South East Area Group Report November 2022

As I reported in the last newsletter we reinstated in person meetings in June this year, and we now have had 5 such meetings. Attendance has varied from 5 to 14. We still hold Zoom meetings on the intervening Thursday afternoons.

At the September meeting where there were 14 people in the shed, we had a distinctly Metropolitan flavour. Andy Lovett brought his LT Pannier tank L99 and together with my LT Pannier L97 they made a good team. To keep them company my Metropolitan electric Bo-Bo Sarah Siddons was there.

Rob Wigley has for some time been building a model of the old Metropolitan Signal Box at Rickmansworth. He brought the finished model to hand over to Ken De Groome who is building a model of Rickmansworth. Ken also designed the kit for the Metropolitan Bo-Bos, and he painted my model of Sarah Siddons.

Also on display were four wagons which have been built for the Bow Junction layout, these have resin bodies cast from the master belonging to Tony Watts. All the running gear is from Rob Wigley’s etches, and he assembled the wagons.

For several months Rob Wigley, John Walker and Eldred Clark have been working on producing a Bullied driving wheel. John has done the work digitising the wheel so he can print it on his 3D printer. They are now getting close to fruition.

John has also 3D printed a lamp post with a barley twist pattern.