Events/Trips in 2019.
The WMR&ES Christmas Open Day's 2019
I was once again involved with the Wanganui Model Railway and Engineering Society Inc Christmas Open days. This year it was held on the 13th, 14th and 15th December 2019. I had my NZ120 (Back Country NZ), Keegans (Thomas Branch Line) layouts, my 5 Inch loco and Kiddie ride in the show.
Day Out With Thomas Event
9th & 10th November 2019
We were once again (for the third time) involved with the Day out with Thomas Event at the Glenbrook Vintage Railway near Waiuku, Auckland. Like last time we headed up to Auckland on the Friday, stopping to look at a few things on the way, getting to the GVR about 5.30pm. We managed to unload the layout and get it partly together before we headed off to our cabin in Waiuku. Its was another busy Saturday and Sunday with all the visitors enjoying my layout while they waited for there train ride. On the Monday I started a weeks work course up there while the others headed in to Auckland for the day (visiting the new Lego store etc). The others headed home with my layout on the Tuesday while I flew home on the friday after my course.
This was another great, fun weekend away. I got to see things I hadnt done before and of course play trains. We would like to thank Tim, Sean and the Glenbrook Vintage Railway team for all there help again. They have mentioned they love having my layout up there and want us again for furture Thomas events. A big thank you also to my helpers, my partner Lloyian, sister Kylie, nephew Keegan and mate Stephen for the help with my layout and dealing with the public over the weekend. I could not do this without your surport.
This was another great, fun weekend away. I got to see things I hadnt done before and of course play trains. We would like to thank Tim, Sean and the Glenbrook Vintage Railway team for all there help again. They have mentioned they love having my layout up there and want us again for furture Thomas events. A big thank you also to my helpers, my partner Lloyian, sister Kylie, nephew Keegan and mate Stephen for the help with my layout and dealing with the public over the weekend. I could not do this without your surport.
New Plymouth Society of Model & Experimental Engineers Inc.
26th to the 28th October 2019 (Labour Weekend)
Over long public holiday weekends be it Easter, Queens Birthday or Labour weekends a lot of Model Engineering groups along with some Rail preservation sites run events over these holiday periods. With a lot of engineering groups they invite visiting groups or models from out of town to these events. The New Plymouth club does this over Labour Weekend every year. Ewan Pound goes to this every year normally for just one day but this year he went for the whole weekend. This year I decided to head up, along with, Lloryian, Keegan and Dogs for the Saturday only. Ewan took along his new 5 Inch gauge (blue) 08 class Diesel loco and I took my 5 Inch gauge (green) Hercules Traveller loco. Both these locos run off batteries. While setting them up Keegan got invited to have a drive of the N P clubs electric loco, you should have seen his grin from ear to ear as he drove it around the track with a mince savoury in one hand and the train controls in the other. We also meet up with Charley there.
Our locos were inspected by the N P club and given the ok to run on their tracks. Ewan went first, with Keegan along for the ride. This is the first time that he had run his loco on the tracks since it arrived from the manufacture in England. Followed by me giving my one a go. This was also the first time that I had driven my loco since I brought it off Trade Me about 6 months ago. Both locos went really well. After a while I let Keegan have a drive with me riding behind before letting Keegan do it by himself. Keegan must have been on the loco for almost 2 hours driving it around the track before the batteries went flat. The New Plymouth club runs 5, 3 ½ and 2 ½ inch gauge tracks. But do have plans to move to a new site where they can then also do the 7 ¼ inch track as well.
A big thank you to the New Plymouth group for all their help, letting us run our locos and for letting my nephew have a drive, even our dogs enjoyed the day out. Photos taken by myself, Lloryian Nordell, Charley Masters and one from the New Plymouth clubs Facebook page.
Our locos were inspected by the N P club and given the ok to run on their tracks. Ewan went first, with Keegan along for the ride. This is the first time that he had run his loco on the tracks since it arrived from the manufacture in England. Followed by me giving my one a go. This was also the first time that I had driven my loco since I brought it off Trade Me about 6 months ago. Both locos went really well. After a while I let Keegan have a drive with me riding behind before letting Keegan do it by himself. Keegan must have been on the loco for almost 2 hours driving it around the track before the batteries went flat. The New Plymouth club runs 5, 3 ½ and 2 ½ inch gauge tracks. But do have plans to move to a new site where they can then also do the 7 ¼ inch track as well.
A big thank you to the New Plymouth group for all their help, letting us run our locos and for letting my nephew have a drive, even our dogs enjoyed the day out. Photos taken by myself, Lloryian Nordell, Charley Masters and one from the New Plymouth clubs Facebook page.
Wanganui Model Railway Expo
September 28th & 29th 2019
Over the last weekend of September the Wanganui Model Railway & Engineering society once again held their show at the Wanganui City College school hall. They had local member’s layouts and models on display, as well as layouts from Napier, Taupo, Dannevirke and Wellington and a few trade stands. Other groups also displayed their interests, these being SteamRail Wanganui Inc, The New Plymouth Society of Model & Experimental Engineers Inc (who also gave miniature Traction Engine rides out the front of the building) and a couple of private steam boats on display from John Munro and Steve McClune.
I was meant to have my Thomas layout at the event but due to having to fly to Christchurch for work on the Sunday I had to pull out. But I did managed to get my nephew Keegan''s Thomas layout ready and he showed that instead with help from myself (on the Saturday) and my sister and mother on the Sunday. Keegan was so excited to be able to show his own layout.
I was meant to have my Thomas layout at the event but due to having to fly to Christchurch for work on the Sunday I had to pull out. But I did managed to get my nephew Keegan''s Thomas layout ready and he showed that instead with help from myself (on the Saturday) and my sister and mother on the Sunday. Keegan was so excited to be able to show his own layout.
Displaying my thomas Layout at the Esplanade Railway in P Nth.
10th & 11th August 2019
I was approached by Grant Taylor from the Esplanade Railway earlier on in the year about the possibility of displaying my Thomas layout in their new station building. After measuring up the building to see that the layout could fit in the building, I went away to look at possible dates. After checking my work roster for dates for when I had a 3 day weekend we decided to do this over the weekend of the 10th and 11th of August. At this stage I didnt know that it tied up with the lauch of Rail safety week. KiwiRail then also came on board and supplied lollies and activities for the kids and safety posters etc. Having the Thomas layout there was a great way to interact with the public and talk to them about rail safety, especially over railway crossings etc. It was a very busy weekend, with the Esplanade trains running all afternoon on the saturday but only a couple of hours on the Sunday due to the weather. I had my little helper with me again, my nephew Keegan. He also got to ride on the bigger trains. The layout was a hit with the public once again and I must thank my partner Lloryian, nephew Keegan, Grant Taylor, the Esplande team and KiwiRail for their help. It was a fun weekend. Photos by myself, Cameron Persson, Grant Taylor and the Manawatu Standard. See newspaper and KiwiRail iKon web sites reports about this weekend on the My Work page.
A Weekend away in the Taranaki
Over the weekend of the 30th & 31st of March 2019, SteamRail Wanganui and the Wanganui Model Railway & Engineering Society joined forces for a visit to the Waitara Railway Preservation Society and the New Plymouth Model Railway Club. The Wanganui based Waitara Rail members headed up on the Saturday (staying the night there) with their Motor Trolleys for recertifation of the trolleys and drivers tickets before running them on the line.
On the Sunday when the rest of the Wanganui club members arrived we ran the trolleys between Waitara and Lepperton on the old branch line. We then proceeded onto the New Plymouth model railway club on the way home to veiw their large layout. They mainly run American trains on this layout but the scencey is based on New Zealand. They call themselves the Central Western (as New Plymouth is in the centre of the north island and on the west side). They have modelled from P Nth to New Plymouth (including some of the smaller Taranaki towns inbetween, including Whareroa Dairy Factory) and they run trains to time tables between the 2 main stations, shunting the smaller stations as needed.
This was a fun weekend away and a big thank you to the Waitara and New Plymouth groups for hosting us. We must also give a big thank you to KiwiRail who gave us the use of one of their track gang trucks for the weekend to transport our Trolleys. We are all looking forward to our next trip up there.
The Great Manawatu
Steam Fair
16th & 17th March 2019
Over this weekend I once again displayed one of my model railways layouts at this event. This is the 3rd time I have attended this show. This year I decided to take my Thomas layout instead of my Hornby Dublo one to give the public something different to look at. Once again my layout was a hit, with a lot of great comments coming from both young and old. We also took our Kiddie Ride train long again. The Fair is hosted by the Steam Traction Society near Feilding. They had working traction engines and steam rollers doing working displays and rides for the public. Along with other vintage machinery and models on display. Once again thank you to my nephew Keegan for being my main helper over the weekend, my partner Lloryian for her help with set up etc and to the other club members who helped during the event. Most of the photos were taken by myself but there is 5 taken by Cameron Persson.
Locomotion 2019
On Saturday the 26th of January the P Nth Model Engineering club held their big open day with visiting engines from other NZ Model Engineering club. I took my nehpew along to this event along with several members of the two Wanganui clubs I belong too. We see here just a few photos of this fun day. Photos by Blair Jordan and one by Ken Le Prou.
Wanganui Vintage Weekend
19th to 21st January 2019
SRW was once again involved with the Wanganui Vintage weekend. We again had our doors open to the public on the Saturday and Sunday and on the Monday we gave Jigger rides. This included my Loco and Motor Trolley being on show along with the Motor Trolley giving rides on the Monday. Mainline Steam were in town again also offering short shuttle runs to East Town, Ruatangata (Whangaehu) and Kai Iwi with their Jb loco on the first 2 days. SRW were hired to do the security of the train overnight again. Although there was a bit of a mix up with advertising again prior to this weekend, things went really well. We had a lot of visitors over the weekend through the shed who were all really impressed with the restoration work done. We also gave approx. 171 people rides on the jiggers on the Monday. Overall we are rapped at how the weekend went. We thank all members who helped out over the weekend. Some of these photos were taken by myself but most of them were by the Wanganui Camera club (Vintage weekend logo) who were hired as the official photographers for vintage weekend. Here are just a few examples of what they took over this great weekend.