BRM Spring '18 + FREE DVD

[SteveCole]

As you can see from the list below, BRM Spring is rammed with great content! The Digital Edition goes live later today and the print edition will be in shops from March 1st.

 

 

 

 

• On this month's DVD

The North Norfolk Railway - model railways beside their real-world counterparts

Breakfast is cooked on the footplate of a 'WD' 2-8-0

A lifetime in signalling. Great tales recalled by a veteran

We ride and drive a miniature railway at Holt station

 

• Inside this month's magazine

Layouts

Leighton Buzzard (EM): a journey through the final stations on Peter Denny's iconic Buckingham Branch.

Nine Mills (N): a fictitious south Midlands location, but plenty of LMS and GWR interest.

Churchill Halt (O): we look at John Taylor's latest project whilst it's being built.

No Place (OO): Les Richardson admits to spending too much time in colliery yards as a lad. His oddly named layout is the result.

 

Practical BRM

Build a resin goods shed

Detail coach interiors

BRM Project Layout: building a stick fiddle yard for Didsbury Green.

Getting started in 3D printing

Know your headlamp codes

Make a carriage cottage

Improve loco running

 

News & reviews

Trade News: including a new wagon from Accurascale, a Dapol GWR Mogul and more.

New Models: a look at this month's latest commissions, including those from Kernow and Cheltenham

N Gauge Carflats

New Gear

Hatton's P Class

Ellis Clark Mk1 Coaches

Hatton's Warwell

 

Features

Prototype Inspiration: Railway Cottages

The Biggest Little Railway

British Model Railway Awards Results

Ally Pally Show preview

Tail Lamp by Phil Parker

[sjrixon]

Waiting still for the digital one to land.....

[Phil Parker]

It's just landed with me and I've been able to view everything on my PC.

 

 

Inside is one of my favourite projects, a cottage made from a carriage - inspired by our visit to the North Norfolk Railway as seen on the DVD. 

Edited February 23, 2018 by Phil Parker

[Huw Griffiths]

I wonder how many Ratio kits were harmed in the making of this model.

 

Don't worry - I'm not looking for an answer right now.

 

Seriously though, I doubt if you even need a whole kit - just 1 side (and perhaps an end) - and it doesn't even matter what make you use. There'd probably be nothing to stop you using bits from a Hornby / Triang 4 wheel coach (even one of the Th*m*s ones) or even one of those old clerestories.

 

More to the point, you probably don't even need a complete side - as coach sides / panels reused in this way could even have been hacked about over the years.

 

 

Huw

Edited February 23, 2018 by Huw Griffiths

[sjrixon]

Sure I've a Ratio side somewhere Remains of building a few 009 coaches with the rest of the kit, very versatile..

 

Really enjoyed the video. Heading up there this summer, been a long time since I've been to Norfolk. 

[Mikkel]

Just been watching the video, very good. Kudos to the North Norfolk Railway for all the work they do - including the preserved carriage cottage, an excellent idea.

 

But I thought subliminal advertising was banned?

 

 

 

[dana]

. I'm not interested in hot travel mates   in the middle of Phil Parker and  Andy p   @ North Norfolk  Railway interview and unable to get rid of it . Cant blame  lovely ladies in  Surrey BC looking for love while traveling and signing up but  not in the middle of my source for Modeling  British railways .

[Phil Parker]

. I'm not interested in hot travel mates   in the middle of Phil Parker and  Andy p   @ North Norfolk  Railway interview and unable to get rid of it . Cant blame  lovely ladies in  Surrey BC looking for love while traveling and signing up but  not in the middle of my source for Modeling  British railways .

 

Soooo many questions.

Who is Andy p?

Is this Howard's new code name?

How come the "lovely ladies of Surrey BC" are appearing in your video and not mine?

 

Is this phenomenon restricted to one computer, or is anyone else experiencing it?

[Andy Y]

. I'm not interested in hot travel mates   in the middle of Phil Parker and  Andy p   @ North Norfolk  Railway interview and unable to get rid of it . Cant blame  lovely ladies in  Surrey BC looking for love while traveling and signing up but  not in the middle of my source for Modeling  British railways .

As the digital content is served via YouTube you may receive adverts based on your browser history and profile.

[truffy]

. I'm not interested in hot travel mates  ... in the middle of my source for Modeling  British railways .

 

But

 

you may receive adverts based on your browser history and profile.

 

 

So, at other times, then!

[Chamby]

As the digital content is served via YouTube you may receive adverts based on your browser history and profile.

Reminds me of the time when I accessed some unexpected content when I googled for some Modelstrip...

[The Stationmaster]

Ah, pedant time strikes again alas - was Tony Wright's article on lamp codes edited down a bit i wonder as it repeats the common error that 'shunting tank locomotives display[ed] Class A lamps'.  Which of course they didn't as the shunting pilots and station pilots, which could include tender engines, carried pilot lamps which displayed a white light above one buffer and a red light above the other.  And while wearing the pedant hat should not 'Andrew Vaughan' referred to in the editorial actually be Adrian Vaughan (although he might have moved on by now possibly?)

 

And oddly, and very unusually, it looks as if somebody sat on the DVD as it has a curve in it although it seems to be settling flat.

[Joseph_Pestell]

I wonder how many Ratio kits were harmed in the making of this model.

 

Don't worry - I'm not looking for an answer right now.

 

Seriously though, I doubt if you even need a whole kit - just 1 side (and perhaps an end) - and it doesn't even matter what make you use. There'd probably be nothing to stop you using bits from a Hornby / Triang 4 wheel coach (even one of the Th*m*s ones) or even one of those old clerestories.

 

More to the point, you probably don't even need a complete side - as coach sides / panels reused in this way could even have been hacked about over the years.

 

 

Huw

 

These cottages built out of railway coaches and tram bodies were indeed very much hacked about sometimes.

 

Back in the days when I was an Energy Assessor, I was asked to survey a property in Aldermaston (close to the station). I was very puzzled by the layout of the building until I realised that this large bungalow had started off with a railway carriage as its core.

[chrisf]

 And while wearing the pedant hat should not 'Andrew Vaughan' referred to in the editorial actually be Adrian Vaughan (although he might have moved on by now possibly?)

 

I have just watched the DVD.  Mike is right.  I would have happily listened to Mr Vaughan for hours - as I did last time I was at the North Norfolk, when he was working Weybourne box.

 

This and the past two DVDs have been much better value as regards screen time.  The visit to the carriage workshop was a far more interesting use of the Extras section than yet another commercial for the digital edition of the magazine.

 

In the magazine I welcomed TW's article on coach interiors and part two of Tony Gee's piece on Buckingham, which reads so well and conveys the unbridled enthusiasm he has for it.  The introduction to 3D printing came across to me as a bit too much of a sales pitch on behalf of Shapeways.  As for Churchill Halt, I wonder how many who work in smaller scales wil be moved to emulate John Taylor's superb point rodding?

 

Chris [edited to correct typos]

Edited February 28, 2018 by chrisf

[Tony Wright]

Ah, pedant time strikes again alas - was Tony Wright's article on lamp codes edited down a bit i wonder as it repeats the common error that 'shunting tank locomotives display[ed] Class A lamps'.  Which of course they didn't as the shunting pilots and station pilots, which could include tender engines, carried pilot lamps which displayed a white light above one buffer and a red light above the other.  And while wearing the pedant hat should not 'Andrew Vaughan' referred to in the editorial actually be Adrian Vaughan (although he might have moved on by now possibly?)

 

And oddly, and very unusually, it looks as if somebody sat on the DVD as it has a curve in it although it seems to be settling flat.

Thanks Mike,

 

In the original piece, I did state that there was one white light above one buffer and one red light above the other for pilot work. 

[Andrew P]

Soooo many questions.

Who is Andy p?

Is this Howard's new code name?

How come the "lovely ladies of Surrey BC" are appearing in your video and not mine?

 

Is this phenomenon restricted to one computer, or is anyone else experiencing it?

You mean there is more than one Andy P?

[Norm81]

Is there a lack of D+E layouts available to feature at the moment? Not a dig or anything, just asking as for about 2 or 3 issues now it's been 100% steam.

[Andy Y]

We really should mention what the digital extras are this issue!

 

Andy York looks at the CAD files for Accurascale's forthcoming HUO hopper wagon (6m)

 

A look around Bachmann's new 'Teak' Thompson carriages. (2m)

 

A close-up look at Hatton's first directly produced steam locomotive, the SE&CR P Class. (9m 30s)

 

John Taylor takes us on a guided tour around Churchill Halt. (12m 47s)

 

Les Richardson describes his County Durham based layout. (3m 39s)

 

catch-up telly from last month: Tony Gee talks us through the whole of Peter Denny's Buckingham Great Central layout. (13m)

 

 

Today is also the last day of the £1.99 a month offer - https://pocketmags.com/offer/crazyoffer - that's worth it for the extras alone (but I am biased!).

[Andy Y]

Is there a lack of D+E layouts available to feature at the moment? Not a dig or anything, just asking as for about 2 or 3 issues now it's been 100% steam.

 

I wouldn't disagree with you Norm; I do go out to seek the best content available and we have definitely been a bit short of good D&E layouts - of course they are out there but sometimes it's about having the right material and opportunities at the right time. A while back I was knee deep in them but frequently I felt they were a bit 'shake the box' rather than excellence and I'm probably guilty of gravitating toward some top notch layouts which just happen to be steam. There is answer; if you own a top-notch D&E layout please do get in touch rather than just relying on me to catch up with you.

 

April will feature some top-quality transition material and May features some unusual traffic with a 1990s flavour.

[Andy Y]

As for Churchill Halt, I wonder how many who work in smaller scales will be moved to emulate John Taylor's superb point rodding?

 

It's very unusual to find such a tidy work-in-progress layout which looks good on the page; John kindly allowed me to come and snap the details which I think draws the eye toward good modelling of detail without the distraction of trains and scenery. I'd be interested to know if readers think such articles have appeal; strip away the conventional layout imagery and concentrate on detail people can learn from?

[The Stationmaster]

It's very unusual to find such a tidy work-in-progress layout which looks good on the page; John kindly allowed me to come and snap the details which I think draws the eye toward good modelling of detail without the distraction of trains and scenery. I'd be interested to know if readers think such articles have appeal; strip away the conventional layout imagery and concentrate on detail people can learn from?

 

I thought it was an excellent article Andy so 'yes' - more please. (I shall be polite and  leave my pedant hat elsewhere on this particular one).

[Norm81]

I wouldn't disagree with you Norm; I do go out to seek the best content available and we have definitely been a bit short of good D&E layouts - of course they are out there but sometimes it's about having the right material and opportunities at the right time. A while back I was knee deep in them but frequently I felt they were a bit 'shake the box' rather than excellence and I'm probably guilty of gravitating toward some top notch layouts which just happen to be steam. There is answer; if you own a top-notch D&E layout please do get in touch rather than just relying on me to catch up with you.

 

April will feature some top-quality transition material and May features some unusual traffic with a 1990s flavour.

I do appreciate that you cannot feature what does not exist, or that you're unaware of. The Heaton Lodge updates are good and I would be happy to even see shorter "work in progress" features, I know the crew responsible for Blackmill are building it's successor for example. As most features are finished layouts with pictures of the finished article, I'd find it interesting to see some from during the construction. I also would still enjoy a layout already covered by a different magazine, as the viewpoints, details and photographs may be different etc. Just some hopefully positive thoughts and I'll look forward to April and May issues.

[Dan Griffin]

I awaited this issue to have a look at the content. the last couple of issues have been heavily steam based, and this issue is along similar lines. the only article I found of interest was the cottage coach.

 

Now I am not knocking the content of the mag, it is still written well and the picture are good it just not my area of interest, therefore, unfortunately I am cancelling my direct debit subscription.

 

I feel that BRM has reverted to how it used to be, heavily steam orientated and the content is just not my cup of tea. I will go back to buying the odd issue if there is something that catches my eye.

[Phil Parker]

.

 

I feel that BRM has reverted to how it used to be, heavily steam orientated and the content is just not my cup of tea. I will go back to buying the odd issue if there is something that catches my eye.

 

As you will have read in the posts above, and on other threads, this isn't the case. It's simply that there is a lack of D&E models out there that we haven't already featured.

 

Fortunately, the sales numbers would indicate that steam sells. Issues with a steam loco on the cover always sell better than those with diesels for example. Despite this, we are always on the lookout for more D&E content so, as has been said already, if you fancy writing some then you'll find us waiting with open arms. 

[Dan Griffin]

As you will have read in the posts above, and on other threads, this isn't the case. It's simply that there is a lack of D&E models out there that we haven't already featured.

 

Fortunately, the sales numbers would indicate that steam sells. Issues with a steam loco on the cover always sell better than those with diesels for example. Despite this, we are always on the lookout for more D&E content so, as has been said already, if you fancy writing some then you'll find us waiting with open arms. 

I may take you up on that Phil, when I have started work on my new layout,

 

I am in no way knocking what content you have in the mag, just airing my opinion. that's all.

 

I may re-subscribe later in the year, but I think ill leave it for now.