Journey to the Centre of the Attic

I hate going into our loft. After we cleared out the garage, any chance I had of putting a layout up there went out the window.  I also hit my head, and, worst of all, is coming down the ladder with anything in your hands.

And I'm sure there is a reason why Issy needs so many boxes of Xmas decorations, half of which always go back up there, unused.

But I braved it today, in search of various 4mm items from the stalled pre-move East Coast-based layout idea. It is amazing what you forget you have stashed away. In this instance, unfortunately, much of it is of limited use, for now. But some of the other things I've found are going to make life easier, and provide most of what I'll need for the fiddleyard board  I've got a couple of key scenic decisions to make, which will impact the track plan.   I'm wondering about their visual aspect, because I want to keep the scene minimalist whilst hinting at what is off-scene. I also really want to avoid using a bridge as a scenic break. 

Which brings me back to Dark Hall Halt. 

And THAT bridge.

I don't know why it has become such a blocker for me, so to speak.

It isn't going to be 100% accurate, whatever I do, and I know I could get away with using a combination of the Scalescenes and Lcut parts. But I keep overthinking it, whilst at the same time struggling to keep my mental model of it in focus. There is one other factor. I've got to deal with the Mosslanda shelf's limited width whilst giving the illusion that the path to the platform descends from the road over the bridge. In my head, I can't quite visualise how I do that. I'm beginning to think it could mean increasing the slight skew of the real bridge to make it more extreme in the model. That means playing around with a lot of 3D geometry, but I think it's the way to go. At 3am this morning, I had to remind myself that I can just build a card carcass and throw it in the bin if it doesn't work. But it also means I wish I hadn't cut panels off the Lcut plategirders. 

Whilst all that is going on, in the real world I'm trying to design a qualification and online course for a client, and having pretty much the same problem in a different way. How to lead people into a model, and help them quickly see connections.

Meanwhile, the garden now looks very different, having had a mature tree felled. Needless to say, the tree surgeons seem unaware of how expensive LGB track is....

Anyway, next week I'm paying a flying visit to Chris Stockdale, the doyen of 7/8ths scale, to pick up my James Hilton Ruston.

A Tale of Two Books

I've been on the road for the last couple of days.  I returned to my old haunts around Pimlico, revisiting the offices where I worked for The Met, as well as two of the pubs we frequented, both now very different, but nothing to complain about and good ales available.

The real reason for my visit was the Lee Miller exhibition at Tate Britain.  On a dreary Monday, it was absolutely packed, despite the £20 admission fee. That is probably because some of us would have paid twice as much to see it. I really recommend you go, even if you have no interest in photography. I've known her work for forty-odd years, but seeing some of the original prints was still an education, and the exhibition adds a lot to both the story of her life and the development of her art. It is also very harrowing in parts.

Then it was off to Milton Keynes to an industry conference, and a chance to meet up with many old friends from around the world at the awards dinner. I had to pay the price for my late night because I was one of the speakers the next morning.  

So, where is this going?

On the way down to London, I finally got a chance to read the first issue of Ribbons. I really enjoyed it, though I suspect it will bemuse quite a few modellers if they were to pick it up at random. There was something about it that reminded me of issues 0 and 1 of MRJ. Part of that enjoyment, and the connection to MRJ, came from the photography. daring to be different, and the articles not being blow-by-blow accounts of construction.

On my way home, I got a chance to read the other book. Not exactly for the first time, since I was one of the authors and the soft book launch took place at the conference.

Let us just say they are very different books. 

The Morpeth Arms.
Once the hang-out of spies.
Now they've turned that into a marketing ploy.

 

Don't you hate models of narrowboats that aren't the correct length?

In my romantic youth, Rodin's The Kiss was under the Rotunda. Epstein's work is incredible - but it isn't on the same level  

The calm before the storm. I'm glad to say Akshay and I presented to a full house.

There is something about the Up view at Stoke station

Hitting the Bottle

I'm a Knottie, born in North Staffordshire, who has returned to the roots I spent years running away from.

My wife knew virtually nothing about the area until we moved here to be closer to my mother, who now lives with us.

But we love the place, the people, well, most of them apart from the flag shaggers, and the countryside.

And if you love the history of the place, then you have to love the bottle kilns. Though being pedantic, there is a difference between bottle kilns and bottle ovens.

We are building up a small collection of them, but our current favourite is this one, made by Chris Twigg.

It does an incredible job of capturing the reality of how the survivors now look.

Could it become a feature on a layout? It could, but it won't.

It is hard to convey the emotional heft to something like this. It might be best to let Chris tell you himself.

Little Things.

 No prizes for guessing who I have been shopping with.

Their usual impeccable service means I got a box full of goodies that are key to progress on the various N gauge projects. Nothing major, but those things that would be hard to source or build without their range. Various types of fencing, a backscene, and scenic textures that are a perfect match for what I need. 

It is just one of those small family businesses I love dealing with.

The Model Railway Village

I'm not one for the social side of model railways. I follow a few blogs, and I see a few individuals I say hello to at shows. I've never been in a club, though that is about to change, and although I'm in societies, it is purely for knowledge and access to products.

I do engage with some Facebook groups linked to model and miniature railways. Most are very good, and nice places to spend some time. There is the occasional person who lets a nasty mix of far right politics, prejudice and conspiracy theories intrude, but they are easily blocked.

But many of you will be aware that in the last week the YouTube aspect of model railways has got poisonous.

Now, I'm several steps removed from it. With one exception, I don't know any of the people involved. But at the same time I've noticed an increase in a certain kind of SocMed comment.

I try to be honest about my skill level, that my aspirations don't always match my capabilities, but i admire those who can achieve incredible results.

But there seem to be a bunch of people out there who not only don't aspire to much beyond playing trains, but actively and vocally denigrate those who do. Any sensible advice or information about real railways is attacked, The mythical Rule One is constantly invoked, but it only seems to apply to them, not to others,. Sadly this seems to be happening most often in groups aimed at beginners. People have begun to delete pictures of their work and posts asking legitimate questions because of the nasty comments they receive.

It is as if some people want to keep everybody at their level, perhaps so their own shortcomings can be presented as strengths, and all this comes with a whiff of that toxic mix I mentioned earlier. 

It isn't healthy, and it isn't good for the hobby. Yes, it is just a hobby, and why should we care what other people think? Because it harms people, with real world consequences.

Bridge Building

 The first train rolls into my newly completed Dark Hall shelf layout.

Not really, of course. It remains bare foamboard, despite being planned as a quick and dirty project before embarking on Gerralt Rd. This was a quick assemblage of bits to help me work out some decisions.

So, why has it taken so long?

Two reasons, I suppose.

The first is because it was also always intended to be a learning exercise to get me used to working in 2mm again. Part of that learning has been building things and then being dissatisfied with them. That station shelter is still in the purgatory between either being finally finished or dumped in the WPB.

As I've gone along, I've changed my ideas on what materials to use, which has been very valuable and will, hopefully, benefit both layouts.

The other reason is the road bridge that spanned the middle of the platform at Park Hall.

I was going to use the LCUT version, which is a nice little kit in its own right.  But the more I looked at it the more differences I spotted compared to Park Hall. OK, you could say it is only a scenic break, so does it matter, but the way the composition works, I think it does. As on APA, it will appear in most photos I take, and the composition means I'll find myself looking at it more than if it were at the non-station end of the board. Again, this isn't a criticism of the LCUT product.

So what needs to be altered?

The list is quite long, I'm going to have to scratch-build the abutments with their varied materials, and reduce the loading gauge so it doesn't tower over the tracks.

Perhaps the biggest change, though, is to give the road a decent amount of depth. On the real thing, the deck is approximately five or six brick courses deep. I also want to model a representation of the underside of the bridge, more for photographic purposes than for the normal viewer.

The question of the normal viewpoint for N is something I've been thinking about. If I didn't take photos, and the baseboard was eighteen inches wide, I would probably be quite happy with the standard of my modelling. But the camera shows up every fault.

A Tidy Office..

 ...is the sign of a broken computer.

At least that is what the sign Issy bought me many years ago says.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't the computer that broke. The pole supporting the telephone and power lines to the house had to be replaced yesterday.   The guys who did it were incredibly quick and also very helpful, ensuring we could still get the car in and out. 

Whilst we had no power, I made a start on reorganising my office studio again. For once, the dogs were a great help—they were locked in the kitchen to avoid me tripping over them.

As well as tidying a few things up, I've changed which side I sit at my main modelling desk, and moved my tool storage units onto it. Part of the reason is so my modelling isn't visible when I'm on video calls, but I also like having tools close to hand. It should also reduce how often I trip over the dogs, and give me room to display the latest idea for the East Coast-based 4mm micro.

I'm thinking of a track plan based on the late John Spencer's Ruyton Road, though it is one used by many other micros.  The video is of its original form, but it has been fully restored recently and still makes exhibition appearances. A bit of me still hankers after my ideas for a Kings Lynn/ Great Yarmouth setting, which explains the tugboat in the background. White Swan Yard might make a more suitable scenic break than an overbridge.

Anyway, here is the current state of play in the workshop, complete with a couple of old dogs.

One thing I'm not sure about is the lighting, but we will see.

On the bookshelf you can see the current home of both Flemish Quay and Cadeby.  I have a vague plan to revive both of them in sync with the new layouts. In the case of Cadeby, it might be an accountant's rebuild, on a bigger baseboard to make best use of where it currently sits. That would also make it more suitable for the slightly bigger locos I've acquired in recent years. 

This chassis was going to end up under "Pamela" but I've grown rather fond of it.

Also on the bookcase are my two 16mm Fowlers. 

I really want to get Peldon working again, with a LocoRemote . I suppose, if I thought about, it a LocoRemote would also be useful on the Essel one

Finally, on the model front, I've been trying to improve both the sea and the tree on one of my Kato modules.

Neither is finished nor close to what I want to achieve, but both are major improvements and taught me a lot. Something else they have in common is the use of Deluxe Materials Scenic Fibres. whilst intended for modelling water, I found them useful when I was experimenting with building a weeping willow for Flemish Quay. In 2mm I'm finding it useful for foliage in general. The sea needs a little more work before I share a photo. The lesson I'm learning with that is to model what I see, not what convention suggests.

Perhaps I could save myself a lot of effort by modelling a scene like this, on one of our regular dog walks. 

The truth, after all this, is that what is driving my activity isn't the broken computer. It is feeling miserable as hell with late-paying freelance clients, frustrating systems for freeing funds from my investments, and  being constantly turned down for full-time gigs whilst being in demand as an "Industry Expert"