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Monthly Club News

October 2021: We started the month doing something we had not done for over 20 month taking one of our layouts to an exhibition. Over the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd October we exhibited our Arrowmouth layout at the Great Electric Train Show.As usual the layout was well received by the spectators and ran very well. we took our Auch Ae layout to the Wombourne Model Railway Show on Saturday 16th October where the layout both ran well and was well received by the vistors.

September 2021: Work is continuing on our various layout projects and we are checking our Arrowmouth layout for the forthcoming Great Electric Train Show in October. The Club's much delayed Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 7th September once again provided few surprises and the Committee where re-elected without change for a further twelve months. Before the Great Electric Train show we took the opportunity to upgrade the layout lights we use on all our layouts apart from Smallwood. The light fittings were the best part of 30 years old and were adapted from table lamps from Woolworths. These have been upgraded to a similar light units from Wilko. These use low energy LED bulbs which as well as giving out less heat provide much better light coverage on the layouts.  

August 2021: Work is continuing on the Auch Ae, Temple Bridge Norgrove layouts in the Club rooms. The Redditch Model Railway Club has joined the Chiltern Model Railway Association. This month progress has been made on a factory building and oil terminal for the Norgrove layout, backscenes for the Auch Ae layout and boats for the Temple Bridge layout.

July 2021: Work is continuing on our Norgrove layout with work centring on the construction of the station platforms and one of the platform access subways, the oil terminal and one of the large factory units. On Tuesday 6th July we operated the first locomotive on our Norgrove layout. It was not a BR blue diesel that you will see on the finished layout but a former GWR 2-8-0T!

June 2021: Tuesday 1st June 2021 marked the 54th anniversary of the formation of the Redditch Model Railway Club. On the evening of Thursday 1st June 1967 a meeting was held at the White Hart Public House in Headless Cross in Redditch which resulted in the Redditch Model Railway Club being formed. This month also marks the 30th anniversary of the election of Guy Craddock to post of Club Secretary and Exhibition Manager. This is the longest anyone has held this role. The other post holders of the role were John Maries from 1967 until 1988 and John Harris from 1988 until 1991. 

May 2021: Work is continuing on our Norgrove layout with us constructing the station platforms and one of the platform access subways. We have also made a start on the tanks for the oil terminal. These are made from plastic pipe which we are cladding plastikard. We have also found the lids from some cheap plastic storage containers make good roofs on the tanks.  Work has also continued on club member layouts Auch Ae and Temple Bridge, parts of which are now in the Club Rooms.

April 2021: We started the month by giving up the extra space we had temporarily rented to allow us to finish the new fiddle yard and to start our Norgrove layout. Our Norgrove layout is now in our main club room and we have continued with construction of this layout. Work is currently concentrating on creating the platforms for the station and parcel depot. Work is also continuing club member layouts Auch Ae and Temple Bridge, parts of which are now in the Club Rooms.

March 2021: Despite the Covid restrictions we have made some good progress on our Norgrove layout. By the the first weekend of March we now have all the cork underlay down for the track. We thought it was going to be difficult to source the PECO track for the layout as production in their factory has been hit by Covid restrictions. However Derek from Footplate model shop in Kidderminster has come to the rescue.  We have now started track laying on our Norgrove layout. Our Chilcompton layout was used as part of a feature on the Somerset and Dorset Railway in the April 2021 edition of Hornby Magazine which was published in the first week of March. By the end of March we had laid all of the track on the Norgrove layout.

February 2021: The Covid lockdown has prevented us from having our normal twice weekly evening meetings. To keep the current projects moving a number of club members have taken projects on as home projects. 

January 2021: We start 2021 with work continuing on our Norgrove layout and the new fiddle yard. Unfortunately we did not have the opportunity to exhibit our Chilcompton layout at the Weston Super Mare show as it was cancelled due to the Covid crisis.