With Navigation Road temporarily put back into storage, our test track has once again been in regular use, particularly with recently purchased OO models being demonstrated before conversion to EM.
Work on Chitterne has continued at a frenetic pace; well to be precise Chris H has continued at a frenetic pace whilst the rest of us watch in amazement!
Chris has installed practically all of the remaining fences and hedges together with a great deal of bushes and undergrowth to fill out the new scenic section. Only water and reeds in the stream, the odd tree and some improvement to small areas of static grass now remain to complete the bucolic splendour.
Another significant ongoing task is extending the proscenium and associated lighting to accommodate the new baseboard. Again, excellent progress is being made (mostly by Chris H!)
Meanwhile, Richard S decided to replace the gate which closes off the military line. He was unhappy with the plastic original because (a) it was bent, (b) it turned by rotating the entire gate post and (c) moving in a series of jerks, it didn’t complete the full 90° as the clutch would slip.
First he constructed a metal gate from a commercial etch which turns on scratch built working hinges via an almost invisible drive mechanism.
He then set about creating an insanely complex servo control system which detects the position of the gate by the capacitive coupling between it and the gate posts.
Other members are sceptical of this Heath Robinson contraption and worry it will prove unreliable when Chitterne is displayed at ExpoEM in May!
This report – written by Richard Simpson – appears in issue 248 of the EM Gauge Society newsletter.