Shed Notices

The February mailing of SMT, Bulletin, the Annual Report along with a book of tickets for the Grand Draw will be dropping through out doors from tomorrow.  If you want to enter the draw, please remember there are three ways to do so:

• Enter your name and membership number or address and postcode on the stub of each ticket and return them with your payment to the address on the ticket.
• Or, complete all of the stubs and bring the book of tickets to the show and hand them in at the Grand Draw stand in the Association Hub.  You can pay by credit/debit card, cash or cheque.
• If you no longer have a cheque book and don’t plan to attend the show, remember that from this year you can pay for them by Direct Debit.  This service is still open but you need to act quickly.  Subscriptions received by 13th February will be claimed at the end of February, those received after this date by by 13th March will be claimed at the end of March.  Subscriptions after this time will be to the 2026 and future Grand Draws.  Click this link to access the Grand Draw subscription site.

Good luck in the draw!

Alan Regan, Show Director

The February mailing of 16mm Today and Bulletin is scheduled for collection by Royal Mail from Warners Midlands in Bourne later this week.  The entire mailing to UK and overseas members will be collected at the same time. Mailing to UK members is First Class.  There are no mail delays at the time of writing.  Information for the UK can be found here.

Mailing to overseas members is by Air Mail. There are no major delays expected to non-UK mailings. Further information regarding mailing to addresses outside the UK can be found here.

SMT and Bulletin will be available on our Members Site from 09:00 on Saturday 8^th February.  If you haven’t received an invitation to activate your account on the site, or can’t find it, please email members.site@16mm.org.uk providing your surname, membership number and post code and we’ll send an invitation as soon as we can.

This mailing for UK recipients this month as it includes the Annual Report and the National Garden Railway Show Prize Draw tickets, along with SMT and Bulletin.  We are unable to send the first two to overseas members, to keep the package weight under 500 grams.  Customs arrangements arising from the UK’s exit from the EU require additional processes for overseas mailings exceeding 500 grams and due to the infrequency of such mailings, Warners don’t have these in place with Royal Mail.  The Annual Report will be published to our Members Site concurrent with SMT and Bulletin.  If any overseas member requires a paper copy of the Annual Report, please contact me at membership@16mm.org.uk and we’ll make arrangements to send one to you.

This year we will not be sending the Show guide with the February mailing. The guide will be available on the Show website nearer the show date of 12^th April, and paper copies will be available at the show.

Many thanks go to the editors of the magazines – to Greg Moir for his first time editing 16mm Today and to Harry Jones and Jonathan Mead for their work on Bulletin. Also thanks to Andrew Mountfield, with contributions from the Association board, for the Annual Report, and George Sheppard for arranging the Draw Tickets

Thanks as well of course to all the members who contributed to the publications. Your input as always is very welcome and critical to the editors being able to present varied and interesting content.  I hope you enjoy what I’m sure will as always be an enjoyable read.

Tom Rowland, Membership Secretary

Invitations to renew your subscription for the membership year commencing 1st March 2025 are scheduled to be sent by email in the week beginning Monday 3^rd February.  You will be sent an invitation unless:

• You have joined the Association since 1st December 2024, have already renewed your subscription or pay your subscription by Direct Debit (i.e. you do not need to manually renew at this time)
• You have previously advised us that you do not wish to renew your subscription
• We do not have a valid email address stored against your membership record

If you wish to act on the invitation, please take time to read the instructions provided in it, which are divided into three sections.  The first is for members who have joined online or renewed online in the past, the second is for those who haven’t used the online renewal system in the past and now wish to do so, and the last is for members who wish to renew by phone, mail etc.  If you want to renew by cheque please wait for February Bulletin, due for mailing from Warners on Friday 7^th February, which will contain full renewal instructions.  These will be on page four.

Please pay particular attention to the renewal option you select.  If you see a NEW subscription in your shopping basket as opposed to a subscription RENEWAL, you will pay £3 extra to renew for the coming year.  Please go back, empty your basket and start again.  Every year a small number of new subscriptions are taken out which were intended as renewals, resulting in an extra cost to the purchaser, and also creating extra work for the Association and the renewals team at Warners.  Remember also that you can change the type of membership subscription as part of the renewal if what you’ve had in the past no longer meets your needs.  You can also take out a Direct Debit to renew your subscription if you wish.

If you have queries or difficulty, please contact Warners at 16mmNGM@warnersgroup.co.uk or by phone number on 01778 392016 (outside the UK call 00 44 1778 392016).  Likewise, if you expect to but don’t receive an invitation, please contact Warners.  We’re unable to send out invitations ourselves.  If after two working days you haven’t received or aren’t satisfied with the response, please contact me at membership@16mm.org.uk.

Tom Rowland, Membership Secretary

Your Member-to-Member stand wants YOU!

We are always recruiting people join our fantastic team of volunteers!

Roles include:

• Booking-in
• Layout during booking in
• Sales
• Cashier
• Assisting me
• Payout
• Clean-up

I am in URGENT need of sales volunteers from 1200-1400!

Benefits include free admission and meal vouchers.

** Due to insurance requirements, volunteers must be at least 18 on the date of the show. **

If you’re interested, please drop me an email on member-member.sales@16mm.org.uk

Thanks!

Rebecca J Lockley, M2M Sales Coordinator

The National Garden Railway Show takes place on Saturday 12^th of April 2025 at Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, CV8 2LG, from 09:00 to 17:00.  I’ve emailed all those who either stewarded last year or in previous years.  36 people have already responded, but sadly 10 can’t steward this year, so already we need new stewards, people who have possibly never done it before, to step into the breach.  To put the need in context, we have 76 stewarding duties across the show on Saturday.  So far we have 19 people to cover those duties.

So why would you volunteer as a steward?  You’d be giving something back to the Association, you’d see the show from another perspective, I hope you’d find it enjoyable and rewarding but most of all, you’d be contributing to the successful running of the greatest garden railway show in the UK, perhaps in Europe.  If you could give up a couple of hours you won’t have to pay the £18 entry fee to get into the show and we’ll give you a refreshment voucher to spend at any of the catering outlets at the show.  You’ll be free to enjoy the show once your assigned duty has ended.  If you’re with us on Friday 11^th for set-up, we’ll provide complimentary tea, coffee, soft drinks and biscuits.

We have lots of duties needing stewards, from setup, jobs during the time the show’s open, to break down after the show closes, some needing you to be mobile, others sitting down, like checking entry tickets.  We all have different abilities and capabilities, so if you can help, please email me at alan.regan@16mm.org.uk or phone me on 07808 391152.  Let me know your availability and anything that might affect what you’re assigned and I’ll do my best to allocate duties that best suit you.

Alan Regan, Show Director

Traders, have you released any new products this autumn and Christmas that you’d like people to know more about?

SMT Editor Greg has the place for you: “The Goods Shed” pages in 16mm Today. Email smt.editor@16mm.org.uk by Friday 10^th January.

Greg Moir, 16mm Today Editor

The service and cremation will take place at the West Road Crematorium in Newcastle (NE5 2JL) on Wednesday 11th December 2024 at 11:00am.

There will be refreshments afterwards at the Benwell Hill Cricket Club (NE15 7EU) from 11.45am to 1.45pm.   The venue is directly opposite the Crematorium.   All are very welcome to join us to remember Geoff’s life and our friendships with him.

The service will not be a sad one so please don’t worry about wearing dark clothing.  He died peacefully and suddenly at home and remained active right up to the last minute of his life.

He expressed a wish that any donations in his memory should go the the 75 Appeal of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society and a collection box will be available at the Crematorium.   Flowers will only be a spray on the coffin.

A formal notice of these arrangements will appear in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle in the next few days.

If there are any queries, please contact Chris Lumsdon on 0191 266 5796.

Alan Regan, on behalf of the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers

The Yorkshire Group of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers is pleased to announce that we have a fantastic new website, see yorkshire.16mm.org.uk. Completely refreshed, brighter and packed with the favourite features from the old site and exciting new ones with much more to come. Please take a look and let us know what you think!

Tony Wright, Yorkshire 16mm Group Chairman

The Yorkshire Group website has been designed to showcase all the fantastic content our members create. From our regular photos, through modelling guides to our garden railways, it’s all on there. In fact during the process of making this new site, we’ve reminded ourselves just how much content we have. While there’s lots of new content on the site, great effort has been put into migrating content and making it easier to find on the new site.

Being a very large group, we also have a large collection of garden railways. Or to look at it another way, a large collection of ideas for your own line, or new builders in our hobby. You can find information on the gauge, height, gradient and much more.

You can also find content in an interesting way, by clicking on a member’s name or a location. There you’ll find all photos, modelling and events from that member or location.

So have a look around, see what you find!

Rob Holmes & Andy Cooper, Yorkshire 16mm Group Webmasters

It’s that time of year when the last vestiges of Summer are fading, the Autumn Equinox has passed and thoughts are turning to Model of the Year 2025.

Given the very wet Summer some builders may already have been busy in workshops preparing for the 2025 show.

The aim of MOTY is to encourage members to develop and improve their modelling skills, by competing against their peers and displaying their work at the National Garden Railway Show. It is also an opportunity to display part built models or work in progress, as well as a good chance to view other Modellers work and techniques used and maybe get you to think, “I Could Do That!”

There has been a change to MOTY organiser, Rick Turnock is standing down and taking over as Show Director having done a brilliant job for five years and I have taken up the mantle.

I would like to thank Rick for a very detailed handover pack and will endeavour to carry on the excellent work, I would also like to thank Richard Huss for carrying on assisting with MOTY.

The success of pre booking for the 2024 show means moving forward that no entries will be accepted on the day for the 2025 show. Please ensure entries are submitted, either online or by post, before the deadline which will be announced in due course.

No Entries Will be Accepted on the Day of the Show.

This is very important so it will be repeated.

Please bear in mind there have been no changes from 2024 but several changes to the MOTY classes have taken place in prior years, these are profiled in Bulletin – so read them carefully as it may influence which class you decide to enter.

This is particularly important if you receive remuneration from your modelling; all entrants must declare in this regard, with any arbitration being decided by the MOTY Head Judge, whose decision will be binding.

This means only the Allcomers Loco class is open to professional modellers, the primary reason is to enable rank-and-file members to compete amongst their peers and, equally, for members with sufficient skill that they can be remunerated for their work to compete amongst their peers.

I look forward to the 2025 National Show and please remember.

No Entries Will be Accepted on the Day of the Show.

Regards and Stay Safe

Mark Rennie, MOTY Organiser

Full details of how to enter MOTY 2025, and the entry forms will be in the February 2025 issue of Bulletin.

No Entries Will be Accepted on the Day of the Show.

1: AL – The Allcomers Locomotive Trophy
Any locomotive, with no restriction on professional builders. This is typically those who have won other major classes in the past. Judged against a very high quality yardstick, models are expected to be of the highest standard.

2: JW – Jack Wheldon Memorial Trophy
Steam locomotives not eligible for Class 3. The spirit of this class is that they are scratch built locos. Heavily modified locos based on a commercial loco are permissible, but this will be taken into account in the marking. Winners of this class will, in future years, have to enter the Allcomers class.

3: RH – Roundhouse Trophy
Models incorporating a significant amount of ‘Roundhouse’ parts – any two of frames, boiler, cylinders, valve gear or superstructure.

4: BU – Butterley Trophy
All non-steam powered locomotives not eligible for classes 1,2,&3 above; e.g. battery powered internal combustion, steam outline, fireless, overhead electric, compressed air,

5: LS – Lineside Trophy
Buildings, bridges, trackwork, motor vehicles, railway structures such as bridges or gantries, including buildings that might be found near a railway.

6: PA – Passenger & Rolling Stock Shield
Passenger carrying vehicles, goods and service vehicles –non-powered. Limit of 12 axles if your entry has more than one vehicle.

7: DIP – “Gordon Diplock” Trophy
Imaginative railway models of any type. The more fantastic, ingenious or eccentric, the better.

8: JU – Junior Cup
Any model built by a member up to 18. Models will also be entered in the appropriate class above.

9: PJ – Peter Jones Trophy
Awarded for originality, ingenuity or imagination in the construction of a model, with particular reference to the methods, techniques and materials used. Models will also be entered in the appropriate class above.

10: NT – Newcomers Trophy
For this year, entry will be restricted to those who have never previously entered MOTY. Any locomotive type, rolling stock, goods or passenger, or any railway related scenic model (similar to the Lineside Trophy) may be entered.

11: GM – Geoff Munday Trophy
Awarded to any member who does not paint, line or weather models for remuneration. All types of model are eligible for entry, be they scratch-built, commercial off-the-shelf, rolling stock or lineside infrastructure. Judges will look for exceptional painting, lining or weathering that enhances the model and elevates it above its peers. Members may enter the same model in another class, but the entry in this class will be judged on painting, lining or weathering alone.

12: ML – Modular Layout Cup
Awarded for the best module or group of modules in the Modular Layout. Key criteria include appearance and realism, adherence to the modular layout standards. Working features are desirable, but by no means required, if the module is built and finished to a high standard.

13: Loan Section
Non-competitive Things you are in process of building, models that are interesting, but that you don’t feel like competing with; also if you want to get a taste for exhibiting, or to display unusual or innovative production processes you are working on. Inspire and help other modellers!

No Entries Will be Accepted on the Day of the Show.

Some members have found it difficult to participate in the annual Grand Draw held at our National Garden Railway Show, because they’re unable to attend in person and find it difficult to pay for the tickets supplied with February 2025 SMT as their bank account doesn’t offer a cheque facility. To make the draw more accessible to these and potentially other members, we’re taking a leaf out of the UK National Lottery’s book and providing the ability to pay for Grand Draw tickets by Direct Debit.

• We’ve worked with Warners to set up a new subscription which buys you 12 Grand Draw tickets, or multiples of 12, as you prefer.  This is available online by clicking this link or by phone on 01778 392016 (lines open Monday to Friday 08:00-17:30 and Saturday 09:00-16:00).
• Anyone with a UK bank account can subscribe to this.
• The claim date will be the end of February each year, after which we’ll allocate 12 tickets to you (or more as required).  No need to complete and send in the ones supplied with February 2025 SMT.  We’ll complete tickets in your name and put them into the draw.
• Due to the practical difficulty of finding a dozen tickets amongst thousands of other tickets, refunds cannot be made, but the Direct Debit can be cancelled at any time.
• If you are attending the show, you can buy tickets and pay for them by credit or debit card at the Association Hub.

You may ask, if we can accept payment by credit or debit card at the show, why we can’t do the same over the phone or online?  UK gambling law does not permit use of a credit card for payments “by remote means”, which means online, over the phone or by email or text message.  The systems available to us cannot, from its number, reliably differentiate between a credit and a debit card, so we cannot accept remote payments by this means either.  Sadly, this makes it very difficult for members overseas to participate in the draw, unless payment is sent by money order in UK Pounds Sterling, which we know is costly.  Being a non-UK resident doesn’t prevent participation in the draw, so if you’re attending the show, you can buy tickets at Association Hub in UK Pounds Sterling or by credit card.  These restrictions are applied by UK gambling law, not by the Association.

More details are in this November’s issue of SMT.  I hope that this makes the 2025 Grand Draw more accessible to more members.

Alan Regan, 2025 National Show Director