Another selection of odds and ends, but hopefully no more bad news bombshells!
For the modeller…. I’m really sure how the Erie got this to stand up, but with slight upgrades and repairs, it was in operation till relatively recently.
Although you see pictures of London streets crammed with horses and early buses and cars, maybe this was a more typical sight? Easier to model, anyway.
Haywards Heath tunnel, also known as Folly Hill tunnel is just 249 yards long, but looks shorter here!
A very compact GWR branch junction, just about fulfilling Board of Trade requirements…..
Farnham in, I think, Southern Railway days. The loco looks to be an 0-4-2 Jubilee class. I like the advertisement board more or less fixed to the signal box.
Continuing the historic theme, some LBSCR wagons….
Bet they got to the right house, and quicker than ***** (fill in your favourite courier.)
Rivet counters (and the gullible) get everywhere…..
Finally, a slightly prophetic advert. Finally closed in 1979, and I bet they’re regretting it.
A healthy 10 members and a visitor today made for a busy Sunday afternoon. We also managed to sell quite a lot of a old N gauge collection donated to the club. Usual suspects….
Chris ran some interesting trains. A 4-TC unit….
And a Southern region train with express power at the head….
Brian with trains old and new….
Terry had some GWR branch line trains running….
And a gorgeous intruder….
We thought Paul was back for a moment, when Neil produced these Japanese bullet trains. For the pedant, these are actually the same unit, but it was repainted in different exotic liveries at different times of its life. (Confession – Hello Kitty was the nearest I came to buying a Japanese train. Brings back memories of Hong Kong and Hello Kitty mania.)
Was it really nearly a year ago that I reported on my sort-of Minories? I seem to have been totally diverted onto other things over 2023. But before we get back to that….
I recently posted an idea for end loops with storage for the clubs NCI modules…..
I played around a bit, and came up with the double track version. I might prefer this, as if nothing else, it’s easier to wire the diamond on the junction. Any two of the three loops can be accessed from the double track line.
It would be possible to just make this a double junction, with the same layout of pointwork on the single track branch. However, I think that this is less interesting as a scenic module. Note that the junction as drawn on both these modules meet the old Board of Trade rules for junctions – a crossing was required for both single and double track junctions, rather than a crossover between lines and a single point as often used today.
Back to my Minories. As usual with my layouts and modules, I became unhappy with the design. I hadn’t built the baseboard that well, and I disliked the extension to the layout. This also held the control panel, but the whole hidden area was too difficult to work on. And my next job was wiring, and there seemed just too much of this!
I became interested in lightweight baseboards, and using the IKEA Lack shelves. So I wondered whether joining an 1100mm Lack to a 300mm Lack would produce a viable layout. Playing around with the track layout, I seem to have come back to almost exactly the layout that I was building, but with all of it visible! It must have had something going for it!!!
However, I still seem to always end up simplifying my layouts, and I do rather like Ian Futers’ urban layouts such as Victoria Park. Only a single track entry to the station, but loads of compact atmosphere. And the fiddle yard becomes a lot simpler, with no traverser or cassettes needed. I then came across Albion Yard’s ‘Shelfie3’ video, that I posted recently. A simple design, but very attractive and good for operation (not that I do a lot of that.)
Back to the drawing board, and a single Lack 1100mm board. Here’s the end result.
With a nice simple fiddle yard….
I still see this as a station on raised brick arches, as my original Minories design. There is a catch here that it isn’t easy to fit point motors between the shelf and the embankment track bed. However, I have left an open strip behind the backscene that can hold the point motors and main wiring. Mechanical connections to the points themselves should be entirely reliable, even if hidden. The fiddle yard has plenty of room at the front for controllers and switches.
I’ll take this away now, and think about the construction and details of the scenery. It may even get built. I’ve no doubt that I can modify the existing Minories board into something completely different!
Well, following on from the demise of Hattons on Monday, come Thursday, another bombshell….
Warley has been perhaps the largest model railway show in the UK for 30 years. It’s always debatable whether it’s been the best – that is down to personal taste – but it has always had a wonderful cross-section of our hobby with some fine layouts in all gauges and scales, and a broad selection of the modelling trade.
I commented on RMweb:
Perhaps it’s in order to again thank both Hattons and Warley for their integrity and transparency in handling these major decisions. We can only wish them well, as both have made a significant contribution to our hobby.
This is probably not the place for too much analysis of these events. They are very different. One will have people looking for work in an area with significant unemployment. The other will have Warley club members wondering what to do with all their spare time! I have been sad to see comment on the lines of, “It wasn’t as good as it used to be.” Nothing stays the same and I’m sure that both Hattons and Warley improved in some ways over the years, but probably also slipped a little in others. That’s life.
Perhaps what can be said about Warley is how model railway exhibitions seem to be changing. I tihnk that there are a number of factors involved.
The aging profile of the hobby. This is partly physical capability, but not everything – most of my exhibition organisation is done over a red-hot keyboard. Perhaps more significant is the way that the current generation are less inclined to get involved in clubs, and take responsibility. This is not a criticism of individuals – it’s just the way society seems to have gone. We have replaced the corporate with individualism. And it’s not just model railways. All clubs and societies are finding it more difficult to recruit volunteers. I find the same at our church.
Covid has had an effect on shows. Perhaps we all got out of the habit of attending? I certainly go to less than I used to. And the availability of venues has decreased, and their costs often increased. With certain exceptions, the trend seems to be towards large commercial shows, and smaller club or specialist shows. Nothing wrong with that, as there were probably far too many model railway exhibitions in the calendar – you’d see the same layouts week after week. Some I’d be delighted to have another look at, others I’d just walk on by.
Finally maybe the cost of living. Prices have shot up, for living essentials as well as model trains. However, I did see an analysis that suggested that the cost of the hobby was relatively similar in the 1970’s. Perhaps the difference was that in those days we were happy with a small branch line, rather than a train of 20 ballast hoppers. And we tended to make things out of brass and cardboard.
That’s enough random thoughts. I did however like one comment on a forum:
The biggest loss of course will be felt by non visiting foamers regarding back packs, soap marketing gurus and the well regarded car park team.
Bad news for Monday was that Hattons is closing down. One of the largest and most reliable model stores in the UK, with a long history. It’s not a time to wonder why, just to hope that all the staff find another job and quickly. Perhaps most telling were the number of comments on forums from other, rival, model shops, and manufacturers, all expressing regrets and their appreciation of the way that Hattons has been run. We’ve lost a good one.
I have had a good number of orders from them over the years. Lightening, or perhaps just lowering the tone, I’ve spread my buying around the stores, so this is not quite true….
The Bartlett workbench has been pretty quiet over Christmas. And with the cold weather over the last couple of days, I have felt more like hibernating than modelling. I’ve spend some time wondering how to make micro-layouts on IKEA Lack shelves. Nothing certain yet! And then wondering about a set of N-club end loops that we need for the club. I came up with this:
Two modules, one 800 x 400mm, the other 1000 x 800mm. The left module is scenic, and is based on Smallbrook Junction on the Isle of Wight. The junction is standard PECO, but it makes an interesting track layout. I looked at fitting in a fourth storage track, but this needs a bigger board, or a tighter loop radius (minimum radius is currently SetTrack #3, that is OK for almost all stock.) I also drew up double junctions, and a single track branching from the double track main line. I think that I like this one best. All loops will take two three or four coach trains, and all tracks can be accessed from each loop. I’ll look at the single track branch layout – this works well, and then think about building something.
Allan sent me the sign below, so I’ve added a second one for today’s sermon….
Allan also reported that Boeing are now restoring railway coaches….
And finally, I hope you got everything rail you wanted for Christmas….
The first meeting of 2024, and a very respectable nine members plus one visitor turned out. The treasurer is hoping that this enthusiasm continues into the year.
Simon was running some American stock, and I was most impressed by his B29 wing in transit! This was how they transported the bits between factories in WW2.
Terry also crossed the pond with this little Atlantic Coast Line swither. I have always rather liked the exotic livery of the line on 1st generation diesels.
Neil was testing a number of Class 66 diesels, whilst Martin ran this 13 or 14 coach Pullman train.
Derek ran this international mixed-up goods train!
I ran a J50 with some older tank wagons.
As is often the case these days, we had all run all our trains, so we packed up the layout by 9:30pm. However, three members stayed on and chatted whilst I moved furniture and set out toys ready for Thursday’s toddler group in the hall. We cater for children of all ages….
Today we have the modelling challenges for 2024 – if you dare!
As we leave the Christmas holidays, here’s Oxford Street in 1949. I’m not sure what happened to the reindeer….
This would be fun to build. Volklingen in 1946. I’ve seen all sorts of photos of post-war conversion of tanks to bulldozers, farm tractors and cranes, so there is quite some opportunity there….
I have an Airfix HP42 kit in my stash. This lovely photo inspires me to actually build it! Refuelling ‘Tibereas’, somewhere in the Middle East, I guess.
And if you are into trams and trolleys, how about one of the Cincinnati inclines in 1947?
And you may need a proper tramway point to go with it?
A couple of old bus photos. Redhill in 1911 and and ST class in Reigate in the 1930’s.
Wednesday was the first ESNG meeting for 2024. It will probably look something like this! (An N7 tank at North Hatfield in 1954 and Littlehampton in 1963.)
Starting with ESNG itself, we have, I think, had a steady year. We’ve had enough members attending meetings to run trains at all but a couple of meetings. And just occasionally, numbers have got into double figures. I guess that we are really a small group of friends who run trains together – but there is nothing wrong with that.
We did manage a club open day, and a club exhibition, both held at our church hall clubroom. Both were a moderate success, but both could have been better. We ran trains, met some old friends, and thoroughly entertained some small children (who on the whole were impeccably behaved.)
Four club members returned to Stuttgart, and despite Brexit, took a good display of modules with us. I think we all had a good week – quite hard work, but a really sociable time.
And we had a day trip to the KESR to view (by train) the plaque remembering our old friend Miles.
Modelling, it’s been a mixed year. I’ve started a few projects, and not completed them (yet.) I did manage to improve the legs and wiring for my N-club modules, and this proved worthwhile when they all went together easily at Stuttgart. I built a new ‘joker’ module for the show, that included a large fossil. And I was diverted by plastic kits, making several including this lovely DH Hornet. And we have continued to have ESNG working parties through the first half of the year,
What’s on the schedule for 2024? I have too many projects set up or started. I think it’s time to finish a few of them. Perhaps I need to build some of those rolling stock kits sitting in boxes, rather than start a new layout? However, another N-club or N-mod module is an attractive proposition…..
Finally, a modest comment about this blog. The blog had 48,153 views in 2023, the most ever. Either the quality of posts have improved, or Ron has been on more holidays!!!
May 2024 give you all lots of quality railway time. And if you overindulged last night, note that only one city makes it easy to get home (or to stay on the train till you wake up!)
This is the blog of the East Surrey N Gauge model railway club. Find out about our club activities here, as well as news and views on N-gauge railway modelling.
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