Winchester Railway Modellers

WINCHESTER RAILWAY MODELLERS

CHAIRMANS CHATTER, our quarterly newsletter

We are into the 4th quarter of the year with the AGM looming and the autumn exhibition season getting underway. Work on the physical infrastructure of Eastleigh is starting to show results and hopefully we can ramp this up in the coming months.
We have some slightly different items in the programme this quarter including a talk from Mr. NSE himself, Chris Green.

Dave R

Chairman's Chatter
October 2026

General chatter

With the cancellation of our trip with Redbridge to Worthing (due to costs) we have found ourselves with more general working sessions than we had planned. The upside of this is we have made real progress on Eastleigh and kicked off working sessions on the test track.
An added bonus (for some) was that we were invited at short notice to bolster the numbers for a trip round Eastleigh Arlington Fleet Services. The trip was organised by a group from the Isle of Wight and 8 of the club were able to make it and ensure they had a good number. It was an interesting tour inside and out of the works and let us get up close and personal with a vast range of equipment being renovated or stored.

Redbridge Wharf (Clive "Watty" Watson)

Remedial work has been carried out since Key Model World at the NEC, including scenic repairs to the wharf, rail joints re-soldered, a servo replaced, a wiring problem identified, stock box labelling, Military train modification and the station canopy fixed. The “to do” list is getting shorter at last.
Problems identified at the NEC where we had multiple derailments on the Saturday morning have prompted a rethink of how we stock the layout (we were very swan like that morning!!). More on that in time for Taunton, our last outing of the year.

Abbotstone (President Shaw)

Abbotstone: is currently quiet but ready for use whenever a member wishes to run a train or two. DC running is available at any time; DCC operation requires 24 hours’ notice. NG7: Progress steadily being made with Bratton Fleming being built by Andy Keane. Plans for testing all together are under way. The L&B Progress steadily being made with Bratton Fleming being built by Andy Keane. Plans for testing all together are under way.

President's Ponderings

It’s good to see Eastleigh progressing. The baseboards are always a slow part of the project, thanks to the members who have contributed to the build. We will soon need to consider the track laying and items needed for control. It is easier to add wires and devices etc., as we go.

Next years Presidential Dinner date and location is being finalised and should be announced at the AGM.

Project "Eastleigh" (Dave R)

We are making progress albeit slowly and now have eleven of the twelve Eastleigh boards assembled. Dave Pinch has been tracking progress and planning the diagonal bracing which has been added. Most of the boards have been painted (Thanks Peter S). There is one more board to build which requires some creative adjustment of the main bracing pieces in 3 places to allow for turnout operating mechanisms. We are almost ready to get this built. Strengthening pieces have been added to the inner sides of both the scenic and fiddleyard boards and we are looking at how the front and rear board pairs will be connected to allow for the lighting uprights and backscene.

We had a prototype support and transport trolley built and this has now been modified to slightly reduce the length as it would have been a tight fit between the wheel arches of some vans. We have also inset the wheels to reduced the display height of the layout to be almost exactly the same as Redbridge to make it more small person and wheelchair user friendly.
A second trolley it almost complete to the modified design, and the third well under way.
Lighting options have been investigated and we have found some suitable, and cheap, 12volt LED units that will give us adequate light levels. We will reuse the old lightweight aluminium poles from Redbridge, cut down, to support our lighting but there is design needed for the mounts for the LED units. Lots of work to do. If you fancy taking the lead role in any department that can easily be arranged.

The Test Track (Jerry G)

First off, thanks to Chris Jenner for kindly donating the two boards for the test track. Thanks also to everyone for their questionnaire input, this helps us understand what the club members wish to see included (if possible) and identify the skills members are interested in learning. We have made a start, alignment dowels and catches have been added, tops have been sanded and an appeal has been put out for donations of equipment that will be useful. Without wishing to appear ungrateful, please only donate items that are in good condition. There is a storage box in the club room for test track specific items. On Wednesday 16th September the two main boards were fully covered in cork and next we will be working on the track layout.

Back Issues of Chairmans Chatter

Previous years Chairman's Chatter are available in the archive

Jan 25	Apr 25	Jul 25	Oct_25
Jan 26	Apr 26	Jul 26

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