Layouts inspired by literature

[Dave John]

All a bit southern so far. One could always choose Coketown for a location set in the industrial Victorian north. Just the facts..... 

[Nearholmer]

Sanditon.

 

I think she based it on Eastbourne.

 

And, it's on the southern coast, where the sun shines most, not where muck is transformed into brass.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Nearholmer

[sf315]

I’ve named layouts taken from places in the books by Arnold Bennett

Who’s books were set mainly in the Potteries and North Staffordshire area.

I’ve used Bursley, Shaweport and my current ongoing O Gauge shunting plank is called Hillport Goods.

 

Thanks Steve

[Joseph_Pestell]

Hi Joseph

 

You may be more right about Salisbury. Trollope was educated at Winchester College though, according to his autobiography, it was looking at Salisbury Cathedral one summer evening that led him to invent Barchester. The story of the Warden was though inspired by the scandal around the very large revenues received by Francis North the Rector of the Hospital of St Cross and Almshouse of Noble Poverty in Winchester. Barchester and its cathedral seems to have been a mixture of Salisbury, Winchester and probably Exeter. The Cathedral Close and the town does feel more like Salisbury than Winchester but the place it most reminds me of is Ely.

 

As to Royale les Eaux I think we may have had this same conversation a few years ago

 

In Casino Royale Ian Fleming described Royale-les-Eaux as a fashionable Second Empire seaside resort called Royale that failed to compete with Le Touquet until the discovery of a mineral water spring in the hills behind the town around the turn of the century (La Belle Epoque) gave it a new lease of life as a coastal spa and a new name. He described it as "lying near the mouth of the Somme before the flat coast line soars up from the beaches of Southern Picardy to the Brittany cliffs which run on to Le Havre" which rather suggests either that he couldn't distinguish Normandy from Brittany or that wrote it very quickly without checking. There is also a telegraph addressed to BOND SPLENDIDE ROYALE-LES-EAUX SEINE INFERIEURE In fact his described location would be in the Somme Departement, a little to the south-west of the very run down resort of Cayeux, rather than Seine Maritime (renamed along with a number of other Departements that objected to being "inferieure")

 

It had never occurred to me that the change to "Maritime" from "Inferieur" was due to any concern about perjorative inferences.

 

It would seem that Fleming had a typically British disdain for all things French and was not bothered about getting his research right.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Agatha Christie (again somewhat marginal as "literature") gives a lot of description of the location where the body is thrown from the 16.50 ex Paddington. Can't remember the name she gives it but has similarities to Reading - but also not so similar.

[Joseph_Pestell]

And then of course, we have not considered TV. The first layout I recall with a TV derived name was Tannochbrae: Dr Finlay's Casebook (although istr that it had been a book before a TV series).

[ianblenk]

Gallow Shields, from 'When the Boat Comes In' good Geordie drama!

 

Ian B

[Pacific231G]

It had never occurred to me that the change to "Maritime" from "Inferieur" was due to any concern about perjorative inferences.

 

It would seem that Fleming had a typically British disdain for all things French and was not bothered about getting his research right.

 

Indeed, Ian Fleming was very good at sounding worldly and knowing to readers who didn't frequent the sort of social settings he liked to portray. He often got things wrong though. I remember noticing in one of his books, Dr. No I think, that he described a "Decaudeville Railway" running down to a loading pier.

 

 

The change to Maritime does seem to have been exactly for that reason It seems that Inferieure does carry the same double meaning as in Englsh 

 

In Charente it was the subject of a long campaign during the 1930s by the Mayor of Royan.Regrettably the decree that changed the name came in 1941 and was signed by Petain.

http://www.sudouest.fr/2011/09/03/l-inferieure-devint-maritime-489040-632.php

 

 

I'm very grateful for this thread as it's led me to read Trollope's Barchester Towers which I've just finished. Not so much a case of literature inspiring layouts as the search for layout ideas inspiring the appreciation of literature.

Edited March 23, 2018 by Pacific231G

[Foulounoux]

So I must live part time in Charente Superior :-)

[brack]

I have some colonial narrow gauge stock built for the Kukuanaland Railway.

[Castle]

Hi All,

 

Isn’t there some fantasy literature genre layouts on here too? There’s a Hobbition one from the Lord of the Rings stories and I seem to remember one from the Discworld series too based on Ankh Morpork. The novel Raising Steam MUST become a major source of modelling inspiration for someone. If you haven’t read it, it is a fantastic satire on the railway enthusiast condition!

 

By the way, I can’t understand why Conan-Doyle and Christie are not thought of as literature. Is it a bit of an inverse proportion thing that goes along with popularity perhaps? Or is it that anything that is in the detective genre can’t be classed as literature? Mind you, if the second one is true, where does that leave Dickens and Bleak House? I personally love reading both of them, their quality and influence seem to have stood the test of time thus far and as a result they certainly fit the definition to my mind at least. This is a genuine question and not a dig I assure you so please don’t see it as such.

 

Mind you, I’ve probably upset the apple cart mentioning fantasy, Tolkien and Pratchett! I always remember the quote from the late, great Mr Pratchett himself in which he said that he was ‘sometimes accused of literature’...

 

All the best,

 

Castle

[Nearholmer]

Costaguana has, I think, been mentioned in this connection previously.

 

The FCNC had a large stud of locos that looked exactly like British pre-grouping ones that are readily available in 00, fitted with cow catchers made from office staples, while the trains of the FCdelSud bore an uncanny resemblance to cheap 1970s H0 models from the USA.

 

PS: Conan-Doyle wrote a lot more than detective stories, but since I'm never sure what literature is, except possibly a book you can put down, but feel you ought not to, whether his non-detective books count I'm unsure.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Pacific231G]

So I must live part time in Charente Superior :-)

I think that would have driven the inhabitants of Charente Inferieure to another revolution but no; the inland département on the Charente river was always just Charente.

 

There were a few other Inferieures that became Maritimes but another vanity renaming once completely fouled up my navigation. In 1998 Chalons-sur-Marne rechristened itself presumably because they thought sur-Marne sounded a bit down market. A year or two later I was driving through that part of France and my route took me past Chalons. My road atlas showed it as sur-Marne as did the road signs but as I got closer signs for the town just seemed to give out. I did see a few signs for some place called Chalons-en-Champagne but as I was driving on D roads I assumed this just was some village and for a while was totally confused.

 

When it comes to inventing imaginary but credible locations the system of naming French Départements (roughly equivalent to our counties) after geographical features, especially pairs of rivers, provides plenty of scope. Sarthe et Loir say with a small cathedral city as its prefecture where a couple of metre gauge Interet Local railways meet the main line and with any luck you can create a location that you can place precisely on the map- just not exactly the same map as in this universe.

Edited March 23, 2018 by Pacific231G

[Marly51]

Hi All,

Isn’t there some fantasy literature genre layouts on here too? There’s a Hobbition one from the Lord of the Rings stories and I seem to remember one from the Discworld series too based on Ankh Morpork. The novel Raising Steam MUST become a major source of modelling inspiration for someone. If you haven’t read it, it is a fantastic satire on the railway enthusiast condition!

By the way, I can’t understand why Conan-Doyle and Christie are not thought of as literature. Is it a bit of an inverse proportion thing that goes along with popularity perhaps? Or is it that anything that is in the detective genre can’t be classed as literature? Mind you, if the second one is true, where does that leave Dickens and Bleak House? I personally love reading both of them, their quality and influence seem to have stood the test of time thus far and as a result they certainly fit the definition to my mind at least. This is a genuine question and not a dig I assure you so please don’t see it as such.

Mind you, I’ve probably upset the apple cart mentioning fantasy, Tolkien and Pratchett! I always remember the quote from the late, great Mr Pratchett himself in which he said that he was ‘sometimes accused of literature’...

All the best,

Castle

Hobbiton End ...

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/35993-hobbiton-end/page-20

[Castle]

Hi Marly51,

 

That’s the one - well done!

 

All the best,

 

Castle

[Down Home]

Flaxborough, in Colin Watson's "Flaxborough Chronicles", is a thinly disguised Boston. An interesting basis for a layout, on the original Great Northern line (and, indeed, the site of the GNR's loco works before Doncaster) with lines to Grimsby and Sleaford as well as a docks branch. You would need quite a bit of space to do it justice. N gauge perhaps?

At the other end of the scale, John Hadfield's "Love on a Branch Line" features the line from Flaxfield to Arcady, which hints very strongly of the Mid Suffolk Light Railway. Flaxfield (surely the similarity to Laxfield is no coincidence) is the junction with the main line and the branch was, we are told, closed "four years ago"; the book was published in 1959. Lord Flamborough of Arcady Hall has bought the railway and operates a private service with an E4. 

[Dava]

John Masters' Bhowani Junction is a great evocation of Indian colonial main line steam, I think there was a b/w film, certainly inspiration for a layout. Not much call for Jane Austen or other chicklit like Bridget Jones I guess....

 

Dava

[Pacific231G]

John Masters' Bhowani Junction is a great evocation of Indian colonial main line steam, I think there was a b/w film, certainly inspiration for a layout. Not much call for Jane Austen or other chicklit like Bridget Jones I guess....

 

Dava

It was a colour film starring Ava Gardner, Stewart Grainger and Bill Travers released by MGM in 1956 .It was shot at  the now demolished MGM British studios in Borehamwood with location scenes in and around Lahore (Pakistan) and at the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire.  Despite the obvious railway interest the film didn't really grab me though the 1954 novel is well worth reading. I agree it would be a definite inspiration for a layout. It's curious that, despite their mixture of tradtional British operating practice and South Asian exotica, India's Railways have been largely (though with some notable exceptions) ignored by British modellers.   

[runs as required]

What a lovely thread to meander onto, thank you.

 

I have always had a love of railway hotels - particularly ones that didn't quite make it (Tabora, central Tanzania, a Bavarian summer Palace built for the Kaiser who never got to stay there and open it in the autumn of 19i4 is well worth a very difficult train journey).

view of the terrace, on axis with the railway station

 

J.G. Farrell I find an astonishing auther - so much achieved in such a short life.

In 'Troubles' he conjures up an outrageously fantasised hotel somewhere out at the end of a failed branch line in south east Ireland. It is held up by a plant that has run amuck from out of the orangery - everything is of course all doooomed!

 

I should love to see this modelled in 0 gauge and displayed at eye level (to fully savour the plant lifting its glass house clean off the terrace).

I could see the railway arriving perhaps rather like the S&D did at its Zetland Hotel in Saltburn.

 

dh

Edited April 7, 2018 by runs as required

[McRuss]

Hello,

 

I believe there is an 009 layout on the exhibition circuit called Angst - Lesspork, which is inspired by the Disc World books. And not a layout but I build a module, which is called Glenbogle Viaduct. The name is inspired by the BBC Scotland Series Monarch of the Glen.

 

Markus

Edited April 10, 2018 by McRuss

[Tim V]

The late Ray & Cida Earl built a number of Archers inspired layouts, Penny Hassett (EM) is in MRJ 34.

[WardRail]

I used Rivendell and Barrowdowne as the names of my first two layouts and am currently in the throes of detailed planning for my latest Terminus to yard, which will use a name I’ve been intending to use for quite some time “Thor Bridge” anyone ? (Conan Doyle of course !) I’ll have to remember to put a distinctive scar in the bridge, just below the parapet !

 

Best

Matthew

Edited April 10, 2018 by WardRail

[Tim V]

Found a picture, Brookfield at Railex (I think) 2005.

[ianathompson]

For lack of inspiration I also used Rivendell when I began building my own layout (the AFK) around forty years ago.

 

With the help of the only Esperanto dictionary I have ever seen (bought in Lancaster University bookshop, when I went there on a course as a post-grad) it soon became Fenditavalat.

 

I have also nicked other Tolkien and sci-fi names, such as Jakarutu, from the sequels to Dune, but the places bear no relation to the places described in the novels.

 

Ian T

[bridgiesimon]

Hi All,

 

Isn’t there some fantasy literature genre layouts on here too? There’s a Hobbition one from the Lord of the Rings stories and I seem to remember one from the Discworld series too based on Ankh Morpork. The novel Raising Steam MUST become a major source of modelling inspiration for someone. If you haven’t read it, it is a fantastic satire on the railway enthusiast condition!

 

 

Yes there is - My layout Hobbiton End - Based in The Shire of the Hobbits of Middle Earth.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/35993-hobbiton-end/

 

Best wishes

Simon