General Discussion

Following a move from Lincolnshire to Burnham just before the 2021 AGM committee member Adrian Campbell approached the committee with a request for an urgent decision on using the OOLS event insurance cover for a joint enterprise between himself and Burnham Model Railway club. The idea was to hold a small exhibition in a Weston Super Mare shopping centre that would include OO Live Steam using the old Roadshow layout (owned by Adrian). Although not suitable for use by the public the layout is still capable of running OO Live Steam.

Although the concept of taking a smaller one person operated OOLS layout to shows has been raised before (see 2019 AGM notes) at the time it was agreed that there is neither an identified need nor any staffing support for this proposal. The vote was one in favour – ten against – one abstention.

Having checked with our insurers that this kind of enterprise would be covered and given the very tight timescale to the event taking place (no time to organise a discussion) on this occasion the committee agreed to support the event and then add the small layout discussion as an agenda item for the 2021 AGM.

The outcome of the AGM discussion identified that although Adrian has again made a strong case to the committee for this project once again there seems to be little appetite for this enterprise from either other committee members or those members present in the meeting. However it was an agreed to start a discussion on the club forum with the aim of:

• Asking the membership if there is any support for this project.

• Identifying the design and build quality required for the project (expected to run to four figures)

• Identifying a minimum team of three people who would be willing to accept the responsibility for all aspects associated with the project.

Points for consideration

1. As there was no support for this enterprise from either other committee members or those members present in the AGM meeting a completely new team would have to be formed specifically to manage the small roadshow.

2. To help ensure continuity is was agreed that this team would be a minimum size of three people.

3. How will the project be funded?

4. What kind of events should the layout be made available to attend?

5. How will the layout be transported to and from events?

6. How do we maintain standards?

This team would need to take the responsibility for

• Designing - what shape, size, tracks, stock, support equipment (controller, transformers, wiring

• Building - joinery, baseboard joints, track alignment, electrical connections, transport boxes.

• Storage - between events

• Transport - Layout, stock, equipment from storage to event and back

• Maintenance - checking after each event, ensuring all items are both present and in good working order

As I am sure you will appreciate managing this project properly will take time and effort so the first question is are there any members who would be willing to commit to both the time and effort to become involved with this project?