Petts Wood, 1950’s

Posted on October 29, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

I saw this photograph posted on Facebook by Derek Martin, and asked if I could share it.  It’s a fine shot of the up Golden Arrow passing through platform 1 of Petts Wood station.

I was brought up in Petts Wood, and this scene is very familiar.  I remember seeing the Golden Arrow, stream hauled, passing as I went back to infants school after lunch. And early train spotting days caught it with a class 71 electric on the front.  We’re looking south in this photograph, with the old British Legion Club building on the right.  All long gone, though the garage behind it is still there.

Petts Wood was built as a temporary wooden station by the (real) Southern Railway in the 1930’s, as the suburbs, and electrification, spread out from central London. The station has never been rebuilt, although the goods yard has disappeared under a supermarket.

I posted this picture back in 2016, when Maxine and I went back to my roots for a wedding.  The Networker is in much the same place as the Golden Arrow. The station hadn’t changed much, except for an extension to the original ‘temporary’ station building.  Note how the vegetation has grown over the past 60 years!  No cinders to set fire to the lineside, I guess.

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The three-point trick

Posted on October 27, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

I’ve always appreciated Ian Futer’s layouts, and their underlying designs.  Some of his best designs are his three-point specials.  Very simple, but with enough operation built in to be reasonably interesting to operate.  This month’s Railway Modeller brought these plans to mind again.

First, Victoria Park, a compressed version of a real Scottish urban terminal.

And here’s a version with an extra point, giving a double track entry to the station.

If you want goods only, there’s Fisherrow Yard.  Plenty of shunting here….

And finally, the oldest of them, Newcastle (Haymarket).  Originally in P4, and on a raised embankment.  This plan was in the Railway Modeller this month:

Ian Futers later built a version in ‘O’ gauge, that was sold on.  But during lockdown, he has started a new ‘O’ gauge version, with using curved points.   This looks rather good, losing the regular shape of Haymarket, and somehow making it look larger.

Building the same layout for the third time must mean that it has something going for it!

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Potpourri #1002

Posted on October 24, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

An “operational incident” from Duncan.  Ramsgate, I think…..

we’ve all done this on a layout… less so in full scale!

How silly can you get?

Couple posed on rail line for wedding shoot

Photo_ Network Rail

Some interesting ideas here:

Five innovations that could shape the future of rail travel

I liked the ideas of steerable wheels on the train – but don’t us modellers already have them (sort of) on long wheelbase 4 and 6-wheel stock?  And the virtual coupling is rather like consists in DCC, programming the locos to run at the same speed.

If you’ve got a little time, a classic signal box (interlocking) in the States:

Classic Southern steam, including 10 minutes of trains at Redhill.

And some REAL shunting.  Model this!

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ESNG meeting – 21 October 2020

Posted on October 22, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

A record breaking evening on Zoom.   We started with just the four of us.  That included an impressive display with John and Alpenbahn, and five trains running around.  Paul was on-line, but no trains running, due to some wiring issues with his new layout alterations.

Then numbers multiplied.  Graham arrived in both sound and vision, and there was a general showing of new purchases.  And we also had a flying visit from Neil, Martin and Sean, who briefly appeared on-screen.  The conversation did include railways, but was also suitably wide ranging….

Meanwhile, Brian’s camera train is working, but wobbling….

Here’s a short film I made using Simon’s 3D printed flat bogie wagon.  It is bouncing about a bit in places, but I wonder if I need to tighten / loosen the bogies?

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Potpourri #1001

Posted on October 20, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

An interesting prototype – New York City warehouses early last century.  Certainly a good basis for a small or micro layout – and to use up all that Peco SetTrack.

A little humour, via Simon.  Mind you, I’ve laid track that looks like that…..

And yet another exhibition cancellation.  Stuttgart NCI meet 2020 is cancelled.  ESNG had decided not to exhibit this year anyway, wondering whether we would be able to get to Germany, let alone exhibit there.  But this is hardly surprising with the upturn in Covid-19 cases in Germany at the moment.  As Stefan puts it:

My task for today is to inform you that the 2020 Exhibition in Stuttgart is cancelled.

The increase of Corona infections in and around Germany have led to more restrictions.  Due to the responsibility for safety of exhibitors as well as visitors the Stuttgart Exhibition Management has decided to cancel all exhibitions till end of the year.  Till this day all of us had hope that the measures for reduction of the Corona-infections in Germany would last till winter – we were on a good way…

I wish you all a good and healthy time – keep your nerves and your positive attitude for life.  We all share a hobby where there is no room for boredom and “have to stay at home” can be changed into creativity!

I need to take that to heart – “stay at home” needs to be more creative!

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An expensive Sunday video

Posted on October 18, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

In case you missed it on RMWeb – $2,000,000 worth of damage, and that’s just to the cars.  Now, this would be a challenge to model?

 

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Book review – I couldn’t resist a bargain!

Posted on October 16, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

Unfortunately I couldn’t resist Strathwood’s lockdown offer – buy five books get the cheapest free.  So a large parcel arrived with some great reading – all Southern Railway orientated you will note.  I’m sorely tempted by the volumes on the SR 4-6-0’s and 2-6-0’s as well, with the Q1’s thrown in as a bonus.  The book of the M7 shows what a complicated class they were, with all sorts of differences between locomotives.  None of them resemble the Dapol M7, in ‘N’, though, that is closer to an LSWR T1 class.

Pick of the bunch, that I would have bought anyway, is this follow up to their two excellent volumes of Southern Electric in black-and-white.  But this time they’re in colour.  Some inspirational shots here, showing that EMU’s are far from boring.

But here’s a puzzle for you – why is the wagon in the middle sitting on the wrong rails?  Or is it???  This is an Isle of Wight shot from the piers there.

Look closely and you’ll see that the third line from the left stops just before the van.  It was, together with the rail to the right of the wagons, the tracks for a gantry crane.  But you need a close look to work it out, rather than suspect a secret monorail…..

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Sad to see a rail closure

Posted on October 14, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

Sad to see, Kerr’s Miniature Railway is closing after 85 years.  It has been a feature of Arbroath’s seafront since 1935, but there has been a decline in visitor numbers over the last decade.

Hopefully, the rolling stock will find a home elsewhere.  But wonderful scenes like this one are already long gone…..

Photo: Kerr’s Miniature Railway

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Monday miscellany

Posted on October 12, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

Was this really published 30 years ago?

I still think this is the most influential book on railway modelling ever published.  It introduced a string of new concepts into modelling – for example the ‘cameo’ layout, and ‘staged’ layouts with a proscenium arch – ideas that are now nearly universal.  I still browse it for inspiration – completely recommended.

It introduced a string of buildable model railway designs, some quirky, many brilliant.  I was always struck by ‘Cannonsgate Goods Depot.’  I tried to work our how to build this in a small space in ‘O’ gauge (this was pre-ESNG days), but failed (as is usually the case.)  It was about the same time that ‘Lightermans Yard’ was started in 2mm Fine Scale to the same plan.  Perhaps I should have done the same?

Meanwhile, here are a couple of lovely pictures of the Brighton main line in the 1920’s – at Earlswood, a stones throw from our present home.  I wish these locos were still running!

And finally, at least one ESNG member is playing trains!  Well done, Uncle Allan….

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Covid-19 diary #29 – Planning failures!

Posted on October 10, 2020 by snitchthebudgie

Progress on the railway continues to be limited to say the least.  I continue to try and plan my next railway with little success.  So many ideas, and so few that really excite!  But the last few weeks have been pleasant enough – a chance to get out for a few meals, the always interesting (if you like rabbits and cat litter) ESNG Zoom meetings, and a pile of good books to read.

But what are my problems in design…..

  1. “Eyes bigger than his belly.”  This may not be true for some of our club members, but it sums up my design problems.  I keep designing layouts that are frankly too big.  The fact that I can run a ten coach train at an ESNG meeting doesn’t mean that I will ever be able to do that at home.  And much as I would like to run my Brighton Belle unit, even a five coach train might stretch things a little.
  2. Fiddle yards.  I have too many trains, and the fiddle yard is always too big – usually larger than the scenic part of the layout.  I’m not confident of building a traverser or some other space saving idea.  Cassettes would be an approach, but it’s too easy to drop your expensive train whilst turning it around.
  3. Couplings.  I still hate NEM and Dapol EasyShunts.  Big and ugly (again a bit like our club members), but I suspect my eyesight isn’t up to three-link couplings in ‘N’!

And are these the solutions?

  1. Be realistic and build something small.
  2. Accept that my layouts will only accept some of my stock at any one time and swap them around occasionally.
  3. Or just build something esoteric that limits what one can run (for example, Isle of Wight lines or Wisbech and Upwell tramways.)  Keep the rest for the day when club nights start again.
  4. Experiment with couplings.  I do have ideas here.
  5. Experiment with fiddle yards.

Or to put it another way, do ANYTHING!  Just start building again.

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