CGT Weekend at Geoff's July 2009

It's great that it went so well and everyone seems to have enjoyed the event including Celia and myself. We have an active and interesting group in this forum and it was a great pleasure to see French and Brit modellers interacting. Dragons Jeremy and Frank added a lot of value and many thanks to them for making the journey, bringing temptation to the masses, and helping me towards a couple of hangovers
Peter and Joan deserve particular thanks for helping with catering and transport after our promised help failed to show up. Our own inimitable Carl was a great source of support and linguistic expertise and of course without the forum it would never have happened, a service he provides without bumming money for.
It seems very quiet here after last weekend's chaos and the temprature has dropped significantly, I may even get to run some trains and cut the grass.

Till the next time

cheers
Geoff

Don't write off it being here again but in a simpler and modified format

That would be fine by me Geoff. Fish 'n' chips in newspaper and one bottle of vinegar to share then.

Seriously though you/we may end up with more people wanting to come next year.

I agree absolutely that it is a hard if not impossible act to follow! So the idea of a different venue and format next year might be the way to go! I personally favour the idea of the event visiting as many different layouts as possible, indeed I hope to host it here, in the Charente, at some point in the future. Therefore Chez Carl appeals as a "suburban" setting and I don't think a change to "self" catering will deter any?

It may also be fairer to alternate between East and West locations, wherever the event is held travelling will be difficult for some.

You can be assured that wherever the event is held, it will have my support and if I can contribute to the organisation in any way please just ask!

At last some pics and apologies that some names aren't in the captions. (By the way Geoff, the Le Train was mine, but please keep it - I bought another -it has an article in it about Imagimonde and Pierre). And thanks again to you and Celia for a great weekend...



Brian fuels up



Mikey admires his Carl-built steam tram



David re-gauges Lady Ann (?) to 45mm



Carl prepares "The Monster"



Geoff and Celia kept us all well provided for!



Jeremy works out what the switches in the roof of a Class 66 are for



Just part of Geoff's magnificent circuit



More to come - my photobucket page just froze: as the cricket just got rained off, I may even manage to post some video later. The West Coast chapter must meet this summer!

Phil

Got the caption a bit mixed, but you get the idea. Dropping the camera obviously didn't improve the quality of some pics, I'm afraid!

Carl waters up Mikey's tram



Mikey entertains!



Snow plough and Swiss bi-mode electro-diesel



Brian presents Celia with a token of the guests' appreciation



...and tries hard to resist Jeremy's sales technique (which is to pile lots of must-have goodies together and dare people not to buy)



Pierre drives one of Geoff's immense US freight trains..



Van looks suspiciously at the slight down hill curve which claimed a couple of too-fast steamies earlier..

No, this is Van

Love the pics Phil, thanks.

They give a great impression of how vast Geoff's layout really is.

You don't realise it until you look at the person in the distance and count the hopper wagons.

If we do ever have a forum open day at my place you can forget running those and a class 66 or Big Boy.

I see in one pic a rare moment with Celia sitting down!

Great pics Phil, thanks very much for sharing. Question for Geoff: that girder bridge, is it self-made or bought in? I'd be interested in knowing where such a beast could be obtained, as I have a potential use for one.

Hi, Clive, the bridges were built for me by Jim Rowe, ex structural engineer, who lives just up the road here in France. They were designed and constructed in welded steel to bridge a gap in teh railway which allows the lawn mower access to the back of the garden.
If you would liketo contact Jim he will be happy to help you out and I will be delighted to bring the bridges back to UK in September and could drop them off at your place.
Jim can be got hold of on 0033549743475 or leforgeron@larichardiere.com
The two he built for me came in cheaper,foot for foot, than the large plastic LGB bridges.

best of luck Geoff

Cheers Geoff - I shall take some measurements/photos when I am able, then I can maybe have a dialog with the man, see what he says.

As Carl is insisting to get photos, please find a few that I have done.

First the snow-plow scratch built by Gérard. Except the axles, he built everything else from brass, aluminium, plastic.
The propellers are rotating but are not functional, because he sets the motors in the place where are located the turbines in the prototype. This plow is passive (no propulsion motor) and shall be pushed by a loco (like the prototype). It is reversing by rotating on its central axis. This rotation is functional on the model while there is no position locking.
Gérard was underlining that for the real model, where there is no catenary, the current comes from the loco with wires installed on the sides.









And Gérard also built a loco from parts cutted and modified from an existing loco.

Others photos, from my fleet, that is entirely shown here

The countess I get three days before the open day, without its top, left abandoned on the dining-room table in a moment of distraction, because there was two millimeters height lacking in my blue box to enter the whole loco (...):





After a fall of the track (this is a manual loco, I cannot control the speed), there are only minor problems and the loco is alive and well.

And the LGB 2017, probably twenty years old (bought on ebay), but still good looking.





A,d also, I get a close look to the internals of a live steam tram to got an idea how to install a radio:





And then, the internals of the Carl self-propelled monster:

Great photographs, it was indeed an amazing snow plough, and also nice to meet you.

Was I really insisting about the photos Pierre?

Anyway they're great and capture things that other people didn't.

I'm glad your Countess didn't suffer any serious damage but why can't you control the speed?

What happens when you adjust the steam regulator then?

I should have written 'continuously adjustable'.
I've discovered the hard way what is written in a lot of forum about track slope for steam locos: the track shall be as flat as possible. In fact, the regulator was adjusted to the minimum letting the loco able to climb the rising part without stopping, though it was running way too fast while going downhill. Even if not radio controlled, I think that a controller adjusting the regulator, while looking on speed (through wheel magnet) could be a good help.
Also, on the Accucraft, the gas adjustment is very sensitive. As there is a Walshaert distribution, it could be interesting to see what could be done on that side. Yet, it is only used as three way: forward, stop and reverse. I've tried to tune the system decreasing the regulator opening to increase the pressure, which I feel could improve the regularity, but that is delicate to do.
The loco was alone, I don't know if having wagons improve or aggravate that sort of situation.
The other way is geared locos. That's other stuff.

I think to be honest (and I'm swallowing as I write) this locomotive would certainly benefit with radio control. It seems too filigree to be able to set gas and regulator and walk away like the simple Caradoc/Edrig types.
I think with the valve gear you really need to 'drive' it.

If you need some help fitting RC bring it over one day and we can do it in an afternoon and then you try it out on my ramps and curves.

I have been trying to teach myself how to edit and upload video. If this works it is Carl's monster at the CGT weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCXuoUHqrmY

Phil

It has!

So here is a locomotive à vapeur!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=087g7Bi0_Z0

Not as easy as it looks (and I note that this site has auto-translation)

Try again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5l4IBxBDZA

Ah, that's better - I was about to say I couldn't see the second one as You-Tube was claiming it to be a duplicate upload. Whatever that means?

But the third one is ok... great videos Phil, thanks for sharing - I was meaning to ask if there was any footage of this event, and plainly there is some!

Hello everybody,
We are back in Hamel.
I would like to say thank you again to Geoff and Mrs Geoff for the nice week end they made.
It was very nice to meet all the people (old friends and new heads).
I hope there is a new open week end next year.

Glad you got back ok Pierre.

It was good that you managed to come. Have you contacted Jeremy at Dragon G scale?

Great videos Phil. I'm glad there is one of the monster on tour 2009.

Phil, thanks for making the videos available,

David

Yes, we tried to phone two weeks ago but decide to send email for a better translation