Events:

Here are the dates for our Rallies & GTGs to be held in 2019.

See Tracks Page for details of the host clubs and how to find them.

Locomotive Rallies/Running Days:

• Sunday February 24th - Pre-season GTG hosted by North West Leicestershire SME at Whitwick, Coalville (10.30am to 4pm)

• Sunday March 31st - Southern Area GTG at Andover MES, SP11 7HT

• Sunday, April 7th - Hosted by West Riding SLS at Tingley (10:30am to 4pm)

• Sunday, May 5th - Hosted by South Cheshire MES at Nantwich

• Sunday June 2nd - Hosted by Romney Marsh MES at Rolfe Lane

• Sunday, June 9th - Hosted by Rugby MES at Onley Lane (10am to 5pm)

• Saturday June 22nd - Hosted by Brighouse and Halifax Model Engineers, Brighouse, West Yorkshire. (10.30am till 4pm). Please see the report below by Derek Round.

• Saturday June 22nd (11am till late) and Sunday 23rd June (11am till 4pm) - Small Locomotives Rally hosted by Frimley Lodge Miniature Railway, Lodge Park, Sturts Street, Frimley Green, Mytchett, Camberley, GU16 6HY www.flmr.org

• Saturday June 30th - Hosted by Westland and Yeovil District MES at the Westland Leisure Centre, Yeovil

• Saturday July 13th - Hosted by Ribble Valley Live Steamers, Clitheroe, Lancashire (10.30am till 4pm)

• Sunday, July 28th - Hosted by N.W.Leics SME at Whitwick, Coalville (11am to 4:30pm)

• Sunday, August 4th - Hosted by Sutton Coldfield MES at Balleny Green (10:30am to 4pm)

• Sunday, August 18th - Hosted by Stockport SME at South Park, Cheadle Hulme (11am to 4pm)

• Sunday, October 6th - Hosted by Chesterfield DMES at Hady Hill (10:30am to 4pm
  

• Sunday October 20th - Hosted by York City & District SME, The Pastures, Dringhouses, York YO24 2JE https://www.yorkmodelengineers.co.uk/visitors/location/

• Sunday October 27th - Midlands Area GTG hosted by North west Leicester SME at Whitwick, Coalville (10.30am to 4pm)

LittleLec - TBA

Curly Bowl Competion - TBA

Attendance at Exhibitions:

We expect to attend the following :

• March 16th and 17th - The Large Scale Model Railway Exhibition, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Fosse Way, Leamington Spa

• Guildford Gala Weekend at Stoke Park, GU1 1TU - July 6th and 7th

• October 17th - 20th - Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Fosse Way, Leamington Spa

There will be no exhibition at Bristol this year.

Report by Derek Round on his recent visit to Brighouse to test out the track ready for the GTG on June 22nd:

As this is a new GTG (for me at least), I went along yesterday to run my Green Arrow because the 2 1/2“ gauge lines on the raised track had not been used for many years!

It was a very pleasant experience and I can report that there were no issues with the raised track at all, and the performance of Green Arrow raised many positive and appreciative comments, with several members remarked that they were looking forward to the upcoming GTG in a few weeks time. It’s a nice smooth track, with a tunnel and a gradient that makes the locomotive work nicely in one place, which adds a pleasant variety to the driving experience. Unloading is also possible very close to the steaming bays.

So, remember that if you are coming, you will need to bring a suitably sized piece of plywood to place your loco on in the steaming bays (no 2 1/2“ track there), but I do have two spare for anyone who can’t supply one. In addition, the host club did say that they had a club rule that all locomotives must have at least two connections between the engine coupling and your driving trolley, but this is usually easy to accomplish by the intelligent use of Cable Ties! So I will make available on the day a selection of cable ties so that we can all comply with this requirement. The steaming bays also have a 12v electricity supply, should you need it, and coal, anthracite peas, is also available.