December update (2)

WNGM Open Day, 4th December

                                          Kerr Stuart diesel with a short coal train shunts the coal store siding.

Wessex Narrow Gauge Modellers (WNGM) staged  an open day at Colehill in Wimborne on Saturday 4^th December. These little members day type events are a particular trade mark of  009 Society area groups, being a lot less formal and much more light-hearted than a traditional exhibition. I was asked to attend, not with Ryedown Lane this time but with Wintoncester Water Works, the 009 micro that I built and exhibited in the early 2000s. This hasn’t been seen at an exhibition since Narrow Gauge South West in 2012, having had only a bit of use as a test track at WNGM monthly meetings in the intervening nine years.

Bagnall 0-4-0ST waits for its next duty.

A test session a few weeks beforehand revealed that Wintoncester was still in working condition, needing only a bit of a clean to prepare it for display. I also took the opportunity to do some minor scenic improvements by installing a couple of new trees and adding some static grass in a few key areas (static grass had not even made an appearance when the layout was first built).

I’ll do a blog post specifically about Wintoncester Water Works and its origins at a later date. For now, here are a few pictures of comings and goings on the day in question.

A little end of day light hearted fun (OK, silliness!) as two Mini Class 33's pose on Wintoncester Water Works.