2010

Monday 21st June 2010 - Club Visit to Chingford
On Saturday members of the club visited Chingford Model Engineering Club. We were made very welcome and spent about 5 hours having rides and also driving the locomotives ourselves. They are open every Sunday in the summer and are well worth a visit.

Monday 19th April - Progress Report on Constable Wharf
It has been a long, hard winter on Constable Wharf but we have finally sorted out the cassette system for the layout. We should have built the cassestte first and laid the track to them, but we did it the other way round and this is the reason it has taken us most of the winter to sort out the problems.

We are using the small connectors that have pins on one side and holes on the other. This system aligns the tracks, puts power to the cassettee, but also lights and LED on the control panel to tell the operator that a cassette is in position.

The next job is to finish connecting the points and point motors and then we can fine tune the track and start the buildings.

Monday 19th April - Cornard Attends Amersham Exhibition
Cornard attended Amersham and Chorleywood Model Railway Society's exhibition on the Saturday 17th April. Below are photos of Cornard at the exhibition with the operators in their new shirts, along with the club emblem, which has been put on the cloth around the layout.

Sunday 24th January - Another layout taking part in 2010 Challenge
Club member Chris Martin is also taking part in the layout challenge at this year's exhibition. The layout is called 'Chapel Crossing'. The description of the layout is as follows:

"The layout is OO modern image. It has a few sidings where some engineers wagons are loaded and stabled. Somehow this small backwater has been overlooked in various reorganisations. It also shows that even in a micro layout of three square feet it is also possible to have a continuous run. Built with Peco Finescale trackwork."

Thursday 21st January - Layouts attending 30th Exhibition 2010
We now have details of two of the layouts that will be attending our 30th model railway exhibition in October, as part of the 2010 layout challenge.

These are 'Up and Down', which is a working model of a cliff railway that could be seen on the coast in the UK and 'Kouigwasser', a 2' 6" (760mm) gauge railway to HOe scale, which is based in Austria.

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2009

Sunday 6th December - Update on Club Layouts
Work has been continuing to the trackwork on our club layouts. The 'OO' gauge group are nearing completion with the track ballasting on Stanham, whilst the 'O' gauge group are currently working on the fiddle yard 'cassettes' for Constable Wharf.

The following photographs, taken by Paul Sumption, were taken during our last meeting on Friday evening and show the progress on the layouts.

Track Ballasting on Stanham:

Fiddle Yard Cassettes for Constable Wharf:

General Photographs of Stanham:

Completed Trackwork on Constable Wharf:

Sunday 11th October - Model Railway Exhibition
Our 29th Model Railway Exhibition was held on Saturday 3rd October at St. Peter's Church. A gallery showing photos of the day can be found here.

Saturday 16th May - Layouts Attend Stowmarket Exhibition
Club layout Cornard and Derek Reeve's layout Gestup St Anne both attended the Stowmarket model railway exhibition on the 26th April. Some photos of the layouts, taken by Peter Worton, can be viewed by clicking on the thumbnails below.

Cornard:

Gestup St Anne:

Friday 17th April - Update on Constable Wharf
We have begun testing the boards to make sure that power is getting to the track and to test the isolators and points work. Two boards have been tested and there are four to go.

Wednesday 25th March - General Club News
Easter is the closing date for applications for the 2010 Exhibition layout challenge. So far we have 14 people who have shown an interest in taking part, though there is still time to enter. Information about the challenge can be found on the Exhibitions page or you can contact Peter Worton at secretary@sudburymrc.org.uk for more details.

Preparations are being made for this year's events, which include our open day and 29th annual model railway exhibition. The open day will be held on Sunday 21st June and the exhibition on Saturday 3rd October. More information on both of these events will appear on the website soon.

Work on club layout Constable Wharf has been slow over the last few months, though the next job is to make the leads from the control panel to the boards.

Constable Wharf under construction at the 2008 Open Day.

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2008

Thursday 11th December - 2010 Layout Challenge
We now have several people who have expressed an interest in building a layout for our 30th exhibition in 2010. There is still time to enter the challenge though. For more details, please contact Peter Worton at secretary@sudburymrc.org.uk.

Saturday 25th October - Layout Challenge for 2010 Exhibition
Saturday 2nd October 2010 will see our 30th exhibition and to celebrate this milestone we will be holding a layout challenge.

If you live within an hour of Sudbury and would like to be considered to bring a layout, then here are the rules:

• The layout must not have an area bigger than 10 square feet. For example, if a layout is 5 foot long, it cannot be more than 2 foot in width.
• The layout must not be longer than 5 foot in length.
• There must be something moving.
• It must be finished, ie. track ballasted, scenery, etc.
• Can be free standing or require a table.
• Any scale or gauge.

The visiting public will be asked to judge the layouts and the winner will win a prize.

If you would like to have your layout considered or need more information, then please contact the club secretary, Peter Worton at secretary@sudburymrc.org.uk.

Thursday 9th October - Model Railway Exhibition
Our 28th Model Railway Exhibition was held on Saturday 4th October at St. Peter's Church. A gallery showing photos of the day can be found here.

Saturday 2nd August - Exhibition Attendance
Cornard has been invited to an exhibition at Needham Market, which is being organised by One Model Railway Club. The exhibition takes place on Saturday 23rd August in Needham Market Community Centre, from 10am to 5pm.

More details can be found on One MRC's website at www.onemrc.co.uk/needham/.

Monday 5th May - Update for April on Constable Wharf
All the track has been laid and wiring has started. We are also looking at the buildings, which we will need for the layout. The control panels are also under construction. Controllers have been bought; we are using Kent Panel Controls. DCC is not for us at the present time due to cost.

With only five weeks to the Open Day, hopefully we might have something running. Where was that clockwork engine?

Monday 20th April - Arrival of New Layouts at the Club
Over the last month, we have added two more layouts to the club. The first is an EM gauge layout that the club members built about 10 years ago. As the members who had stock for the layout left the club, it was given to Ian, who was one of the EM Group. Ian is now in the process of moving and no longer has room for Sturmer, so has offered it back to the club.

It may appear at the Open Day in June for members to assess what needs to be done to get it working again. Ian has very kindly donated the stock for the layout.

The other layout has been acquired for the junior members, so they can play trains and also begin to learn some of the skills needed to build a model railway.

Recently acquired layout for the junior members to practice their modelling skills on

Monday 14th April - News Update on Stanhem Quay
Most of the trackwork is now complete. Work is nearly finished on the wiring and is awaiting the completion of the track to have a full test running session on the whole layout. The station platforms are now well underway.

A manual uncoupling device has been designed and constructed and is in the process of being installed. This has been designed to uncouple tension lock couplings and has proved to be successful after some fine tuning.

Work has started in the quayside area, namely the harbour wall and the design of individual buildings.

Stanhem Quay with most of the trackwork completed

Saturday 1st March - Progress Report on Constable Wharf
During February, the second layer of polystyrene has been laid and painted. Height adjusters are now being put on the legs and the first lengths of track have been laid.

Sunday 27th January - Progress Report on Constable Wharf
This month we have finished building new boards for the layout and laid out the points that have been built. We are laying the track on thin polystyrene to raise it from the baseboard.

Hopefully in the next few weeks, we will start track laying, but the February update will see how successful we have been.

Sunday 6th January - Club Layouts Update
Stanhem our new 00 layout had its first loco run before Christmas, although there is still some more track to finish laying. The layout should be at our exhibition in October.

Constable Wharf is our first venture into O gauge. The baseboards are built and have been made into 3 boxes for storage and construction. Hopefully, track laying can commence in the next couple of weeks.

Saturday 5th January - Photo Galleries
Galleries showing photos of previous exhibitions have now been set up and can be found from the 'Previous Exhibitions' section on the Exhibitions page.

Saturday 5th January - Welcome to our new website!!!
Further content, including more information about our layouts and club events, will be added over the next few weeks, so please visit again soon.