Wishing you a blessed and peaceful Christmas 2014, in a pretty random world.
Redhill doesn’t look like this – yet. I like how the point heaters are working perfectly – pity about the rest of the railway.
Redhill in the snow, 2010 (Benjamin Nolan)
“A friend of mine always wanted to be run over by a steam train. When it happened, he was chuffed to bits.” Tim Vine
I used to buy the MRJ regularly, enjoying the high quality of model making, and sometimes even taking away an idea that I could use myself. Why did I stop? I’m not sure – I stopped buying most railway magazines at some point, realising that all they did was to clutter up the house.
Nevertheless, I still have a quick look at every edition in W.H. Smith’s in Redhill, and buy a copy if anything takes my eye. Edition no. 235 is a bumper issue for the 2mm modeller, and there are a lot of useful articles.
The contents include:
RMweb
Rmweb
Good progress on the modules this week. It’s been on the principle of, “If you want a job done, give it to a busy man.” It’s been busy at work, we’ve had the usual church build up to Christmas, and more invites out than usual. All good stuff, but life has been a tad hectic. So I’ve tried to use the odd half hours to get some wiring done. And three out of the four boards are now wired for all track work, although the point motors are still to be fitted in places. I hope to get most of this done before Christmas. It occurs to me that I haven’t ever posted a proper scale plan of the layout. So here it is – double click it for a bigger version. 
Any brave reader who has followed the modules to date will notice a couple of changes. I have opted for staging on the left hand board. Not much of it, but putting it there is easier than making and fitting a new boards at right angles. It will need careful scenic disguise, but two trains will give plenty of switching operations before having to re-stage the trains. Or I could use cassettes…
The fourth board is something new. I had built a 800mm module to fit on the right hand end of the layout, making it up to (a metric) 12′ in length. Originally, I had intended this to be a purely scenic board. But thinking about it, I decided to extend the run-round lead across onto the fourth board, to give another place to spot cars. I’m not sure what to put here yet. It could just be a bay track to a depot on the board. Or it could be a team track, or another small industry.
Whatever option I opt for, it will increase the switching fun. The two photographs below show the fourth board in place, with my test caboose parked at the end of the track. Right, having posted this, I’m off to get the wiring going on the last board….
What is it about Christmas and work? Everyone seems to have to work three times as hard just to get a little time off over the holiday. So today, I was half asleep at the meeting, having been rushing around to get a report out – that I know will sit untouched on a desk from December 24th to 5th January. The chairman didn’t get there. He came home from work and fell asleep in an armchair until after the meeting started.
Nevertheless, 11 members did get to Earlswood, and despite some initial apathy on my part, we got a small circuit up and running. Small enough for Paul’s Japanese not-quite-100-wagon goods train to cover the entire circuit and give a new meaning to ‘push-pull’. Phil had a new Farish diesel to run and Derek’s Santa Special made its annual appearance. Neil had some new Farish Polybulks on show, prudently bought before Farish prices shot up like Rouble interest rates. Duncan was measuring ‘Z’ gauge chassis with a micrometer – purpose unknown (perhaps I should have asked.)
Two reminders for all members.
Firstly there will be no meeting on January 1st. We thought that this may be a family day for some, and hangovers will still be there for others. I might be in Hong Kong. I have a ticket to go there for a week for work, but the trip is yet to be confirmed.
Secondly, remember the Play-Day, Sunday 11th January 2015, 2-7pm, followed by curry. A good chance for an extended running session – and for the traditional festive feast afterwards.
I couldn’t resist just one more post. Here are three videos. The first two are of the ESNG portion of the show, The first is of Union Street. The tube train is in the station and will depart (automatically) in due course. On the main line, the Hogwarts Expressed is followed by a Blue Pullman and the Brighton Belle.
The second is of the dreaded tunnel, site of Quintinshill 2014, the sad location of Thomas’ tragic demise.
Finally, the perils of driving to Stuttgart – or how to dodge flowerpots on the autobahn!
One essential purchase every year is the Model Railroader ‘Great Model Railroads’ special. I may have given up Model Railroader itself, but this annual magazine, and also the ‘Model Railroad Planning’ issue in the new year, are always worth buying and keeping. Invariably there are one or two special layouts that one can go back to for reference and inspirations.
Of course, there are always too many ‘basement’ layouts that are far too big for 99% of UK enthusiast. However, in recent years the editors have included a good balance of railroad sizes and scales.
This year, 2015, is no exception. I’m biased, as an HO Lehigh Valley inspired model headlines, in not too big a room. I’m still puzzling over the best shade for Lehigh Valley red. I was amused to see that the two pictures reproduced above have come out with a darker red than in the published pictures. I’m getting convinced that my best bet for repainting models is to choose a similar colour that I like and is readily available in the UK and stick to it.
Of the other layouts, a number appealed:
In fact, the only disappointing layout is the British outline one! Not that it’s bad, but there are better examples of British layouts each month in our magazines.
There are plenty of construction and operation tips. My best quote was from the O gauge model of the Tehachapi Loop:
“Other than in the towns, there are very few trees on the layout. The desert countryside features a few Joshua trees and yucca plants, along with some jackrabbits and scratchbuilt snakes.”
Man, scratchbuilt snakes? Is this an aspect of modelling that I’m missing out on? Perhaps I need an N-gauge Anaconda gracing my next module?
After the Stuttgart marathon blog, back to some more random railway posts.
Have you ever wondered what to call your model railway? It’s easy if you are modelling a real prototype, or making a free-lanced line in real countryside. But what name to choose that’s not to0 cliched, clever, or just too rude? Here’s the idea present for you.
The advertising ‘blurb’ describes it as follows:
And that’s why so much time, effort and forensic levels of pedantry have gone into making our Marvellous Map of Great British Place Names, which boasts a huge number of funny, strange, slightly rude and just plain silly place names… Whichever way you look at them, we think they are simply the greatest Great British place names. We sincerely hope you enjoy discovering them as much as we have.
The Daily Telegraph reviews it:
A wall map featuring just about every rude and silly place name in the country was launched this week – the perfect Christmas stocking filler for the immature among us.
The Marvellous Map of Great British Place Names (£22; published by Strumpshaw, Tincleton & Giggleswick; www.stghq.com) claims to be the first of its kind and features 1,400 locations – including 136 “bottoms”.
Looks just about right for most ESNG members! The bits of map the Telegraph showed seem to have omitted my West Country favourites – the ‘Camels’, that include the delightful ‘Queen Camel’. Put that on your GWR branchline and await reaction. But from the same part of the country come:
Curry Mallet, Little Puddle, Upton Cow Down, Tiptoe, Plush
And the ‘bottoms’:
Crinkley Bottom, Charity Bottom, Scratchy Bottom, Breakheart Bottom, Shepherd’s Bottom, Happy Bottom, Rainbow Bottom, Snail’s Bottom, Velvet Bottom, Burnt Bottom
And I dare you to call your layout, ‘Droop’.
Finally, going over the border to Stirling, how about ‘Teapot’?
And, as always, it’s quicker to take a layout down than to put it up. Two hours after the close of show, the van was packed. It was then back to the hotel for a well earned dinner.
Amazingly, there was still some beer left! And this was despite wheeling it over to the Finns at lunchtime, who unfortunately were unable to ‘Finnish’ it.
Allan and Derek set off early Monday morning in the van, and took 12 hours door to door back to Redhill. We unloaded at the church hall, and Derek’s house, by 18:30 leaving only Allan’s own bits and pieces in the van.
Maxine and I had a leisurely breakfast, packed, checked out, and strolled to the airport. We had some excellent views of London from the air on the approach to Heathrow. I never tire of flying across London and spotting all the landmarks, and of course the main line stations. This time, I excelled myself, spotting the church in Shadwell where we had been to a wedding a few weeks before. After a quick transit Heathrow to Redhill, we were home by 14:15.
And that’s the Stuttgart pilgrimage over for another year, and this blog will go back to normal…..
One really good thing about the Messe is that you pay once (a very reasonable 12 Euros) and you gain entrance to all eight halls. Our NEC could learn from this. It increases the visitor numbers to all shows, as even if you come to visit one, you are likely to drop into the others. Over the years, I haven’t visited the other halls much, but Maxine and I spent some time exploring most of the other halls (we didn’t bother with the electronics – to avoid computers for the weekend – and baby – past that – shows).
This delightful old car was at the Messe entrance.
Next to our hall was the craft and games exhibition. Half the hall was full of games of all sorts. The other was full of wool, beads and other craft activities. I could have taken up any number of new hobbies. Then I decided that railways were bad enough! So we watched the local punters trying out board games before buying (brilliant idea), were buzzed by an airship and cut down by a Star Wars Stormtrooper.
Next off to look for free samples in the food and drink show. Not much drink to try, but plenty of cheese samples, lots of interesting salamis and sauces and dips.
Finally to the home and garden show, all three halls of it. Perhaps the least interesting, as we weren’t interested in buying a new (German) kitchen or building a new house. Still, I got my shoes cleaned with some miracle product and the Stuttgart Water Company display was interesting, especially as it was offering glasses of cold water.
The full size hydrants are actually quite light, and are pedal bins. I suppose the one good thing about the furniture displays was a chance to rest aching legs and feet!
Although the N-Club convention and modular layout dominates the train section of the Stuttgart show, there are always some other self contained layouts to look at.
There are usually one or two modular HO layouts on display. This one featured a railway bridge spanning a floor-deep gorge.
Apart from ESNG, the UK was represented by this little two-level shunting layout (sorry, Pauline, I forgot what it was called). But as you know, gentle reader, I always like railways on brick viaducts.
There were several small and scenic layouts on display, including this delightful French harbour scene. It’s a continuous layout, perhaps only 4′ long, with the main line weaving its way through the dockside.
This Norwegian layout was slightly larger, but it’s an unusual country to model, and the combination of mountains and sea made for dramatic scenery in a small space.
A single-track N-mod system has some excellent scenic work. I love the water wheel and sluice gate – the picture is much larger than the real thing.
And of course, apart from the displays of trains, boats and planes, for the civil engineer there were the radio-controlled muck shifting models. I’m told that psychologists say that civil engineers are generally well balanced people due to the fact that they never leave their childhood sandpits. How you account for Mr Bean, Yasser Arafat and Osama Bin Laden (all civil engineers by training), I don’t know….
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