I had such wonderful plans for this weekend, though they were somewhat incompatible with one another.
Last year, I promised myself I would go to the Glasgow show and make a weekend of it. Then Apedale announced their Cadeby event, and Billy Bragg reminded me of a certain march taking place in London. On top of which, I had exam revision to do.
What I hadn't planned for was a week working combined UK and US East Coast hours, managing to average four hours of sleep a night, and catching a nasty bug at the previous week's conference. A bug which I now suspect might have been the current strain of COVID.
So I spent this weekend in bed, shivering, dizzy and struggling to breathe.
At least I missed most of the fallout from the Heljan announcement.
My personal view is that there is a lot of hot air being generated by people who only know part of the story. I've been in a lot of Mergers, Acquisitions and Disinvestments over the years. There is a reason why we use the acronym MAD. Outsiders, and many on the inside, rarely know anything approaching the truth. What is certainly true is that a lot of people seem to have convinced themselves they are supporting local model shops when actually it is the big box shifters they are buying from. It is like those people who blame the death of the High Street on Amazon, and then do all their food shopping in a big supermarket. I also suspect some of those frothing at the mouth are the sort you see sprinting in at the start of a big show to pick up the RTR bargains.
Meanwhile, and I don't know if the end of the financial year is a factor, I've had a glut of pre-orders get fulfilled this week. After waiting six months to a year for a product, it would be nice if the sellers could give you a week's notice that they are going to take payment, and what it is for. I had one large unexpected payment go out that nearly had me contacting my bank to see if it was fraud.
The first arrival was this:
I haven't had a chance to run it yet, and the livery is a little too modern for my purposes, but first impressions are good.
I really like the size.
When I first saw a model in this scale, I was taken aback by how small it was compared to 3mm. It certainly feels a lot closer to N than to 4mm. The quality of the detail looks very good; I can't yet vouch for the accuracy. Arguably, the GraFar Gronk is as good for all practical purposes* above the footplate, but below the footplate, this wins hands down. In fact, I'm slightly worried the coupling rods are too fine for long-term use. My photo does the model a disservice because I lit part of the cab interior that is effectively invisible in the flesh. I'm actually impressed with the glazing, there is hardly any prismatic distortion when seen with the eyeball.
I'm still not sure about the standard TT coupling. From an appearance perspective I like that is mounted low down, though that might cause issues for the toy train enthusiasts. But I'm tempted to look at Kadees or DGs as replacements.
Does it make me want to scrap the N gauge layouts? No, it is back to horses for courses, especially given what is available on the market, at least currently.
But it does make me want to build a TT120 layout.
What would that be?
Well, Minories is obviously on the list, since it was originally conceived as a 3mm layout. Given that TT120 is appreciably smaller, it raises the option of either the original plan built to a smaller footprint, or using the original dimensions and handling slightly longer trains.
Building TAoC in this scale, but again, keeping the original footprint, could produce something much more usable and easier to balance trackwork against scenery. It doesn't appeal to me, but it is an idea.
A version of Shell Island would make a great cameo.
Swirling around somewhere, in my still slightly befuddled brain, is an exhibition layout to promote the scale. And I mean exhibition in two senses: a layout to take to shows but also a layout to promote the scale. A layout that the average modeller thinks both "I could do that" and "I have the space for that"
I guess I'm thinking something akin to Bredon, but rationalised in BR days. Effectively, a combination of the trainset oval and an inglenook capable of being operated independently.
Just a thought.
I'll leave you with this. I have two abiding memories of Gronks. One was a night in Carlisle hotel room I shared with my father on the return leg of a road trip focused on Yorkshire but with a trip over the border. The hotel was built on the site of an old gibbet, and guests claimed it was haunted by the sound of clanking chains.
I can assure you, they were hearing an 08 shunting. The experience of being woken up in that way, a loco going about its rather noisy mundane work whilst a big city slept, didn't come back to me until year's later in Vegas.
The other is this. The New Street station pilot in the 80's.
*This was the punchline of an old, no longer tellable, joke about the difference between mathematicians, accountants and statisticians.
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