On my arrival I was greeted with a surprise, Tony had been given the key to open up as upper management were unable to attend, so it was left to me.
No script, agenda or plan! Just like real life!
I checked our speakers for the evening were in place and Rob was in charge of setting up the camera, laptops and the A/V system. The chairs and tables were being put out, Jack and Neil were starting up in the kitchen and members were trickling in, the organization was running nicely.
I had brought my son along as he was visiting from Australia, back to old times 30+ years ago when he was a member. This was also a last visit for Matthew as he was off to University and we all wish him well, he should drop in for Christmas time though.
It is amazing how involved and noisy the members are with many conversations going on but eventually I got everyone to sit and relax for the start of the club evening. I mentioned our forth coming exhibition less than two weeks away. Michael was in charge of the data and planning and said a few words.
Time for introducing our speakers for part one of the evening, which were Brian who was on the loco production line and Jim keeping all interested with comments and questions. Brian demonstrated the bare loco (sans boiler) showing the enclosed single cylinder double acting drive. He then showed us the special jig he had for drilling the holes in the solid brass block which was the cylinder and the upper surface which was to be the lower part of the steam valve operating parts. There were variations for all to see and the parts were passed around to the audience.
The camera was operated by Rob who followed Brian's work in close-up so all that was being done could be seen on the big screen. When Brian sat down and started to talk as he worked there was dead silence as we followed his talking screwdriver! It came across very well and many of us thought him very brave when he unscrewed and bared the steam port mechanism for our inspection, showed how it was set up and then put all back together and then applied air from the compressor and the engine ran straight away!
Brian showed us how the reversing worked and how to adjust the mechanism, which was basic but worked well. Brian was ably assisted by Jim who asked the odd question, he had told us he was playing the part of the 'decky learner' and was well qualified to do so. Brian then took questions and suggestions from the membership which went on until tea break.
They both received a well-deserved round of applause and appreciation. I said that we had got together over the preceding months to bring the evening together and we will repeat this kind of presentation again.
After the 'tea and biccy break' we came together again and we now had David Jones talk to us about his locos and how he was able to fit radio control into the confines of a miniature locomotive. David had brought a selection of his locos to show us and pointed out the different scales and width of track they ran on, 32mm and 45mm but also the size difference due to the different scales.
He clicked his remote and a video was up and running showing a steam fired loco and coaches running around a track with an upward gradient and a downhill run following. David said that with a remote control of the speed there would not have been the obvious slowing down while building up enough pressure to climb the gradient and also control the running away afterwards.
He showed several of his locos on screen each with a description of the track width and scale size. The narrow-gauge locos come out quite large on 32mm track as against a G1 and standard scale which look a lot smaller. David spoke of the ones he had made himself plus a few he had purchased including the charming Roundhouse locos.
Depending on what sort of control you want, quite often depended on the space available, simple control is the throttle. The transmitter is adjusted to remove the spring centring and have the stick at the bottom for stop and then progressively advanced to increase speed. Other choices include reverse and a whistle and whatever else you can think of.
David recommended the current 2.4Ghtz sets as there is no need to check if anyone else shares your frequency as on previous RC sets.
David showed us how propriety locos had the small (9 gramme) servos linked to the steam regulator in the loco and how some locos had the space underneath between the frames utilised for the radio and associated batteries. Heat from the boiler has also to be taken into account.
The locos were spirit fired and gas fired and carried their own water which can be transferred into the boiler with an axle pump and the surplus back to the holding tank in a bypass, but a manual pump also has to be fitted.
His talk was followed with great interest by the membership and it was one of those days when we over ran our time.
David also received a round of applause for his talk which was well done.
I thanked our speakers on behalf of the membership and we started the clear up and left quietly.
Roy Verden 13th September 2025