Shed Notices

The November SMT and Bulletin were collected by Royal Mail from Warner’s at 11:00 today, for all domestic and overseas recipients. Postage to UK addresses is First Class, and postage to overseas addresses is First Class, Air Mail.

Please see our “Problems with Magazines” page if your magazine fails to arrive within 14 days of the expected date.

Many thanks to both editors, and to those who contributed to both magazines.

Alan Regan, Chairman and Membership Secretary

Our web hosting company will be carrying out planned maintenance on Sunday night (10th September) and into Monday morning, between 2330 Sunday and 0430 Monday BST. We expect downtime to be in the region of 20-30 minutes.

During this period the Association websites will be unavailable, and email to Association addresses will be queued for delivery once service resumes.

Richard Huss, IT Officer

Roger Hine of Friog Railway Services reports that a maroon Avonside bogie diesel, with sound and radio control, has been lost in transit despite being shown as delivered by the courier. He would like to make as many people as possible aware of this loco in case it is offered for sale.

Richard Huss, IT Officer

The August issues of SMT and Bulletin have been uploaded to Warners systems in readiness for printing and posting next week.  Royal Mail is scheduled to collect the packages on Friday 18th for dispatch to UK addresses by First Class Post and to overseas addresses by Air Mail.  If your copy hasn’t arrived by Monday 28th, please contact Warners be email at  16mmNGM@warnersgroup.co.uk or by phone on 01778 392016.  Telephone lines are open 8 am – 6pm Monday to Friday and 9am – 5pm on Saturdays and Bank Holidays.

Thanks as usual to Suzanne and Gareth for compiling and editing their respective magazines.  I hope you enjoy them when they arrive.

Alan Regan, Chairman and Membership Secretary

Our “Model of the Month” is a very popular part of the Association web site – accounting for just under 10% of all page views. And it’s one section of the site which is very much driven by the membership and their modelling interests, and is a great way for potential members to see what we are about.

But at present we’re a bit short of Model of the Month material. Do you have a model you’d like to write about (doesn’t need to be long) for a future month? Locos, carriages, buildings, structures and trackwork: it’s all of interest. Do get in touch at webmaster@16mm.org.uk

Richard Huss – IT Officer

The May mailing, comprising SMT, Bulletin, the 40th Anniversary Sticker Sheet and each member’s personalised Public Liability Insurance Certificate, is on schedule for collection today by Royal Mail from Warners Midlands, who perform printing and packaging.  It is being sent to all members who had renewed their membership as at first thing Monday 15th May.  A number of members have renewed after this time – they will receive their May packages toward the end of the month.  Any members who subsequently renews will receive the same package in the week after they renew.  I again encourage any member with a UK bank account who left it this late to renew their membership to take out a Direct Debit for next year’s renewal, which will perhaps help them and will certainly help the Association next year.

Thanks to Gareth for the 100 page bumper edition of SMT, Suzanne for Bulletin and Rod for the Anniversary Sticker Sheet.  I hope you all enjoy it when it arrives.

Alan Regan, Chairman and Membership Secretary

I’m pleased to advise that the vast majority of you have renewed your membership for the year to 28^th February 2018, but a number have yet to do so. If you’re one of these members, you risk missing the bumper 100 page 40^th anniversary issue of SMT, the Anniversary Sticker Sheet, Bulletin and your personal copy of the Public Liability Insurance Certificate which provides cover to 1^st June 2018.

Warners will send a reminder tomorrow afternoon to those who have an email address and have so far failed to renew.  If you wish to continue as part of our worldwide body of 16mm scale narrow gauge modellers, please act on the invitation in the email now. The address list for the May mailing will be created first thing on Friday 12^th May, so if you haven’t renewed by that date you won’t receive May SMT and the other items above. Note that the on-line renewal sent out by email in February and also in March remains valid so you can still use this.

If a busy life has caused you to overlook previous invitations to renew and you have a UK bank account, please consider taking out a Direct Debit for the current and future renewals. You can do this over the phone and you will be joining over 30% of the membership who already renew this way.

The Association doesn’t apply a surcharge for renewing membership late, but it does incur additional costs when this happens. If you haven’t so far renewed, please help us to minimise these costs by doing so as soon as you see this message.

Our dedicated renewal number is 01778 392016 and telephone lines are open 8 am – 6pm Monday to Friday and 9am – 5pm on Saturdays and Bank Holidays, excluding Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

Thanks for your support.

Alan Regan, Membership Secretary

The draw for footplate rides on the June 10/11th Charter trains took place at the National Garden Railway Show, and the winners were:

Charter One

• Out: Robert Kirchner
• Return: Andy Wilkinson

Charter Two

• Out: Stephen Alliss
• Return: Anthony Jenkins

Charter Three

• Out: Iain Pailing
• Return: Geoff Lumsdon

You might not be able to travel on the footplates, but there are seats still available on the Charter Trains for Association members and their guests. Book now online at https://www.16mm.org.uk/shop/charters/ or for postal bookings see the February “Bulletin”. Book NOW – postal bookings close at the end of May and online shortly afterwards.

Updated 18 March 2017:

This opportunity to order Association clothing has now closed.

Due to the level of demand at the show I am placing a one off further order for Association clothing. This will be placed after Easter on the 18th April so as to give people a week to respond, and will then take around two weeks to be manufactured.  It will again be for Fleece at £20, Polo’s £15 both featuring the 40th Anniversary logo and baseball caps at £8 with the standard logo. Colours are Burgundy, Bottle green or Navy blue.  Once I get the clothing I will let those people who have ordered know what the postage will be.  Payment will be by cheque or PayPal, but don’t forget that PP add their transaction fee.

Please let me know ASAP on publicity@16mm.org.uk if you want to order as part of this, it is a one off opportunity!

Rod Nipper, Marketing and Publicity

I’m pleased to advise that good progress has been made with the display shelving to be used at the forthcoming National Garden Railway Show at the Peterborough Arena on Saturday 8^th April.  The images show the first unit complete, with and without shelves.  The units are collapsible and will be stored in the Association’s secure container between shows, to guarantee availability for future shows.

The uprights, back and front members slot together and the shelves clip in place for rapid assembly.  The resultant units are light enough to be moved in built-up form, but very rigid due to the interlock of the various components.  The material used is 18mm and 15mm birch ply, some of which was laser cut and some machined prior to delivery.  An unobtrusive means to attach models to the display is being implemented, primarily for security reasons.

A total of eight units have now been constructed.  All of the uprights and half of the shelves have been varnished.  The remainder will be completed next week and moved to Peterborough prior to the show.  Six units will provide the 16mm Landmarks Display (total 96 feet of display area) and two units will be provide to Member to Member sales (16 feet of display area) to make it easier for members to see what is on offer.

So, if you fancy seeing your 16mm Landmark model in this display, contact Alan Finch (alan.finch@16mm.org.uk) to discuss the matter.  There’s still some space, but when it’s gone it’s gone!

Finally, thanks to Ted Robinson and Chris Holmes who created the design and sourced the materials.  We’ve worked together in my garage to assemble the units and I can gradually discern the floor again.  Thanks also to my wife Carol who has varnished all the shelves to date (hopefully this Shout Out will encourage her to do the rest :-)).

Alan Regan, Chairman and Membership Secretary