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Romney Marsh Model Engineering Society Company Limited |
Recent News of the Society
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The club had a stand as usual at the
Folkestone Model Railway Exhibition at the beginning of October. A busy day on the Saturday but not so busy
on Sunday. Track meetings continued until the
end of October with members enjoying the warm autumn sunshine most Tuesdays. The winter meetings started with an
interesting talk on CAD by member John Shrubsole
and there was a full house in December for Andy Hardy’s talk on his
involvement with railways over the years. The year ended with the customary
events. Nearly 40 attended the
Christmas lunch at Dymchurch and almost 30 went to the Wednesday Gang lunch
at Greatstone. It was almost full for
the Christmas social afternoon in the clubhouse with plenty to eat and drink
and Sheila Percival baffled most of us with her usual quiz. January 1st 2019 was
bright and sunny for most of the day for a change and a large number of
members and friends attended the annual New Year’s Day track meeting. It must have been a record with 13 locos
run on the track and a few in the garden railway. On the main track, there were a couple of
‘Sweet Pea’s’, a GWR 2-6-0, a ‘River’ class, a 3½"g. ‘Lucky 7’, a ‘Pacific’, a ‘Jinty’ and a ‘Springbok’.
The electric locos included a ‘Warship’, a ‘Western’, a class 04, an 08 and a class 66. The first evening meeting of the
year saw a record attendance for Andy Nash’s showing of vintage miniature
railway films. Richard Linkins hosted
the next meeting by showing some pictures and video of numerous narrow-gauge
railways that he had visited over 50 years. The first February meeting saw a
return visit from Andy Probyn who showed pictures
of developments at Maxitrak over the past 40 years. At the end of the month, Jeff Gibson gave
details of his home-made milling/engraving machine and Dave Draycott showed members what could be done with his
kit-built 3D printing machine. The last meeting of the winter saw
nearly 50 members enjoy an evening with John Wimble showing pictures of the
last 50 years of the Society. The Wednesday Gang still meet on a regular
basis. The new loading ramp/traverser
for the steaming bay is well under way and the base/running rails have been
set into the ground. It is hoped to
have them concreted in before Easter.
The hydraulics for the future operation of the swing bridge which
should make it far easier to operate, is now finished and has been working
well. Peter Gallon and Tony Bartlett
have been renovating some of the seats and giving them a new coat of paint
and also on Wednesdays when it has been wet, some members have been busy with
the ‘Ellie’ Steam Tram project. A 56-page book to
celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Society has recently been
published. Containing lots of pictures
and details of the club since its formation in 1969, it is a most interesting
read and copies are available from the Newsletter Editor, John Wimble. Contact John on 01797-362295 or email johnwimble@aol.com if you would like a
copy. The latest issue of the RMMES 'Newsletter', the
50th Anniversary Issue dated April 2019, is now
available. Please contact the
Newsletter Editor if you would like a copy posted to you. Our President, Bobby Jones, was interviewed some time ago about his
involvement with railways, full-size and miniature and also the RMMES, on the
local radio station Romney Marsh FM. You can hear a recording of the
interview if you click here (might take a
minute to load). |
Some recent activity at Rolfe Lane.
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5" gauge 0-4-2
'Gladstone'. |
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'G' scale |
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2½" gauge LNER
2-8-2 'P2'. |
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5" gauge 'Class
59' at the Open Day. |
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