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Steam Days at Shrewsbury, by Tim Croton

Tim brought along a set of images of steam at Shrewsbury locations which
he had been given from a colleague. They had been part of an earlier
historical society slideshow which had been shared.
The collection ranged from the late 1800's right up to the 1960's,
including an array of different locomotives that had been at Shrewsbury
sheds, or passed through. Tim provided identifications and possible
associated dates for each, and invited discussion to verify them (or
otherwise). Several members were able to contribute to the narrowing of
dates by the identification of coaches, or local architectural landmarks
in the background.

The images also document a decline in the condition of some locomotives
into the 60's, and while many of those featured were inevitably
scrapped, others did make it into preservation.
Tim also had some very atmospheric night-time photos, with background
flood lights reflecting off the oily surfaces, and glowing through the
steam.

By some coincidence, our meeting was on the anniversary of the last
steam-hauled Cambrian Coast Express, on the 4th March 1967.

As many of us already know, Tim is also part of the team the runs the
Shrewsbury Festival of Model Railways, which this year is on 13th June
at St.Mary's Church, Dogpole, SY1 1DX.


What's On My Workbench

The other part of the meeting a few members had brought along some
projects in progress.

Dave Gotliffe gave us an update on his N gauge Llangollen cameo layout
build, bringing along the new buildings he had made for the waiting
rooms, platforms and canopies. Dave detailed how he builds them mostly
with plasticard laminated with embossed styrene sheets for the textures,
then scratch builds the windows with micro strip. The canopy valence is
up next, so he is exploring a few ways to make it looking at some
different materials and techniques.

Michael Fogerty brought along the test bed for an electronics project he
is working on to control his layout and garden line wirelessly – using a
video game pad! Built around an ESP32 controller which are typically
used these days in robotic lawnmowers etc, he is working on ways to
change points, control lights and animation, open crossing gates, and
operate locomotives. Having fully embraced the tech revolution for the
benefit of his railway, Michael is also making the most of AI to help
write the code for the controller.

Vernon Larcombe gave an update on the progress of his Dawley & Stirchley
station diorama in 2mm finescale, featuring his LIDAR contoured
landscape as seen previously in the newsletter. Now adding scratch built
fences and detailing, and constructing the point rodding from 2mm
Association etched kits. Vernon is definitely keen on detail – the
rodding looks remarkable bedded in alongside the track, and he brought
some other progress in the form of a coal bunker, dustbins, a
wheelbarrow, and a lamp for the platform.

Dave Angell told us that he had not so much been at the workbench
recently but rather at his desk, having been researching and writing
about Crown Railways from India and it's links with the history of
Triang. I'll not relay it all here though – head to Dave's own website
for the full article :
https://daveangell.co.uk/my-displays/crown-railways-model-railways-india/

 

Andy Vaughan.