My son Michael has been investigating volunteering on a heritage line, and has ended up on the Bluebell Railway. I little bit of a journey to get down there, but it all seems like fun. This week the Bluebell were entertaining Railtrack in their Pullman train. Not only did Michael get a ride in the guards compartment to East Grinstead and back, but he also coupled up the loco and carriages, with people watching!!!!
Casey Jones revisited?
Hitching a lift with the guard.
Pullmans.
Motive power, an SECR O1 0-6-0.
And other odds and ends! Note the Caledonian sleeper coach in the background and a long way from home.
A little more from Portsmouth. Pwllhelli (P4) shows how a modern, rationalised, terminus can still be interesting – add some engineers trains.
The Boston Model Railway Society brought Tytton Hall Yard (OO) south. Always good to see a new layout (to me) from another area of the UK. The layout’s primary feature is a fully working rapid coal loader for MGR’s, whilst the mainlines above are busy with both passenger and freight traffic.
Sillhurst (N). Good to see a Southern branch line in N.
More modern freight at Tidworth (OO).
And China clay at Trenance Down (OO).
Lastly, Fareford East (OO). Sort of N-mod on steroids!
My quieter week turned out to be just as busy as the previous ones, so I passed on a visit to the Portsmouth show. As usual, my faithful reporter sent me a few pictures. And I, as usual, have selected some of my favourites! It is always interesting to see which layouts Allan has taken more photos of – and how they are sometimes different from the ones that I would have concentrated on. No complaints at all – one of the joys of our hobby is the range of interests and layouts under one large umbrella – and we usually still talk to each other.
I would have been in agreement with the excellent Sud Harz (HOn3). I especially like the way the backscene of trees has been blended into the relatively narrow baseboard. And it’s a ‘real’ narrow gauge railway, so a good proportion of todays photos come from deepest Germany.
Now, I’d have probably taken more shots of Feltham Road (OO). This is one of the few shed layouts around that really works, being a condensed version of Feltham shed in its latter days, and filled with lovely ex-Southern locomotives.
I also find Splott (P4) rather interesting. There is a place called Splott in South Wales, and the subdued lighting and grimy works capture the area (as it was) rather well.
And so to Fredstone Lane (N). A large N gauge layout that uses the small scale to pack in loads of tracks and keep trains running to entertain the masses. It’s all very well done, but I’m sorry, but I’d rather see the trains having room to breath in the countryside. But so what, it’s a good layout, and that’s my problem……
Following Wednesday’s replacement bus service, Sunday was a very busy afternoon, with 11 members turning out. Was there a hint of spring, too? It was still light when we finished for the afternoon, and I forgot to put the hall heating on – it was acceptably warm.
Just for a change, we’ll start with Brian’s moving pictures….
Now my dodgy pictures. A busy fiddle yard…
Farish DMUs new and old. The old one doesn’t need a sound chip – the brass gears do the job.
The American equivalent….
And the European version…
Some UK goods trains from various eras…
UK expresses – the V2 ran perfectly, the Britannia shed coaches all over the place!
American super-power (safety in numbers?)
And European passenger trains….
Only down side of the afternoon was finding out that the curry house will be closed in two weeks time after our next Sunday meeting. Some poor excuse like kitchen maintenance – we must have worn it out.
Another busy week, so just an old post today, with a classic track plan.
Picking up on those posts from the end of 2018 (was it really over two years ago?), I’m not sure whether I have posted these excellent layouts on here before – at least my tagging and indexing isn’t good enough to find them.
Both are a 5′ diameter circle, which is hardly surprising as they use the same design. One is 2mm finescale, the second N gauge.
The ‘Mini MSW’, Alan Whitehouse’s model of the trans-Pennine Woodhead line, was originally built as a 2mm test track, but developed into a layout in its own right. The layout is made even more special by the accurate overhead infrastructure, and the scratch-built EM1 and EM2 electric locomotives.
I later came across Terry Tasker’s ‘Circle Line’. It took some time (and some reading and watching) to realise that Terry had been inspired by the Mini-MSW, and his layout was an N gauge version of the layout. The big difference is that Terry’s version is operated from the middle, whilst Alan’s layout is a solid board (actually in two pieces). The circle line is in one piece, that perhaps makes it more difficult to move around – light, but bulky. This video reveals all.
The track plan for both layouts is simple enough, but there is just enough extra pointwork on the scenic area to give it a little interest.
Here are a couple of pictures of the Circle Line under construction
And here it is in operation, taken from a press photo.
I think that this is a classic, and inspiring design. Although the Mini-MSW is very accurate in its location, it would be easy to build this layout to allow different regions and periods to be operated, whilst looking generally realistic. Perhaps signals and one or two small buildings might come from the 1930’s Southern, but trains could be run from all over, and anything from 1910 to 1970 would not look too out of place.
The only catch I can see is that one would need to keep on a bit of a diet to operate the thing. If it were reduced to a 4′ diameter circle, it would make an nicely transportable layout, if folded in two. But this would require some dramatic weight loss, or specially selected skinny operators!
Wednesday night, and although seven members trickled in, we didn’t quite get around to running trains. It was good to see Derek the Apps back in circulation. No.1 son Michael came down to run trains, after a long break, but was foiled. Still, as the still life photos below show, he did have a relaxing evening. And we all managed to talk for two-and-a-half hours before going home. Sometimes I wonder whether railways are just an excuse for a chat….
Let’s throw in a few pictures for good measure. Here is a very modellable halt. Just outside Victoria station it is still occasionally used by drivers picking up trains from the storage sidings on the old canal basin site.
Our Yorkshire outpost, Paul, is back in Japan. I’m sure he’ll forgive me for posting all these pictures he took of Nagasaki trams. A great selection of types and liveries, all passing the same tram stops. Very modellable….
We’ll start today with some rather fine models of ordinary houses and buildings. On Wellbridge (OO)….
And Wantage Tramway (P4).
And also Penworth (2mm finescale.)
More buildings on Holmeshurst (O), most of which have family connections to the owner, whilst the Ford railcar shows prototypical stability on the rails!
Modern image on Collingwood (OO).
Shed scenes on Oakley Lane (O) and Upper Blackburn (OO).
Cedar Canyon Junction (N).
Shunting at Gas Street Yard (O). I hope that those milk churns are empties!
And finally, branch lines with Halden Road (OO) and Westerham (O).
After a rather hectic week, I opted for a morning out and away from things and took a train with Mr Dawes over to Tonbridge. It’s a 32 minute run through some lovely Kent countryside, and much more relaxing than driving. I always have mixed feelings about the show due to the long, long, queues to get in. However this year we left a little later to avoid the opening rush, and there was no queue outside the building. Maybe they have got more efficient on the door, as the halls seemed as busy. As can be seen from the tea room….
As usual, it was a pretty good show, so here goes with two posts worth of highlights. This time around, I’ll start with the layouts that caught my eye.
I’ve seen Kamiack Falls (HO) before, but this seems to me to be a US railroad modelled with a UK approach. It’s set somewhere in the east of Washington state, and the fall trees immediately catch the eye. Short trains switch and pass through at scale speeds. The only catch with this is that I had to wait a long time to get the picture I wanted!
I’ve seen Janes Creek (EM) at a number of shows recently – but it is still worth another look. Here I just took pictures of the lovely ships modelled on the layout.
Brinklow (N) models a station on the Trent Valley Railway, running next to the Oxford canal. Excellent scenery, and a regular service of trains all set up with realistic formations of stock.
Cessy-en-Bois (HO) is an immersive little bit of the south of France, where it’s rather hot and things happen slowly, if at all…..
Modern china clay at Wheal Elizabeth (P4).
And last for today, The Bedlam Brewery Company in On16.5.
Maybe another show to visit on Saturday, but today, just the usual odds and ends. What better place to start than a Jago Hazzard or two?
Or maybe three? I’d like to model the Morden South Express Dairies depot. Not much milk in this video, but some interesting background to the station, and pictures of the line.
Amazing!
Can’t wait to see it ‘down south’ again!
And as it was….
And a couple of old photos to close. Norbury, when it was countryside, as a train crosses the River Graveney (that I computer modelled many years later when it flooded a load of houses) under the new LBSCR overhead masts.
A later electric – an SR class 71 under the wires at Hither Green yard. I’m reliably informed that locos of this class didn’t have a large clock under the pantograph!
And a lovely old shot of Beddington Lane station. Another location I’d love to model – 3rd rail electric, but a single track connecting line, almost a branch.
Another Sunday meeting, and to my surprise, nine members and our junior turned up. The usual suspects were filling the fiddle yard….
Sometimes words fail me (!!) No erudite/amusing/rude captions suggest themselves today, so here, in no particular order, are some train pictures. What a relief, they all thought…..
The attendance for curry was less impressive – just the club chairman and secretary enjoyed the usual feast at the Ruchita.
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