Author

Ben Weiner

Date

26th March 2018

Reading Time

< 1 minute

Following a presentation to club members at the beginning of the month, our new EM Gauge project Orchard Wharf  (set in London’s docklands c. 1960) was shown off to the public for the first time at last weekend’s London Festival of Railway Modelling. The layout formed just one part of The MRC’s extensive demonstration stand. John Jesson was the anchorman over the whole weekend, and used the opportunity to get started on constructing the dockside track, which will all be inset into the surface of the wharf. I divided my time at the show between explaining the benefits of the club on the membership stand and discussing the finer points of 1950s British permanent way specification with John and several knowledgeable visitors to our display.

The boards, the track, and the approach to planning and design all came in for scrutiny and discussion. We will give more details, and post pictures of the boards, which are a stressed-skin construction in laser-cut birch ply, in a future post. Meanwhile, thanks to all those who came to chat with us; we look forward to seeing you again soon.

If you are a club member and would like to get involved in construction of the layout, we want to hear from you. Track building, as noted above, has just started. Electronics work starts soon. Scenery needs research and design. We don’t yet have our own email address so please write to empiremills@themrc.org.uk or speak to John Jesson or me, Ben Weiner, at the club.