A cheerful interlude – two train crashes

Posted on August 19, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

As a welcome break from the philosophy of model railways, Allan came across these pictures in the news, of two recent train crashes.  Fortunately, casualties seem to be limited.  First, Switzerland, where a RhB train came off the narrow-gauge track over a ravine at Graubuenden in eastern Switzerland.

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I always have this perfect picture of Swiss railways.  It was a shock when I came across an article a few years ago bemoaning how poor the time-keeping was and how crowded some trains were.  Here, I believe the train hit a landslip, so the accident was hard to avoid.

The second photo is from Manilla, where an LRT went through the buffers at its urban terminal.  This looks like typical Manilla traffic to me!  My recollection of it was dodgems at their worst.  A train popping out into the road is probably a minor annoyance compared with manic minibuses, road rage with guns, typhoons and general demolition derby driving.  This was one place in the world where I was very pleased to have a driver!

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Railway modelling is not fun

Posted on August 17, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

Sorry, but part 2 of our ‘fun’ series is another re-blog from Simon Dunkley’s site. He rightly points out the Mike Cougill has forgotten to define ‘fun’, and goes on and explores what model railroad ‘fun’ might be.  In a recent post he confessed to having a degree in psychology.  Maybe it shows here….  But what does it say about me – a civil engineer who enjoys reading posts by someone with a degree in psychology?

Simon's avatarThe Erratic and Wandering Journey

My friend Mike Cougill has made a few posts recently about model railroading and “fun”. He even went so far as to pose 20 questions on the subject. As he has recently revealed, these reflect his self-questionning, and he has answered some of the questions. I had a problem with the questions, as Mike had (intentionally, I am sure) left out any sort of definition as to what fun might mean. It got me thinking – I am sure that getting people thinking was Mike’s aim. It usually is.

“Fun” is an interesting word. Originally the way to have fun was to play a trick, hoax, etc on someone – so fun came at another’s expense (for example, the bawdy and riotous story “Tom Jones” treats it this way). Definitions change over time (awful used to be a major compliment!) but the element of spontaneity…

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Are model railways “fun”?

Posted on August 14, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

I’ve been thinking in recent weeks about ‘why’ I actually model railways.  What do I really enjoy about model railways?  And conversely, what frustrates me when I don’t seem to find the time to get anything done (as at present).  But as I was getting to put ‘keyboard to screen’ this week, I came across an post and a couple of responses to said post that put it all down better than I could.  (Not that I agreed with all of it, but it made me think).

So the next four posts will be re-blogs of the original article and two responses, plus my rather derivative thoughts.  I might sneak in a cheerful post somewhere along the line about a couple of recent train crashes, provided by Allan.

I’ll start with Mike Cougill’s OST Blog.  I know I’ve mentioned Mike before, as his small O-fine layout and modelling is inspirational, and his ideas often helpful and challenging (as characterised by the Missing Conversation series of e-books).  Here’s his article, reproduced in full I’m afraid, as it’s difficult just to quote from it.  (But slightly reformatted – sorry, the report writer in me took over).  For the full post and comments, go to here.

Premise: Model Railroading is not fun.

Questions.

  1. Is model railroading frustrating?
  2. Why do people find aspects of it so frustrating?
  3. Why is fun a prerequisite for a hobby?
  4. What constitutes fun?
  5. When is model railroading fun?
  6. Is model railroading always fun (that is, people automatically have fun when doing it), or is it fun because people find meaningful ways to pursue it?
  7. Are there assumptions about fun and this hobby?
  8. What assumptions?
  9. What assumptions do we bring?
  10. Why do we bring any assumptions to it?
  11. Where or how do such assumptions begin?
  12. Are assumptions hurting the hobby?
  13. Why don’t we challenge assumptions about the hobby?
  14. Are people afraid to challenge their assumptions about model railroading?
  15. What would happen if more people did?
  16. Would people still be having fun?
  17. Would that result in a better hobby?

Boiling it down to three questions:

  1. Are decades old assumptions hurting or helping model railroading?
  2. Why are people adverse to talking about all this?
  3. What would happen if we did?

The answers dear reader, should you choose to pursue them, are entirely up to you.

Regards,
Mike

If all that’s a bit heavy for you, just go and run a train or hack some plastic or brass about!  But it struck a few chords with me and next time I’ll genuinely repost a response from another blog.  Happy modelling – even if it’s not much fun!

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Channel tunnel layout

Posted on August 12, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

One of my first posts was a description of a visit to a Channel Tunnel ‘N’ gauge layout from Cha(i)rman Allan.  Here are a few photos from his return visit (apologies for the flash reflections – must get a new photographer).

After my visit last October, I paid a return visit to the small museum at Peene in Kent, the Elham Valley Line Trust.  Here are some photos of their two N-gauge layouts.  These are of the Channel Tunnel layout.

4 - IMAG0051  3 - IMAG0050 2 - IMAG0049  1 - IMAG0048

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Wot I did on my holidays

Posted on August 10, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

Our week away was our usual pilgrimage to the ‘New Wine’ church conference, with 12,000 people camping on the Bath & West Showground near Shepton Mallet, Somerset in the south-west of the UK.  The Showground is about 5 miles from Pilton, site of the Glastonbury Festival.  It has similar views of Glastonbury Tor, but from a different direction.  Of course the weather is the typical Somerset micro-climate, often including lots of rain.  Fortunately, there is less mud at New Wine, as the Showground has better infrastructure.   Still the sun shined nearly all week this year, until the moment we took the tent down and the heavens opened.

However, the point of this post is to describe the miniature railway that is on the Showground, run by the East Somerset Society of Model & Experimental Engineers.  They describe themselves like this on their web site:

Founded in 2001, the Society is a relative newcomer in the well-established field of Model Engineering societies. It is based at the Bath & West Showground near Shepton Mallet, Somerset in the south-west of the UK, and draws members from as far afield as Bristol and Yeovil. Members come from many different walks of life and are of varying levels of skill and experience – and all are still learning!

Their interests include locos and stock in 3½”, 5″ and 7¼” gauges (just a little larger than ‘N’ gauge), and they have an extensive line, a lot of which is dual gauge for the larger two scales.  Each year at New Wine, ESSMEE open up the railway for the day and offer rides for all and sundry.  I’m not really into large scale models like this, but the sound and smell of these little steam locomotives is very evocative of their larger cousins.  And it’s rather fun having to wait for the level crossing before crossing the line.  I’ve posted a couple of photographs from their web-site below, to give a flavour of the operation.  I love the dual gauge trackwork, especially the points.  Read more about this little railway at http://www.essmee.org.uk/ .

 dscf0156 dscf0151

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ESNG meeting – 7 August 2014

Posted on August 8, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

It’s definitely holiday time, as we were down to eight members this Thursday.  But it was good to have a visit from a prospective new member in Roger, who brought an engine along for the attention of Dr Loco.  Evidence of holiday time was also seen as there was just room to set up a circuit in the middle of tables for the church Holiday Club.

The eight members sort of split into two groups.  One group was intent on planning for the next Stuttgart trip in November.  We have the space for our layout allocated, that brilliantly includes a nearby junction.  Last year it was good value (if rather scary) operating the two double junctions onto our branch.

The other group ran trains.  Paul’s mega Japanese goods train was reluctant to stay coupled.  In protest he loaded Thomas, Annie and Clarabelle onto low loads and sent them on a train to the scrap yard.  Dave was running some very nice ‘Sharknoses’ with a train of B&O coaches.  Phil had some UK Pullmans on the go.  And Derek had a long train of Bullied coaches behind a ‘West Country’ Pacific.

And Allan brought a box of chocolate biscuits.

All in all, a quiet evening, but plenty happening!

 

 

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Turkey: High-speed train breaks down on first day

Posted on August 5, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

Another BBC contribution:

Turkey’s first high-speed train has broken down just a few hours after the prime minister inaugurated it in a glowing speech about the country’s technical prowess, it’s been reported.

The glitch happened when a dislocated contact wire cracked the windshield of the sleek new train, and the electricity had to be cut for 30 minutes to fix the problem, Hurriyet newspaper reports.

Earlier in the day Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, travelling from the capital Ankara to the financial hub of Isanbul with his wife Emine, praised a number of infrastructure projects launched by his ruling Justice and Development Party. “We are now a nation who is admired,” he said in a speech in the town of Eskisehir. “Not a nation that looks at European cities and admires those places, seeing high-speed trains there.”

“You should have no doubt,” Erdogan added. “Aren’t we now producing our own helicopters? We are. Are we starting to produce our own local tanks? We will move further.” He went on to describe Turkey as a country that turns its dreams into reality.

The train’s maiden journey comes less than three weeks before Turkey’s first-ever direct presidential elections. The $4bn (£2.3bn) project was completed in phases between 2009 and 2014, with $183m from the European Union. Erdogan said he hopes Turkey will become one of the world’s 10 largest economies by 2023.

“A dislocated contact wire” – looks like they’re no better at wiring their railway than I am!

High-speed train arrives in Istanbul

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OCE – Three Steps Closer to Perfection

Posted on August 2, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

The budgie has landed….. Back from holiday after a good break. Here’s an interesting article by Simon Dunkley to be going on with, that explores the way to a realistic railside scene – and the philosophy behind it. Yes, even railway modellers can be philosophical (well, probably after a pint or two).

Simon's avatarThe Erratic and Wandering Journey

Have a look at this simple, beautiful picture:

wpid-x80w-lynnvalley-4sd.jpg
Picture reproduced by kind permission of Trevor Marshall
Just a train running through some woodland, next to a river, right? Yes. And also, no.

Yes: it is a train; there is woodland; and there is a river.

No: it is not just that; it is not even a simple case of the whole being more than the sum of the parts. There is more to it than that. But not too much more, and best of all, these are basic principles, attitudes and activities which can be applied to any creative activity, but which lie at the core of “finescale with feeling”.

  1. Observation – This could also be called “attention to detail”, in that it is about identifying the detail points in the prototype: the slope of the embankment (“fill”, if you are North American); the texture of the grass and leaves…

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We are all superstars now!

Posted on July 30, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

A quote from the Daily Telegraph on the interests of rock stars…

Building model railways is very popular among rockers of a certain vintage. Rod Stewart, Neil Young, Phil Collins and Roger Daltrey all have elaborate train sets, with Stewart stating in his autobiography that making the December 2010 cover of Model Railroader was “a major career milestone … getting on the front of Rolling Stone had nothing on this.”

I have to admit that Rod Stuart’s layout is something special.  He takes over a complete extra hotel room on tour, for his modelling workshop.  He seems to mainly build scenery and some most impressive buildings.

Neil Young was part owner of Lionel at one stage, and has a low level layout built for his disabled family.

None the less, sex, drugs and model railways?  Not sure we can live up to that at ESNG.

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Who is the ESNG mole?

Posted on July 27, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

Who is the ESNG club ‘mole’?

I read this article in our local free paper and its web site last week:

Redhill model railway enthusiasts announce date of next annual show

The group, whose members, working to N-gauge standards, take their models to meetings to run on a modular circuit, will hold its Expo 2015 on April 11.

The Expo will include the club modular and Dawes Creek circuits, as well as stands from traders, the N Gauge Society and the ever-popular second-hand shop.

All exactly right and welcome publicity.  But I didn’t submit it to the paper.  So thank you, whoever wrote the article.  And keep them coming.  But I’m still curious to find the culprit!

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