Well it was officially the coldest winter for 31 years, and it felt like it !  Spring seems to have taken a long time to arrive this year.

A handful of members turned up for our 2nd Boxing Day Steam-up on a beautiful morning, to find the car-parking area of our track site covered in an inch of ice, and no safe way to get the locos onto the track or steaming bays.  So after a chat and a mince pie, we all retreated home.  Let's hope for better things next year.

However, a frosty evening didn't stop Peter turning out for our new December meeting, and giving an interesting talk about his new 'N' class Mogul.  His story of building it, illustrated how our circumstances can change, and it can take so much longer to complete than anticipated.  Peter has recently steamed it for the first time, and we look forward to seeing this one on the track !  Those attending this December meeting were able to enjoy mince pies, cheese and biscuits and soft drinks, and it was enjoyed by all.

During the winter, the Committee has met regularly and we seem to have a fairly healthy program of events lined up for 2010.  The majority of members have renewed, a few that have to travel a long way have yet to decide; and we have a couple of new members, so when writing this we had 83 paid subscriptions, so another bumper year.  Our February meeting was a well informed talk on the use and production of Gas turbines by Simon Harris, with sample blades for us to examine close up.

Hopefully we'll be steaming into the Spring season soon, and can look forward to enhancing the track and site some more.  I include a photo of John's 7 1/4" loco running on the track, proving it is quite safe for medium sized locos of that gauge.

Dave and Ron have been busy over the winter months and the modification to the traverser to add end ramps is due soon.  Two steaming bays will also be modified to handle 7 1/4 inch gauge locos.  Unwanted equipment is slowly being disposed from the Club house so this can be divided into a proper workshop, and a gathering area with seating.  This will become increasingly important as we wish to invite other Societies to visit and have a run on our track.

A couple of members will be attending the 'Southern Rally' to be held at the Worthing club track on 15/16th May, a public event for all those interested in model engineering in the style of the Southern Railway.

As always at this point, I mention that most of our members have projects of one sort or another under construction - not just locomotives; though indeed there should be several new locomotives appearing during the year.  Often two or three part-built models turn up at meetings - always a source of conversation, problem solving and new ideas, and you are welcome to come and see what we have to natter about.