Garden Whistle Mar 2012 - Sandman.org.nz

The Garden Whistle - March 2012Jackson County Narrow Gauge1:29 scale freight on the main line (foreground) with some narrow gauge on the branch line (rear track).Text & photos by John Mayne (Hamilton)The February GROW Meeting was held onmy railway the Jackson County Narrow Gaugein Hamilton on the first Saturday of the month.While the turnout was relatively low the meetingseems to have been a great success with fineweather, some visiting family friends and a fairlyintense impromptu operating session.While not as busy an afternoon as the NIMTwe managed to get four trains running using amixture of DCC and battery radio control withGeoff, Raynor and Stefan each bringing alongtheir locos and rolling stock.Operation got very interesting with Raynor’sStainz and one of my narrow gauge freights runningin the opposite direction to Geoff’s 1:29diesel hauled freight and Stefan’s RDC.Things were not helped by the short lengthand dodgy track on one of the crossing loops,requiring saw byes and some other odd moves.Raynor got so enthralled with the running thathe demanded we cut short our afternoon tea andcoffee break and continue playing trains.While I have concentrated mainly on the gardensince last year’s convention the session hasbeen a good prompter to finally sort out the loopon what was originally intended to be a temporarysection.Stefen’s RDC at the stationBachmann Mogual passing the Engine shedPage 14