TCS Brighton Toy and Model Museum Running Day 2009

Could I possibly have chosen a worse day weather wise? Storms and gales hit the south from Friday evening right through to late Saturday afternoon. Trains were disrupted south of East Croydon by floods and also by the driver disputes on First Capital Connect trains. The M23 was blocked several times by cars aquaplaning into the barriers. The M25’s Dartford Bridge closed due to the winds and it was such a horrible day with heavy rain thunder and lightning that I’m not surprised many stayed at home in the dry. Even so 12 brave TCS Members signed in and we were warm and dry in the museum running our trains.

With the theme Race to The North it was very much East v West Coast on both the 00 and 0 layouts. Tony Penn ran the 00 with an assortment of A4’s from the Wrenn Trix and Wrenn stables, plus a Trix A.H.Peppercon A2 which should have been renamed Tornado I suspect...... Princess Royal, Several Duchess’s and Streamlined Coronations were the competition from Wrenn and Margate Hornby. A Triang Caledonian single also braved the gradients on the 2 rail layout, despite being on nickel silver rail and thus lacking ‘Magnadhesion’. Modern image was not ignored although Deltics, Class 40, HST’s and E3000’s from Hornby and Lima are a touch old hat now. Milan’s Blue Deltic prototype from Bachmann was superb.  

The 0 saw the annual outing of Chris Littledale’s spectacular Marklin Cock of the North, plus the Basset Lowke A4’s and Coronations.  The Caledonian was again present this time with a Dunalistair 4.4.0. Milan brought along a Beeson Cock of The North which we could not run as it was designed for a minimum radius curve of 6ft. The Museum Running Days are the only chance to see the trains running continuously and the only chance to see these rare and spectacular big engines running on the 0 Gauge.

Tony Penn