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Maesbury Marsh Canal Festival
This year we were very lucky with the weather as two years ago the ground allocated to us was ankle deep in water. This year the ground allocated to us when it was first inspected had about 6" of grass on it and looked all right but when it had been mown it turned out to be a bit like the Alps without the snow. The portable track was laid on the best part of the ground and we ran safely all day . Our 'Sweet Pea' ran faultlessly all day, we had to clean the fire, smoke box and tubes after about four hours running but this as they say is par for the course.
The canal festival was a different type of event to what we have become used to. The narrow boats that I saw were all beautifully presented and all very colourful. One narrowboat which particularly caught my attention was a 70ft 'working boat'. The hatches on the side of the engine room were open and the power unit was the biggest Lister engine I have ever seen, it dwarfed the usual Lister 'D' s normally seen on the rally fields. A lot of the engines fitted to narrow boats in the early years were Bolinder 'hot bulb' engines but I haven't seen one of them for years. At this event we met a different type of enthusiast and many and varied were the conversations with our club members. One in particular was with a chap from the Chester area who makes fenders for boats using hemp rope. He wants us to make, if we can, a special needle type gadget used in making these fenders.
As always our engine and track drew the photographers and we probably had as many pictures taken of us as the number of passengers carried,
All in all, it was a very pleasant day, and thanks to Glyn, Sion, Peter, Fred and John for turning out on the day.
Photographs of all our portable events can be found in the gallery.
It was an early start with members and visitors arriving with their locomotives from our neighbouring Societies of Wrexham, Shrewsbury, Warrington and Telford. It was Oswestry Show day again, with all hands on deck in preparation for this annual event. The weather was not predicted to be too good with expected showers at any time during the day. With the public expected to arrive from 10am it was time to prepare the locomotives, passenger cars and driving trucks and put them onto the loop (with a few cups of tea and coffee in-between) in preparation for the day ahead.
The first onto the track was a model of ‘Toby’ the tramcar from Thomas the Tank engine fame, this small battery powered locomotive was capable of pulling its adult driver and four children around our ¼ mile raised track. As the number of passengers increased the Club locomotive ‘Oswald’ was ready with a full head of steam and joined ‘Toby’ on the track. In the meantime another locomotive was being prepared and was soon to be brought out of the steaming bay. This was an 0-6-0 Jinty design and worked for the remainder of the morning until problems with the water injector forced her off. Soon after Jinty came on for the morning’s passenger hauling, the tramcar was taken off and replaced by a North British locomotive that was beautifully presented. This locomotive was steaming for serious work for the first time and we were informed that some minor problems had to be sorted prior to this event. Congratulations to its builder for such a fine example of workmanship and also for the way she handled all passengers on our testing track with some of the gradients at 1 in 100.
During this run the promised showers started but did not dampen spirits even though they were quite heavy on more than one occasion and we were wondering whether the public would be deterred from attending the Show in the afternoon. Thankfully the public did not disappoint and the weather did improve for the afternoon.
By now, the early afternoon was setting in and glimpses of blue sky could be seen drifting from West and ‘Charles’ a ¼ Scale model of a Hunslet 0-4-0 locomotive preserved at the Penrhyn Castle Museum in North Wales was well into steam and took over the passenger hauling from Jinty, The North British locomotive was also replaced by another main line locomotive, this being a model of the famous London, Midland and Scottish locomotive Black 5, designed by Stanier. This model, in steam for the third year running, performed very well. Both the Hunslet and Black 5 took the brunt of the heavy passenger haulage during the afternoon and were soon joined by another well lined locomotive from the Polly range.
Finally, as the Black 5 came to the end of her allocated period of passenger hauling, it was the turn of another Hunslet ‘Holy War’. These Alice Class locomotives could to be found working in numbers at the Dinorwig Quarry in North Wales, but in preservation, a member of this class can be seen working on the Bala Lake Railway.
On display in the steaming bay another three locomotives could be viewed by the public, and these were a BR Class 08 Diesel Shunter, another North British design locomotive and a further BR steam loco to the Simplex design.
On behalf of the Society thanks to all the members who helped in the preparation and running of this year’s event at our track. Thanks also to visiting members for their willingness to bring along their models.
Thanks to the public for your support. To the few that my have wondered ‘could I be a model engineer?’ or even take part in the civil engineering aspect of the hobby, please make contact. We have ‘Oswald’ a Club Locomotive and are in the process of building a Hunslet, both being available for all members to be trained in locomotive management and driving.
On Saturday 10th July, the Oswestry Model Engineering Society were invited to bring their portable track to Llanrhaeadr Ym Mochnant Carnival. The OMES, consisting of Glyn, Siôn, John and myself arrived on the scene on a day where the weather could go either way, but it was nice and warm. The track was laid, the boundary fence erected and cover built over the station area. We were busy even before ‘Oswald’ (our Sweet Pea loco) was fully in steam, and so it continued, and, as usual, performed well. It was pleasing to see so many happy smiling faces as the children either started or finished their ride. Unfortunately the weather broke a couple of times, causing some stops in running. To sum up, an enjoyable day with satisfactory running and financially acceptable. So our thanks to all who worked so hard.
The weekend of the Spring Rally started with the arrival of the campers on Friday 18th May 2007. The rain of the proceeding days had cleared giving a clear blue sky during the afternoon and evening, The site was generally brushed up and the barbeque unit and marquee in place ready for the off.
Saturday morning soon came round but the weather had changed again with a few heavy showers to hinder the proceedings. However this did not deter the faithful as the locomotives were soon into the steaming bays and awaiting a break in the clouds. Fortunately we did not have to wait very long and by mid morning with weatherproofs in place the hardy ventured out of the clubhouse to start preparing their locomotives.
First onto the track was John Walker from the Birmingham SME with his Maroon coloured Midland Single ‘Princess of Wales’, what a fine looking engine. John took to the track very sure footed considering the wetness of the steel rail and continued to run effortlessly for quite a period until tiredness of the limbs took him off. At this point John offered me the chance to drive his locomotive and I must say that I was very pleased with the way she handled the track notched back to about 50% cut-off.
Next onto the track was D Mayall from Bracknell R S with his 3½” gauge Derby 4F, another locomotive well presented in its black BR livery. The 4F in 3½” gauge lapped the track with ease with two adult passengers in toe.
Another locomotive to enter the track was Brian Andrews’ 5” gauge Simplex ‘Will Scarlet’ from the Leeds SME in its green livery.
With the dampness of the morning now behind us the rails were starting to dry up and Matthew Higgins from the local club took his Class 37 onto the main line, followed by Brian Remnant from Romney Marsh MES with his modified Sweet Pea ‘Lady Margaret’. Brian not a newcomer to the track, as he had previously entered the first Narrow Gauge Efficiency Trial in 1998 when he came second. (It is believed that Brian will be back for the tenth event, competing for the new trophy).
From Tiverton and District MES, F W Stubbs brought along his 5” gauge ‘Lion’. The ‘Lion’ not a very common locomotive project seen at tracks and exhibitions but has a strong following. This model provided its owner some headaches over the weekend culminating with a burnt supperheater. Hopefully its carer will soon put thing right again and enjoy more steaming.
Another locomotive from the Leeds SME was an American 4-4-0 in 5” gauge; this locomotive like all the others on display was beautifully presented and was driven by its owner T Wall.
During the afternoon, ‘Connie’ a 3½” gauge locomotive was put into steam and driven by F Mayall from Bracknell R S. This locomotive, a Martin Evans ‘Conway’ design was put through its paces, and like others built to this design performed well.
On the Saturday evening while Oswald and Volunteer, two Sweet Pea locomotives from the Host Society were put into steam, those who had camped at The Show Ground, along with Society members brought along their own tasty bits for cooking on the Barbeque. The evening run and barbeque continued until dusk when all retired after a pleasant day.
Finally, it was such a disappointment that more member societies could not make the time to visit or to take part in the event.
On behalf of the Society may I thank the wives who ran the catering unit for their support during this event, also the members of the Affiliated Societies of the Federation and the Southern Federation Committee Members who supported the Spring Rally at the track of Oswestry Model Engineering Society.
