| THE BUFFER |
| February & March , 2004 |
| Issue No. 213 & 214 |
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| HEADER PICTURE: Bachmann's G Scale 2-4-2 locomotive Lyn in Southern Railway livery. The prototype was delivered to the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway, Devon from the American locomotive manufacturer Baldwin in 1899. The London and Southwestern Railway acquired the line in 1922, the railway being absorbed into the Southern Railway the following year. The railway was closed in September 1935. See www.lynton-barnstaple-railway.org for details of the reemerging Lynton and Barnstaple Railway. Photograph by Geoff Chandler. THE ROAD AHEAD: The schedule of meetings for the balance of the 2003/4 year has been confirmed: * February 21 * March 20 * April 17 (Ardleigh Bitton grand unveiling) * May 15 * June 19 The Great British Train Show April 24/25. Subject to weather conditions, Ardleigh Bitton, or portions thereof, will be on display at our February meeting, which will be held on the 21st. at the usual Elliot Street location 13.00-16.30. Please bring models for discussion. At the time of writing video/slide material is required for that meeting. A video under the Best of Britain Steam Series covering Scotland will be presented. MEMBERSHIP MATTERS: At the time of writing (mid-January) our Treasurer reported that almost half of those who were members in 2003 have paid their annual dues for this year. If you wish to continue your membership of The Buffers, please submit a cheque, in the amount of $20.00 payable to THE BUFFERS, to John Mason at his home address. |
| NEW LAYOUT: Progress as of February 21st. See new pictures of progress so far of the new layout. |
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| JANUARY MEETING ACTIVITIES: Bearing in mind the poor weather conditions, a pleasing number of members were in attendance. John Mason circulated the 2003 Buffers Financial Statement. Any member who was not present at the meeting and would like a copy of the Statement should contact the Secretary. Andrew Hopkins, who was unable to attend the meeting, submitted a general report on progress with our layout, Ardleigh Bitton, to the Secretary via e-mail. Briefly, as of January 11, it was reported that all track, including Fiddle yard, was complete, the last spike having been installed the previous Thursday. William Bickley is working with plaster bandages and green paint in the development of scenic effects. Other reports indicated that the backdrop has been painted and wiring completed. Ed Spencer reported on current and future European locomotive production at the Oxford Street East plant. Ed conducted our monthly draw which realized $21.50 for club funds. The winner of the two rural railway prints donated by Yanis Smit was Roy Hopkins. PLEASE NOTE: The draw has become a successful revenue generator for The Buffers. Your writer will provide the prize for February however, at that meeting, it is suggested that we develop a schedule of donors for the balance of the 2003/2004 season. Yanis Smit reported that he had spent some time in Britain over the Christmas period and displayed his recent acquisition of dye-cast models related to bus travel in South Wales from about the forties to the present day. Brian Tustin noted that a brass bell with the inscription British Railways was on display at the Komoka Railway Museum. Jim Plimmer reported on activities at the Dapol plant, Llangollen, and advised that while business appeared to be flourishing, the BBC had withdrawn its property from the Dr. Who Exhibition that had been a feature of the Llangollen complex for many years. Tony Winter was congratulated on his election to the office of Mayor of the Town of St. Marys last November. Tony referred to his boyhood in the Fife coal fields of Scotland and presented several books, which included the Last Days of Steam in Scotland and Scottish Branch Line Steam. Also, an Ian Allan publication of 1948 priced 3s. & 6d. on the Stanier Pacifics. Finally, Tony noted that he was a member of a committee of Mayors of various municipalities from London to Kitchener with reference to the improvement of VIA Rail service on the London to Toronto line via Stratford and Kitchener (another Great Way Round!). Andrew Larson presented photographs he had taken about 18 months ago of a VIA Rail demonstration train of the-then newly acquired Nightstar passenger stock. Full details of the acquisition of this stock were included in the January 2001 edition of this Newsletter. David Edwards noted that he now had a new job and would be able to attend Buffers meetings on a more regular basis. Peter Finnigan displayed a nicely constructed and decorated canal narrowboat in 4mm scale made by a friend using a proprietary kit. Dennis Littler noted that, as a result of his article published in a recent edition of Ships Monthly (see reference in the January edition of The Buffer) a group that has connections with the Manchester Ship Canal Association had requested permission to reproduce the article. These retired seamen came regularly on ships down the Manchester Ship Canal, across the Atlantic and through the Great Lakes. Thanks to Roy Hopkins for presenting a video produced during the final running-down year or so of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Line between Bath Green Park and Bournemouth. Closed in March 1966 and never dieselized; the line lost its through-express passenger services from the North of England to Bournemouth in September 1962, relegating it to providing purely local service. Between formal parts of the meeting, Joe Belecky mentioned his need for details of lamp codes used on British Railways steam and the earlier diesel locomotives. Geoff Chandler agreed to obtain the necessary information in due course. Joe Chiasson referred to the recent death of noted local railway enthusiast, modeler and original owner of Dundas Hobbies, Bob Ram. Joe stressed the importance of prescribing ownership of collections which, in this case, included a large historic photograph and negative collection, documents, books and models. Members of The Buffers were pleased to learn that Mr. Ram's collection had been taken under the wing of a number of local railway enthusiasts. PICTURE BELOW RIGHT: introduced by the LMS in 1928, 2P 40660 was a development of a Midland Railway design. Photograph circa 1950 at Crewe from John Mason's collection. |
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| PICTURE ABOVE LEFT: Taken on a hot day in early September 2003, by Geoff Chandler, is Stanier Black Five 45212, built by the LMS in 1935, heading an early-afternoon Grosmont to Pickering train on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. The two front coaches are restored Gresley teak stock, the rest of the train consists of ex-British Railways Mark I coaches in either carmine and cream or maroon. Heartbeat enthusiasts will be interested to read that the bridge under which the train has just passed has been frequently used in episodes due to the remoteness of location. THE ROAD AHEAD: Our March meeting will be held at the usual Elliott Street location on the 20th, 13:00 to 16:30. It is anticipated that Roy Hopkins will be presenting either a slide show or up-to-date video material on British railway activities. Also, subject to Roy's special VCR being available, Jim Plimmer will bring a railway video for presentation. March 13-14: Toronto Model Railway Show, 650 Dixon Road and Highway 27. April 4: Lakeshore Model Railroaders Flea Market at Humber College. This deals mostly with North American but there are often UK items at very good prices. April 18: Toronto Toy, Train and Doll Collectors Show at the International Centre, Derry/Airport Road, Malton. April 24-25: The Great British Train Show. Full details have already been circulated to members. FEBRUARY MEETING ACTIVITIES: Members were extremely pleased to be able to examine a virtually complete module from our Ardleigh Bitton layout. It was interesting to see how quickly and effectively the module was able to be set up and dismantled. This particular module incorporates the Bitton station location, with platforms, goods shed, signal box and over bridge. Andrew Hopkins assured your writer that the bridge over the road on the east side of Bitton had been strengthened to take Black Fives! Andrew noted that the committee would be interested in donations of appropriate items for use on the layout. These would received at the discretion of the committee. Ideal choices would be items such as passengers, telephone box etc.Geoff Chandler indicated that he would donate the plastic church that he had earlier acquired from Les Torrens and which had been detailed by Andrew and used in past displays of our old layout. Ed Spencer noted that his wife might be able to provide a scale St. George's flag for the tower. At present, a Union Flag is flying from the church tower. Ed Spencer conducted a draw, which netted just over $20.00 for the benefit of The Buffers. We have donation commitments, covering March to June and for our first meeting of the 2004 season in September, by Charles Grant (visitor), Joe Belecky, Geoff Chandler, Tony Winter and Jim Plimmer (September meeting). Thanks to Ed for his kind donation of a number (10) of engraved metal plates for module identification. A round-table discussion produced a number of interesting presentations from members. John Mason and Ed Spencer having on display their developing one-inch scale live-steam models of, in John's case, a London and South Western 4-4-0 Class T6 while Ed is building an 0-4-0 industrial saddle tank. While on the subject of live-steam, Yanis Smit brought along the wheel set for his GWR County Class 4-6-0. Yanis's plans for the County have been reported in earlier editions of The Buffer. John Mason referred to an internet web site called Surviving Steam Locos of North America. Access to this site can be gained through www.steamlocomotive.com/lists/ . Geoff Chandler noted that a fair number of our membership had renewed for 2004 and that, as a reminder had been included in both the January and February editions of The Buffer with e-mails sent to some members, any outstanding memberships will be closed, effective February 29. Geoff Chandler circulated a memorandum to each member presented regarding the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act; a copy of the memorandum will be included with the March edition of The Buffer for those members who were not in attendance at the meeting. Reports were also received from Jim Plimmer (re: Dapol models), Richard Hobby (re: moving to Fair Isle - not him!), Tony Winter (re: Corgi models on display), and Dennis Littler (re: stamps of railway interest). Joe Belecky noted that, in previous years, we had held an open house during the London Model Railroad Association weekend in April. It was noted that this year the LMRA weekend conflicted with the Great British Train Show |
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