I am currently working on a small 7mm diorama. The idea is to get my mojo back by doing something simple and achievable. Initially, it will be a photographic plank. Later it will be built into the layout.
It is fun, it's amazing how much work is involved in doing something so simple. It's also 'reassuringly expensive'. But that is partly my fault for buying in expensive retaining walls when I could have used brick paper or something, and lashing out on the proper stop blocks for the GCR instead of just buying el-cheapo plastic PECO ones. I find that as I grow older, I become more fussy about stuff that at one time I should have just shrugged off as unimportant.
I am saving my conscience by using some bits and pieces that were lying about 'in stock'.
I have several very small 00 dioramas, as I think I may have mentioned before. They are mostly of the *Inglenook Sidings* genre, so can be operated if I feel in the mood...
Proprietary MDF shelves (courtesy of eBay) form the baseboards. The latest represents a very early country railway, using one of the absolutely gorgeous models of the Liverpool & Manchester 042 *Lion* produced by the UK branch of a US company.
I've discovered a firm (also on eBay) which sells lovely 3D resin-printed little models of buildings and other railway items - not especially cheap, but far superior to anything I could scratch-build, and mostly needing just acrylic paint.
The problem with all this is that I'm running out of places in which to put/display the layouts (which are more like three-dimensional Impressionist paintings than realistic!).
Reassuringly expensive - just had cause to buy a set of Slater's wagon wheels (O Gauge) - £12.75! They are steel and plastic, not gold.
I recently bought a couple of extremely cheap wagon bodies, but I dare not add up the total cost of wheels, couplings and compensated underframe. Having said that, creating these unusual early wagons will give me something 'different', will occupy me for some hours, and will stay with me for as long as I am living in this house.
By comparison, the cheapest ticket at the Etihad for 90 minutes of joy is around £60 and that does not include beer, sandwiches and a programme. Money really is not worth that much anymore.
Reassuringly expensive - just had cause to buy a set of Slater's wagon wheels (O Gauge) - £12.75! They are steel and plastic, not gold.
I recently bought a couple of extremely cheap wagon bodies, but I dare not add up the total cost of wheels, couplings and compensated underframe. Having said that, creating these unusual early wagons will give me something 'different', will occupy me for some hours, and will stay with me for as long as I am living in this house.
By comparison, the cheapest ticket at the Etihad for 90 minutes of joy is around £60 and that does not include beer, sandwiches and a programme. Money really is not worth that much anymore.
There is indeed a great deal of satisfaction in making something unique, and which will give lasting pleasure and use.
I've never been any good with my hands regarding scratch- or kit-building, but I enjoy putting together what amounts to a three-dimensional Impressionist painting (!).
The beauty of railway modelling (as with creative writing and many other pursuits and sports) is that you can do it at any level and still enjoy it. I have a friend who works in P4 and can tell you how many hours he spent on a job and how many individual parts are included. I neither know one nor the other for my work, such as it is. I muddle through. Another guy might collect Hornby O Gauge clockwork tinplate and play with it on a table. It makes no real odds as long as the individual enjoys the hobby.
(Having spent two hours crawling around the floor to find an errant brass buffer housing this morning, I think 'enjoy' may have a broad context. I enjoyed the moment when I eventually found it.)
I don’t normally read this thread, let alone post on it, but thought some of you might be interested in a journey I made last Thursday on a charter train with Statesman Rail to Portsmouth Harbour. We arrived at noon and were due to depart at 1603, so were advised to be at the station by 1550. An announcement that no trains could enter or leave the station caused bewilderment.
The next announcement was for passengers to x, y and z stations to make their way to Portsmouth and Southsea station. Passengers for the charter train to await further news. Ten minutes later we too were told to do likewise. We duly crowded on to normal buses and hung around at P&S for further information. Eventually we were told that there was an electrical problem affecting the third rail, causing a train to be blocked between P&S and PH.
These announcements came over the tannoy. Statesman Rail updated us by text.
After an hour’s delay our train got clearance to arrive and we duly boarded and departed. An extra glass of champagne (with canapés) was served by way of apology though none of this was Statesman Rail’s fault of course. Our locomotive was a Class47.
The train managed to make up about 27 minutes before its first stop at Bedford. How the staff managed to serve those passengers their four course dinner in time was a credit to their efficiency.
Glad you had a good trip @Puzzler - despite the third-rail problems! At least your locomotive wasn't affected...
At the risk of being hauled off to the Heretick's stake, and burned (using a pile of old sleepers as faggots), I reckon that people get great enjoyment out of these charter trips, even if hauled by a Diseasel rather than a Steam locomotive. The lineside photographers get the benefit of seeing the Steam locomotive (or at least a glimpse of it, if it's really shifting). but for those on board the train, the motive power is, in a sense, irrelevant.
Agreed, though to be in the front carriage (ideally an observation car) of a steam-hauled train with windows open is a different matter - as we found on the Brecon Mountain line on Saturday. Not possible on main line trips as the first carriage is usually a support vehicle.
Agreed, though to be in the front carriage (ideally an observation car) of a steam-hauled train with windows open is a different matter - as we found on the Brecon Mountain line on Saturday. Not possible on main line trips as the first carriage is usually a support vehicle.
Indeed so.
An even better experience is to be one of the engine crew, no matter how large or small the engine might be!
Some of my happiest days in years gone by were spent on the footplate of one or other of the lovely little Quarry Hunslets (let the knowledgeable Reader understand)...
On the Ravenglass and Eskdale, it used to be amusing to sit right behind the driver in an open coach, which was really as close to a footplate ride as most of us would get. Of late they have acquired some luxury observation carriages - rather alien to the line in my humble opinion - and as these seem to be marshalled at the front it's probably an experience that is no longer available.
Was that one of the open-sided coaches? Even so, yes, a good view of the engine, though not necessarily perhaps a good view of the actions of the footplate crew...
I've travelled in a completely open coach on the metre-gauge Ligne de Cerdagne in southern France (the so-called Metro des Pyrenees or Petit Train Jaune). The line has some spectacularly high viaducts, and I don't really like heights...so we made the return trip in a closed coach...
Was that one of the open-sided coaches? Even so, yes, a good view of the engine, though not necessarily perhaps a good view of the actions of the footplate crew...
Open-sided and -ended (above waist height). Yes, the rear of the loco cab did restrict vision somewhat (those VoR tanks are big beasts!)
To be fair, this does seem to be a new company, different to the old one which ceased operations in 2011. Its website promises "Creating new connectivity, building communities and redefining the travel experience" - don't they all? Is it significant that their team seem to be standing in front of the desperate-for-orders Alstom factory?
One APT-P set was kept at Glasgow Shields depot and found use once or twice as an EMU to take journalists from Glasgow Central to Anderston railway station and back, for the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. A second APT-P was stored in a siding behind Crewe Works. The Glasgow APT-P and the third APT-P were scrapped without publicity.
My italics - was this the one you saw @Sandemaniac?
I think part of one of the original APT-E sets is in the National Railway Museum.
The new train to Shrewsbury, it seems, would start from Euston rather than Marylebone. Pity. I'm surprised they can find a path for it.
I think that's a genuine issue. Not sure how paths will be found between Cardiff and Severn Tunnel Junction either, especially if the new stations being proposed for a local service get built.
Someone (was it Betjeman?) once remarked that there was more birdsong to be heard in Marylebone station than in any other London terminus (or words to that effect).
I used it once or twice for journeys out to Aylesbury, many years ago, and the station did indeed have a pleasant ambience.
It's a small and not uncomfortable station as London terminuses go, but I can't say I've noticed any birdsong. There are the inevitable pigeons though.
C Hamilton Ellis records (in The Trains We Loved) that the remark about birdsong comes not from Betjeman, but from the theologian and author Monsignor Ronald Knox:
Ellis himself refers amusingly to Marylebone being the terminus of the erstwhile Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway's *London branch line*, which, in a sense, it was. The MS&L became the Great Central Railway when the little branch line was opened.
MS&L = "Money Sunk and Lost".
GC = "Gone Completely".
So it was said, but AIUI the Great Central actually provided an excellent and comfortable service from Marylebone, with some of the best locomotives and coaches of the day. The line's long run-down and decline under British Railways was a great shame.
At least the present-day heritage version of the Great Central is redressing the balance somewhat, though I doubt if they'll ever get back to that little branch-line terminus in London...
Theoretically both surviving GC locomotives could run again. Both have operated on the preserved GC line, and the 8K is still there, albeit non-operational. "Butler-Henderson" is at Barrow Hill.
John Betjeman described the pleasure of taking a train to Marylebone: https://tinyurl.com/4zhke3wa. It's in much ruder health today!
Comments
The *Libby* Line seems to be the new nickname...
For anyone interested in 7mm scale modelling and very cheap to join. Internet presence only.
The link doesn't work.
Another attempt to link.
Yes, that works! Thanks.
I like 0 gauge - 00 is a bit fiddly for my old eyes and fingers, and N is almost invisible...
There are some fine 0 gauge layouts on the exhibition circuit, well worth looking at.
It is fun, it's amazing how much work is involved in doing something so simple. It's also 'reassuringly expensive'. But that is partly my fault for buying in expensive retaining walls when I could have used brick paper or something, and lashing out on the proper stop blocks for the GCR instead of just buying el-cheapo plastic PECO ones. I find that as I grow older, I become more fussy about stuff that at one time I should have just shrugged off as unimportant.
I am saving my conscience by using some bits and pieces that were lying about 'in stock'.
Proprietary MDF shelves (courtesy of eBay) form the baseboards. The latest represents a very early country railway, using one of the absolutely gorgeous models of the Liverpool & Manchester 042 *Lion* produced by the UK branch of a US company.
I've discovered a firm (also on eBay) which sells lovely 3D resin-printed little models of buildings and other railway items - not especially cheap, but far superior to anything I could scratch-build, and mostly needing just acrylic paint.
The problem with all this is that I'm running out of places in which to put/display the layouts (which are more like three-dimensional Impressionist paintings than realistic!).
I believe you're right - apologies to all concerned. My bad...
I recently bought a couple of extremely cheap wagon bodies, but I dare not add up the total cost of wheels, couplings and compensated underframe. Having said that, creating these unusual early wagons will give me something 'different', will occupy me for some hours, and will stay with me for as long as I am living in this house.
By comparison, the cheapest ticket at the Etihad for 90 minutes of joy is around £60 and that does not include beer, sandwiches and a programme. Money really is not worth that much anymore.
There is indeed a great deal of satisfaction in making something unique, and which will give lasting pleasure and use.
I've never been any good with my hands regarding scratch- or kit-building, but I enjoy putting together what amounts to a three-dimensional Impressionist painting (!).
(Having spent two hours crawling around the floor to find an errant brass buffer housing this morning, I think 'enjoy' may have a broad context. I enjoyed the moment when I eventually found it.)
The next announcement was for passengers to x, y and z stations to make their way to Portsmouth and Southsea station. Passengers for the charter train to await further news. Ten minutes later we too were told to do likewise. We duly crowded on to normal buses and hung around at P&S for further information. Eventually we were told that there was an electrical problem affecting the third rail, causing a train to be blocked between P&S and PH.
These announcements came over the tannoy. Statesman Rail updated us by text.
After an hour’s delay our train got clearance to arrive and we duly boarded and departed. An extra glass of champagne (with canapés) was served by way of apology though none of this was Statesman Rail’s fault of course. Our locomotive was a Class47.
The train managed to make up about 27 minutes before its first stop at Bedford. How the staff managed to serve those passengers their four course dinner in time was a credit to their efficiency.
At the risk of being hauled off to the Heretick's stake, and burned (using a pile of old sleepers as faggots), I reckon that people get great enjoyment out of these charter trips, even if hauled by a Diseasel rather than a Steam locomotive. The lineside photographers get the benefit of seeing the Steam locomotive (or at least a glimpse of it, if it's really shifting). but for those on board the train, the motive power is, in a sense, irrelevant.
Indeed so.
An even better experience is to be one of the engine crew, no matter how large or small the engine might be!
Some of my happiest days in years gone by were spent on the footplate of one or other of the lovely little Quarry Hunslets (let the knowledgeable Reader understand)...
Is there no replacement bus service?
I've travelled in a completely open coach on the metre-gauge Ligne de Cerdagne in southern France (the so-called Metro des Pyrenees or Petit Train Jaune). The line has some spectacularly high viaducts, and I don't really like heights...so we made the return trip in a closed coach...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligne_de_Cerdagne
Horses for courses...
So they do, and a splendid beast it is - quite a contrast to the three 262Ts!
https://www.rheidolrailway.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/IMG_6102-300x200.jpg
So they have, and what a contrast to the original/GWR 262Ts!
https://www.rheidolrailway.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/IMG_6102-300x200.jpg
One APT-P set was kept at Glasgow Shields depot and found use once or twice as an EMU to take journalists from Glasgow Central to Anderston railway station and back, for the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. A second APT-P was stored in a siding behind Crewe Works. The Glasgow APT-P and the third APT-P were scrapped without publicity.
My italics - was this the one you saw @Sandemaniac?
I think part of one of the original APT-E sets is in the National Railway Museum.
I think that's a genuine issue. Not sure how paths will be found between Cardiff and Severn Tunnel Junction either, especially if the new stations being proposed for a local service get built.
Chiltern still have the lovely comfortable carriages though, which is a bonus.
I used it once or twice for journeys out to Aylesbury, many years ago, and the station did indeed have a pleasant ambience.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Knox
Ellis himself refers amusingly to Marylebone being the terminus of the erstwhile Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway's *London branch line*, which, in a sense, it was. The MS&L became the Great Central Railway when the little branch line was opened.
GC = "Gone Completely".
So it was said, but AIUI the Great Central actually provided an excellent and comfortable service from Marylebone, with some of the best locomotives and coaches of the day. The line's long run-down and decline under British Railways was a great shame.
At least the present-day heritage version of the Great Central is redressing the balance somewhat, though I doubt if they'll ever get back to that little branch-line terminus in London...
John Betjeman described the pleasure of taking a train to Marylebone: https://tinyurl.com/4zhke3wa. It's in much ruder health today!
Paddington every time!
Shame the part of the route between Old Oak Common and Greenford has been removed to make way for HS2