Jerry Clifford writes in Model Railway Journal #249…..

There have, of course, been some superb finescale models of railways in the heritage era.  Tom Everett’s contemporary model of Ropley is just one example, but there is no denying they are thin on the ground.  Why this should be is a mystery, all the more puzzling when a few facts are taken into account.

Heritage railways provide the only experience of steam for anyone much under retirement age [ouch, that hurts. Ed], and a number of them have been around a very long time…..

The staple motive power of many preserved lines, the BR standard classes, have spent far longer in private hands than they ever did on BR, in some cases three- or four-fold….

Whilst the contemporary heritage scene has much to offer, there remains plenty of scope for a more traditional, historical approach.  How about modelling those heady days in the 1970’s when your train might consist of a couple of patched-up Mk 1’s headed by a brightly coloured saddle tank recently retired from industry?

Of course one can model ‘real’ heritage railways, and real preserved stock.  Then there must also be potential for ‘imaginary’ heritage lines.  This could be ideal for application of ‘Rule 1.’  Imagine a preserved portion of the Somerset & Dorset Railway, with preserved S&D 2-8-0’s running with Class 33’s, and whatever coaching stock one fancied.  And there there could be the new build of an unrebuilt Merchant Navy pacific…..

It certainly has potential, although one would miss out on the goods workings.  But then we move one of those Somerset quarries slightly and have modern aggregate hoppers running behind the preserved diesels…

Read more of Ropley on RMweb.  The photo below from RMweb shows what can be done in N gauge.  It is difficult to work out the scale of this Black 5…..