D-A-T

My modelling interests, thanks to threads like this amongst other things, keep moving backwards in time. I now find the pre-Grouping period fascinating for so many reasons I’d bore you all to tears if I tried explaining them! But videos like this are an inspirational for so many reasons but mostly for showing that the 1900s were not black & white!

Not only are you an exemplary craftsman but you are also a mind reader! The mention of a special file for root canal work sent a shiver down my spine 😬

The first Exhibition I went to was Doncaster MRC’s exhibition at Danum Grammar School. Late 70s it would be. I think the exhibition would have been January(ish) as I spent my Christmas and Birthday money on the Linka plaster moulding system there. The first big time exhibition, like @CKPR, was York, again late 70s at the Assembly Rooms and the DeGrey Tea Rooms. The pillars stuck in my mind as well! I saw my first Ian Futer’s layout there, a roundy-roundy which has stuck with me ever since plus later Lochside which was a big influence on me. Now my memory fails me as it was either Yatton or Winton (possibly neither!) which had a sign up saying an Express Streamliner would be going through at 3pm and I thereafter kept nagging my parents as to what time it was so we wouldn’t miss it 🤣

Tim Horn baseboards. He does ‘standard’ sizes off the shelf but also ‘bespoke’ sizes. I ordered bespoke boards direct from him at either a S4 or EMGS Show and it took about 4 weeks for them to arrive. Excellent quality and fit and very easy to build. Still have his turntable fiddleyard to build.

I’ve often thought that a kickback row of carriage sidings would be more appropriate to Minories that trying to include Goods facilities as they would, following the ethos of the design, be dispersed down the line so to speak. In fact, in later Plans Handbooks, it was so as there were designs for junctions, goods yard, loco shed etc. Also, as per Bradfield, a potential scenic break in front of the Fiddleyard/Storage area.

Bradfield Gloucester Square springs to mind. Lots of videos on YouTube showing the variety of traffic and the ebb and flow during the day.

The article says much of the track was salvaged from a previous layout and that new trackwork used 1/32 printed circuit board. All are plain turnouts apart from one 3-way.

Looking at the full track plan the terminus is called Victoria, there are hidden sidings and other stations so I think this is the layout you mention. Especially as the builder is reluctant(?) to be named.

I’m wary of posting anymore for copyright reasons. (Under the fair use doctrine of copyright, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports). The track plan is from an an old, 1970s I think, MRC Annual. The article is by S W Stevens Stratten who I believe was the Editor(?). There are photos of the layout but no mention of the builder. The layout is built in a garage and has “representations” of East Croydon, Clapham Junction and Reigate.

My “enlarged” Minories (when it gets built) will be based on ‘South for Moonshine’ which I think has more than hint of Borchester Market about it as well.

Sorry I don’t post often so I’m not used to the Forum software. The above quotes should have been in my previous post. Mea Culpa.

But Buckingham GC is Marylebone in all but name. To my way of thinking it is a grown up Minories.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Warley and Hattons is a case of pure coincidence but for the doom mongers it is an ideal opportunity to make 2 + 2 = 13. Business, of all varieties, is forever changing, whether it be because of changing demand, unattractive pricing or the company reading the market wrong; it has to evolve. If it doesn’t evolve it will be overtaken and will stagnate and eventually cease. (No imputation on Hattons intended or implied). The Warley show is harder to analyse in a “business” context as it is not a business as the “owners” do not benefit directly. There are comparable shows organised by genuine businesses that directly or indirectly benefit said business. But if said business employees got older they can recruit new young employees to replace them. Obviously WMRC can’t do this so the fat lady has finally sung. For the hobby I think the demise of the show is a Concorde moment. Now for the Doom Mongers this is all grist to the mill and enables them to read the worst possible connotations into the situation and “bash” the hobby. I believe that the MSM still regard the hobby as an “anorak” hobby for those on the fringe of society, ie not part of the chatteratti, social media, liberal elements. PS On a purely personal note the closure of Eileen’s Emporium was a greater blow for me. Would that some enterprising Young Turk take up the reins!

GLOAT! I like that. To me it is a genuine toss up between Copenhagen Fields and Buckingham Great Central.

I believe this is a 1930s photo.

It’s a pity it wasn’t set in an earlier time period. I’ve always wanted to see my hometown station in GNR Edwardian times.

As a tool-a-holic I’d have used it as an excuse to buy one of these (I’ve already got one). Faithfull CSQUARE38 38mm Finder Capacity Center Square https://amzn.eu/d/8BgJ5tP

Won’t the Exhibition/Hall Managers have something to say about you digging up their hall floor to get your deep underground lines in??!! 🤣

Gulp! Just looked online on Amazon and there is only one copy for sale and it’s £125! Think I’ll sell my copy 🤣

Apologies if this has been posted before but it’s new to me. Given the screen format and state of the layout I’m guessing it’s a few years old. https://youtu.be/F_IB5m3LhEo?si=_rOXt2eV4Do_1w_u Sorry but I don’t seem to be able to embed it.

All sorted thanks to a kind Gentleman on here. 👍

I know this is a bit naughty, and will understand if this post/thread is deleted but does anyone have MRJ issue 35 scanned on their computer? In particular the layout Wickham LMS 1935 by Chris Matthewman? I did have that issue of MRJ but it has gone missing, probably leant to someone ages ago. Thank you.

I find the different dialects and way of speaking fascinating. It’s a pity they are dying out or being homologised. Being Yorkshire born and bred I can still remember the broad accent, especially from Farmers and, strangely, miners. https://youtu.be/ScELaXMCVis

Inflation Calculators are, in my opinion, a misnomer for model railways and possibly hobbies in general. Inputting a figure on a given date, the 70s for example, to produce a figure today is not comparing apples with apples. Disposable income was highly likely to be less than it is today and discretionary spending similarly so. So a ‘hobby’ purchase probably required greater thought and longer ‘saving up’ time. Especially as this was before the the widespread use of credit cards and similar credit facilities. My main hobby is sailing and for many years men (usually men!) hoodwinked their wives by quite rightly pointing out that good boats did not suffer from depreciation and could be sold in the future for what they cost. Quite true. But this ignored berthing and running costs and completely ignored inflation. The £10k to buy a new boat in 1975 would not be enough in 1985. So, one bright spark in the yachting press came up with the idea of dividing the cost of a boat by the cost of a loaf of bread and using the multiplier as a bench mark. So a loaf of bread might be 15p in 1975 but in 1985 might be 40p. So the benchmark would be 66,667 loaves which in 1985 would be £27k. So £3-75 in 1979 for a GWR coach Loaf of Bread 25p in 1979 Loaf of Bread £1-57 in 2022 So said coach should be £23-55. But this ignores many factors, especially that until recently (late 90s onwards) most households spent a significant part of their income on food and food was proportionately higher in cost. So after all this waffle the plain fact is you pays your money and makes your choice 😂

I used to be quite into the technical side of photography back in the day. In the early 1900s the equivalent of modern film with a rating of ISO 10 was considered ‘fast’. Quote: “ You basically couldn't take any "instantaneous" pictures in heavy overcast situations, anything from 0.5 (earliest) to maybe 10 or 12 iso (beginning of the 20th century). From the 30s they already had faster film (iso 30+)”. Makes you wonder if flash was used or just natural light filtering through the presumably less than sparkling windows. So many variables including lens speed and aperture.