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Musings

Zen and the joys of railway modelling

What goes through a modeller’s mind? 'Very little', my wife would say, and she’s not far off! Am I the only one who enters a Zen-like state of mind when operating the layouts?     It begins like this. You decide to run some trains, forget all the worries. Get the gear out, set up on the dining table.     The engine purrs into life, pulls a train off the traverser. You get down to eye level, begin to dream. What if there was something else behind t
Mikkel

Mikkel in Musings

21
Scenery

When in danger or in doubt... Progress on the fourth bite

When in danger or in doubt, get the model railway out. The fourth layout in the Farthing series is taking shape, a welcome relief from the lockdown blues.       Above is a reminder of the trackplan. So complicated that it broke Templot. Only very advanced modellers can do that.       A test piece to see what the new Peco Bullhead track is all about. I decided to give Peco a go as a change from handbuilt track. The chairs are wrong for GWR, wil
Mikkel

Mikkel in Scenery

48

What really happened in the Cuban missile crisis

Farthing, 1904. With a rising sense of panic, Goods Porter E. Sparkler stared at the pigeon baskets he had just knocked over.         A lid had opened, and the pigeons were escaping.         The pigeons soon scattered around the goods yard.         They were white show pigeons, en route to a prestigious event at the London Philoperisteron Society.         One of the pigeons
Mikkel

Mikkel

59

Wagon propulsion

I've been testing the trackplan for “The sidings”, and got a bit carried away...     Jokes aside, there is a more serious side to this: As previously explained, the layout is inspired by the trackplan at the back of Gloucester Old Yard. This included the very short so-called “biscuit siding” which served a private warehouse through a kick-back arrangement.     In GWRJ No. 45 (p262), shunter Hayden Jones explains how the biscuit siding was operated:
Mikkel

Mikkel

24

Undecided sky (1867)

More "out of period" operation here. This time going back in time quite a bit. In fact, it seems they didn't even have flush-glazing back then .     The year is 1867, and it is early days at Farthing station. Mr Crummles gently guides his wife towards the first class carriage, while Mr Doyce looks on in anticipation of the journey ahead.       Mrs Crummles is somewhat apprehensive. It is only a few months since that dreadful accident at Warrington,
Mikkel

Mikkel

66
Scenery

Trees for Farthing - Mark One

Projects over the summer have included trees. The original inspiration came from the tree-lined perimeters of Reading’s Vastern Road and King’s Meadow goods yards.     Vastern Road yard, Reading, 1948. Source: Britain from above.     The trees here were quite close to the track along some sections. Earlier photos from the 1900s show larger trees, so they must have been a feature from at least the 1880s.   Vastern Road yard, Reading, 1948. Source: Britain f
Mikkel

Mikkel in Scenery

37

Traverser testing

I’ve been testing my somewhat "under-engineered" traverser, and made a little video to show it in operation.   It continues to work well, and I now have some faith in the basic concept. I’m in the process of re-enforcing how the tubes are fixed in the foamboard, but that is more of a pre-emptive move than a result of any actual problems so far. The running is smoother than rendered by the video.   PS: I’m aware of the period inconsistency between loco and wagons, it's all sti
Mikkel

Mikkel

19

Third bite: "The sidings"

I’ve slowly started work on the next layout in the Farthing series. “The sidings” are inspired by an interesting arrangement at the back of Gloucester Old Yard, where a headshunt served a series of kickback sidings that gave access to a variety of facilities: One siding served a private “biscuit” depot, another served the local waterworks, and finally there was a backroad to the loco depot’s ash sidings and coaling stage.           Above left is the overall la
Mikkel

Mikkel

35
Stories

The trials of Mr Bull

Here are some progress shots from "The bay", the first of the Farthing layouts. They mainly show the platform as I still need to detail the yard behind it.     Mr Bull waits impatiently for his train on platform 2 at Farthing station. Behind him, 517 class No. 835 rests quietly in the bay with a newly arrived stopping train. The loco is an Alan Gibson kit that I bought secondhand in a rather unusual condition, sporting NER fittings and numbering! I returned it to running orde
Mikkel

Mikkel in Stories

10

The treachery of images

Modellers try to recreate the real thing. But sometimes we don't know how the real thing looked. Then what? These photos show my experiments with what I think was a standard livery for larger GWR goods depots around 1907, following lots of browsing of photos in books, and a brief discussion in this thread (many thanks gentlemen!).         The trouble is of course that photos from the period don't have, er, colour - and are full of light and shadow. So it's hard to
Mikkel

Mikkel

24
Structures

The station building: Walls and gables

Here’s an update on Farthing’s main station building, modelled on the 1910 prototype at Newbury (see this post for details). This post summarizes work on the walls and gables. There have been other developments, will update on those later.   Although the structure at Newbury is still with us there have been numerous detail changes over the years. Above is a selection of those I have spotted. Most changes appear to have been made after the station was built, so I’m going wit
Mikkel

Mikkel in Structures

65

The sleeping giant (1887)

Farthing, 1887. The Great Western is a sleeping giant. The system is plagued by gauge inconsistencies and circuitous routes, and the Churchward revolution is yet to come. In the bay platform at Farthing, a Buffalo tank sleepily knocks a few wagons about.       For the past ten years the world has suffered from a global economic depression, but Workman P. Quince has never read a newspaper and is more concerned with the stinging pain when he urinates. Perhaps he should fi
Mikkel

Mikkel

15

The Sidelight Job

Not quite a "heist" movie, but my family did wonder what I was up to in the basement this weekend...      
Mikkel

Mikkel

24
Stories

The Remains of the Day

While researching a book on the real Farthing station, I recently acquired a set of photos from the 1900-1910 period that I thought I would share here. My sources in Farthing have been able to provide a bit of background on some of the staff featured in the photos. Above, we see the bay platform at Farthing, with station staff in attendance. The stationmaster Mr A. Woodcourt is seen second from the left. The stock presents something of a mystery. While it has been known for some time that loco N
Mikkel

Mikkel in Stories

8
Musings

The mists of time (and all that)

This may not be to everyone's taste, but I've been playing around with some photos of the Victorian coaches that I recently dug out (see last blog entry). For some reason, out-of-focus photos of historical stock have always captured my imagination. Like ghosts from the past, or whatever. These manipulated images are a quick attempt to recreate something similar.       This shot somehow looks quite "real" to me. Perhaps a reminder that there are other avenues in layout pr
Mikkel

Mikkel in Musings

6

The honourable slipper boy - Part 3

This is the third and final part of a story based on a real incident on the Great Western at the turn of the century. It draws on the transcripts of a court case at Old Bailey. The story is narrated by Dennis Watts, a slipper boy in the employment of the GWR. The story began here.     Having produced their damning evidence, Detective Benton and constable Walmsley rounded up the four thieves and took them to court. I was the star witness at the trial, and made sure to tell
Mikkel

Mikkel

42
Stories

The honourable slipper boy - Part 2

This is the second part of a story based on a real incident on the Great Western at the turn of the century. It draws on the transcripts of a court case at Old Bailey. The story is narrated by Dennis Watts, a slipper boy in the employment of the GWR. Part one is here.       As I stood there, surrounded by thieves in a dark corner of the goods yard, I thought my last hour had come. Luckily the moon came out, which seemed to unsettle them, and so they let me go.  
Mikkel

Mikkel in Stories

18

The honourable slipper boy - Part 1

This blog sometimes tells some pretty tall tales, but this one is based on a true story. I recently came across a fascinating account of a court procedure at Old Bailey, involving an incident on the Great Western at the turn of the century. I decided to re-enact the incident, with Farthing as the setting and a little, ahem, modeller’s license. Dennis, will you take it from here?       My name is Dennis Watts, that’s me on the right. I’m a slipper boy with The Great Weste
Mikkel

Mikkel

28
Stories

The Great Unrest: Modelling the 1911 railway strike

Here’s an attempt to reenact the 1911 railway strike in OO. The strike was an important but sometimes overlooked event in the social history of Britain's railways, and involved some very unusual scenes. The cameos are based on contemporary photos, but transposed to my own Farthing layouts.     1. The strike begins     “The Great Unrest” was a period of labour unrest during the years 1911-1914.        The period saw more industrial dispu
Mikkel

Mikkel in Stories

51
Musings

The four phases of modeller's recovery

I had a setback with my Dean Goods. I was spraying on some varnish in preparation for lining, when this happened:     Orange peel - or something similar!   There followed the usual process, so well described in Dr Mindbender’s insightful ”Coping with Failure in Railway Modelling: The Four Phases of Modeller’s Recovery” (Wild Swan, 2019):   Phase 1:  Despair (”Why me, Lord?”)      Phase 2:  Resentment (”Stupid model!”)    
Mikkel

Mikkel in Musings

37
Stories

The Finkerbury files: Secrets of the footplate

Yesterday I went to get some things in the attic of the old apartment block where we now live. Each flat has a tiny storage room, and as I entered the attic I noticed that one door was ajar.     Feeling curious, I had a look inside. The room was empty,  but someone had left an old filing cabinet in the corner.     Imagine my surprise when, inside the cabinet, I found a number of files marked “Farthing”. With trembling hands I opened the first file, and…
Mikkel

Mikkel in Stories

42

The Biscuit Shed

I've been working on the “Biscuit Shed”, the first of the buildings for my new Farthing layout. It is inspired by the “beer shed” in the GWR Goods yard at Stratford on Avon, which was used as a loading facility for beer traffic from the Flower & Sons brewery.         The biscuit theme draws on the so-called “biscuit siding” in Gloucester Old Yard, which served a small loading shed that was used by various industries over the years, including Peak Freen’s biscui
Mikkel

Mikkel

21
Track & Traversers

The Bumblebee Mk2 - a new traverser for Farthing

I’ve built a new ‘one-size-fits-all’ traverser for my Farthing layouts.          My latest layout - The Stables - has two levels, so I needed a traverser which could accommodate that. After I had proposed various harebrained schemes, Stu suggested the principle that I have sketched above. This was clearly the way to go. But how?       After mulling it over I looked at my old traverser (above) and realised that I could kill two birds with one st

Summer silliness (video)

Just a silly little video clip here, fooling around with an off-cut from another Farthing video. It seems Shunter George "Bulldog" Mullins had a bit too much of the good stuff last night.      
Mikkel

Mikkel

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