Layouts or articles in magazines that have inspired you.

[David Bigcheeseplant]

I wonder what layouts or articles in magazines have really inspired people, I am thinking of the type of article even years after you still go back and read.

David

[unravelled]

Sundown and Sprawling was one which always stood out as something different. I don't know whether it inspired me, but it's one of the names I remember.

 

Dave

[PatB]

Lots of RM Plans of the Month. I'm a child of the Freezer era but even post CJF there were many which I badly wanted (still want ) to build. Until the next shiny object comes along to distract me anyway.

[jonny777]

Buckingham was one of my favourite inspirational models of the 1960s.

 

I was left open mouthed by the sheer quality of the modelling compared to my (then) Triang/Hornby super 4 layout. There was a cover of an RM with a view through a set of station arches onto the concourse. I had to persuade myself it was not real.

[MarkSG]

The usual suspects as far as layouts: Buckingham, Craig & Mertonford, Dave Rowe's diorama layouts. As a regular teenage reader of Railway Modeller in the late 70s, I eagerly devoured any article by Allan Downes. I used to imagine that one day, I'd be as good as him. I'm now older than Allan was when he wrote those articles, and I'm still nowhere near as good as him. But I've learned a lot, nonetheless.

[James Makin]

I go back to the magazines of when I was first getting into the hobby, at a time when you've previously only known the Hornby catalogue and then buy a proper model railway magazine and see layouts with amazing scenery and models from manufacturers you never knew existed!

 

For me, this was Model Rail's of 1997-2000, and I enjoy re-reading these not so much because of the content but the memories of how it made me feel!

[asmay2002]

Layouts - Stronachlachar (David Mander), Garsdale Road (David Jenkinson), Tregarrick (Ian Rice), Eastbourne(Vivien Thompson), Clochemerle (Dennis Allenden), Mike Sharman’s Victorian one, anything by Peter Kazer, Hursley (Martyn Welch), Chee Tor (Manchester MRS), Gorre & Daphetid (John Allen) and a host of more recent ones.

Edited July 3, 2016 by asmay2002

[Del]

Without wishing to embarrass certain of our members:

'Fisher Street to Victoria Bridge'

'Hedges Hill Cutting'

'Trawden'

'South Shields'

...for starters at least.

[Big James]

There was one in railway modeller when I was younger can't for the life of me remember the name of the layout or issue it was in but they had taken a plan from the peco set track plan book and run with it. It was western region branchline. My mum binned the issue it was in years ago. But it inspired me that an oval could look super realistic.

 

Big james

Edited July 3, 2016 by Big James

[298]

There was one in railway modeller when I was younger can't for the life of me remember the name of the layout or issue it was in but they had taken a plan from the peco set track plan book and run with it. It was western region branchline. My mum binned the issue it was in years ago. But it inspired me that an oval could look super realistic.

Big james

Bredon...? Sept.1981 RM.

[Clive Mortimore]

Sundown and Sprawling was one which always stood out as something different. I don't know whether it inspired me, but it's one of the names I remember.

 

Dave

Hi Dave

 

Not so much Sundown and Sprawling but Mike Cole's articles in the Railway Modeller on scratchbuilding diesel locomotives that ran on his layout. He was the only person who was writing about the locomotives I was trainspotting. Later on his articles gave me the impetus to build my own diesel locomotives. Unlike Mike's which were made from brass sheet, mine are plastic card bodies. A real inspirational modeller.  

 

And when discussing articles on diesel locomotives we mustn't forget those written by our own Peter Kazmierczak for the Model Railway Constructor in the early 1980s, these helped with thinking about how I could convert a RTR loco into something I could call my own.

[tamperman36]

Bolden junction by Barrow model railway club, which I got to operate several times while at exhibitions with GCS/later R&M Quarries and Tonbridge West yard by Paul Wade, a layout I've spent many hours watching and drewling over along with its stock.

[DavidB-AU]

Lochside for realistic operation in a small space and all those dirty diesels. The prevailing "wisdom" at the time (1979) was that P4 had to be clean pre-grouping.

 

Cheers

David

[F-UnitMad]

Probably waaaaaay off most UK enthusiasts' radar, but the most inspirational articles for me by far were a series done by Chris Ellis in the old (Airfix) "Model Trains" magazine, about American Short Lines. Specifically "Short Lines & Branch Lines"(Feb 1980), "Short Line Steam"(May 1980) & "Short Line Diesels"(Jan 1981).

They opened up a whole new world of Railroads to me, & blew apart all those myths that American trains wre all miles long with 5 locos on the point, & needed at minimum a basement-sized room to model American.

Funny thing is, that's still the prevailing view in the States!!!

[Oldddudders]

The late David Lloyd's Augher Valley, in, I think April 1964 RM. Then Vivien Thompson proving LB&SCR was a viable prototype.

[DavidB-AU]

As mentioned above, Bredon was quite an eye opener. Typical "train set" size but didn't look like it. Some pics here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79714-the-best-train-set-layout-you-ever-saw/?p=1261596

 

EDIT: And another one that just sprang to mind, Dave Howsam's Howley Town.

 

Cheers

David

Edited July 4, 2016 by DavidB-AU

[Revolution Ben]

 

Hello all,

 

For me the two layouts that really inspired when I was returning to the hobby were Chee Tor, which I saw at a show in Epsom in about 1998 I think, and Acton Mainline, which I saw at around the same time. I believe these layouts are by Manchester MRS and Croydon MRS respectively.

 

Chee Tor depicted one of my favourite parts of the country with superb scenic modelling, while Acton Mainline featured full length freight trains and brilliantly modelled unloading and handling facilities, which I had not seen before, and scenically everything had been weathered consistently to the same level.

 

I also found a couple of articles by Simon and Andrew Tucker about their stock for Castle Cary (and later St Denys) very helpful in guiding me towards improvements that could be made to RTR models.

 

Cheers

 

Ben A.

[David Bigcheeseplant]

Here are mine, I started buying railway magazines in the early 1980s, and think some of the articles "Building a layout" Bodmin in Model Railway Constructor inspired me as these were articles that showed how to model buildings, signal exactly how they were and looked right.

 

Also the first Railway Modeller I brought had Tamrag I think that is name. There were also articles by Stephen Williams on building a GWR Hall and King.

[PaulRhB]

Just to pick four from a vast cast because they created what I consider to be my ultimate type of layouts, Shirley & Dave Rowe, Maggie & Gordon Gravett.

Why? Because the modelling was sublime and used complimentary skills to achieve near perfection, they could write in a way that encouraged you and they are equally as encouraging and humble in person

I'm lucky to have seen several classics both well known and only known to those in the know and what inspired me was the people who chatted to me as a youngster in the same way they do now with no pre conceptions of my ability.

I've met some fantastic people, some very rich and some who create masterpieces from virtually nothing but the one thing is shared enthusiasm that made the background and money irrelevant.

The friends I've made locally, (relatively), have helped me through hard times just by keeping a bit of normality going

Edited July 4, 2016 by PaulRhB

[shanks522]

Lots to choose from!

 

To name just a few,

 

Crewelisle

Acton mainline

Tonbridge west yard

Shawport

Hedges hill cutting & stoney lane.

 

All very inspirational layouts for me, there's many more but can't remember there names!

 

Graham.

[corneliuslundie]

I am surprised no one has mentioned Portreath, Chiltern Green, Little Western or Charford. Also, as suggested above, Buckingham, Chee Tor, Ian Rice's layouts, especially Tregarrick, Craig & Mertonford, Dave Rowe's various creations.

Jonathan

[John B]

Layouts:

 

North Shields by Chris Pendleton, Tregarrick / Orford / Butley Mills etc by Iain Rice, Lochside by Ian Futers, Borchester Market by Frank Dyer - with a whole issue of Model Railways dedicated to it. Allied Marine, by Allan Sibley and Brian Dornam, at that time Industrial modelling was very rarely covered.

 

Other articles: Monty Wells' series on detailing diesels in Railway Modeller in the 80s. Number 1 Shop, in the early days of MRJ. "Wagon Page" featuring Ken Werrett's drawings in the Modeller.

[Lowlander]

Hi

 

For me there were two layouts, Hayley Mills and Bolden Junction. Hayley Mills was featured in two consecutive editions of Rail magazine.The quality and quantity of scratch built and detailed stock was just a total eye opener to me who was just starting out in modern image modelling.

 

Bolden Junction appeared in a Model Rail video. I wish I had a pound for every time I watched it. Again it had quality stock, which was either scratch built or detailed. This again was excellent in it's day.

[kevinlms]

The first one I really liked & still do is Belmont, as it appeared in Model Railway Constructor for November 1975. It showed that an industrial type branch line could be built, where locos like 2-8-0s & 4-6-0s, or even a 9F, would not look out of place.

 

Much more interesting than idyllic, one small tank engine in steam layouts.

[micknich2003]

Frank Dyer's Borchester Town of the late '50's to mid '60's and his associated articles on loco building etc. The loco building articles by the late Dennis Allenden were also a great insperation. Also, if you can get the back numbers, the loco building articles in the Model Railroader by the late Mel Thornburgh from the mid '30's to the mid '60's.