OK chaps, pull up a sandbag and I'll tell you a tale ................
If you've got the latest edition of Garden Rail, you may have seen an advert for an open day at the Bromsgrove Society Of Model Engineers today at their headquarters next door to the Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings. The advert mentions that they have a 2 1/2" gauge line (same as gauge 3), so I thinks mmmmm, could be an opportunity to give my G3 pannier tank and Thomas wagon conversions a good run? An email to the organiser resulted in the thumbs up and off I trotted this morning.
The BSME's site is incredibly impressive with a large G1/45mm railway, a 32mm garden railway and a multi gauge ride-on circuit.
It was at this time that I realised that the 2 1/2" gauge track was part of this ride-on circuit. Nothing daunted, I reported to the friendly train marshal who pointed me in the direction of the steaming bay where I could set up my train - not that I needed to raise steam as it's battery powered. Eventually I was invited to drive my train onto the main line via a traverser and off we set, causing many smiles and complimentary remarks from the assembled live steam enthusiasts. Little did I know what these smiles signified.
My train ran perfectly well, but (as you'll notice), the track wasn't exactly fine scale, so I thought I'd better walk around with it just in case (it was a long way to fall in the event of a de-rail).
It was at this point that I realised that "we" were heading off out of the main arena and into the museum area (you can see the rear of a proper old windmill between the trees). The children in the playground waved and I did my best to smile as my pannier tank trundled past at a scale speed of about 15 MPH max. Soon the track actually began to turn and we were making our way back towards the main arena. More smiles, photos, videos etc. as the train passed under the access bridge (big enough to take real cars) and after about 15 minutes we arrived back at the station building where we had started. Most ride-on trains do many laps, but one was enough for me thanks. Didn't fancy setting off again and finding the battery had gone flat half way round. It was at this point that the train marshal said "well done, that's given it a good run. Did you realise that the circuit is exactly a Kilometre long?".
If you've got the latest edition of Garden Rail, you may have seen an advert for an open day at the Bromsgrove Society Of Model Engineers today at their headquarters next door to the Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings. The advert mentions that they have a 2 1/2" gauge line (same as gauge 3), so I thinks mmmmm, could be an opportunity to give my G3 pannier tank and Thomas wagon conversions a good run? An email to the organiser resulted in the thumbs up and off I trotted this morning.
The BSME's site is incredibly impressive with a large G1/45mm railway, a 32mm garden railway and a multi gauge ride-on circuit.
It was at this time that I realised that the 2 1/2" gauge track was part of this ride-on circuit. Nothing daunted, I reported to the friendly train marshal who pointed me in the direction of the steaming bay where I could set up my train - not that I needed to raise steam as it's battery powered. Eventually I was invited to drive my train onto the main line via a traverser and off we set, causing many smiles and complimentary remarks from the assembled live steam enthusiasts. Little did I know what these smiles signified.
My train ran perfectly well, but (as you'll notice), the track wasn't exactly fine scale, so I thought I'd better walk around with it just in case (it was a long way to fall in the event of a de-rail).
It was at this point that I realised that "we" were heading off out of the main arena and into the museum area (you can see the rear of a proper old windmill between the trees). The children in the playground waved and I did my best to smile as my pannier tank trundled past at a scale speed of about 15 MPH max. Soon the track actually began to turn and we were making our way back towards the main arena. More smiles, photos, videos etc. as the train passed under the access bridge (big enough to take real cars) and after about 15 minutes we arrived back at the station building where we had started. Most ride-on trains do many laps, but one was enough for me thanks. Didn't fancy setting off again and finding the battery had gone flat half way round. It was at this point that the train marshal said "well done, that's given it a good run. Did you realise that the circuit is exactly a Kilometre long?".
