Category Archives: Hints and tips

Book review – ‘The LBSCR Elevated Electrification’

Posted on December 30, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

A present to myself this Christmas was this little book…. Between 1909 and 1929 there was an overhead electric commuter service on parts of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway.  It didn’t get as far as Redhill – we … Continue reading →

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Minories #3 – alternative Minories…..

Posted on December 26, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

The last couple of posts on Minories have given enough ideas for any number of successful layouts.  But I’ve been playing around with the basic idea, and have a couple of ideas that could have some mileage. Firstly, Minories on … Continue reading →

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Minories #2 – Out in the suburbs

Posted on December 20, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

If you leave London, and head to the other end of the commuter lines, a Minories like design, sort of ‘mini-Minories’ is another option.  Iain Rice published this excellent design, loosely based, I think, on the outer-London terminus at Caterham. … Continue reading →

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Minories #1 – the original design

Posted on December 18, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

There are few model railway plans that can be deemed ‘classic’.  One surely must be the late Cyril Freezer’s ‘Minories’ plan.  The plan was the result a flash of inspiration whilst waiting for a train, then some doodling to try the … Continue reading →

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Shelf layout design

Posted on December 14, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

An interesting clinic presented at the NMRA MCR “Thoroughbred Limited” Convention May 13-18, 2015 by Philip Gliebe.  It’s interesting as this is an American looking largely at UK branch line layouts for inspiration.  ‘Shelf layouts’ in the USA are often … Continue reading →

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No New Ideas

Posted on December 10, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

Mike Cougill continues to post challenging – and dare I say it philosophical – articles on his OST blog.  It is not that common to read contributions from authors who can build models, but also to think and write.  Here … Continue reading →

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Odd modelling idea #96

Posted on November 10, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

I don’t think I’ve done this one before!  From the Daily Telegraph and CNN (amongst others.) Main road swallowed up as huge sinkhole collapses in centre of Japanese city Residents of a major Japanese city woke up to a main … Continue reading →

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The Patch

Posted on November 2, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

An interesting part of the Los Angeles railway system was ‘The Patch’, an industrial area near downtown Los Angeles, served by the Santa Fe.  The area contains many old buildings and industries, served by a patchwork of tracks down streets … Continue reading →

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Another N-gauge coupler development – this time from Europe

Posted on October 19, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

I  came across this blog , UK based but describing a French fine scale ‘N’ layout.  And it had a very interesting post on ‘N’ gauge couplers. N-tram are the doyen of European brass models, in N-m and N.  They are … Continue reading →

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An interesting N-gauge coupler development

Posted on October 15, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

A very interesting development from MicroTrains – the ‘True-Scale’ N-gauge coupler.  The pictures below shows how good these look (photos MTL.)  They also have the advantage over using ‘Z’ gauge couplers in ‘N’ that they have no springs and ‘slinky’ … Continue reading →

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