Andy R

Tony- your Mo is a wonderful lady. Regards from ‘downunder’ Andy -NZ

Sad but true… Black Caps often can’t deliver a killer punch and proved that again yesterday. As a kiwi, it’s very frustrating. But once again the Aussie’s showed us how to win under pressure. I respect that. Cummins is a decent bloke and good leader.

New year’s greetings to you and Mo from down-under. Touching on the first points made, the real challenge for most of us entering our ‘ageing’ period is how the family deals with our layouts and the associated stock etc after we leave the station! And on that happy note I’ll head back to my Sun lounger by my pool…. regards, Andy

And finally a few more to complete the first ‘excursion’ into mancave for 2024.

And a few others… GWR and Southern Railway have running rights on the layout…

New year greetings from down under… New Zealand. Warm, humid sunshine weather …. Ventured into the mancave a couple of days ago and took a random set of train photos for relaxation! Here’s a few scenes…local goods trundling through Hawkinsfield Junction westward

A ‘drone’ photo of how the Abbottsford branch is treated as it curves away from Hawkinsfield Junction, past Budden Farm and lane arched bridge and runs behind the backscene- to a simple loop to hold two very small branch trains if needs be. The loop entrance points just show. At normal viewing angle the loop can’t be seen without peering over the top of the backscene. I also point out one of the points indication boards for Hawkinsfield hanging above the station. This is the Hawkinsfield East box diagram, with West box further to the left. All the junction points are American Bluepoint switches that are moved by way of levers that are attached to the Bluepoints by metal rods, with the levers set out front of the fascia board and numbered. You can see a couple in the photo. By contrast when I rebuilt the terminus station ( Melcombe Regis) I’ve used Tortoise electric motors and a LED mimic diagram approach. You can see the two approaches on either side of the wide angle shot with club member visit recently

Hawkinsfield Junction has a reasonable marshalling yard and is the start of the small branch line to Abbottsford ( off stage behind the backscene). Here we see GWR railcar No.26 easing into the bay platform at Hawkinsfield having travelled down the branch and under the lane over bridge.

And through junction station towards the viaduct and the train turntable junction split

And moving towards Hawkinsfield Junction…

A couple more shots of the terminus - Melcombe Regis and moving around the layout through Hawkinsfield Junction and round over the viaduct scene into the train turntable junction area. I’ll have to do the photos in several posts due to size…

Basically 10 months since my last post! Where does time go? Trip to UK mid year went well and Severn Valley, Festineog and Snowdon Mountain Railway ridden. Also a very pleasant half day running Mr Tony Wrights Little Bytham sequence under strict guidance from the master himself. The layout runs beautifully as has been recorded many time. I hadn’t met Tony before and he and Mo were delightful hosts to this stray colonial. Hawkinsfield has had further development- over our winter a friend constructed the central train turntable and others helped us put in track and wiring. Several photos here show the result. It makes the layout so much easier to operate- to and from terminus.

Absolutely fantastic photos -thanks for sharing them. Andy R NZ

Great photos Tony- even if we 'colonials' cant get to the show in person its great to see some excellent layout shots. Keep them coming please. Andy R NZ

Absolutely super set of photos there Tony. For us colonials so far away from the UK layout scene these are great to see. Thanks for sharing. Andy R NZ

I am enjoying this thread for the first time, seemed to have missed it before but saw briefly on Realistic Modelling. What is great here is showing the simple and effective building techniques that helps modelling knowledge Thanks for sharing.

Good day to you too Tony. Thanks for your comprehensive thoughts, and to other replies. I think you UK based modellers are better placed with your ‘ diminishing’ market than us here in NZ. Ours is minimal by comparison ( as are the number of modellers of course). But the issue remains to be addressed. That’s why I’m really interested in the various comments, to see how things might be approached. The magnitude of disposing large collections or accumulated stuff and the time and effort involved seems to shine through. I pity the executor’s and/ or family faced with the task! Anyway, thanks for providing the forum for discussion. cheers from a wet and cool NZ night. Andy

Hi Tony: while not trying to be morbid, reading this series of posts about many vast collections of stock makes me think- how is our beloved family (assuming they assist) going to deal with these collections of "stuff" when we modeler's pass on to the great station in the sky? As we age gracefully, what arrangements if any, do we need/want to make to assist the poor family to reasonably get rid of our accumulated items? I've sometimes talked to my other half about this and while it's easy to say..."...well Im not going to be here so not my problem..." she (rightly) says ..."you've got to be better organised than that!." Fair enough. Any observations welcome...in a light-hearted way of course. Andy

Interesting observations Tony; reflects so many thing’s getting ‘dumbed down’ in general. I would think most reading WWs would be happy to make adjustments to those wagons and take delight in running them- EM or OO. What a win- win for the charity. Well done. From a cold NZ winter ..Andy R

Tony~ wonderful shot that just screams happy memories for me and many others I’m sure. Hopefully able to make it back there in 2024. In the meantime I always enjoy your Buckingham operating observations- Andy R NZ

Tony; Beautifully said Tony; the day I spent with you, Mo and LB was really enjoyable, informative and fun, just like the session you describe above. I’ll never forget it. In the end, it’s a hobby to enjoy, whatever happens in the moment. Best to apply that old famous kiwi saying…she’ll be right mate’…! From cold winter’s evening downunder…. Andy R

Ah, so ‘Murphy’s Law’ applies to all train sets, all over the world after all Tony. Sounds like a terrific day was had and a fine collection of trains run.; probably with much more reliability than most of us can achieve. But it shows that LB is ‘human’ after all 👍😊 Andy R

Hi Tony; Having had the privilege of meeting you, operating the layout and enjoying a pub lunch down the road, several times over the last few years, which was very enjoyable, you have summed the situation nicely. It has to be one of the most influential and most written about... (apologies if not true english grammar?) ....model railways in UK history. That you have taken on the rewarding task of saving and 'conserving' this important layout is a credit to you and the friends who helped get it from Cornwall to yours. I hope to make it back, with your approval, again next year to continue the operating sequence. From memory we only got through less than half last time I visited (pre covid). It's a challenging layout for those of us not regular visitors, but nevertheless, so much fun and educational too. Keep up the good work on Buckingham. regards Andy R NZ

Thanks for sharing your trip. I live in NZ and enjoyed reading your train travel information. Andy R

Brilliant outcome Tony…what a great concept for a team build. My last team build here in NZ was planting native trees on a hill side! I kinda like the layout operation option…😊