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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 very kindly and arbitrarily 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! Google Images is certainly much easier to view, but to upload to - well try it yourself, I have made my own judgement and it isn't a very complimentary one, so the long term future of this blog remains in doubt.

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 Images photo album plus captions for that report. The link will take you to the front page of the Google Images 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. On albums created before August 2016 which were created originally in Picasaweb, these are now in the Google Image Archive and the caption panel has to be opened manually for each image. I apologise for this, blame Google!

More recent albums created in Google Images keep the panel open.

in both cases, 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.

In Google Chrome you should click on the X and then select the tab for the blog from the windows tabs, in Internet explorer, click on the return arrow top left of the window to return to the blog. I'm afraid I don't know how other browsers such as Firefox vary in their operation.

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.

Sunday, 28 May 2017

14 May 2017, Beds & Bucks NG Modellers Members Open Day, Barton Le Clay

Sunday the 14 May and NG enthusiasts descended on the village hall at Barton Le Clay from all points of the compass for what has become THE annual late spring narrow gauge model-fest, courtesy of the Beds & Bucks NG Modellers who had pulled out all the stops to make this year's event run as seamlessly as possible following the sudden and premature passing of the Group's founder and previous organiser-in-chief, Mark Howe after a very short illness in January.

Once again it was an excellent day with 14 layouts present, a variety of trade and society stands including of course the 009 Society sales managing to fill a meeting room despite sales stocks being much lower than usual for the time of year. And of course, the renowned refreshments, with not only 5 star bacon rolls, but sausage baps as well and the biggest triple deck victoria cream sponge I've ever seen (naturally there is a photo included of this!).

Congratulations are in order to Brian Key, who took up the mantle of exhibition manager at short notice and indeed to the whole group who chipped in to ensure that not only did the event go ahead, but also that it went ahead in a very well organised way indeed. Thanks to you all. Numbers were slightly down on previous years, let’s hope that next year and beyond they are back up to and even higher than the 200+ that previously attended, because this really is a high quality narrow gauge modelling event held in a good location and in an ideally central part of the country for travelling to from all parts of it.


Click Here to View the Photo Album for this Report

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9 comments:

  1. joppy2 October 2017 at 15:39

    Can I be cheeky and ask if you've stopped doing your photo reports? I really miss your updates, as it gives me the opportunity to visit shows I wouldn't normally get to in person. Or did the recent problem with photo hosting put you off?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mick Thornton3 October 2017 at 00:16

    I'm afraid that life hasn't been too kind this year and there are a number of health issues in my family that have restricted my opportunities to get around the shows. There is one more still on the "to do" list to publish when I can get the available free time, but I am not presently able to attend events so regret that for the foreseeable future, I will continue to be severely restricted in my ability to post more reports after that one. Sorry - life can get in the way sometimes!
    Mick

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  3. joppy4 October 2017 at 09:27

    I quite understand. I trust things will improve over time.
    Ian

    ReplyDelete
  4. Paul Ludlow20 November 2017 at 22:09

    Mick, sorry to hear of your troubles, like many others i like very much to see your photo reports and hope to see your little rail car doing the rail tour rounds again soon, chin up, best regards, Paul

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  5. Mick Thornton20 November 2017 at 23:01

    Thank you very much for the kind comments Paul, very much appreciated.
    Mick

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  6. Tim Delhaas3 January 2018 at 09:59

    Happy New year Mick! Yes, your railcar must be one of the most seen 009-vehicles in our hobbies :-) I love your photo's and I sincerely hope the situation improves in 2018!!

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  7. Mick Thornton3 January 2018 at 13:50

    Thank you Tom and a Happy New Year to you as well! Your good wishes are very much appreciated.
    Mick

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  8. Bobbie Dazzler5 April 2018 at 17:59

    Hi Mick,
    I am here on the west coast of Canada. I am a rank amateur at 009 railways and I think your roving reporter albums are a super source of inspiration. I have joined the 009 society too. I want to build some passenger coaches using Ratio sides. In the vast reaches of the web I found a mention of an article you did way back for the 009 magazine. Would it be possible you might have a copy of that article that you could Email to me? I would be very grateful.....
    Yours,
    Bob Walker, Victoria B.C., Canada

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    Replies
    1. Mick Thornton5 April 2018 at 19:55

      Thank you Bob. I'm sorry that I'm still way behind the curve with updates but there are 3 reports still "in the workshop" awaiting attention and by Saturday evening there will be 4 waiting for attention! Yes I did do a pair of articles back in around 2007 I think in 009 News on bashing coaches from the Ratiu sides, along with a couple on railcars and one on economical goods wagons. I will happily email you copies of all of these but I must first have your email address! If you are on the NGRM Online forum or the 009 Society members forum then you could send your address to me by PM on either of these, or if you are happy to, publish it here, I think it would be safe from the trolls to do so. Do you know or know of Mike Price from British Columbia who also models NG British style and occasionally posts on the NGRM Online forum.

      I look forward to hearing from you and getting your email address and I can then send you the articles.

      Mick

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