriously he was taking this assembly.  Sadly, due to a double booking I had to sip away early and so there are no further progress photos of the van.

Finally, I, Martin, was working on a whole host of things.  I'd spent the weekend before the meeting with my in-laws, who graciously gave me a corner of the kitchen table to sit and work.  And so, I'd managed to churn out 14 wagons of various types and designs

The first activity was to roof the vans.  This is something I'm not particularly good at, however, I like to think I improve with every attempt, and by van no.6 it was starting to look the part.  Hopefully, the forthcoming trip to the paintshop will hide some of the sins.  I also fitted the upper bogie blocks(?) for the three LMS 57' non-corridor coaches currently plodding along on my workbench, these being the parts from the Assocation bogie etches which fit to the coach bottom and house the nut to secure the bogie to the underframe.

Between the various discussions, interviews for this publication and photograph taking, I also made a start on an LMS 16 tonne brake van from the now out of print Associatione etches.  I have two of these and two 20 tonne brake vans to attempt, but found that my 25W soldering iron was struggling slightly with the brass, and so decided to retreat until my 50W iron is recovered from the in-laws...

If you've read this far, thank you for your interest.

Places are still available for the "Beginners Loco Chassis Workshop".  The suggested build is one of the RTR conversions from the Association website - further information is in the Association Newsletter.

Our next meeting will be Saturday 9th September at 11:00 at Almondale.  We do welcome visitors and strays from other Area Groups if you find yourself in the Central Belt of Scotland on that data and fancy meeting some like minded modellers - we don't (really) judge and we've mostly stopped biting visitors... Contact details can also be found in the Association Newsletter.

July 2023 FCAG Meeting

A smaller than usual group met this last Saturday at the Edinburgh Society of Model Engineers, comprising of Jim, James, Nigel, Andy, Alastair and Martin.  Apologies had been received from several members owing to holiday season and other such frivolous commitments which stand in the way of the progress of 2mm modelling.

I arrived slightly late to the meeting and arrived to find a huddle around one desk where discussions regarding the water tower for the Group Layout were underway.  Jim's latest sheet of etches had arrived with the windows and door and tank sides for the Water tower, and he had commenced building.

Left is the Platikard building shell, held together here with sellotape for reasons that will become clear - on the right is a paper mockup Jim made to check size, scale and position (as well as produce the etches...)

The discussion underway was regarding the colour of the brickwork and quoins, well, more the mortar, for the building.  From the prototype Jim had been working from, the mortar seemed to be very bright, so he had tried this in white when making up the texture paper, however, on printing this was far too bright, and so Jim had prepared a couple of different shades by saving the texture as a picture, opening in the MS default picture app and playing with the picture settings.

A decision from the six present was the top one - or right as you look at the photo.  Jim didn't get a chance to continue to work on the Water tower at the meeting for reasons that will become evident shortly, but at last report, the building continues, with the structure starting to be introduced to solvent and etched components ready for instillation.

The main focus of the meeting was starting on the wiring of the Group layout.  Until today, the only wires on the layout were droppers, not connected to anything but the rails above the board.  And, yes, for the pedants amongst the readership, those wires within the tubes which control the turnouts - but they don't use electric(!).

Nigel, Jim and James took charge of this operation, and the rest of us stayed mostly out the way., occasionally coming across to offer moral support and/or look on in awe at what was going on.

It may or may not be evident from the latter photograph, but significant progress had been made by the end of the meeting, with around half of the layout wired to a bus. James took custody of the layout this month (it having lived on top of Martin's for the last two months and providing an excellent excuse for lack of progress on tracklaying...)

Some other modelling was taking place around the room from the others of us not involved directly in the wiring.

Andy continued his turnout building to convert his home layout to 2FS

James, when not working on the Group Layout, was running in a newly converted Class 24.  Also of note and/or on display was his home built control station, built using MERG components for testing and programming of locomotives in both P4 and 2FS, all contained within a nifty wooden unit he'd built himself.

Alastair was working on the 3D CAD for his next 3D Print - this an NBR 3 plank dropside wagon.  It's built on the same underframe as the previously reported mineral wagons.  The finishing touches were underway here, ready to be sent to the printer next week - hopefully by the next meeting we'll be able to see these models in the flesh.

Another action shot of Nigel and Jim working on the wiring.

Saving the best for last - or perhaps I just forgot to photograph my own work again and have had to pose it at home... Martin was working on LMS 9' Bogies from the Association etches.  Building a suburban passenger terminus, it turns out, requires quite a lot of coaching stock, something I should have considered before designing the layout...

Four sets of Bogies complete since Saturday - only one set completed at the meeting and a second halfway done, reuqiring the pedestal fitting and folding into the appropriate shape.  Now to start on the coaches themselves...

Our next official FCAG meeting is scheduled to be Saturday 12th August at ESME's premises at Almondale, however there are rumours of an organised trip to the Bo'ness and Kinneal Steam Railway in a few weeks time.  Watch this space.

Perth Model Railway Show 2023

Several of our stalwarts headed North this weekend to Perth, Perthshire, to man the Further North Roadshow and demonstrate all things 2FS at the annual Perth Model Railway show.

A whole host of layouts were on show of varying gauges and prototypes, from the courser scales to several P4 layouts including Cadhay Sidings where some of our dual hatted members spent their weekend.  The trade support was also out in full force, allowing us to replenish boxes of tools, gloat, and stock alike.

The Stand wih a number of members and the general public engaging in some discussion regarding 2FS and railway modelling in general.

Richard's colliery buildings for his Fenwick Pit project on display for the first time, his journey into designing and etching his own NCB coal hoppers was on display including a 4mm mock-up used to help him understand how the etch would need to go together.

Alisdair's C16 Push Pull set sits on a West Highland Line inspired diorama constructed by Simon in the centre of the 2FS Stand.  The set, in a prototypical setting was well received by many passers by and was a talking point for several members of  the public who remember seeing or riding on the real thing.

Thanks must go to the team from the Perth club who put on the show, I'm sure we'll be back next year!

Our usual program of meetings resumes on Saturday 8th July at Almondell, near Livingston for the Area Group meeting.

June 2023 Forth and Clyde Area Group Meeting

A strange mystical orange orb shone down on the Central Belt of Scotland through a blue, cloudless sky on Saturday as the Forth and Clyde Areas Group assembled at the grounds of the Edinburgh Society of Model Engineers for our monthly get together. What better weather to sit indoors and huff the fumes of solder, flux and glue?

Perhaps it was to shelter from the unnerving radiance above us, or perhaps because it made the drive more pleasurable, but this month we had near record turnout with Alisdair, Alastair, Alistair, Jim, Graham, Simon, Stephen, Andy, Miles, Stuart and I your humble reporter, Martin in attendence.  For those with their bingo cards and have missed their full house, apologies were passed from two of our members who also dabble in the 4mm/ft world as they had other commitments.

Before we delve into the reports on the various ongoing projects, you may have noted that our Press Officer was in fact in attendence, but someone new(ish) is writing the blog.  Fear not dear reader, this was not Graham's final outing, he has not (yet) been excomunicated from the Association.  Rather, he has been promoted to the lofty heights of Editor in Chief of this high quality source of 2FS News, whilst I have been graced with the title of Trainee Assistant Junior Intern Press Underling and given access to the blog.  Graham will, I am sure, contribute on occasion, but the buck has been passed to me - or as it was described to me "You'll do all the work, and I'll claim all the credit!"

With this out of the way, time for the interesting stuff!

There was much modelling on the go, with everyone, except our Chairman, working on both the Group layout and individual projects across the room.  In no particular order:

Both Simon and Alisdair had brought along their 2FS(ish) Clyde Puffers - which did ellicit a suggestion of a new Special Interest Group, though the uptake was lukewarm around the room.

The prototype for these Clyde Puffers, or more properly Admiralty Vicualling Inshore Crafts (VICs) - say what you will about the Royal Navy, they certainly know how to come up with a catchy name - were built during WW1 to allow the transfer of goods and victuals from shore establishments to the vessles of the Royal Navy, Merchants and allies.  After the war, many were sold into Private service and plied a trade across the West Coast of Scotland (and further afield), carrying small amounts of goods and supplies to remote communities.  

These are resin cast kits with various detailing parts which the pair had acquired and started working on.  Simon's eventual goal is to build a model of Mallaig which had (and has) a harbour close to the station where this will sit.  In the above action shot, Simon is continuing to build Fish Vans which will take the catch from Mallaig, through Glenfinnan and down to the fish markets of the central belt.

Alisdair just thought the model was pretty.

Jim, much recovered, was working on the Group Layout - Mearns Shed - there had been an issue with a turnout not throwing, and Jim was just the man to fix it.  

Much fiddling and swearing later, it turned out that the Tunout Operating Unit had been overtightened, so causing an excess of friction that the wire-in-tube mechanism was unable to overcome.  Jim spent a good portion of the time before lunch fault finding and fettling until smooth operation ensued.  Having never worked with wire-in-tube turnout operations (I've got DCC Concepts Cobalts, and have previously seen and used SEEP motors), this was a very educational session watching over Jim's shoulder at another way to do turnout control.

The time after lunch was spent lifting and relaying the shed roads, as someone who shall remain entirely nameless, had laid them slightly askew, then dug the ash pits into the baseboard...  This was short work for Jim who had the lines up, straightened and back down before 4pm, ready for electrification to commence (under the boards, it's not that kind of layout!)

Jim had also brought along his recently finished rake of Caledonian Coaches - painted and detailed to the usual exquisite standard of Jim's models.  These are two 65' "Grampian" 12 wheeled Brake Thirds and a First comprising the Caledonian's Edinburgh-Glasgow Direct stock - though they were seen in such exotic places as Gourock behind 766 Class (Dunalisdair II) locomotives which Jim is considering for his next loco build.  Jim has catalogued the build of these coaches on RMWeb

Alistair was continuing his preparations for creating the backscene to the layout, taking measurements and searching for coninued inspiration

Stephen had brought his usual collections of railway press, and a couple of recent acquisitions.  A Sonic Models J50 ("should be easy to convert, it's the same underframe as a Jinty!")

And a GF Midland Fowler 4F, lightly weathered, and what's that noise?  A chuffing? Yes the locomotive is fitted for DCC sound, which, even on a DC rolling road elicited a nice background ambience for the steam modellers in the room.

I've never been all that enamoured with Sound fitted locos, but I have to say, the sound quality off this wee beastie (which wouldn't be too out of place on my own layout) was very good, both the quality of the sound and noise it made.  Those with less impulse control than I may have been very tempted to purchase one, as conversion to 2FS can't be all that difficult... (can it...?)

Stuart continued work on his very imposing mill building for his Finetrax N Gauge layout.  

He'd had a conversation with York Modelmaking at the York show (where Peter Kirmond's 2FS representation of th eponymous LNER station was on display, as reported in April's Railway Modeller, and by Peter himself on RMWeb), about roofing slates.  And now he was studiously cutting out individual rows of tiles and transferring these to the card frame of the roof.

He and Alisdair had a conversation about Alisdair's experiments with a siloutte cutter to produce similar results - as described in the annuls of this very publication.  Again, a very interesting discussion to listen to - Plastikard has been the method of construction I've employed in the past so to see how other people are building things - in a medium I've not necessarily thought highly of in the past is another great thing about Area Groups and the discussions had.

Alastair was continuing work on his 3D printed North British mineral wagons for his planned Queensferry layout.  As reported in months past, Alastair had tried to print these as a single piece but found various issues, and had been through a series of design iterations.  Today, he brought the newst prints, the W Irons and underframe as one assembly, the body as a second.  With association axle bearings added to the W Irons he was cleaning the wagons off the print base and supports, and gluing the two parts together.

At the start of the meeting there were none, and by the end a short rake of three wagons, with a fourth on the way, were sitting ready for the paint shop.

Some discussion around couplings ensued - Alastair has an idea for a home made 3D printed coupling (patent pending), which I am sure will feature here in due course.

Andy continued his work building turnouts to convert his layout to 2FS.  Andy has two parts to his layout, the first, Lomand Bridge, which was displayed at the Scottish Minimeet a few weeks prior, is a branchline terminus, the second is based on Aberdour, which was a relatively small station with regular stopping services, but serving the line between Edinburgh and Aberdeen over the Forth Rail Bridge would routinely see A4 Pacific hauled expresses, so gives a good variety for running - from the local pick up goods to fast non-stopping expresses. 

Our Esteemed Editor in Chief, unburdened by the task of reporting, spent a lot of time in conversation with first Simon, then Alisdair, with topics ranging from the Constitution of the Association (See the magazine suppliment!) to a prospective "putting the world to rights" night in Glasgow through to the role of the Clyde Puffers.

However, after a while, he settled into the manufacture of the LNWR Goods Brake van, acquired at the Association Diamond Jubilee show in Derby where it caught his eye.  Progress was made as the kit started to come together

So relieved from rigours of journalistic duties, Graham was the last to pack up!

Miles was working on his fourth Class 03/04 shunter Chassis - after attending the recent Loco Building Workshop in Bradford, he wanted to continue his work towards a running chassis.

This prompted some discussion with the other members present regarding locomotive building - it's all well and good building wagons, but we do need something to haul them.  A quick survey of the room showed that only a handful had attempted building a loco, only three had running examples, and only Alisdair and Jim have working fleets - many of which have been shown off in various states of build in past editions.

This led to a proposal for a "Scottish Loco Building Workshop" under the tuteledge of our more experienced members - not so much limited to the building of Scottish Locomotives - though with Jim's fleet uniquely Caledonian Railway, and Alisdair having a fondness for the Highland Railway and Scottish locos in general... -  rather a similar arrangement to the recent Bradford event up here in the wild frontiers of the barely civilised Central Belt. 

In true executive fashion, Alisdair has actioned Miles to investigate the possibility of running this at Almondale after the busy summer period.  More information to follow.

This once again prompted the question of which chasssis are the best for newcomers - the general consensus was that the chassis offered by the association for conversion of Graham Farish/Dapol locomotives were a good starting point, as was the Associaton 08 Shunter "kit", whilst the scratch aids of the likes of Worsley Works were good and useful, but required some more thought so were perhaps not ideal as a first attempt unless one was an experienced locomotive builder in another scale.

Unless my memory (and any subsequent editing) is playing tricks on me, this leaves me.  Saving the best till last?  More likely that I forgot to photograph my own work, so intent was I in making sure I spoke to everyone else and took a note on what they were working on.  Ah well - the advantage of being the reporter is I can take my photos at home...

I was putting the finishing touches on a pair of the ubiquitous BR 1/108 16T Mineral Wagons.  I've recently finished painting another set of four of these by a "new and novel method" (for me at least) and was preparing more to head towards the paint shop.  An almost step-by-step is found on RMWeb.  There is a cunning plan afoot, but more of that on another day.

As with Alastair, I was questioned on couplings - I have a couple of frets of DGs in various states of construction as I've been taking Shop 2/4 orders over the minimum required for free postage, but find the wire bending, and the soldering of the dropper quite challenging - so I put them back in their box and built some more wagons - I have been experimenting with building the whole loop out of the magnetic wire, but found this more challenging to bend.  Maybe for next month I'll have some of these ready, or maybe I'll just build some more wagons...

I did have a conversation with Alisdair about Elektra coupings as favoured by some prominent members of the association - I have previously discussed the Alex Jackson's with Jim who has hundreds of them built, but feel these are potentially beyond my skills.  I'm tempted by the Elektra's, having helped run Alisdair's "Aucheidh" at the NEAG Anniversary meet last year, but they do look less forgiving than the DGs, so I may attempt these before committing to fitting DGs.  Maybe....

This was not a meeting about couplings, but it does, I think illustrate that, as with everything in 2FS, there seems to be many ways to accomplish a goal - there are at least three types of "commerically available" coupling mentioned in this blog alone, and that's before considering 3-links (Jim assures me this is possible in 2FS) or B&B or even things like Kadee couplings or people designing their own variations.  Speaking as a relative newcomer, I think it's important to have these discussions, try things out for oneself and decide on the best way of doing things for you.

That concludes this report of the goings on of the second furthest North area Group.  It was a great wee get together of like minded folks and is a great forum for the exchange of ideas.  We are always welcoming of guests, and new members, if you find yourself at a loose end on the second saturday of the month.

The Forth and Clyde Area Group will be flying the 2FS flag at the Perth Model Railway Show (again, the one in Scotland) at the end of the month.  If you happen to be in attendence, do feel free to pop by and say hello - we don't bite (much...)

Our next meeting is scheduled for the 8th July.  There are whisperings of a trip to the Bo'ness and Kinneal Steam Railway later in July.  Anoraks not essential.