Agreed that prices are just silly these days, for a lot of Stuff, anyway. O! for the old Bilteezi sheets, which were beautifully printed, but required stiffening with bits of cornflake box, or whatever. Mind you, some can still be found from time to time online, but at prices which would make Mr Vacy Ash turn in his grave,,,
Agreed that prices are just silly these days, for a lot of Stuff, anyway. O! for the old Bilteezi sheets, which were beautifully printed, but required stiffening with bits of cornflake box, or whatever. Mind you, some can still be found from time to time online, but at prices which would make Mr Vacy Ash turn in his grave,,,
I think that’s an observable change in modelling (below the hand built, do it all in brass level) - 3d printing is putting relatively inexpensive very faithful recreations within reach of the average person - eBay is full of vendors producing great stuff - but what that means is I think a trend away from so much construction and to more of a focus on painting.
That is so. I've recently acquired a few small 3D-printed buildings (ground frame huts), and the quality is excellent. I can just about manage the dexterity required to paint them (acrylics), but probably couldn't manage to assemble them!
I also have some Era 1 wagons produced by a YouTuber. They, too, are of very good quality, but in this case didn't need painting.
On the subject of 3D printing, Scottish Wagon Works do some gorgeous wagons, mostly in but some in other scales too. These are excellent value and really easy to put together.
On the subject of 3D printing, Scottish Wagon Works do some gorgeous wagons, mostly in but some in other scales too. These are excellent value and really easy to put together.
I'm sorry - somehow '0' got omitted. The wagons are mostly 0 Gauge but some are available in other scales. I am currently working on a Highland brake van, of all things. Compared to brass kits, it's a doddle. My problem is - will I ever be able to motivate myself to build a finger-singeing brass kit again? (There's probably some deep moral tale there.)
I think I could manage to assemble an 0 scale wagon kit, but 00 kits are beyond my capabilities now (my thumbs are far too large and numerous).
That said, the old Airfix kits of the 1960s are still available - made now by Dapol - and are not too hard even for me to deal with. They do require careful painting (thank gods for acrylics!), and some detailing, but have stood the test of time very well IMHO. They cost a bit more than 2/- or 3/- now, though...
I recall a contributor* to the Railway Modeller many years ago, bewailing the end of the Broad Gauge on the GWR, and threatening to obtain a pair of moleskin trousers, and some oatmeal gruel, so that he could go down to a certain station in Cornwall, and *defeat Western Druid and all his horrible friends by widening it again...*
*the late John Harrison, whose articles were invariably informative and entertaining.
Yes, indeed he did (I saw some of them at one of the MRC exhibitions in London), though in the nomenclature of the time they might have more properly been termed 00b7...as narrow-gauge on 12mm track (the good old TT3!) was known as 00n3.
It's just not the same without the distinctive smell of Hornby-Dublo boxes. To say nothing of Ye Ancient Practice of weighing presents by hand to establish which contained a locomotive. Ah, happy days! Gone forever.
Not quite forever, given the amount of Hornby-Dublo often available on eBay - complete, in many cases, with boxes! A while back, I bought a couple of signals, in excellent condition, with the box in fair condition, too.
As a boy, I only ever had Triang 00, but would love to have the space to build a Hornby-Dublo 3-rail layout, using pre-cherished items...
And there was the smell... There was something about a Triang engine that I would identify instantly to this day. It must have been the oil they supplied and odour it produced if any of it got near a spark from the commutator. I always over-oiled it because I liked oiling things - still do. Christmas 1955... a Jinty, three trucks and a guard's van.
And there was the smell... There was something about a Triang engine that I would identify instantly to this day. It must have been the oil they supplied and odour it produced if any of it got near a spark from the commutator. I always over-oiled it because I liked oiling things - still do. Christmas 1955... a Jinty, three trucks and a guard's van.
...and that lovely standard track, with the built-in grey *ballast*.
There's quite a lot of old Triang stuff out there, even today, but many of the earlier items (all plastic, as opposed to Hornby-Dublo) have varying degrees of warp...
2025 sees, as enny fule kno, the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, regarded (erroneously) as the first *modern* railway. That title more appropriately goes to the Liverpool & Manchester Railway of 1830...something to look forward to in five years' time, if the world is still in existence then.
However, there are to be many events throughout the year celebrating (erroneously) *Railway 200*, and hopefully you fellow enthusiasts will be able to enjoy some of them. Do let us know where you go, and what you think of the various events!
Hornby are marking the occasion by introducing a very nice (but very expensive) 00 scale model of the S & D's Locomotion, one of four similar engines designed by George Stephenson, and used mostly on coal trains - the passengers travelled mainly in horse-drawn carriages based very closely on the road stage-coaches of the period. AFAIK, Hornby are not producing any suitable rolling-stock to go with Locomotion, though Another Firm has recently made some typical chaldron wagons which would suffice.
Yes. There's some very fine 0 gauge stuff available now, although (I grant you) at a price.
I see that original Hornby-Dublo 3-rail A4s in working order can be found on the previously-enjoyed market for around £70, though they may not be in pristine condition. I sometimes think that it would be cheaper to build a retro 3-rail layout than to build a modern 2-rail layout using new stuff...
Yes. There's some very fine 0 gauge stuff available now, although (I grant you) at a price.
I see that original Hornby-Dublo 3-rail A4s in working order can be found on the previously-enjoyed market for around £70, though they may not be in pristine condition. I sometimes think that it would be cheaper to build a retro 3-rail layout than to build a modern 2-rail layout using new stuff...
Yebbut even when I had three rail stuff back in the 1950s, when that was all there was, everyone, including the child me, knew perfectly well that the prototype didn't run on three rails with centre pickup. Nor did any real coaching stock I ever travelled in have printed tinplate windows. Apart from making the electrics of return loops easier, what other advantage did it have?
I agree that the track was entirely unrealistic, of course. The tinplate coaches and wagons still have a certain vintage charm IMHO, but not everyone would concur...
3-rail HD was very reliable. Only when I got into O Gauge did I discover its equal. 00 'finescale' was better than the coarse versions of the scale, which used to be appalling, but the main issue with 00 is that there is such a variance in wheel standards. Some of the old Triang stuff had wheels more suited for traction engines than anything that runs on a railway. You cannot reliably run these with the more modern products of today which are much nearer scale.
HD in general was built to a high standard. A couple of years back I restored a Hornby-Dublo pacific that was probably older than me. It was a bit basic in cosmetic terms, but you could see what it was supposed to be. Once I had given it a good clean and oiling - I think I replaced the brushes too - it ran like a sewing machine.
I agree with you about the motors, etc and the diecast engines were a lot better built than the plastic ones produced by the competition. I don't agree with you about the electrics. Their controller arrangements were primitive, a separate transformer and controller, connected by two wires, with 2 amp fuses one inserted into the top of the transformer. The fuses blew so frequently that the only way to get the system to work reliably was to wind 5 amp fuse wire round them, connected at both ends of each fuse and shove those into the transformer. Electrically, that's everything you're not supposed to do but I never had any problems from having done so. The system was no good until the single big grey ones with an internal circuit breaker came in sometime later in the 50s.
Mind, that's all safer than the original version of Hornby 0 gauge electric, which when first introduced in the 1920s ran on mains voltage, fed into the track at 200/ 250 volts. Fortunately, that did get changed by about 1930.
Mind, that's all safer than the original version of Hornby 0 gauge electric, which when first introduced in the 1920s ran on mains voltage, fed into the track at 200/ 250 volts.
I think it was actually 110/120 volts DC, which was sometimes used for domestic supply at the time. Still lethal!
It's the time of year to be sinking into a chair with a good book and a glass of something agreeable from say, Islay. My latest borrowing from a friend was Mysterious Railway Stories, ed. William Pattrick, 1984. The quality is varied - a few are dire, but one by Agatha Christie, The Girl in the Train, is surely a classic.
Your choice of relaxation, and your choice of beverage, are approved. I'm not familiar with the book you mention, or the story by Agatha Christie, but here are four novels I would highly recommend.
Firstly, two thrillers by Freeman Wills Crofts (1879-1957):
Death on the Way - set in the context of a major railway civil engineering project in Southern England
Death of a Train - set in the context of railway operation, also in Southern England, in World War 2
Crofts was an Irishman, a civil engineer on the erstwhile Belfast & Northern Counties Railway until he retired early to write detective stories, many of which feature Inspector French. His background means that the railway details are all accurate and realistic, and railways appear frequently in many of his other books. Some appear to still be available in paperback, others can be had (at a price!) in hardback.
Secondly, two by C Hamilton Ellis (1909-1987):
Who wrecked the Mail? - set in the context of a fictional British-owned railway in Southern Spain (there were several IRL) in the early 20th century
Rails across the Ranges - set in the context of the construction of a new railway to open up a remote part of Australia, also in the early 20th century
Hamilton Ellis was a well-known railway author and artist, and, although the two novels I've mentioned were intended AFAIK for older children, they are well-written, gritty, melodramatic, and very entertaining! I found my two copies (old hardbacks) in Mr E Bay's Emporium.
I guess that the works of both authors can now be accessed online, and, if you go for the Crofts stories, you will need at least one more bottle of single malt, as they are fairly meaty, with lots of detail to absorb.
I like Edmund Crispin’s Beware of the trains in the volume of the same name, and also, in a different genre, Rudyard Kipling’s An error in the fourth dimension. And trains feature noticeably in two of John Buchan’s Richard Hannay adventures.
There are some in the British Library "Crime Classics" series: "Murder Underground", "Death in the Tunnel", both of which I've read; and "The Wheel Spins", which I haven't.
Thinking of the Underground, there's a good section set at Aldwych station in Geoffrey Household's "Rogue Male".
The Andrew Martin books about a railwayman/detective are quite fun.
Although I was a bit stretched to believe a scene in the Blackpool Highflyer where the loco came off the road and the crew re-railed it. Big engine, travelling at speed. I don't think so.
But at least the stories are set in the pre-group era.
The Andrew Martin books about a railwayman/detective are quite fun.
Although I was a bit stretched to believe a scene in the Blackpool Highflyer where the loco came off the road and the crew re-railed it. Big engine, travelling at speed. I don't think so.
But at least the stories are set in the pre-group era.
If you want to go back a bit further, there are Edward Marston's "Railway Detective" series - lighter and not so well written, but enjoyable.
I remember reading a short story by Hamilton Ellis, set on a fictional mail train, where a gunman tried to hold up the TPO staff, who outwitted him by making a non-stop mail pick up. The flying mail-pouch knocked him flat. This was, improbably, on the mythical Glasgow & North-Western Railway, I think.
Not a book, but that final scene in "The Ladykillers" where the chap on the bridge gets bonked on the head by a lower quadrant signal and is killed dropping into a wagon down below.
Untill 1972 you could travel on the GWR from the old Snow Hill station in Birmingham to Wolverhampton Low level station ( the most northerly point on the old broad gauge. The low Level station was closed but still exists in excellent condition after restoration. There is now a metro line which follows the old GWR line for about 95% of the journey, including Hill Top tunnel.
The substantial stations at Bilston, Wednesbury and West Bromwich no longer exist but they are now Metro stops
You can catch a train from New Street Station in Birmingham to Wolverhampton High Level which is connected to the Low Level by a foot tunnel. From outside the new High level station you can now catch the tram back to the new Snow Hill station and then on to New Street Station.
Comments
And - unlike this engine shed - you didn't have to pain them. On the other hand, Superquick kits are still available, and reasonably priced: https://www.superquick.co.uk/two-road-locomotive-shed
My friend P had a small 00 gauge branch terminus, featuring the station building, goods shed, and signal cabin.
[Sulk] [/sulk]
I think that’s an observable change in modelling (below the hand built, do it all in brass level) - 3d printing is putting relatively inexpensive very faithful recreations within reach of the average person - eBay is full of vendors producing great stuff - but what that means is I think a trend away from so much construction and to more of a focus on painting.
I also have some Era 1 wagons produced by a YouTuber. They, too, are of very good quality, but in this case didn't need painting.
Yes, I now see what you mean about the name!
This is a bargain, and if anyone doubts that visit Slater's Plastikard and check the prices for driving wheels alone.
I'm sorry - somehow '0' got omitted. The wagons are mostly 0 Gauge but some are available in other scales. I am currently working on a Highland brake van, of all things. Compared to brass kits, it's a doddle. My problem is - will I ever be able to motivate myself to build a finger-singeing brass kit again? (There's probably some deep moral tale there.)
That said, the old Airfix kits of the 1960s are still available - made now by Dapol - and are not too hard even for me to deal with. They do require careful painting (thank gods for acrylics!), and some detailing, but have stood the test of time very well IMHO. They cost a bit more than 2/- or 3/- now, though...
This is such stuff as willpower is made of. I’m N Gauge 1940s GWR with a small but controllable OO9 habit (Talyllyn and L&B), must stay strong…..
I recall a contributor* to the Railway Modeller many years ago, bewailing the end of the Broad Gauge on the GWR, and threatening to obtain a pair of moleskin trousers, and some oatmeal gruel, so that he could go down to a certain station in Cornwall, and *defeat Western Druid and all his horrible friends by widening it again...*
*the late John Harrison, whose articles were invariably informative and entertaining.
It's just not the same without the distinctive smell of Hornby-Dublo boxes. To say nothing of Ye Ancient Practice of weighing presents by hand to establish which contained a locomotive. Ah, happy days! Gone forever.
As a boy, I only ever had Triang 00, but would love to have the space to build a Hornby-Dublo 3-rail layout, using pre-cherished items...
...and that lovely standard track, with the built-in grey *ballast*.
There's quite a lot of old Triang stuff out there, even today, but many of the earlier items (all plastic, as opposed to Hornby-Dublo) have varying degrees of warp...
2025 sees, as enny fule kno, the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, regarded (erroneously) as the first *modern* railway. That title more appropriately goes to the Liverpool & Manchester Railway of 1830...something to look forward to in five years' time, if the world is still in existence then.
However, there are to be many events throughout the year celebrating (erroneously) *Railway 200*, and hopefully you fellow enthusiasts will be able to enjoy some of them. Do let us know where you go, and what you think of the various events!
Hornby are marking the occasion by introducing a very nice (but very expensive) 00 scale model of the S & D's Locomotion, one of four similar engines designed by George Stephenson, and used mostly on coal trains - the passengers travelled mainly in horse-drawn carriages based very closely on the road stage-coaches of the period. AFAIK, Hornby are not producing any suitable rolling-stock to go with Locomotion, though Another Firm has recently made some typical chaldron wagons which would suffice.
Very nice. But at the price, you might as well go 0 Gauge and hang out with the cool kids.
Yes. There's some very fine 0 gauge stuff available now, although (I grant you) at a price.
I see that original Hornby-Dublo 3-rail A4s in working order can be found on the previously-enjoyed market for around £70, though they may not be in pristine condition. I sometimes think that it would be cheaper to build a retro 3-rail layout than to build a modern 2-rail layout using new stuff...
I agree that the track was entirely unrealistic, of course. The tinplate coaches and wagons still have a certain vintage charm IMHO, but not everyone would concur...
HD in general was built to a high standard. A couple of years back I restored a Hornby-Dublo pacific that was probably older than me. It was a bit basic in cosmetic terms, but you could see what it was supposed to be. Once I had given it a good clean and oiling - I think I replaced the brushes too - it ran like a sewing machine.
Mind, that's all safer than the original version of Hornby 0 gauge electric, which when first introduced in the 1920s ran on mains voltage, fed into the track at 200/ 250 volts. Fortunately, that did get changed by about 1930.
Firstly, two thrillers by Freeman Wills Crofts (1879-1957):
Death on the Way - set in the context of a major railway civil engineering project in Southern England
Death of a Train - set in the context of railway operation, also in Southern England, in World War 2
Crofts was an Irishman, a civil engineer on the erstwhile Belfast & Northern Counties Railway until he retired early to write detective stories, many of which feature Inspector French. His background means that the railway details are all accurate and realistic, and railways appear frequently in many of his other books. Some appear to still be available in paperback, others can be had (at a price!) in hardback.
Secondly, two by C Hamilton Ellis (1909-1987):
Who wrecked the Mail? - set in the context of a fictional British-owned railway in Southern Spain (there were several IRL) in the early 20th century
Rails across the Ranges - set in the context of the construction of a new railway to open up a remote part of Australia, also in the early 20th century
Hamilton Ellis was a well-known railway author and artist, and, although the two novels I've mentioned were intended AFAIK for older children, they are well-written, gritty, melodramatic, and very entertaining! I found my two copies (old hardbacks) in Mr E Bay's Emporium.
I guess that the works of both authors can now be accessed online, and, if you go for the Crofts stories, you will need at least one more bottle of single malt, as they are fairly meaty, with lots of detail to absorb.
Thinking of the Underground, there's a good section set at Aldwych station in Geoffrey Household's "Rogue Male".
Although I was a bit stretched to believe a scene in the Blackpool Highflyer where the loco came off the road and the crew re-railed it. Big engine, travelling at speed. I don't think so.
But at least the stories are set in the pre-group era.
If you want to go back a bit further, there are Edward Marston's "Railway Detective" series - lighter and not so well written, but enjoyable.
Do you mind if I cut in the line ahead of you?
Sorry, I have to get to platform 9 4/4 to catch the train to Hogwarts.
https://www.kingscross.co.uk/harry-potters-platform-9-34
The substantial stations at Bilston, Wednesbury and West Bromwich no longer exist but they are now Metro stops
You can catch a train from New Street Station in Birmingham to Wolverhampton High Level which is connected to the Low Level by a foot tunnel. From outside the new High level station you can now catch the tram back to the new Snow Hill station and then on to New Street Station.
An interesting round trip in my opinion.