COMMENT

I’m afraid a very quiet newsletter this month and no photos of members’ modelling to share either. The lock-down is taking its toll on members’ enthusiasm I guess but there is at least a link to one model build later in the newsletter. There is also an update on our premises and news of the Dapol commission [which is rapidly running out]. There’s a mention of the proposed stock-sale, too. We now have three potential collections to view, but don’t hold your breath there just yet…..

THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Normally, this would have been and gone by now but social-distancing regulations have prevented it from taking place. Consideration was given to holding it via Zoom or Teams, but it was felt better to wait a return to normal and then hold something in the flesh. This will possibly not worry a great many of you however!

Once normal contacts have been resumed, and the club is open again for business, the Chair will convene an Extraordinary General Meeting to deal with some of the business items which would have been aired at the AGM. Election of Officers [Chair, Treasurer and Secretary] is also an important item for consideration as several have already indicated a wish to place an absolute final time-limit on their tenures.

The club’s accounts are in the final throes of audit with the club’s Examiner, David Williams. An update, with his findings, will be provided in the April newsletter.

CLUB PREMISES

I visited again recently to ensure that all was well following floods downstairs and nearly a year of un-occupation. Everything is pretty much as we left it, which was a relief obviously. The whole floor will need a very through clean however and the layouts, in particular, will need careful attention to remove a year of dust and dead flies before they can be used. A couple of soft one inch paint brushes and careful use of a vacuum hose should be sufficient for the layouts, but it will be necessary before anything can be run. The only layout which was covered over – Box – is fine except for a foot or so where the sheets have slipped.

THE COPPERPIT COLLIERIES COMMISSION

The extraordinary success of this commission means that there are now just 10 ‘O’ gauge, 20 ‘OO’ gauge and 25 ‘N’ gauge wagons left for sale: too few in fact to justify the expense of national advertising and, frankly, it is unlikely to be necessary anyway. Noel Blows has asked me to remind any who want to purchase but have yet to order to get a wriggle on as a sell out in one or more gauges is likely before too long. Details, as usual, on our website under ‘Products’.

A STOCK SALE

There is a potential date in the diary for a stock sale at the club during late May. As mentioned last month, this will be driven by COVID social-contact regulations and, consequently, it may not be possible to give much notice to confirm it happening. The April newsletter will give a final update to advise all of what is happening and if it is to go ahead, what stock is involved and what, if any, precautions will need to be taken.

TICKETS PLEASE

This month, not a railway ticket but something a little more unusual: a recently acquired Caledonian Railways adhesive parcels label that must be over 100 years old by now. Dunblane still has its railway station on the old Caledonian line but whatever parcel this label was intended to accompany would have travelled on at least three different companies’ lines to reach its destination in Bristol. Which Bristol station is uncertain however: Temple Meads on the Great Western or maybe St. Philip’s on the Midland?

If Temple Meads, then that parcel may well have been carried in one of the four 12-wheel Brake Composites that that company reserved for its Glasgow – Taunton through-coach service, an eleven hour marathon. These four ‘Grampian Stock’ coaches were known as the ‘Taunton Brakes’ and survived in service with the LMS and at least one later with BR until the mid-50s. And by remarkable coincidence [really!], this link - here - will take you to a page on our website where an old GWR-liveried Triang Caledonian/BR Mark One hybrid coach has been rebuilt into a recognisable example of the 65ft 12-wheel Grampian Stock Brake Composite. A relatively simple project which produces an interesting and very rarely modelled prototype which, as a through-coach, could be attached to a rake of GWR coaches on your layout. The finished product, in LMS Period 3 livery, is shown below.

And that, I’m afraid, is it for this month.

Best wishes all and if you have photos or articles for the April edition [they are needed to keep the newsletter going and avoid an inevitable reduction to a bi-monthly production], please let me have them by the first week of the month.