Both Chitterne and Navigation Road had a successful day at Wilton Railex in September. Work to convert Navigation Road to round-and-round configuration wasn’t quite completed in time but both layouts ran well and seemed popular with visitors.
Navigation Road was invited to appear at the recent National Festival of Railway Modelling at the NEC in November. Since exhibiting at the BRM Doncaster show we had decided to move from an end-to-end arrangement to an oval track plan, mainly to increase the lengths and variety of formations to exhibit. Unfortunately, the work was not completed in time, and we had to revert to the layout’s as built configuration. Over the two days the layout was popular with the crowds, which as many know, on the Saturday were large. Apart from the odd electronic issue and a very close roof leak the show went well, the operating team got into a good rhythm and many onlookers gave positive comments. We were pleased to be invited to such a national show and received several invites to exhibit elsewhere in the new year.
Work to complete the new scenic section of Chitterne continues at a more modest pace, but Chris H has expended numerous hours on grass, hedges and some magnificent new trees whilst Richard S and Chris B have finally completed the new bridge. The only significant remaining scenic task is adding undergrowth and water to the stream.
With work on Navigation Road paused for now, room has been released for the welcome return of our test track.
This report – written by Richard Simpson – appears in issue 247 of the EM Gauge Society newsletter.