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COPYRIGHT: PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH BEFORE CONTINUING!

All photos in this Blogspot and those accessed in Google Images via the links in each report are my Copyright and may be saved for personal use only. They may not be republished elsewhere without the written permission of the Copyright holder.

Hello and welcome to my twice reinstated and updated photo reports of visits to narrow gauge model railway layouts and events! Following the sudden and untimely cessation of Fotopic in March 2011 and with it the loss of my photo galleries, I started this blog in order to try to keep my "Roving Reports" available to those who enjoy viewing them. I have linked this blogsite to the old galleries which I originally rebuilt and posted in albums in Picasaweb. Once all the old reports had been rebuilt, I have continued to add completely new ones to cover my visits to events from April 2011 onwards.

In August 2016 Google blocked access to Picasaweb in order to force everyone to use their "much better" Google Images, so I had to do the whole exercise again. Thanks! .

Meanwhile......Because of the way this Blogspot works, the most recent postings appear first and the oldest ones last. Each report contains a link to the Google photo album plus captions for that report. The link will take you to the front page of the Google Album for this report. Left click on the first photo and it will open into a manually operated slideshow. A panel should open alongside the image on the right showing the number of the photo and the caption text. If it does not appear, click on the small white disk top right of the photo panel and it will open. Move forward or backwards by clicking the right or left arrows on your keyboard. When you have finished viewing, click the back arrow showing top left of the photo panel and this will take you back to the album opening page.

Close it in the normal way by clicking on the "X" top right or click the return arrow top left of the Windows screen to return to the blog, depending on which browser you use. Once back in the blog, any report can be accessed sequentially from the blog by scrolling downwards and if required, click on the "older posts" link at the bottom of the list, or simply go to the Blog Archive on the right of the window and select any report by simply clicking on the title.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

22 January 2012, Beds & Bucks NG Modellers Members Open Day, Barton Le Clay

The 7th annual Beds & Bucks NG Modellers open day was another very successful event for Mark Howe and his colleagues with no less than 14 layouts present, several traders attending, 009 Society sales kept busy all day; and catering manager Terri Howe reported no less than 150 sausage bap kits constructed and then consumed – as well as a host of other super eats. It was an easy decision for the travelling culinary assessor to award not only 5 stars but the rare honour of golden frying pan as well………………

It was good to again see junior narrow gauge modellers being actively encouraged and all in all I experienced a very friendly, informal and inspiring day out that made the 300 mile round trip for me well worth the expense and time.  Once again, congratulations are in order to the Beds & Bucks NG modellers for their hard work in laying on a splendid event.

If you didn’t go, but decided to visit one of the several “mainstream” model railway exhibitions that were scattered throughout the country on the same date, then not only did you spend a lot more money in entrance than you would have done getting in to this event, but you missed a grand day amongst like-minded enthusiasts that had all the qualities that make narrow gauge modelling stand out from the other strands of the model railway hobby.


Sunday 5 February 2012

14 January 2012 - SWOONS Members Open Day, Ilton, Somerset

Another splendid start to a new year as the South West Area Group of the 009 Society (SWOONS) held their 6th Members Open Day at the Merryfield Hall in the small village of Ilton, between Yeovil and Taunton in Somerset  As usual, a good selection of layouts were provided by both the members of the group and some invited guests.

This is a small, informal and friendly members open day and attendances are never going to be counted in the several hundreds, but those who make the effort to travel to the depths of rural Somerset know that it is well worth braving the winter in order to have a good day amongst some very skilled modellers, plus of course a golden opportunity to have an in depth rummage through the whole extent of the fabulous 009 Society sales stock without being pressured or jostled by the 3 deep crowds that lay siege to the treasure trove at larger events. Congratulations to all the SWOONS members who worked hard to lay on an excellent little event and to the new catering team of Maria and Matt who worked hard all day, keeping everyone’s victualling requirements more than amply satisfied. Another 5 star award – well I couldn’t really drop the culinary assessment after it being featured as a star attraction on the front page of the programme could I!