Starting today with a mock up of a station in the days of steam, with some interesting platform furniture.
A little narrow gauge diversion….
Getting more up to date with a Southern Schools class…
The lovely streamlined Duchess of Hamilton. A rival for Mallard in elegance?
Not all locos were this spectacular – most work was done by locos like the LMS Crab.
Evening Star, the last BR standard steam locomotive to be built.
A waste of a good Bulleid Pacific?
Still more to come!
A few from the golden age of steam – the decades either side of 1900. So many elegant locomotive designs. The Brighton line and the LSWR….
The SECR…
Midland elegance….
The Great Northern.
And the North Eastern.
Next time, we’ll come a little more up to date.
Starting with the very old…..
The slightly less old….
And two ducks of inderterminate age…..
More locos next time.
No. 1 son Michael has been on holiday and started in York, of course including the railway museum. A key exhibit is Mallard – officially the fastest steam locomotive, but there are rumours that a Bulleid rebuilt Merchant Navy class beat the figure of 126mph.
And York is well worth a visit, too….
Ir’s a bit of a shambles, really…..
I assume that Michael was taking a photo of the Routemaster….. The flood levels are of professional interest. I’m sure that there were plenty of floods before 1892. The levels are less due to global warming, more due to flood banks upstream protecting development and cutting out the floodplain.
It is, of course, important to try the local Viking delicacies!
Next time, we enter the museum!
Back to the Bluebell for a the little trains. But first a brief report on the ESNG meeting on July 1. I missed part of the meeting to visit the dentist, and also watched the England game on my laptop. We had a very respectable eight members present, but they tended to come and go (like me.) No pictures, except one of still life, and one of Neil taking Farish multiple units apart!
Meanwhile, back at the Bluebell, photos of some of the layouts. Good to see Surrey Arms (EM) on show. A very compact bit of a London terminus.
Switching on K Street Yard.
The (extended) Elbow Lane. It’s still a small layout….
The beautiful Penworth – Pendon in N?
Ouse Wharf.
The original Ffarquhar Branch was on display.
Benbridge (N).
Upper Corris…
Ouse Wharf…
And Brook Street…..
The weather has broken (again). Once again, thunder, lightning and normal temperatures. We had 10 members and the honourable auditor at today’s meeting. Bit of an Underground afternoon…..
I ran ‘Wapping’ in.
Brian went Dutch (with a new DMU to play with.)
And some continental steam….
And thank you Brian….
Allan and a brace of Derek’s went to the annual Bluebell railway modelling weekend. Today, we have a few pictures of the big trains…..
The original Ffarquhar Branch was on display. So was Stepney…
And the model trams.
Other model railways follow soon….
It’s a horrible 36C here today, but I found that one of the more acceptable parts of the house was, amazingly, the loft. With the windows open to catch what (hot) breeze there was, and a fan working, I got some modelling done.
First, I’ve started to think about taking modules to TINGS, especially Aldersford. I’ve modified the legs to be the correct NCI height of 900mm to rail level. And then added a couple of signals to replace the ones I broke relaying the track. I decided not to relay the extension board – it seems to match up well, and worked OK last year at Stuttgart.
I do just need to check the other modules that I’m taking – but that won’t take long.
Next up is starting to make the junction we need for Stuttgart in November. A simple plan, but will give us control of the junction. I’ve selected three end boards for the module – next will be a purchase of 9mm ply. I’d better start now to avoid a later panic…..
I have had a bit of a break from railways, too, and built some 1/48 plastic kits. So we have the Zero, the Perry, the Duck and the Sabre (in Philippine Airforce colours.) The Airfix Sabre was such a nice kit that I bought another, this time the Canadair RAF version. I’ll build this with everything closed….
The usual ESNG transport was not available today, so after a pleasant week by the seaside, I transported a brace of Derek’s to the Pevensey Bay show on the northern edge of Eastbourne. A pleasant and friendly little show, with some good layouts on display.
Entering the show, first layouts were Sean, Allan and Lucas with Brunswik and Oakley Lane (both N.)
Allan had abandoned Brunswik to examine a small vehicle…..
The owner of Lockdown seems to have the same Terrier addiction that I have, but in O gauge.
Good to see London Road Sidings (OO) again. a small, but interesting model of a stabling point.
The charming Caravanseri (009), set in lower Egypt. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the rolling stock, but the scenery around is beautifully done.
Hockenbaum (MOB) (Nm) was very well presented, and I was impressed by the correct use of Z gauge track to model the narrow gauge Swiss syatem.
Hursley Quay (0) shows what can be done in a small space, with a very small locomotive!
Drovers Brook (00) models a light railway in Sussex in BR days.
There were some other layouts on show, plus plenty of trade. Only complaint was that the catering had no bacon products. So we found a very nice cafe (on Allan’s direction) for a late breakfast.
14 June, a whole 12 persons turned up – making a sociable afternoon with plenty of trains on the tracks. A selection are shown below…
And thank you Brian….
17 June – not sure what happened as I wasn’t there….
| “MICHAEL VISIT… on Michael visits York #2 | |
 | John Doe on An amazing N-gauge couple… |
 | niasunset on Railex 2026 #1 |
 | Allan Dawes on On my workbench – module… |
| “Stuttgart 202… on Stuttgart 2025 – 4… |
esngblog 