Waterstock has returned from its’ latest outing to foreign parts with everyone doing their “bit”; with some exceptions, namely those or “he” that did not have an operational car and had to rely on relatives to get there. No names, no pack drill, but yours truly was about as useful as a chocolate teapot; couldn’t help with the loading, late on Saturday to set up, and late on Sunday, due to collection of a repaired vehicle, as on the Thursday I snapped a clutch cable which could only be repaired on the Sunday at the earliest, unless they had a cancellation. Luckily, they managed the job on Saturday, but I did not know until I got home Saturday night.

 

I arrived on Saturday at 9`oclock to find all up and running; a great job lads. I took the opportunity to  wander round the exhibition and video the other layouts before opening time, and I must say that Sutton Show again confirmed its reputation by providing models of  the highest quality for the public. Our “pitch” was in front of the stage in the main hall, which seemed to be a prime site, so the organisers had “done us proud”.

 

Having circulated the show I returned and took a number of stills of Waterstock and the “ensemble”, which I must say looked good under its’ own battery of lights (Waterstock that is).  When I finished “snapping” I joined the operating crew as a stand-in, and a track maintenance operative should problems occur, and an observer of the operational difficulties/experiences to be seen and how matters could be improved.

At ten the public arrived and within twenty minutes it became apparent that we were in for a busy day. In fact for a large portion of the day the back wall of the hall became a stranger; “packed” is the term I think could be used.

 

Ken (Our Chairman) seemed to be in his element as intermediary and customer contact officer; passing out leaflets and answering questions. I seemed to be printing leaflets for ages recently but just

about all of them went. Ken had bought along his new “garden” model, which is about 9” square and depicts a well mowed lawn with raised flower beds and a family enjoying a garden layout. The family are “O” gauge figures while the garden layout is in the new “T” gauge, that is smaller than “Z”. Only the Japanese!!! I must say that a very considerable amount of interest was shown in the scale and  again Kens’ “T” scale leaflets seemed to be very popular.

 

Operating began in earnest, and despite our recent decision to do away with a timetable, it swiftly became apparent that some form of operating timetable or set of instructions is required to ensure that at least everything and everyone “is on the same page”, I think was the term I heard. Operation swiftly degenerated into a certain amount chaos and finally settled down to “in and out of the fiddle-yard” with the two branches operating independently but sometimes passing trains from one to the other, and the full operational potential of the lay-out largely being ignored. Worse still, when a quieter moment arrived during lunch-time and I was allowed to “play” a while, I attempted to make some of the movements which an operational timetable would require and found that the areas and track formations involved would not work properly! We obviously have a long way to go yet, and the Tame to Oxford link is one of major updates required to enable a more interesting operation. Also the operators at the Eastern and Western ends need some form of contact. Among the suggestions were:

A morse code set.

An Aldis lamp.

Signalling flags.

Beacons (hot and dangerous).

Intercoms or baby “thingys”.

Bells and buzzers (a la the real thing).

Or, (my personal favourite), flags, whistles and ‘ats.

The Usual Suspects, or Some of Them.

Winning Friends & …………………...