The winter solstice has passed and we are heading to Christmas and the New Year. Times are certainly changing and last Saturday we spotted our first daffodil flower.

First Daffodil for 2016? SW Scotland 19.12.15

We have also seen some unusually stormy weather. ‘Desmond’ deposited something like three months rainfall in 48 hours over parts of the Region. There was some local damage but thankfully not on the scale of the property damage and personal misery that has affected the North West of England.

Dumfries and Galloway disruption

Back to Bob Dylan, he appears to have written the song "The Times They Are a-Changin'" in September and October 1963. It was released as a 45 rpm. single in Britain in 1964, it reached number nine in the British top ten and was Britain's hundredth best selling single of 1965. So – effectively 50 years ago!

What were railway modellers up to fifty years ago - in 1965?

Christmas Cover Railway Modeller 1965

As well as the advertisement on the back cover for Formoway Track (Graham Farish) there was inside a two page spread for Peco’s own products.

Peco Christmas Advertisement 1965

Looking back at the Peco advertisement I was slightly surprised to see the range of N gauge items available in 1965. I don’t think I would have said N gauge had been around that long! I was also intrigued by the plastic clip on point motor. I thought Peco point motors had been made from bent metal ‘for ever’ and have no recollection at all of the plastic variety. I can only guess that the plastic was not robust enough for the job and was soon superseded by the bent metal variety?

Christmas 1965, Tri-ang/Hornby and Trix Advertisements

The magazine contains full page advertisements from the major model manufacturers. In addition to Airfix and Playcraft there were advertisements for Trix and Tri-ang/Hornby. By 1965 Hornby Dublo had been swallowed up by Lines Brothers but obviously 1965 was thought too soon to drop the ‘Tri-ang’ brand name. The Britannia model holds centre stage – so not a lot different from today.

Hornby Britannias - William Wordsworth R2563 and Britannia R3094 with repainted cab roof

‘Synchrosmoke’ is a name from the past as is ‘Magnadhesion’ where the locomotives were manufactured with a permanent magnet within the frames to grip the old Tri-ang steel track. I do believe the wheel has gone full circle and the idea has been re-discovered and is now sold as Powerbase. In its re-engineered form thin steel sheets are laid beneath the non-magnetic track (nickel silver) and high power magnets are glued to the underside of the locomotives.

Triang Lord of the Isles from the 1960s and long since sold, with Seuthe smoke unit and Magnadhesion

The super detail models from Trix looked very exciting. Perhaps Trix had hoped to take some of the market left by Hornby Dublo. Unfortunately what scale was Trix? About 3.8mm to the foot I believe, so slightly undersize compared to existing UK models at 4mm scale products. Good to see the Western Diesel holding centre stage, but what colour was the model of D1000? My guess from the black and white advertisement was that the model was maroon coloured and not Desert Sand as was the prototype when first introduced.

Heljan D1000 Western Enterprise with Desert Sand livery

I have also included a copy of Hattons Christmas advertisement. It makes an interesting read comparing prices then and now. I particularly like the reference to Tri-ang Lord of the Isles which "is now out of production".

Hattons 1965 Christmas advertisement

H&M and W&H advertisements

Another page of advertisements with a little bit of history featured H&M and W&H. H&M (Hammant and Morgan) manufactured a popular range of robust and reliable controllers. A lot of us will have owned and perhaps still own a ‘Clipper’ or a ‘Duette’. H&M were swallowed up by Tri-ang/Hornby, I guess leaving a place in the market for Gaugemaster. W&H (Walker's and Holtzapffel established 1928) although a tiny shop was always worth a visit when in town for a ‘conference’. The real value of W&H was their catalogue which predated the Internet and seemed to list every available model railway item. It was an important ‘must have’ item for browsing when there was nothing on the television. If you had already memorised the W&H catalogue then there was always the latest track plan to study from CJ Freezer. I wonder how many people actually constructed a layout identical to one of these plans?

December 1965 Track plan courtesy of CJ Freezer

Joe’s cartoon December 1965

A regular feature in Railway Modeller was a cartoon from ‘Joe’. The subject matter of the December 1965 cartoon is as relevant today as it was fifty years ago. Corridor connectors made from black cartridge paper have featured at regular intervals here on my Blog.

Paper corridor connectors for Bachmann Collett Coaches

The Christmas edition contained a number of special features. As a sometimes practicing geotechnical engineer I was particularly intrigued to see pictures of rather irregular looking buildings that had been subject to subsidence from salt workings. Ground water and bedrock containing beds of salt is a dangerous combination which can only become more serious with increased rainfall.

Subsidence due to salt workings - Droitwich

My final extract from the December 1965 Railway Modeller is a picture of the Blue Pullman. The picture belongs to a feature on the Manchester Model Railway Society’s Wheatstone Bridge and Hartington Layout.

Blue Pullman - Wheatstone Bridge and Hartington - Manchester MRS

The Blue Pullman featured in 1965 was probably ‘Kitmaster’. Fifty years later and I would say that the Blue Pullman is even more popular. The latest Bachmann model seems to represent one of the recent high points in railway modelling.

Bachmann Blue Pullmans

As the New Year approaches I will take this opportunity to send Season's Greetings to you all and Best Wishes for the coming New Year.