DEFine Modellers Day January 2024

This month saw the DEFine Modellers group host their sixth annual Modellers Day event at Risley Village hall.

The idea of the event if you have never attended, is to provide a social event where railway modellers of the diesel and electric era can come and see some great layouts, watch demonstrations but most importantly have an enjoyable day in the company of friends and like-minded modellers.

The week running up to this years event was a bit exciting as the road outside the venue was flooded and the road was closed. This was due to the excessive rainfall we had seen in this region over the past few weeks. By the Friday though the road was cleared and we could relax.

The DEFine crew arrived at around 7.30am to get the hall opened, the heating on and most importantly the tea urn fired up. The exhibitors started to arrive around 8am and immediately got on with the task of getting their layouts and demonstrations set up. All was going well until it was discovered that Cav’s “Burton on Trent” layout was missing a few support legs, which had been left at home. This resulted in a swift journey back home to get the missing legs. The room was looking great and the central tables were filled with old magazines as usual for visitors to take away or study on the day. The central tables form a key part of the event as they provide a social area for people to discuss projects and collaborate. We saw a lot of that this year.

Just before opening time at 10am a small queue had started to form so we opened the doors and got the event underway. The hall filled up quicker than we had seen in past years and by 11am there was a real buzz. The ladies in the tea room (Sylvia and Fiona) were busy from the start as the free tea and coffee for our visitors always goes down a treat. They had also prepared the filled rolls and other snacks available for sale. Visitors continued to arrive throughout the day with some spending the whole day at the event. Given we are a small event compared to other conventional model railway shows, I think it underlines the social aspect of the event when people stay for the day. It was great to see many of our friends attend again and to meet new friends. The coaching stock and buildings demonstrations seemed to be busy all day. The 2mm demonstration run by Bryn seemed popular and attracted quite a few 2mm D&E modellers who seemed to be camped out in the corner for the day! The layouts were very good this year I thought and we are very grateful to the owners who agreed to come and support our event, as we are of everyone who provides us with demos etc.

It was good to see the Sutton Locomotive Works Class 25 running on Dave Roome’s “Underhill Yard”. This was apparently the first one delivered to a customer with Phil delivering it to Dave on the day.

This year we had two manufacturers attend our event, Revolution Trains and Cavalex. We appreciate them supporting our event and they seemed to have had a successful day engaging with current customers and hopefully future customers.

Time seemed to pass very quickly and we were soon approaching the 4pm closing time. It had been a busy day and numbers through the door had increased compared to previous events. As with previous years, we still had a good few people in the hall at that time and had to remind them they had homes to go to! As usual, the event tends to break down a lot quicker than setting up and by 5pm we had tidied the hall and closed the doors on another successful event. To cap the day off the DEFine Modellers crew retired to the Risley Hall Hotel for a well deserved pint before heading home.

Next year’s event will be on Saturday 11th January 2025 at the same venue. We have been encouraged by the positive feedback we have had from this year’s event and hope to replicate this success in 2025. Thanks again to everyone that exhibited, demo’ed, or attended. We could not do it without you.

Here are a few photos from the day. Just follow this Flickr link https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB9UQF

If you want to see photos of the layouts I recommend you visit David Mylchreest’s Flickr page as he has some great images on there of the layouts in attendance https://www.flickr.com/photos/68685377@N04/albums/72177720313856817/

DEFine Modellers Day 2024

The next event will be held on Saturday 6th January 2024 at our usual location in Risley Memorial Village Hall. The venue is easy to get to and is only a few minutes from J25 on the M1, and just off the A52. The postcode for the hall is DE72 3SU, on Derby Rd. The venue will open to the public from 10am and close at 4pm. There is free on-site parking and also on-road parking. Entry to the event is a flat rate, £5 per person.

The purpose of the event is to provide the facility for modellers to gather socially, discuss projects, view some good layouts and be with fellow modellers for the day.

As well as the usual line up of layouts and demonstrations, we are repeating our format for 2023 and inviting manufacturers to engage with our visitors. People that have attended our events in the past will know that we haven’t included traders or manufacturers in our line up but the 2024 event we will have our friends from Cavalex and Revolution join us to talk about current and future projects. We will also have the Shawplan/Extreme Etchings stand making an appearance selling detailing etches, Laserglaze and nameplates.

As it was last year, tea and coffee will be available free all day to attendees as well as our exhibitors! Other items such as food and soft drinks will be as per the price list on the day.

So what does the line up look like so far? This is what we have in store for the 2024 event.

Layouts

Braynerts Sidings………………….P4

Underhill Yard…………………….P4

Cripple Corner………………..……O

Burton-upon -Trent……………………2mm

Elcot Road………………………..P4

Demonstrations

Laser cut buildings……………………..Tim Horn

2mm Modelling…………………………..Bryn Davies

Modelling Coaches…………………….Andy Clayton

Trade/Manufacturers

Shawplan / Extreme Etchings

Cavalex

Revolution

Any changes to the line up will be communicated here as the event date gets closer. Any questions regarding the event can be submitted in the Reply section below, or if you prefer to peted1@me.com

We hope you can join us for an interesting day.

The DEFine team

A DEFine Day Out in Brum

Since it looked like summer wasn’t going to turn up this year we decided to cheer ourselves up and repeat our day out event that we had in Birmingham last year. Although 2022 was the year of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and the place was jumping, it didn’t put us off returning for another visit. It is also a convenient meet up place given how our membership is spread out and the transport links are great.

We started gathering at Derby station just before 1pm. The weather was not too bad and we managed to escape any rain that was around. Whilst we were waiting we were treated to some heritage traction in the form of two Class 37 locos heading for the RTC in Derby. They even stopped in the station enabling us get a few photos.

Our train soon arrived and we were off to Birmingham.

First stop was Brewdog where we met Bill. As usual it was very busy but we managed to grab a corner although trying to hear each other speak was a challenge. The beer variety was very good and everyone was happy with their choice, ranging from stouts to IPAs. From there we ventured up the hill to The Little Post Office. We were almost immediately heading for A&E when Pete tripped up on the entrance to the pub and only just saved himself from taking a flying header down the stairs to the basement bar. Once again a great set of beers and some nice people who were just leaving gave us their table and seats.

Guided mainly Paul and Bill, both of whom seemed to know the Brum pubs well, we ventured into an establishment called “Bacchus”. It was in the Burlington Arcade and looked a bit more up market than other places we had been to. It has a very small bar area but the pub was huge, thus the big queue at the bar. Having perused the beers on offer and considering how long we would have to wait to be served be headed out to our next stop.

Thankfully the weather was still holding off from raining so we headed next to the Shakespeare and then on to The Wellington, both real pubs with some very nice beers on offer. It was getting busy in the city centre and the pubs were getting full.

As 5 o’clock was approaching Paul suggested we get over to The Head of Steam where he had booked a table for us all to have dinner (or tea depending on where you come from ;-). Having secured a nice booth in the pub the drinks were ordered and soon after the food arrived which was excellent.

Just as we were starting to consider our next move, we started getting texts from Trainline letting us know that services between Birmingham and Derby were being disrupted or cancelled due a technical issue south of Birmingham preventing the trains getting through. We decided therefore to head to New St station to see what was going on. We noted that the next train running to Derby was in 50 mins so the quick decision was taken to have a swift one for the road in Weatherspoons.

So having previously said adios to Bill as he headed back to Bewdley, we boarded the very busy train and managed to get some seats thankfully. A great day was had by all.

Time for an update – 28th June 2023

It has been a few months since we last updated on how things are going with DEFine Modellers. Our weekly meetings still enjoy a good turnout and lots of projects are on-going with all the members. A couple of months ago we held one of or all day workshops at our meeting premises in Risley. Again, a good turn out ensured we had a great day with lots of banter amid the modelling. We had to move our workshop day to a Sunday but that was no big issue apart from the local chippy being closed on that day.

On the day we had Bertie working away on his exquisite wagon under-frames, Rob was scratch building some details for his wagon projects whilst Paul was working on some 3D printed stock for his latest rake of wagons. Paul produces some unique wagon rakes that are certainly not out of the box ready to run items.

Pete had brought along his layout “Brunswick Yard” for a final shake down before DEMU Showcase in June. The layout was erected complete with its two fiddle yards and supported on some legs that were rescued from Brian’s back garden having once supported Phil Eames’s “Calcutta Yard 1”. A few weeks previous Pete had been at Brian’s having a chat and a coffee and noticed them sitting in the backyard, having been vacated from the loft due to some ongoing flooring work. A few moments later Pete was heading south with four of the leg supports in his boot, and after some modification, they became the support for “Brunswick Yard”.

Bill had come along mainly to help Pete with the shake down of BY since he would be co-operating it with Pete at Showcase. He also took advantage of the opportunity to run his very nice Class 26 loco on BY.

Last but not least we had Brian working on a Hornet. If you were thinking that the DRS Class 68 loco named “Hornet” was a bit modern for Brian then you would be right. It was an aircraft model of a Boeing FA-18C Super Hornet. He showed us some really good tools he had acquired from the model aircraft world and notes were taken. Here are some shots from the day.

DEFine Modellers Day 2023 – Report

With Covid lockdowns and restrictions now past, it was time to get the DEFine Modellers Day back on the calendar. Our last event was back in 2020 but time has flown by fast.

As usual the exhibitors were there early for set up although Rob has agreed to get a new alarm clock! With the event set up as per plan and the water boiler heated up it soon turned 10am and the first visitors had arrived. It didn’t take long for the hall to get busy which was great to see.

Traditionally we have not had traders at our event but this year we tried something different. We invited DEFine member Brian Hanson to bring along his “Shawplan” stand, thus making detail parts and nameplates available to the attendees. We also asked our friends at “Cavalex” if they would like to come along and display their samples of the excellent Class 56 they will be delivering this year. These inclusions seem to have been very popular and we will look at this format again for the future. Having time to talk to manufacturers without huge crowds of people vying for their attention is valuable to serious modeller and the manufacturers themselves in planning future products. The Cavalex Class 56 sample was to find itself facing a challenge in that it had never run with a set of P4 wheels fitted. Having easily swapped over the OO wheels to P4 types the loco was test run on “Boston Frodsham” and it passed with flying colours.

The event this year was very well attended and in fact we were significantly up on visitor numbers compared to previous events. This too was encouraging, however it may have been the offer of free tea and coffee all day that was the big attraction? The layouts were varied in scale and themes and seemed to go down well with our visitors

The demo areas were also well frequented by modellers looking for advice and tips on wagon building and weathering.

By 4pm closing there was still a significant number of people in the hall, some of which had been there all day.

We would like to say that DEFine are extremely grateful to the exhibitors and demo-ers that gave of their time and money to make our show a success. We could not do it without you. Keep an eye out for the 2024 show announcements and hopefully we can put on another great event for our modelling community. Here are some photos taken on the day.

Dave Tailby’s O Gauge “Templegate Wagon Works”

“Boston Frodsham” by Mike Knowles, in P4

Set up time

Can’t be an early picture, Rob is in it 😉

“Wee Dram Distillery” in OO by Alex Hall

Bryn Davies’s excellent 2FS layout “Colwyn Bay Goods”

“Cowley Yard” in O Gauge by Will Plant

The Cavalex guys get set up under Bertie’s watchful eyes.

Great to see so many of our friends and fellow modellers at the show

Dave, Bertie and Rob on demo duty

35 mins after the event opened.

“Boston Frodsham”

DEFine Modellers Day – 2023

We are back! After having to cancel the event last year due to Covid-19, the DEFine Modellers Day is back. The next event will be held on Saturday 7th January 2023 at our usual location in Risley Memorial Village Hall. The venue is easy to get to and is only a few minutes from J25 on the M1 and just off the A52. The postcode for the hall is DE72 3SU, on Derby Rd. The venue will open to the public from 10am and close at 4pm. There is free on-site parking and also on-road parking. Entry to the event is a flat rate, £5 per person.

The purpose of the event is to provide the facility for modellers to gather socially, discuss projects, view some good layouts and be with fellow modellers for the day.

As well as the usual line up of layouts and demonstrations, we are trying something a bit different this year. People that have attended our events in the past will know that we haven’t included traders or manufacturers in our line up. For the 2023 event we will have our friends from Cavalex join us to talk about current and future projects. Will from Stenson Models will also be on the Cavalex stand so if you want to order parts from Stenson you can arrange with Will to pick up the items at the show. We will also have the Shawplan/Extreme Etchings stand making an appearance selling detailing etches, Laserglaze and nameplates.

But these are not the only changes. We have decided that tea and coffee will be available free all day to attendees as well as our exhibitors! Other items such as food and soft drinks will be as per the price list on the day.

So what does the line up look like so far? This is what we have in store for the 2023 event.

Layouts

Boston Frodsham………………….P4

Brook St (WIP)…………………….P4

Colwyn Bay Goods………………2FS

Templegate Wagon Works……..O

Cowley Yard………………………..O

Weedram……………………………..OO

Demonstrations

Building wagon under-frames……………………..Robert Austin

Building and researching PGAs…………………..Rob Griffiths

Weathering rolling stock…………………………….Dave Roome

Trade/Manufacturers

Shawplan / Extreme Etchings

Cavalex

Any changes to the line up will be communicated here as the event date gets closer. Any questions regarding the event can be submitted in the Reply section below, or if you prefer to peted1@me.com

We hope you can join us for an interesting day.

The DEFine team

Time to catch up – October 2022

It’s been a while since we updated the DEFine Modellers blog, so what’s been going on?

Since we emerged from Covid back at the beginning of the year we have continued our weekly meetings. With Bill having moved out to the Bewdley area it is difficult for him to attend the weekly meetings but we still see him there now and again. Dave is a prisoner to whatever shift he is on so his attendance is irregular and Brian is ultra-busy with the Shawplan/ Extreme Etchings business.

Back in August we decided to have a day out in Birmingham whilst the weather was glorious. The plan was to meet up at Derby Midland station and get the train in. When Pete arrived Paul was already waiting outside in the sun. On enquiring by text we discovered that Rob and Bertie were already on the platform. Just as we were about to join them, Mr Hanson was spotted heading in the station direction so all three of us joined them on the platform. We got a text from Bill to say that he was already resident in The Brewdog just outside the station in Birmingham. After the short train journey we were soon in Brewdog with Bill sampling some strong but very nice beers. It was packed, due to the weather and the Commonwealth games I suspect.

After Brewdog we headed up the hill to The Post Office Vaults. Again, a great selection of beers but a bit cramped again. Its got a nice atmosphere this pub but is always busy. Having downed our beers it was time to move on. We headed further up the hill to the square and saw a pub over on the corner called The Sommar Tap.

On approaching the bar it became obvious that options were slim as it seemed to be all girly lagers and IPAs and a few ciders, no men’s beer, with bits in it type of thing. With the menu on the wall studied we all selected a brew and waited for them to be poured. Paul noticed that his pint looked a bit iffy and asked the staff to try it and they claimed they couldn’t find anything wrong with it. We headed out into the pavement and a minute later we were followed by the barman that poured Paul’s pint. He was embarrassed that he had pulled what Paul reckoned to be a duff pint and offered to get him something else. By this time though I think Paul had got the taste for drinking Pledge polish, but some of the others weren’t too enamoured by their choices either, the tast of chicken stock was mentioned. At this point it was decided to exit The Sommar Tap never to return.

By this time the troops were getting a bit hungry, so after trying a few more bars we finally got a table in the Head of Steam. Having got the beers in it was food ordering next. From what I can recall the food was very good, but arrived at the table in instalments.

So then it was on to our final port of call for the day, The Wellington. This was a nice pub with a good selection of beers. After a lot of chatting and drinking it was time to head back to Birmingham New St for the train, with Bill heading to Moor St. Those heading to Derbyshire had an uneventful trip home but unfortunately Bill came up against cancellations but finally managed to get home OK.

A great day was had by all, with everyone agreeing that we need to do it more often.

Pete

The Show Must Go On – Feb 2022

As our DEFine Modellers Day planned for 15th January had to be cancelled due to Covid restrictions this was the sorry sight that resulted from that action. The hall should have been buzzing with layouts and modellers but for the second year running we had to cancel. The restrictions opened up a bit a couple of weeks later but not in time for us unfortunately. But as the title suggests, the show must go on so we decided to keep our booking and use the small hall for a group workshop day.

Starting at around 9am, we had Bertie, Paul, Alex, Rob, Bill and myself all working away on our own projects. It was a great day with a few laughs and stories along the way, ushered along with copious rounds of tea, coffee and biscuits. Here are a few of the pictures taken on the day.

Alex and Paul taking a break whilst Paul gives Pete’s “Brunswick Yard the once over

Bill working on one of his 26’s, sound and Laserglaze if I recall correctly

Bertie on wagon building

Busy, Busy

Pete oversees a nuclear flask movement on “Brunswick Yard”

Bill using BY for a bit of loco testing

DEFine Modellers Day CANCELLED

Please note that due to Covid Restrictions and availability of exhibitors we have had to cancel the even planned for the 15th January. We hope to host this event at the earliest opportunity

Apologies for any inconvenience

DEFine 2021 Review

So as we say goodbye (and good riddance) to 2021, we can only hope that things improve regarding the pandemic and restrictions in 2022. Despite the restrictions regarding meeting up face to face weekly, the group have pulled together and managed to maintain our meeting schedule

From the beginning of the year through to May we managed to keep in touch via Zoom and enjoyed a few quizzes and discussions, show and tell etc., over those early months. Unfortunately, but unavoidably, we had to cancel the DEFine Modellers Day planned for January. We were disappointed, but understood the reasons and the need to keep everyone safe.

We continued with our face to face weekly meetings in late May and it was great to get back together and do some modelling, tea/coffee drinking and resume biscuit consumption. As in previous years we had some workshop days on the weekend so we could have a full day of working, layout running and a chance to help each other with our projects. We held these on Saturday afternoons in June and October.

We started planning for the 2022 DEFine Modellers Day in mid-year, and as the date for the event approaches (15th January 2022), we are hopeful that it will get the go ahead and as of today are waiting to hear if any new restrictions on meetings will come in to place after the new year celebrations.

In December we planned to have a Christmas day out in Derby but due to various reasons surrounding shopping, work and pandemic health concerns only Paul and Pete participated. We started off in The Brunswick, followed by a visit to The Alexandra and then The Smithfield. We then proceeded to The Exeter where we had “Derby Tapas” and a pint. To finish off the day we headed round the corned to The Tap. Great beer and a great day out.

So on to 2022. Let’s hope our Modellers Day can go ahead as planned and we look forward to starting our meetings again in early January

Happy New Year to all our followers and readers.

Here are some photos from the October Saturday workshop day.

Bill working on point motors for GQS

Pete starting to convert a RHTT to P4

Rob and Paul hatching another design project no doubt

Bill working on the underside of one of GQS’s boards

Bertie with a production line (shoal?) of Salmon wagons