Cheltenham GWR Modellers October 2014 Exhibition in aid of CLIC Sargeant

A profile of CLIC Sargeant as a charity and reviews of past shows can be found at

https://glostransporthistory.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk/wordpresscheltenhGWRCLIC.htm

while once again model railway enthusiasts from all over Gloucestershire travelled to the Cheltenham GWR Modellers October 2014 Exhibition at St Margaret’s Hall, Coniston Road, Cheltenham, GL51 3NX on Saturday and Sunday 25 and 26 October 2014 for the following attractions:

BUTTERMERE by Bill Flude

09 Gauge 7mm Scale


CLIC_2014A_Buttermere_locomotiveThe Lake District is rich in minerals and the area around Buttermere had iron and copper mines.  The Buttermere Mining Company extracted copper bearing ores from three mines on a 15″ gauge line built in 1895 to Cockermouth, 10 miles away. 

 

 

CLIC_2014A_Buttermere_newspaperThis was originally worked by steam locomotives – some of which have now been restored for tourists –  with diesel taking over freight trains from the 1930s. 

In this model railway format, the track gauge is 9mm but the scale is 7mm to the foot.

Buttermere Mining Company, built with Peco track, was controlled by a Digitrax DCC system that includes wireless throttles and points actuated by Tortoise Slow Motion Switch Machines, was designed to be viewed from three sides.  It measured 62″ x 20″ and  was designed to fit a Ford Fiesta while still leaving room for a passenger and driver.

BURNTWOOD LANE by Bentley Model Railway Group

EM Gauge 4mm Scale

CLIC_2014A_Burntwood Lane_6056Burntwood Lane was set in the late 1950s / early 1960s on a branch of British Rail’s Southern Region between the main London to Brighton line at Purley and the terminus at Caterham.  The real Burntwood Lane crosses this branch south of Whyteleaf South and north of Caterham.

The track and points were hand built using C&L Finescale components while the buildings and bridges were scratchbuilt based on a set of photographs taken in 2011.

Eastcombe 2013_Burntwood Lane_D6554In the picture above 1957 designed 2-HAP ( Later Class 414) unit 6078 comprising  Motor Brake Second S61245 and  Driving Trailer Composite S75707 stands on a siding ready to run to Caterham and displays the route code 23 for London Bridge via Forest Hill, West Croydon, Epsom and Guildford while below Birmingham RCW built Type 3 D6554 heads toward Purley with vans at the head of a mixed goods train.

GLENUIG (GLEANN UIGE) by Gary Hinson

EM Gauge 4mm Scale

CLIC_2014A_Glenuig_BRCW (2)In a totally fictitious Scotland, the North British Railway were eager to get a connection to the Isle of Mull to rival the Oban and Callander railway.  Construction started to provide a railway from Lochailort to Ardslignish on Loch Sunnart.  Construction started but was soon met by protests from the owners of prime hunting land in the area.  With the Lairds having friends in high places the project was doomed and only progressed as far as Glenuig,which then became an important fishing community and ferry terminal.  The local “water of life” distillery “Moidart” soon had its own siding and this traffic along with fish and timber helped the line survive.

CLIC_2014A_Glenuig_EE The layout was set in the early to mid 1980s during the transition from BRCW Type 2s to English Electric Type 3s and traffic consists of passenger coaches, and oil, grain, timber and fish in both fitted and unfitted short wheelbase wagons and longer wheelbase air braked stock.  Glenuig was a sound chipped DCC layout with C&L component track and modified and kit built RTR stock and scratchbuilt components and structures.

WESTBRIDGE by Alex Raybould

OO Gauge 4mm Scale

CLIC_2014A_Westbridge_depotThis new exhibition layout from 15 year old Alex was based on a fictitious locomotive depot and terminus station on British Railway’s Western Region during the blue period of the 1970s.  The track was PECO Code 75 with mainly Bachmann motive power and rolling stock DCC controlled via NCE Powercab.

 

 

 

 

 

CLIC_2014A_Westbridge_stationIn the view above Westbridge Depot played host to Derby built Classes 24 and 45 and, to their right, an English Electric Class 37, while a Class 08 – also designed and built by English Electric – shunted a train of open wagons.  Pictured left is the same train with a Class 47 in British Railway’s earlier two tone green livery.

CAPITAL WORKS by Alan Drewett

OO Gauge 4mm Scale

CLIC_2014A_Capital Works_MarlboroughJust imagine.  You are standing somewhere in the “six-foot” between the running lines of the Great Northern Railway as it makes its way from Kings Cross towards Scotland through the north London suburb of Finsbury Park. You are looking west.  One day there will be a steel-and-concrete depot near here filled with Brush and English Electric diesel locomotives – including the mighty Class 55 Deltics. But this is 1935

CLIC_2014A_Capital Works_SentinelHis Majesty King George V is celebrating the first Royal Silver Jubilee of the Twentieth Century with just a year left to live.  During his reign the House of Saxe-Coburg Gotha has been renamed Windsor during the First World War, most of Ireland has become independent of direct British rule and Mahatma Ghandi has similar hopes for India.  Elsewhere the humiliating terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles are being challenged by Adolf Hitler, now in his second year as Chancellor of Germany, with the re-establishment of the Luftwaffe.

CLIC_2014A_Capital Works_41708At the Capital Works of Morland and Anderson meanwhile, wagons from railways all over London and beyond – some taken out of traffic while still loaded with coal or other freight – are being inspected and repaired: leaving railway workshops as Swindon, Crewe, Doncaster and Eastleigh free to build new rolling stock.

For this particular appearance, thanks are due to John White for operating Capital Works on the Saturday of the Show and for Robbie Burns for delivering Marlborough College private owner open coal wagon 65.  Also pictured are Roger Webb’s examples of the Hornby Sentinel chain drive 0-4-0 and Bachmann’s Midland 1F 41708.  Both these locomotives have now been fully evaluated on both Capital Works and my larger Universal Works layout and found to work very well.  Thank you very much Roger for helping me choose my next generation of motive power!

CHERINGTON by Phil Bird

OO Gauge 4mm Scale

CLIC_2014A_Cherington_HorseboxAlthough villages named Cherington exist close to Tetbury and to the north west of Hook Norton neither had railways- although branches could have been built from the Kemble to Tetbury line or the Banbury and Cheltenham line.  Phil’s Great Western layout was therefore fictitious but designed as if a real one had been built and portrayed in the late 1950s / early 1960s with GWR steam beginning to be challenged by interlopers from other regions as well as early diesel locomotives, dmus and this Gloucester RCW built Western Region Diesel Parcels Unit.

CLIC_2014A_Cherington_GRCW DPUSMP Finescale trackwas used for the scenic section and Peco for the traverser fiddle yard, the baseboards being built from 9mm plywood and covered in cork. Similarly, both Woodland Scenics material and electrostatic grass were combined as well as a mixture of kit and scratchbuilt structures – including the Ratio cattle dock modified to fit the location.

PAYNESTOWN by Reg Owens

OO Gauge 4mm Scale

CLIC_2014A_Paynestown_GeestNothing to do with 1990s glamour model Louise Payne (see below), Paynestown was a fictional small Western Region terminus set somewhere in the South Wales mining area.  I particularly liked the scenery, buildings and weathering on this layout, perfectly lit with warm tones to enhance the rich saturated Technicolour feel of 1960s photography.

CLIC_2014A_Paynestown_St DavidsAs well as such fascinating features as an engine shed with built in water tank, Paynestown recalled an era when railway vans delivered bananas to goods depots and Wales was full of chapels that people both went to and did not go to.

On the more technical side, Paynestown featured Peco Code 100 track and points, scratchbuilt buildings and Digitrax Digital Command Control.

ROWINGTON FOR SHREWLEY 

by Dick and Felicity Wright-Hewins

OO Gauge 4mm Scale

CLIC_2014A_Rowington_GadflyThere is not, and never has been, a station called Rowington for Shrewley.  This was an imaginary station situated between the real villages of Rowington and Shrewley but in true Great Western style was nowhere near either village!  Just north of the imaginary Rowington for Shrewley was the real Rowington Junction where there was a 3 mile 7 chain branch to Henley in Arden.

Originally built for the amusement of enthusiasts in a back room of a shop rather than for exhibition, Rowington for Shrewley was set in 1922 – just before Grouping – and much of the coaching stock was in the GWR 1912 Lake livery. Occasionally, Dick also ran Felicity’s brass domed locomotives Brunel and Thunderbolt.

Virtually all the locomotives and rolling stock  were scratch built while the finescale trackwork was made from SMP kits.

CLIC_2014A_Rowington_HenleyThe extensive signalling was by Ratio, Model Signal Engineering, Scale Link, Colin Waite and Springside Components with all signals, route indicators, dummies and tall repeater signals worked in conjunction with points actuated by H&M motors.

Buildings and structures were modified kits or scratch built and all were GWR prototypes while trees were hand made and other scenery supplied by Panhaven and Woodland Scenics. 

A full article on Rowington for Shrewley was featured in the February 2010 edition of British Railway Modelling and in particular I enjoyed the GWR “Gadfly” aeroplane wagon complete with Sopwith Pup load and Dick’s mock-up of the station on his new project, Henley in Arden.

THOMAS by Cheltenham GWR Modeller’s Group

OO Gauge 4mm Scale

Although the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry (1911-1997) is well remembered in Gloucestershire as a resident of Rodborough, Stroud, and a patron of the Dean Forest Railway, his childhood association with the Great Western Railway is less well known. However, when Wilbert was six years old, his father, also an Anglican vicar, moved the family to his new parish of Box in WiltshireAlthough the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry  (1911-1997) is well remembered in Gloucestershire as a resident of Rodborough, Stroud, and a patron of the Dean Forest Railway, his childhood association with the Great Western Railway is less well known.  However, when Wilbert was six years old, his father, also an Anglican vicar, moved the family to his new parish of Box in Wiltshire. By 1920 their house- “Journey’s End” – was only 200 yards from the western end of Box Tunnel and the nine year old Wilbert could lie awake at night and hear eastbound freight trains being banked up the two mile long 1 in 100 incline, engine crews communicating by coded whistles.  Awdry related: “There was no doubt in my mind that steam engines all had definite personalities. I would hear them snorting up the grade and little imagination was needed to hear in the puffings and pantings of the two engines the conversation they were having with one another: ‘I can’t do it! I can’t do it! I can’t do it!’ ‘Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can!'”.  Here was the inspiration for the story of Edward helping Gordon’s train up the hill, a story that Wilbert first told his son Christopher some 25 years later, and which appeared in the first of the Railway Series books.

TODDINGTON by David Boot and Joshua Hall

OO Gauge 4mm Scale

CLIC_2014A_Toddington_footbridgeThis layout was as near as possible a replica of Toddington station on the modern Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Steam Railway, keeping up to date with changes in horticulture, paintwork and the reconstruction of the ash pits near the coal yard.  It could accommodate a typical 6 or 7 coach GWSR train running over Peco Code 75 track and under the control of scratchbuilt signals past scratchbuilt structures.

CLIC_2014A_Toddington_35006The time of year was set in May or June to maximise the spring flowers and foliage and may in future extend north towards Broadway – perhaps with trains hauled by 35006 “Peninsula and Oriental Lines” just like the real thing!

BURNHAM ON SEA by John Perrett

2FS (9.42mm) Gauge 2mm Scale

CLIC_2014A_Burnham on SeaSituated on the Somerset Coast, this town was once the important northern terminus of the Somerset and Dorset Railway, linking the Bristol Channel with the English Channel.  The pier at Burnham received rails from Welsh steelworks to be carried onward to the expanding rail network in southern England on paired bolster wagons while pleasure steamers such as the PS Waverley would also call during the summer.  Burnham Pier was also used by the lifeboat, which had its own private siding.

The railway station, opened on 3 May 1858, unusually featured a short overall roof and a long platform for excursion trains.  it closed to normal passenger workings on 29 October 1951 with excursion traffic continuing to 8 September 1962 and goods to 20 May 1963.

CLIC_2014A_Burnham_StationThe layout was made and exhibited by the late Denys Brownlee and is being rejuvenated by John Perrett with the ultimate aim of depicting the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway scene in the 1920s and 30s.  Current stock is mainly borrowed or adapted N gauge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HARWOOD JUNCTION by Phil and Maggie Venvil

N Gauge 2mm Scale

CLIC_2014A_Harwood JunctionHarwood Junction was originally designed to fit in with the West Sussex N Gauge Group’s modular layout.  In its current form however it depicts the changing fortunes of steam hauled freight from Grouping in 1923 until the 1960s Beeching Axe.

 

CLIC_2014A_Harwood Junction_4FHarwood itself is a small but industrious Midland conurbation with a brewery (offstage at Harwood Town) and a road and rail connected dairy.  Coal, livestock, parcels and general goods traffic also use Harwood Junction.  Sadly the site is now a multiplex cinema and shopping centre.

Notable behind former Midland Railway 4F 4232 were a tank wagon in the silver livery of Berry Wiggins and a wagon built to carry three bladed aircraft propellers.

 

WORRIFF by Roy Wilson

N Gauge 2mm Scale

CLIC_2014A_Worriff_Class 20What if they hadn’t closed my local railway station in the 1960s?  What might it have looked like 10 years on?  The link to two cities could still be there, connected to a proposed early park and ride and a promised tramway system, plus local links to rapidly expanding villages and an extension to two main lines.

With a mixture of public and private enterprise, a local disused colliery line to an adventure park using a restored railcar could have been developed – which could also have been used for schools and commuter traffic as it linked two main lines.  What if freight trains were still running too?

As is described on other pages, Berry Wiggins supplied petrol and fuel oil as well as the bitumen that made their name from refineries in Kent and Manchester Docks via depots in Somerset and Gloucestershire. In fact so well remembered was Berry Wiggins - Doctor Who appearance aside - that the idea of a rake of their tank wagons for Church Hislop came from an exhibition visitor at Gloucester in 2014.Worriff is set around 1972 with DMU Classes 101 and 108, Gloucester RCW railcar Class 122 and diesel locomotive classes 24 and 33.  I was also particularly indebted to Roy Wilson for allowing me to run the set of six black liveried Berry Wiggins tank wagons that had just been supplied to me by Robbie Burns, each being individually numbered.  Exactly the sort of bespoke helpful service that you can expect from Robbie’s Rolling Stock!

 

 

MINI SCENES 

 

CLIC_2014A_Miniscenes_signA welcome newcomer to St Margaret’s Hall was Redditch based Tracey Lippett and her Mini Scenes: dioramas including rocks, cliffs, streams, bogs and other water features and also often featuring Minis and other classic British cars as well as flying saucers and aliens!  Tracey is also keen to help other modellers with their tricky scenic issues and can be emailed on Reddmini@aol.com.

 

CLIC_2014A_Miniscenes_stack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MODEL BUS FEDERATION AND NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ROAD TRANSPORT MODELLERS 

represented by Paul and David Mellor

4mm Scale

 

CLIC_2014A_Mellor_Huntsman tipperIt is always a joy to be re-united with The Mellor Brothers and their ever expanding fleets of local buses and lorries, including this vintage six wheeled tipper in the green livery of Naunton based Huntsman Quarries.

The quarrying of Cotswold stone at Naunton is referred to in the Doomsday Book in 1086. Even then, it was valued as a building stone and roofing slate which was so attractive that it travelled well beyond the local market.

The focus changed in the 1920s when the unique frost resistance of the Huntsmans limestone earned a new reputation as a high quality aggregate. In those days, the rock was worked by hand and transported by horse and cart.

The advent of mechanical power brought a steady expansion of the operation, and in 1936 the Hanks family (who still retain an interest) established Huntsmans Quarries as a private limited company. An updated crushing and screening plant was added in the 1960s as the quarry responded to the demand for aggregate for infrastructure. Investment has continued in more recent years as the operation has met increasingly demanding product and environmental specifications.

 

CLIC_2014A_Mellor_Scania 8x6Meanwhile, RLC Transport of The Reddings, Cheltenham, was established in 1986 as an owner-operator and has grown to be one of Gloucestershire’s premier Heavy Haulage companies, transporting plant and machinery to both the building and construction industries with a nationwide coverage including Ireland and Western Europe.  Among the cab units capable of tackling the heaviest of loads is this Scania 8×6.

 

TRAVEL 2000

by Andy Peckham

4mm Scale

 

CLIC_2014A_Peckham_jacksSimilarly, Andy Peckham’s Travel 2000 always has something new and interesting to offer whether the spectator looks at the School Bus, Wedding Hire, local service bus or long distance executive hire fleet.  In this instance one of the smaller School Buses is up on hydraulic jacks in the yard for maintenance of the underside of the vehicle while a fork lift truck is at work close to one of the similarly marked rear engined double deckers.

Photo-bombing the otherwise yellow line up is a recovery vehicle on site to remove another yellow double decked School Bus.Photo-bombing the otherwise yellow line up is a recovery vehicle on site to remove another rear engined yellow double decked School Bus – a Metro-Cammell Weymann Metrobus with Gardner running gear.

 

 

 

MODELLING DEMONSTRATION

by Steve Harrod, Trevor Hale, Mark Begley and Andi Dell

 

CLIC_2014A_Modelling_wiring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLIC_2014A_Modelling_Western

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The October 2014 Cheltenham GWR Modeller’s Exhibition also featured trade support from Cheltenham Model Centre, Clive Reid’s pre-enjoyed model railways, Stewart Blencowe’s Railway timetables, books, photos and slides, Robbie’s Rolling Stock, Castle Trains and the Festiniog Railway.

 

THE NAME IS CLIC SARGENT

The programme for the October 2014 Cheltenham GWR Modeller's Exhibition also announced that in July 2014 Class 60 diesel electric Co-Co locomotive 60 087 had been named "CLIC Sargent" by its new owners, Colas Rail Freight. Toton based 60 087 carried the name "Slioch" - after a Scottish mountain - in 1993 and 1999 but was renamed "Barry Needham" from 2005 to 2010.The programme for the October 2014 Cheltenham GWR Modeller’s Exhibition also announced that in July 2014 Class 60 diesel electric Co-Co locomotive 60 087 had been named “CLIC Sargent” by its new owners, Colas Rail Freight.  Toton based 60 087 carried the name “Slioch” – after a Scottish mountain – in 1993 and 1999 but was renamed “Barry Needham” from 2005 to 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

However, 60 087's new nameplates are the first ones to incorporate a web address that I have seen! The Brush-assembled Mirrlees engined Type 5s were the last heavy freight diesel to be designed and built in Britain and in 2014 Class 60 celebrates its 25th anniversaryHowever, 60 087’s new nameplates are the first ones to incorporate a web address that I have seen!  The Brush-assembled Mirrlees engined Type 5s were the last heavy freight diesel to be designed and built in Britain and in 2014 Class 60 celebrates its 25th anniversary.

 

From 2010 "CLIC Sargent" had been applied by operator Virgin Trains to nine car Pendolino electric multiple unit 390 047, originally named "Virgin Atlantic" in 2005 and later "Heaven's Angels" after Virgin's attempt to cover Glasgow-Euston in record time on 22 September 2006. The tilting Class 390s - originally designed to run at 140 mph - are still Britain's fastest electric trains in domestic use as they run at a maximum 125 mph between London Euston, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester.From 2010 “CLIC Sargent” had been applied by operator Virgin Trains to nine car Pendolino electric multiple unit 390 047, originally named “Virgin Atlantic” in 2005 and later “Heaven’s Angels” after Virgin’s attempt to cover Glasgow-Euston in record time on 22 September 2006.

The tilting Class 390s - originally designed to run at 140 mph - are still Britain's fastest electric trains in domestic use as they run at a maximum 125 mph between London Euston, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. They have also been used by Virgin Trains on services along the non-electrified North Wales Coast line from Crewe to Holyhead and in this instance 390 047 "CLIC Sargent" is seen being hauled on this route by General Motors engined "Thunderbird" 57 303"Alan Tracy".The tilting Class 390s – originally designed to run at 140 mph – are still Britain’s fastest electric trains in domestic use as they run at a maximum 125 mph between London Euston, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester.  They have also been used by Virgin Trains on services along the non-electrified North Wales Coast line from Crewe to Holyhead and in this instance 390 047 “CLIC Sargent” is seen being hauled on this route by General Motors engined “Thunderbird” 57 303″Alan Tracy”.

 

And for both nostalgic and younger readers alike, this is what Liverpudlian ex Miss Pears Louise Payne looked like just after her marriage to Fred Fairbrass of pop group Right Said Fred but before her subsequent divorce and association with The X Factor's Simon Cowell. When she was definitely too sexy for her shirt!And for both nostalgic and younger readers alike, this is what Liverpudlian ex Miss Pears Louise Payne looked like just after her marriage to Fred Fairbrass of pop group Right Said Fred but before her subsequent divorce and association with The X Factor’s Simon Cowell.  When she was definitely too sexy for her shirt!

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