There have been some interesting debates going on in the railway modelling blogsphere, or at least that part of it which I frequent, It is clear that many of us worry about the standard of modelling that gets promoted in the mainstream magazines, but also that we have different perspectives on what we should be trying to achieve. The one common factor, perhaps surprisingly, seems to be that many of us see the railway as ancillary to the big picture.
What seems to be underlying the debate is a desire to aim for the best possible visual outcome, and that to achieve that outcome we need to challenge a lot of conventions, up to and including the premise that Pendon can do no wrong.
Which is great, and I 100% agree with it , except for the small but significant point that I'm dyspraxic.
What does that mean in practical terms? Well basically that I'm not practical. Simple things like cutting a straight line between two clearly marked points are incredibly difficult for me.
Building a point? You have no idea how many times I have to read the instructions, and how I struggle to combine different sets of guidance to achieve the same end.
Typing this blog? You might have noticed the number of typos, because quite literally my right hand doesn't know what my left hand is doing.
So is this an excuse for mediocre modelling?
No.
Absolutely not.
Almost the opposite.
If you knew how much I struggled to carry out the most basic modelling activity you would understand how I feel about people who are lazy modellers.
I feel guilty that I've skirted around this issue until now so I'm going to be explicit about it going forward.
Tuesday, 16 September 2014
Saturday, 13 September 2014
Kings Lynn
Over on Odd's Oracle Martin recently posted a rather fetching picture of an 04 at Great Yarmouth that just cries out to be modelled You can see a rather larger version of the picture here, along with a similar sort of scene from Dowlais that I suspect some of you will find hard to resist.
I think the Great Yarmouth scene has great potential for a boxed diorama as it stands. However it also put me in mind of two other layout plans I've seen.
One is based on Great Yarmouth itself and appears in the Model Railway Planning and Design Handbook. The other is a design by my fellow Apa Box modeller Ian Holmes and is based on a real location in Kings Lynn, though one that was never served by rail.
It is, of course, a complete and utter coincidence that I persuaded my beloved yesterday that there was nothing she wanted to do more than to visit Kings Lynn for lunch.
So here are some pictures of the location Ian had in mind.
And finally a gratuitous weathered warehouse door that was a little further along the quays
I think the Great Yarmouth scene has great potential for a boxed diorama as it stands. However it also put me in mind of two other layout plans I've seen.
One is based on Great Yarmouth itself and appears in the Model Railway Planning and Design Handbook. The other is a design by my fellow Apa Box modeller Ian Holmes and is based on a real location in Kings Lynn, though one that was never served by rail.
It is, of course, a complete and utter coincidence that I persuaded my beloved yesterday that there was nothing she wanted to do more than to visit Kings Lynn for lunch.
So here are some pictures of the location Ian had in mind.
And finally a gratuitous weathered warehouse door that was a little further along the quays
Wednesday, 3 September 2014
More on Hales
Since the shots of the OO9 layout seem to have been well received here is a little bit more about the layout.
Hales was effectively three dioramas that could be assembled into a single layout.
This didn't happen very often because for most of its existence the station and fiddleyard were in my flat in Bracknell whilst the other two boards were in the house in Herefordshire.
Ah yes, the "fiddleyard." The first thing about it which is obvious from the plan was that it was in the middle of the layout. What you can't tell from the plan was that it was actually a Dapol turntable. With the short trains on the line this worked better than you might think.
The layout was very firmly set in the Welsh borders. The station was supposed to be a mix of Llanfair on the W&LLR and the Tanat Valley. The other boards were more heavily influenced by Roy Link's Crowsnest Tramway and were intended to be a mineral extension.
Given my miserable rate of progress evident on this blog it will shock you to learn that, whilst construction of the three boards was spread out over some time, each of them took just a weekend to build. One reason for that was that I had all the bits and pieces readily to hand. The house in Herefordshire had a large workshop that had originally been used to make musical instruments - the mandolin played by Mike Oldfield on Tubular Bells was made there - and that certainly speeded things up compared to today when it can take me an hour to unpack the things I need for a half hour modelling session.
The other aid to rapid construction was that I was using techniques that I knew inside out. Perhaps its age but every time I come to do something now it is like I'm doing it for the first time again. In those days I would build a rake of OO9 wagon kits in an afternoon.
I also had the motivation of needing somewhere to run those lovely Paul Windle locos. They might not be up to finescale standards but at the time they were a revolutionary step forward. Using plasticard meant they were much crisper than the lumps of whitemetal we were used to, as evidenced by the Chivers Bagnall, and he managed to convert the Bachmann dock tank chassis into an effective outside framed chassis.
Passenger and freight stock was the usual selection of kits available on the market back then. not in any photos is the solitary coach, which was a Parkside Dundas VoR bogie coach, and the larger wagins which were mostly from the W&LLR.
The engine shed was scratch built, but the goods shed was the standard Wills store with an added canopy. The station building was, I think a Heljan kit but I've never been able to find another one since.
Scenery was dreadfully conventional and the only point worthy of mention is that across the whole layout I tried to use a very limited palette of colours. Track was Peco, the last time I used it before starting to build my own.
Sadly the locos got "lost" in one of my many house moves around 14 years ago, and the boards themselves ended up in a skip at around the same time.
Hales was effectively three dioramas that could be assembled into a single layout.
This didn't happen very often because for most of its existence the station and fiddleyard were in my flat in Bracknell whilst the other two boards were in the house in Herefordshire.
Ah yes, the "fiddleyard." The first thing about it which is obvious from the plan was that it was in the middle of the layout. What you can't tell from the plan was that it was actually a Dapol turntable. With the short trains on the line this worked better than you might think.
The layout was very firmly set in the Welsh borders. The station was supposed to be a mix of Llanfair on the W&LLR and the Tanat Valley. The other boards were more heavily influenced by Roy Link's Crowsnest Tramway and were intended to be a mineral extension.
The other aid to rapid construction was that I was using techniques that I knew inside out. Perhaps its age but every time I come to do something now it is like I'm doing it for the first time again. In those days I would build a rake of OO9 wagon kits in an afternoon.
I also had the motivation of needing somewhere to run those lovely Paul Windle locos. They might not be up to finescale standards but at the time they were a revolutionary step forward. Using plasticard meant they were much crisper than the lumps of whitemetal we were used to, as evidenced by the Chivers Bagnall, and he managed to convert the Bachmann dock tank chassis into an effective outside framed chassis.
Passenger and freight stock was the usual selection of kits available on the market back then. not in any photos is the solitary coach, which was a Parkside Dundas VoR bogie coach, and the larger wagins which were mostly from the W&LLR.
The engine shed was scratch built, but the goods shed was the standard Wills store with an added canopy. The station building was, I think a Heljan kit but I've never been able to find another one since.
Scenery was dreadfully conventional and the only point worthy of mention is that across the whole layout I tried to use a very limited palette of colours. Track was Peco, the last time I used it before starting to build my own.
Sadly the locos got "lost" in one of my many house moves around 14 years ago, and the boards themselves ended up in a skip at around the same time.
Tuesday, 2 September 2014
Turning the Corner
My to do list and my in box both look awfully full at the moment . Someone has just sneaked a quick trip to Bangalore into my diary the week before my holiday and I suspect I should be panicking about it, as well as looking forward to the prospect of another week when I get to spend more than 24 hours in a plane.
On the other hand I finished off the bulk of my Australian work on a call in the early hours of this morning and it does feel as if an immense weight has been lifted off my shoulders. So much so that I can actually contemplate doing some modelling for the first time in months.
In the meantime I dug out some old photos of my OO9 layout. It is odd but having worked in OO9 for years I currently don't feel any desire to model in it again.
On the other hand I finished off the bulk of my Australian work on a call in the early hours of this morning and it does feel as if an immense weight has been lifted off my shoulders. So much so that I can actually contemplate doing some modelling for the first time in months.
In the meantime I dug out some old photos of my OO9 layout. It is odd but having worked in OO9 for years I currently don't feel any desire to model in it again.
Friday, 29 August 2014
Project X
A recent comment on an old post reminded me that I have a few ideas in mind for what to do with the Apa box after I dismantle the current diorama.
Most of them involve trams in some form or another.
This Lisbon tram is sat on the track at the moment. Strictly speaking it is sat between the racks because it is a nominal 12mm gauge out of the box. I quite like trams in rural settings, or better still the locations where an urban line becomes a rural one. So my project X involves such a transition, and the X itself is also an important part of my putative tram layout design.
Incidentally whilst I was writing this my eye was caught by a photo sticking out from one of my father's old tram books that I inherited.
I know it wasn't taken on his garden railway, although that did see the odd tram operate on it. It appears to be a commercially produced photograph taken in 1959
Most of them involve trams in some form or another.
This Lisbon tram is sat on the track at the moment. Strictly speaking it is sat between the racks because it is a nominal 12mm gauge out of the box. I quite like trams in rural settings, or better still the locations where an urban line becomes a rural one. So my project X involves such a transition, and the X itself is also an important part of my putative tram layout design.
Incidentally whilst I was writing this my eye was caught by a photo sticking out from one of my father's old tram books that I inherited.
I know it wasn't taken on his garden railway, although that did see the odd tram operate on it. It appears to be a commercially produced photograph taken in 1959
Monday, 25 August 2014
Foxton
For me there is always something appealing about the combination of narrow gauge railways and canals. So I when on a bit of a whim I persuaded my wife that we should take a brief diversion to visit Foxton locks and the site of the old inclined plane I was pleased to come across this small cameo.
And a couple of shots of the locks and the site of the inclined plane
Friday, 22 August 2014
If Only I had an Armchair
I'm always conscious that at times this must come across as an armchair modeller's blog. I salve my conscience by reminding myself that it would be nice to have the time to be an armchair modeler. In fact put me in an armchair at the moment and the only thing I'm likely to do is fall asleep.
I'm writing this in a bar in Melbourne. I think it is Monday but to be honest the last ten days are a blur of cattle class travel, hotel rooms, meetings and presentations. I lost my voice five days ago but the show goes on. It will be another four days before I see home again. Unfortunately the trip home involves around 40 hours without a bed.
On the other hand I'm having the time of my life. I've just got off this vintage Melbourne tram.
Yesterday I managed to persuade some of the leading minds of my industry that they wanted nothing better than to take a major detour so I could take a handful of pictures of the Puffing Billy.
On Friday I delivered a speech in front of $200m worth of classic cars.
I've even seen and filmed a platypus.
This trip had been dominating my life for the last four months. It has taken a lot of planning by a lot of people and a lot of panicking by me that I've tried to hide from everyone else involved. The pressure to get it right has been enormous and more than once I've suffered from imposter syndrome.
Carefully crafted PowerPoints have been thrown into the WPB at the last minute and replaced by improvised and impassioned talks designed to address the needs of the audience and some how it has all come together.
Can you see where I'm going with this
Yep, it is a bit like building a layout.
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