Bristol O Gauge Show

On June  14^th EDM Models will be trading with our FULL trade stand at the 7mm Narrow Gauge Convention in the Town Hall in Burton upon Trent.

This will be the last outing of the full trade stand

NO, WE’RE NOT CLOSING DOWN, GOING BUST, RETIRING or any other conspiracy theory that might be invented.

READ ON…….

A full van

At the beginning of May I was 65 years old. My wonky leg has been well documented on here. Its not a new thing but it is a thing that will affect me in some form or another for life. A while ago Annie suffered a stroke, thankfully not debilitating but it was a sign to make changes. We’ve decided we don’t want to be lugging stock in and out of vans, cars and exhibition halls anymore.

A show on a Saturday starts disrupting the business on the Wednesday before and continues to do so into the following week. We used to fill a rented van for most shows and sell plenty to cover that and make a profit.

Hope I left room for the driver

The economics of that have eroded year on year. For the last 15 years [ish] we’ve just used an estate car.

That has been a squeeze at times!

Does this mean EDM Models is closing    NO!

What’s happening instead?

• Our ngtrains.com website will continue as it is now. So Web & Mail Order Sales will continue as now.
• Over time we may refine the ranges we sell.
• Again over time either the current website or a new one will concentrate more on our own products.

What about shows? Will we still see you?

EXPONG – a full van load

I enjoy doing shows and I enjoy meeting people. Every Easter I do a demonstration table at York Model Railway Exhibition and similar thing at a Festiniog Railway event each May. Each January we have our Trent Valley Group open day. At that I have had my trade stand and have done a demo, in the future it will be more demo or a rare outing for my layout, The Brymston RR.

I enjoy doing the demos and I enjoy teaching techniques. See me doing a demo and say, “ I wish I could solder” and you’re likely to find yourself sat down, soldering iron in hand having a go.

If anyone is involved with organising a show and wants someone doing a demo with some very limited sales of my own products or demo related stuff then get in touch.

What about new models?

New Lilla chassis prototype

There are loads in the wings getting closer to being launched. I’m hoping to concentrate on these and get new models out to the market throughout the rest of the year. If you follow my newsletter and blog (https://ngtrains.com/blog/ ) you’ll have seen me accumulating parts made by CNC machinery to produce our own wheelsets. With the demise of Markits there is a further impetus towards self sufficiency for our loco kits.

There are at least three loco kits that are not that far off release once the parts they are waiting for get made. First off the blocks will probably be a new Lilla kit considerably up dating the current kit in the Agenoria range.

10,000 Tyres

Tyres in different diameters being the main thing needed. They may only cost 24p each but when the minimum order is 2000 its quite a chunk of money to add each size to the range.

The new wheel range will continue to expand and to that end we’ve just had a delivery of 10,000 tyres having used up 2000 since Christmas. This will allow new centres to be added to the range although sadly not in time for the 7mm NGA show in a couple of weeks.

Transport Options

Mondeo Estate

We used to hire vans in the past but then in 2010 we switched to using an estate car. For many years it was my trusty Mondeo.

This was a star purchase, bought cheaply with high mileage as a stop gap when its predecessor failed to come home from an MOT to solve an immediate need to get to Wales for a driving turn.

It was very high mileage when it succumbed to a needing a lot more spending on it than it was worth.  I was very sad to see it go as it was economical, comfortable and went like a rocket. I suspect it went to be made into bean tins but if it found a home with someone happy to work on engines it’s still be going. It needed new injectors on the diesel engine.

Volvo estate – rocket powered comfy chair

I was dreading the car shopping experience as I have a low tolerance of the car salesman BS. In the end, after a tip off, I bought the first car I looked at. Its a Volvo V70 2.4D 163 SE Gtron Auto6.

Its built like a tank, drives like a tank and being an auto has my left leg thinking its been made redundant. Its got lots of toys on it and I am still working out what they all are. It may only be two years newer than the Mondeo but its got considerably less `experience’ with just 77k on the clock. Oh, and it goes like a rocket!

Loads of room

Here’s the real reason it got chosen, a cavernous load area. I even turned up to view it with the display boards to make sure they fitted. As you can see further up this post you can cram a lot in the back of it.

Whilst I have no immediate plans to change it, not carting the full trade stand to shows will allow a wider choice of vehicle although it will have to go some to better it as its like driving around in your comfortable arm chair.

Conclusion

Embryonic Brymston RR

Not sure conclusion is the right word as its not the end, its the start of different and its not that big a step as we’ve cut the shows we do back each year now to just a handful anyway.

You never know I might actually get to exhibit my layout (got to finish it first) which is something I couldn’t do when I’d have a trade stand at the same shows the layout would be appropriate for.

If any one thing helped me decide on this new plan it was York Exhibition at Easter. Unsure I would be able to do it because of the wonky leg I was ganged up on and told I’d be there. I took only the display layout and modelling demo stuff. It was one sack truck and two handfuls worth. The show closed at 16:30 and we were in The Fox at Holgate with a pint as 16.55. This stance was validated in mid May at the Porthmadog show with an even quicker show to pint performance. 

I guess all the above summarises that I want some more time for myself as I get older. Once my wonky leg is sorted (again see blog for the saga – it is now on the mend) I want be driving steam engines in Wales. Realistically I am probably not going to be able to carry on with that past 70 so until then I want to do as much as I can.

I doubt I’ll properly retire as I am always developing some new idea.

This time last week were just having a well earned pint in Spooners once we had packed up at the end of the Festiniog Railway 2025 Modelling day.

This year an electrical fault at our usual venue precipitated a move up in the world to the Ganolfan just by the harbour and, of course, Harbour Station. This was a big move with a bigger hall to fill and a much bigger rent to cover! I am please to say it was a roaring success, rent covered, small profit made and the same hall booked for next year.

There will be a gallery of general photos at the end of this piece. I was doing my usual sort of demo with a number of tasks to complete. I had my demo and display setup with me. The tiered stand features the same loco in three scales (16mm/ft, 7mm/ft & 4mm/ft) to try and explain the difference between scales whist the layout has things running with the added amusement of lap counters.

On the workbench was the usual untidy mess featuring electric gravity trains, loco chassis and a 7/8 scale diesel.

Some freehand jig saw work on a bit of old baseboard back at Phil’s sorted the cutting fixture and ground plane and Phil’s brass solder was where he actually thought it was.

Day 1 was spent doing a lot of talking so the lack of progress didn’t really show to the casual viewer. The chassis I intended to build was all prepped and taped together ready for solder and the slate wagon parts all marked out ready for cutting.

Of course Day1 ended with a pint in Spooners. Well it would have been rude not to what with it being just next door.

The 3 ton etched slate waggon had a hole cut through its floor to allow the electric gravity simulator to be installed. The test drive unit is only 9mm gauge but it was standing in for the 14mm gauge unit currently being made.

I decided not to try the bending up of the etches at the show as the order they’re done in is critical and needs concentration.

I have since bent it up at home which validated that decision as it required extensive use of the “Fitters Phrasebook” and a fair bit of panel beating to get it to look half decent.

For those with a fear of soldering there is a plastic version with the drive fitted to a Chivers Finelines 3 ton slate waggon. Again the 9mm gauge drive is used as a demonstrator.

These slate waggons will have a resin cast load with a hollow cut into it to hide the works and a weight whitemetal brakesman sat on top to add a bit of weight

The other project for the weekend was to build one of my own Agenoria kit chassis for the Penryhn Port Class Hunslet [Gwynedd, Lillian or Winifred). I wanted to solder it up using my resistance soldering unit hence the need for a ground plane.

Further up you saw a piece of wood butchered for the job.

Here its been covered in kitchen foil with a piece of etch cast off and a clamp holding it in place at the top. The was to hold the foil in place and give a good electrical connection with a rigid bit to clip the wire to.

Resistance soldering is done by passing an electrical current through a joint that has been prepared with a little solder and some flux. The advantages of it are that the foil provides one contact on a flat surface whilst a carbon probe holds the bits to be soldered together. Nothing happens until you press a foot switch. When you do current flows, the joint heats up and the solder melts. Take your foot off and it cools with you still holding it together with the probe.

As the solder only melts in the join its a very clean finish. The only messy bit on this are the ends which I soldered with a normal soldering iron.

The reason for building a chassis was to inform the planning of an upgrade to our kit.

The show was a success and we’ll be doing it again next year. The dates are 16-17th May 2026

The following photo gallery consists of photos taken by Roger Dimmick and first published on the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways Facebook page

Rather than just go to Wales for the weekend as I hadn’t been since November I stayed over a few extra days to catch up with friends and to sort out the EDM Models Porthmadog Office.

No, we’re not relocating but as I spend a lot of time at Phil’s, previously with a laptop set up a computer upgrade elsewhere has allowed me to cascade some kit to Wales that saves me squinting at a laptop screen.

Then the best bit of news and, to some extent, what the extra days were about, I passed my FR Drivers Medical and will be driving at the June event.

–* this is a little predictive in that all of me bar my wonky leg has passed but the improvement is such that I will be OK by late June subject to a telephone conflab with the FR Doc