Author Archives: snitchthebudgie

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About snitchthebudgie

Secretary of the East Surrey N Gauge railway club

Off my trolley – branchlines 2 – North Hollywood

Posted on February 4, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

One of my many diversions away from railways is reading (almost anything).  This includes crime fiction.  One of my favourite authors is Michael Connelly and his Harry Bosch police procedurals – set in Los Angeles, and especially in the Hollywood area.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Layout design, Traction | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Severn Valley Railway, 1971

Posted on February 2, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

A few more snaps from the Bartlett archives.  These were taken on a school railway society trip, I recall.  Again this was the early days of preservation.  A lot of my film was taken up with the carcass of 70000 … Continue reading →

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The (very little) night mail

Posted on January 31, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

Fascinating article from the BBC on the Post Office Railway (otherwise known as mail rail).  This driverless narrow-gauge line carried mail for over six miles from sorting office to sorting office under the streets of London from 1927 to 2003. That fount of all knowledge … Continue reading →

Posted in Inspiration, Prototype | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Off my trolley – interurban branchlines – 1

Posted on January 29, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

A good, if rather conventional, place to start with interurban layouts, is the conventional branch line.  Some electric railroads were no more than a branch line in total.  Others, like the Pacific Electric, had twigs off the branches off the … Continue reading →

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Jon’s modules – Mojo coming back!

Posted on January 27, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

The mojo returneth (at least in part).  After an interlude that included reading the first 400 pages of Bishop Tom Wright’s 1600 page magnum opus on Paul, lumberjacking a 40 foot pine tree in the garden, and clearing up after my … Continue reading →

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Ffestiniog railway 1970

Posted on January 25, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

Another simple blog.  But here are two pictures taken in 1970 at Porthmadoc on the west coast of Wales.  The Ffestiniog was primarily a slate carrier, and ran on a tad under 2 foot gauge.  Although preservation of the line … Continue reading →

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Hints and tips – N gauge handbrake

Posted on January 22, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

Browsing RMweb today (looking for I don’t know what) I came across this idea by Andy Gautrey on his Yakima Valley layout.  It is for HO, but I see no reason it won’t work in N. “There are also a few 2mm … Continue reading →

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Welshpool & Llanfair 1970

Posted on January 20, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

I am going to opt for an easy post (or two) this week, posting a few of my old holiday snaps.  Nothing racy or revealing, I’m afraid, just boring old railways.  So here are four snaps of the 2′ 6″ … Continue reading →

Posted in Out and about, Prototype | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Off my trolley – interurbans

Posted on January 18, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

WARNING – if you are from North America, please look away.  This is a confirmed UK resident writing about US railroads, so total accuracy is unlikely!  But I hope in this post to give some idea of the breadth of … Continue reading →

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ESNG meeting – 15 January 2014

Posted on January 16, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

The Christmas and New Year were well and truly over, and we had a dozen or so members at last night’s meeting.  It was especially good to see Sean, and be able to congratulate him on a small addition to … Continue reading →

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