ESNG meeting – 17 August 2016

Posted on August 18, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

A quiet evening, with just the eight of us attending.  Even the treasurer was on holiday!

No Japanese trains today, as Paul also seemed to be away.  Simon was running this lovely Santa Fe Alco PA-PB-PA set.  It must have been straight out of the shops, as the fabled Alco exhaust soon turned the roof, and side grills, black.  No concern about diesel particulates in the 1950’s and 60’s.

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Otherwise, it was Southern night.  Derek’s M& performed well, pulling as many as three Maunsell coaches.

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And it was also School’s class running in night, with the new Dapol models in BR green and BR black represented.  Both seemed to run very well out of the box – especially after Derek removed the small piece of packing between loco and tender that stopped it going around corners.  Not mentioned in the instructions, but N Gauge Forum brought our attention to it!

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There were also conversations about forthcoming shows – Gaugemaster at the beginning of September, Stuttgart in November, and our own show in April 2017.  I sent a few emails out over the weekend, and it seems to be coming together!

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Gallic inspiration

Posted on August 16, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

You may have come across Emmanuel Nouaillier’s brilliant structure modelling in the Continental Modeller, with step by articles on how to build dilapidated structures.  I came across his website, that doesn’t have all the detail of his articles, but nonetheless contains some inspiring modelling.  It’s also a good chance to practice your modelling French!

… Je continue comme prévu avec une première partie de séquence assez longue visant à imiter le placard Polaroil avec son ours et pour lequel je vais pas mal jouer avec le ruban de masquage. Cette réclame va vraiment donner tout son cachet ou du moins une grosse dose “d’authenticité” au fronton, tout en ajoutant un contraste vraiment très marqué, ce qui est fort appreciable.

… I continue as initially planned with the first of this rather long stage to imitate the Polaroil advert. with its white bear. I will have to use masking tape many times to succeed at making it the most perfect possible. This wall-ad will give the façade its ” authentic ” aspect and in the same time a rather strong welcome contrast.

This is how it came out…..

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And this is the sort of building featured on the site….

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Pure inspiration, but it sometimes makes me want to give up!  Perhaps there are too many distractions in my life?

 

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Shunting on a cable car…

Posted on August 14, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

From Allan’s Swiss adventures this year…

How do you get a pallet of goods from under a cable car and load it on to a waggon?  This is what the BLM does.

Not the clearest photos, but perhaps offering a modelling challenge?

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It looks very clever Swiss, and for the life of me I can’t work out how it works!!

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The switchback – a long run in a little space

Posted on August 12, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

Reading the Freeonrail blog – a European site looking at “How to squeeze big trains into tiny spaces”, I was reminded how good the “Gum Stump & Snowshoe Railroad, conceived by the recently deceased Chuck Yungkurth (also an expert on NE USA anthracite railroads) was…..

Early in the 60th Chuck Yungkurth created the “Gum Stump & Snowshoe Railroad“. I copied this ingenious micro layout using some stock of “Märklin-M-Tracks” and renamed it as “Sanspareil” Ok, please connive the old-fashioned trackwork…just have a look on the trackplan. And yes…that´s a switchback. The train – starting front right – has to change direction twice before reaching it´s destination one level higher on the left hand side. In this way we are able to add a distance of approximately five (!) meters. Not bad for a plank with a total length of 2, 10 m!

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The author goes on to say….

The problem of gumstumping are steep grades. Nearly 10 % are challenging even for short trains. If you forget about the railroad flyover in the foreground you will come to a plan like below. My “Darjeeling & Himalaya RR” (0n30) zigzags through an indian landscape using Peco 0n30 trackwork.

And presents a nice version of the original without the bridge causing the steep grades…

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Then another example of the switchback – but all on one level – comes in another post.  This layout is similar to one I have seen in an Iain Rice plan book, and also in two exhibition layouts in recent years…..

Compact bookshelf layouts have one problem in common. If you are not satisfied with a naked switching puzzle, you will need a track leading your trains into the big, wide world. Hmm…not an easy desire to fullfill, espacially on less than one squaremeter. Anyway…let´s try it. Our first approach is “Mainlände” (speak: Minelanda) in H0. The shelf measures 165 x 35 cm (meanwhile you are familiar with that, probably), the trackwork ist PECO Code 175. “Mainlände” is a small terminus near by a small river port in Bavaria. The line disappears under an elevated street. To protect you from switching in the dark tunnel (what may be really uncomfortable) I added a track from which you can reach every other track. Ok…if a train disappears under the bridge there is no possibilty to form a new one in the backstage area…sometime you have to restore it

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A very practical layout, and with some interesting pointwork.  And it’s about the size of an N-club standard module…..

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Heroes and villains

Posted on August 10, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

The southeast of England is in minor meltdown, not from Brexit, but from a five day strike on Southern Railways.  Their service is even worse than usual.

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And a map shows a reduced service and closed stations.  Our local station, Earlswood, has shut down, so I’ll get to Gatwick for a work trip by bus tomorrow.

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However, there are heroes out there!  Last month the BBC reported….

‘Replacement’ train offer as road shuts

A “replacement” train service is being offered by a narrow gauge railway between two remote villages in southern Scotland during a road closure.

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The B797 between Leadhills in South Lanarkshire and Wanlockhead in Dumfries and Galloway is shut for resurfacing.  The rail service is being run to help people from Wanlockhead to get to the doctor’s surgery in Leadhills.  It is also being offered as a “commuter service” for some workers at the Museum of Lead Mining in Wanlockhead.

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“This service will be unique in that it is usually the other way round, with bus replacements for trains,” said David Winpenny of the Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway.

The trains are usually run at weekends during the summer months on what bills itself as “Britain’s highest narrow gauge adhesion railway” reaching 1,498ft (456m) above sea level.  They link Leadhills to a terminus at Glengonnar which is less than a mile from Wanlockhead.

The road is shut for resurfacing for up to a fortnight with a diversion in place via the A76, B740, B7078 and A702.

Nice to have a good news story off the railways!

PS I’ll be careful and not say who the villain is in the strike….

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Odd modelling idea #2178

Posted on August 8, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

‘Nuff said…..

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

 

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ESNG meeting – 4 August 2016

Posted on August 6, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

Nine punters out this evening – not bad for August.  It was good to see Duncan along for the evening and Ravi back in circulation.  We only set up a small circuit, as we were working in the middle of the tables left out for the church holiday club, but there were plenty of trains in action from three continents – Europe, Japan and America.

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Simon had a lovely Kato Santa Fe F7 consist A-B-B-A.  It’s a tribute to the low current draw on the Kato locomotives that it didn’t overload the controllers.

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Even with a full train of tank wagons in tow…..

The four diesels were later replaced by a single Santa Fe 2-10-2…..

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Phil was running his new Farish ‘Night Mail’ set, and Allan had this brand new – both model and prototype – locomotive to run in.

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To sound or not to sound…..

Posted on August 4, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

More and more layouts seem to come with sound these days – even in the confines of N-gauge.  It was different 15 years ago.  I recall an early open day when we almost went mad as the Cha(I)rman was giving his Swiss layout atmosphere by playing authentic Swiss music – or was it cow bells?  Whatever it was, it was awful (sorry Allan.)

Nowadays, sound isn’t much better.  The latest copy of the BRNMRA’s ‘Roundhouse’ magazine has an article by Keith Webb entitled:

Sound in our Models – Why is it ‘Marmite’ to Modellers?

(Note for overseas readers – Marmite is a sort of yeast extract spread, equally loved or abhorred by UK residents.  It is not Vegemite.)  A few quotes from the article…..

Diesel locos can vary in sound levels, and the type and quantity can also have an effect.  For instance: I am currently working in an office right next to a very busy UK main line, which supports freight and passenger sounds – many loco hauled.  I used to live 3/4 mile from this line where it is on a very high embankment and quite frankly, apart from a ‘still’ day, most trains were barely audible – and I never, ever heard the steam excursions go through!

…. While sitting in the office (writing this), I am still surprised when a train rushes by with very little advanced warning.  At a pinch, the horn can be heard a couple of miles away in the right conditions.

….. This brings us to the model and I must say that we all have the sound way too loud!  Again, air blow, brake release, engine tick-over and other such localised sounds are really only heard within a few yards of the loco, and you may hear the engine (or engines) revving up for half a mile across open landscape, but that wouldn’t equal that your model is set at.

We perhaps forget the scale distance we are standing from our layout.  The take home message – sound is far too loud – you don’t hear the prototype (except the whistle/bell/horn) unless you are on top of it.  So apart from the whistle, wind down the volume on all the loco noises.

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Shepton Mallet yet again

Posted on August 2, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

For the 20th time, Maxine and I have been on our annual pilgrimage to the ‘New Wine’ church conference.  Every year I think I’m getting too old to put our tent up, but really it’s not that difficult.  Now we’re home I’m writing looking at a lounge full of camping gear waiting to go back in the loft.  At least it is all dry as the weather was kind to us!  As always, it was an excellent week.

Just a few shots of the miniature railway that is on the Showground, run by the East Somerset Society of Model & Experimental Engineers, taken near our tent.  It’s just like the big railways though, looking down the line waiting for the train to arrive.  Most of the main line is dual gauge 5″ and 7¼” gauges (just a little larger than ‘N’ gauge).  Each year at New Wine, ESSMEE open up the railway for the day and offer rides for all and sundry.  Read more about this little railway at http://www.essmee.org.uk/ .

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Swiss Redux #4

Posted on July 31, 2016 by snitchthebudgie

A final post of Swiss delights (at least for now.)  This would make a good, and very high, backdrop…..

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And this is an idyllic scene to model, too….

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Love the owl…..

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Here, the old buildings form another idea for a backdrop…..

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And finally, I really wouldn’t mind having a rack railway clock….

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