Deliberately Old-Fashioned 0 Scale - Chapter 1

[Hroth]

On 24/11/2019 at 07:54, Nearholmer said:

Graham Greene novels, and films thereof are another source of post-war atmosphere...

 

Apart from "The Little Train" which, in its ineffable tweeness, makes The Rev W Awdrys locomotive tales seem like primary source material!  At least a filmic version of "The Little Train" hasn't been committed. Yet.

 

Doesn't Celia Johnson have big Manga Comic eyes!

 

[Nearholmer]

A couple of pictures from a Narogg meeting earlier this week.

 

My own light railway train, provoked by Northroader. The Terrier’s rather iffy livery was achieved with a fridge magnet, and I need to get some thinner magnetic paper and try to make a better version using a better printer.

 

 

From that impudence to some real dignity. This loco is 8 mm/ft scale, to accommodate a huge spring, and was originally built by Rev. Parley, who was a really influential outdoor railway modeller, active from c1900 to, I think, the early 1950s.

 

[Annie]

That NER Atlantic is a thing of beauty.  I have a big soft spot for vintage clockers,

[Nearholmer]

As has been chewed-over here before, clockwork locos are a different thing altogether, requiring a railway very different from one for electric trains, because they demand more attention.

 

The CA thread got onto cricket just now, and I think there is a parallel, in that running a proper clockwork railway (not racing round a circuit of tinplate on the carpet), is at least a long Sunday afternoon game, whereas the world has moved on to the quicker gratification of limited-over electrically-powered trains.

[rockershovel]

Sorry to miss you at NAROGG, I’m not sure quite WHAT I’m playing at the moment but it certainly isn’t cricket. 

 

I do like that Atlantic, though. 

[Mark Carne]

10 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

A couple of pictures from a Narogg meeting earlier this week.

 

My own light railway train, provoked by Northroader. The Terrier’s rather iffy livery was achieved with a fridge magnet, and I need to get some thinner magnetic paper and try to make a better version using a better printer.

 

 

From that impudence to some real dignity. This loco is 8 mm/ft scale, to accommodate a huge spring, and was originally built by Rev. Parley, who was a really influential outdoor railway modeller, active from c1900 to, I think, the early 1950s.

 

 

Like the effect of your light railway train, who'd have thought German toy train coaches could pass as model, of something completely unimagined by their designer I'm sure! I have been offered the Parley North Eastern Atlantic, and a NER 4-6-0 too, but the previous owner has gone too far with the Humbrol for my tastes .  :-(

 

Cheers, Mark

[Nearholmer]

There is something odd about the paint finish - it looks somehow “furry”, and at first glimpse I honestly thought it was made of cardboard. Maybe it wasn’t taken back to bare metal before being repainted.

[St Enodoc]

12 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Rev. Parley, who was a really influential outdoor railway modeller, active from c1900 to, I think, the early 1950s.

There's quite a lot about the Revd. Parley and his locos in Jack Ray's memoir "A Lifetime in 0 Gauge".

Edited November 27, 2019 by St Enodoc

[Mark Carne]

I've got one Parley loco, and it is unblemished by touch ups or partial repainting. It's the sort of thing that should be in a national model railway museum, if we had such a thing, and I treat it with suitable respect. It's not like it's some naff bit of Hornby where I could go out and buy another one tomorrow on the internet if I it up.

 

Mark

Edited December 16, 2019 by Mark Carne
Missing word!

[bruce palmer]

 

 

Good to see the photos from NAROGG ...the Parley loco is for sale on behalf of Alan Cliff from me . The provisos are that it must go to someone who understands what it is and will cherish it ..not put it on eBay or in the next Auction . The other thing is that the original clockwork ...Marklin ..mech is long gone and it currently has a full length chassis very much in the modern scale style unfortunately , although still 3 rail with a can motor ,Fitting with a contemporary ..1919,Ive been told ..Marklin electric mech might be an interesting project . not sure it has much of a repaint though .    Bruce

[Nearholmer]

Ages since we had a photo of the layout that this thread is sometimes about, so, here is a feast of biscuit tin carriages.

 

 

This one is an oblique reference to Lionel, who have a long history of submarines on flat cars, and it proves a couple of things: that Hornby trains weren’t the only things to come from Liverpool; and, it is very unwise to allow me to go into toy shops.

 

[GRASinBothell]

I was wondering if this thread would ever get back to its original subject!

Is the LOWMAC a Directory Series one?

Gordon

[Nearholmer]

Its a barometer of how much time I get in the train utility room really.

 

Yes, I bought one on eBay, and when it arrived it was two in one box, which was rather good.

[Nearholmer]

Proof l, if ever it were needed, of the superiority of the third rail system - that most conservative of railways has now adopted it.

 

 

[Northroader]

Fed by a 12volt battery, too, IIRC.

[Nearholmer]

Further evidence.

 

 

[rockershovel]

5 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Proof l, if ever it were needed, of the superiority of the third rail system - that most conservative of railways has now adopted it.

 

 

 

Is that for double track running by 60Cm Gauge trains? 

[Nearholmer]

No. As Northroader spotted straight away, it’s a contact ramp for the GWR ‘automatic train control’ system. 

 

Further details courtesy of a good old-fashioned magazine https://railwaywondersoftheworld.com/automatic-safety.html

[Northroader]

Showing me age, I’ve worked on them, but not on steam, but 68s (class 37) had them in S. Wales. Now you’ll have to chop the third rail at Birlstone into little lengths, if you’re running GWR.

 

[Nearholmer]

Or, add a fourth one, to become the Hammersmith Branch.

[Northroader]

You can get wavy conductor rails?

[Nearholmer]

What on earth is that?

[Northroader]

I’ve cheated by chopping the ends off, it’s a “rampe crocodile” the French version of the GWR AWS.

[Nearholmer]

Further reading, but no picture, because Gitane don't seem to have made a fag card covering this one https://www.cheminots.net/forum/topic/41104-les-crocodiles/

 

One of the originators seems to have been Lartigue, of monorail fame.

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2019 by Nearholmer

[Donw]

At one time I was travelling regularly betweeen Reading and Paddington the trip back was often a DMU. If you got a front seat and were lucky in that the driver hadn't pulled the blind down you had a great view down the track. Every AWS ramp was clearly visible and you could hear any warning. As line occupancy was quite high you could often be following on the heels of another train and the klaxon would sound every time and you would see the driver cancelling.

Don