WINSON & MODELWORKS OWNERS RALLY

What a Success!
On Sunday 14th July 2002, by kind arrangement with Nottingham SMEE, we held our second rally for the owners of Winson and ModelWorks models. And what a success it was! Anyone who attended last year's event (the first one) will remember that it was a rather hastily arranged affair following the demise of Winson and their consequent absence from the Barrow Hill festival. With only about two weeks to notify people, that year only around 15 owners came along to that so we were quite anxious to see how many people would come along this time. We need not have worried!! As well as getting somewhere between 80 and 100 owners and their guests (including some from abroad), the main car park quickly became full, followed by the overflow car parking and eventually people were having to park on the grass verges leading up to the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre. The ModelWorks stand was constantly filled with people interested in their latest products, the Nottingham SMEE had a ceaseless flow of people wishing to take a ride around their track and in the four seminars that took place throughout the day there was 'standing room only'. As the organiser of this event I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Nottingham SMEE for being so helpful in the organisation of the event, to ModelWorks for coming along and supporting the event at an 'official' level, and to all those owners, their friends and families for coming along and getting involved. Finally, thanks to all those owners who took the trouble to bring their locos along to the event for all to see.

Seminars
One of the special features of the rally were the seminars that were given at various times during the day. After an introduction from David Draper, one of the investors in ModelWorks, and Alan Ryden (General Manager), we moved on to the first of the seminars...

First up was Bill Beveridge who works on a part-time basis for ModelWorks as a consultant. His experience with full-size as well as miniature steam locomotives has been a great asset to the company and he gave a short address on the approach being taken on their first, 'fully-ModelWorks-produced' loco, the 5700. Having bought back the Winson display model, Bill explained that he is completely re-building the model so that they can ensure that kits contain proven parts (at some time during the day the point was made that Winson had only ever steamed one of their locos!). Bill also said that the 5700 would be travelling around various clubs once it is finished, both to promote sales as well as providing running experience.

At 11:30, Arthur Coleman, one of ModelWorks' designers, gave an excellent talk about steaming your model. This was aimed mainly at the more inexperienced owner and gave some very useful tips about how to prepare a miniature locomotive for steaming and what to do at the end of the day.

At 12:30, Dean Rogers, Production Manager at ModelWorks, gave a talk about design, production and quality at the company. After going through the general organisation at Daventry, he went on to describe the way models are designed, the new wheel profile being used, the new A4 design, new materials being used, new production techniques, their quality assurance programme and how they are running their customer services.

At 2pm, Alan Ryden gave a talk about the new boiler regulations, a subject close to the hearts of all model engineering enthusiasts with steam powered locomotives. These regulations govern the way in which boilers have to be sold and include traceability of materials and documentation. If you were not at the seminar and are considering buying a boiler, you might like to speak to your local club about finding out more about these regulations.

At 3pm, Nigel Fraser Ker (who runs this website) chaired a Q&A session. The panel consisted of Alan Ryden, Dean Rogers, Arthur Coleman, Ian Adkins (ModelWorks Customer Services) and Barrie Purslow (owner of William Wordsworth, one of the first and finest Winson models). Various questions were taken in a good-humoured atmosphere on topics as diverse as the use of Loctite, the state of ModelWorks's business, the design and production techniques used in the factory and the best methods for riveting and sealing the tanks on tenders and the like.

Models on Display
My apologies for not photographing everyone's models but here is a selection of those at the event...

	John Clarke with his Tiger1 on the ModelWorks stand complete with built-in sound effects
	'Woody' (Dave Wood) from Nottingham SMEE with his 9F which was running very well and gave rides all day.
	George Stanislas (right) talks about his excellent Britannia 'Alfred the Great' with Richard Topliss (left)
	Joy Brown (in red) was on hand with her husband Richard to talk about her lovely 1400 and Autocoach which attracted a lot of attention from the crowds.
	A closer shot of Joy Brown's 1400
	Phil Owen's part-built 'Pug'
	Harold Stothard's beautiful Jubilee 'Southern Rhodesia' was a great attraction to the photographers
	Michael Bradley's 1400 chassis
	Steve Hudson (left) seems engrossed by the 1400 of John Forrest (right)
	David Nixon's Ruston Tractor
	James Simpson's very impressive 7.25" Britannia
	(apologies for forgetting who this 1400 belongs to! Let me know and I'll make the necessary alteration)
	Charles Ledden's King Arthur is coming along nicely!
	Mike Bradley (nearest) taking a keen interest in the well-travelled 1400 of Professor Pete Thomas (furthest)
	David Draper (wearing blue cap) and his well-finished Ruston Tractor which steamed during the day.
	Barrie Purslow's wonderful Britannia 'William Wordsworth' which steamed for much of the day and did a good number of miles hauling trains of enthusistic children and their parents. I am told that 'WW' is going in for a winter tune-up and might easily be seen at next year's IMLEC in Bristol - good luck Barrie!

To see the photo album of the event, please click here (Nigel's photos) or here (for some more photos)

Other Attractions
As well as all the activities going on at the main event, the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre had lots of attractions which people took time to see and do including the working full size steam railway, the bus and transport collection, the engineering shop where work on full-size locos was, as ever, under way, a loco shed and catering facilities.

For full details of the Ruddington site, please see the Nottingham Transport Heritage website at www.nthc.org.uk.