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Diesels come to Pendon! Form an orderly queue!


Andy Y
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That is an astonishingly insulting post from somebody who should know better. Some people manage to have two interests, maybe even more. A bit of time at the keyboard makes a nice change from being at the workbench. If you don't see how many highly skilled modellers contribute to RMWeb, then you are not looking at it properly.

 

 

I have to say I've been surprised at how 2 completely different meanings can be inferred from a simple post.

 

I didn't read an insult in Phils post,  just a comment on the use of current media to criticise but not contribute. 

 

 

It's getting to be handbags at dawn. 

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From my experience of the people running things at Pendon, offers of assistance are welcomed with open arms. OK, there is a bit of a test to pass if you want to make models for the Vale scene (you make an outside toilet as I recall) but that's not unreasonable.

And if you want to build a loco you start with

7916%20Wantage%20Road.jpg

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I don’t know, but I get the impression that the majority of the models at Pendon were built by a relatively small group of people, especially with regards to the trains. Thus the loss of one person who is willing to put their modelling time to Pendon rather than their own projects is greatly felt. I don’t think there is a lack of people skilled enough, just a lack of people skilled enough who aren’t either doing their own thing or have gone professional.

There is an LMS Kitchen Car (mostly Comet Models Kit) somewhere on Pendon, mostly built by me on request but (hopefully) completed by the C & W Department (Masokits gangways etc.) I'd like to think I am an ordinary bloke that has now achieved a certain amount of pride having provided something to one of the iconic model railways in this country.

Stop ars##g about and just support the place so that it continues to provide entertainment to the limited number of visitors  that it receives.

Phil 

Edited by Mallard60022
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No, the howls I would expect would be from those too busy/important to actually sully themselves in helping out because they need to be in the interweb all day. 

 

Of course, it might be less of a problem than I imagine. You don't develop those skills at a computer, you learn them doing stuff on the workbench, so you probably aren't listening...

Oh definitely too much time in front of the computer and not enough on the workbench. And that's just me :rtfm:

It's just so much easier (as is tidying the studio and reading Chris Pilton's book on modelling cottages for Pendon) but right now I really am waiting for the paint to dry on the cement render of my latest "masterpiece" (a canalside building which I won't be offering to Pendon !!) 

Edited by Pacific231G
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I have to say I've been surprised at how 2 completely different meanings can be inferred from a simple post.

 

I didn't read an insult in Phils post,  just a comment on the use of current media to criticise but not contribute. 

 

 

It's getting to be handbags at dawn. 

 

I hope not. I have no wish to fall out with anybody. It is sometimes hard to read the "tone" of a post and I may have misjudged the intention completely. I just don't see the split of people as suggested. The idea that model makers are so busy perfecting their skills that they don't have time to spend on the internet, or that people who use the internet don't leave themselves time to learn how to build models is not something I recognise, especially when so much good model making is posted on RMWeb. There is also a lot of hot air and nonsense on here too, so perhaps the point was well made!

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Well, it's worked for me because I'm off to visit Pendon today. Years since my last visit (even though it's only an hour or so away) and this thread has made me decide I really must go back.

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So does there need to be a similar challenge before you're allowed to build a loco?

I'd suggest if you can build one of these you can manage anything Swindon turned out.

 

 

In all seriousness there is a danger in putting the existing stock and those who created on such a pedestal that others are intimidated and don't think they could contribute, even though they may well be skilled enough. I certainly haven't those skills, but I've seen some who quite possibly do, but who have been very modest in their appraisal of their own work and probably wouldn't put themselves anywhere near the level they actually work at.

 

 

I think you will find that a good portion of the recent locos built for Pendon have their origins in the Finney and Mitchell ranges. Others are "kitbashed" using parts of these. Guy Williams made the point in his loco books by WSP that there was no real point in scratchbuiding the common locos needed in multiples when such good kits were available. Granted, they are very good builds of models but they are kits in many cases. Maintaining them should not be much of an issue really.

 

Craig W

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Well, it's worked for me because I'm off to visit Pendon today. Years since my last visit (even though it's only an hour or so away) and this thread has made me decide I really must go back.

 

But you're too early for the diesels.

 

G

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This subject takes me back to my youth at my local model club. (late 1970's) I was sixteen and hoped to run my blue livery Diesels on the, steam era, club layout at the exhibition.

I was only allowed to run them during the final hour (so called silly hour) then the next year, I was allowed free reign in the goods yard for the whole weekend.

The year after, more young members had joined the club and blue Diesels were running next along with the steam loco's on a 50/50 mix as it was a club layout and it had to appeal to everyone who was a member !

I expect that in years to come, there will be some sort of "Modern image" themed layout at Pendon in the same way that my local club had to evolve thirty odd years ago.

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This subject takes me back to my youth at my local model club. (late 1970's) I was sixteen and hoped to run my blue livery Diesels on the, steam era, club layout at the exhibition.

I was only allowed to run them during the final hour (so called silly hour) then the next year, I was allowed free reign in the goods yard for the whole weekend.

The year after, more young members had joined the club and blue Diesels were running next along with the steam loco's on a 50/50 mix as it was a club layout and it had to appeal to everyone who was a member !

I expect that in years to come, there will be some sort of "Modern image" themed layout at Pendon in the same way that my local club had to evolve thirty odd years ago.

 

Somehow I doubt that. Pendon is more a "time capsule" firmly set in the 1930s. Trains just happen to run through "The Vale".

 

I agree with your final sentence though.

Of course, they (whoever "they" will be) might in the future build a scene to depict more modern times.

 

I might be wrong, but when Pendon started, they were only modelling a period some 20 years earlier. So a future addition might skip the hydraulic-eraaltogether and focus on what we term the present scene.

Edited by Peter Kazmierczak
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My advice to anybody who has never been there is this - just go and visit Pendon. I think it can be summed up with one word - remarkable. Is it a bit hyped and a bit of a modelling magazine cliché? Yes, but it also happens to fully merit the attention it receives and the hype.

 

Today was the first time I'd visited for a long time and it made me wonder why, to call the Vale scene a model railway layout really misses the point. The Vale scene is an effort to preserve a particular part of England at a particular moment in time in miniature, it is not a model railway layout per se but a three dimensional historic image of rural England in 1/76 scale. If you understand that then you understand why there is no anti-diesel bias at Pendon, no more than the fact they don't have a model of the Ark Royal on the layout demonstrates a bias against the RN and model ships.

 

The Vale scene is the corner stone of Pendon, but the Dartmoor and sea wall scenes are stunning in their own right and the Madder Valley railway is a wonderful piece which just oozes charm and a layout people should make the effort to see. With respect to the Vale scene (and even the Dartmoor scene to a lesser extent) the trains are almost incidental, in fact I hardly noticed the trains on the Vale scene as I was too engrossed in the rural snap shot. The standard of modelling and attention to detail really is as good as is claimed, it would be equally worth visiting if there were no running trains in my opinion.

 

A mention about the staff, I think there is an assumption in some quarters that it is all dreadfully serious and the people there are a bit stuffy. Nonsense. The chaps on duty today were terrific, thoroughly engaging and clearly passionate and willing to talk to visitors in a way which wasn't patronising at all. I really enjoyed chatting to them and their pointing out all sorts of subtle details I'd have missed, it was a real pleasure.

 

If you love models then you won't spend a better £7.50.

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The easiest way to access Pendon by public transport is to do what I did regularly half-a-century ago. Take a local train to Appleford (Appleford Halt then!), walk east through Appleford village and then by field paths to Long Wittenham which come out on to the street within a very short distance of the Museum. A very pleasant 20-25 minutes walk - I even did it on occasion in deep snow, and I regularly returned to Appleford in winter that way after dark with the aid of a torch.

 

The other alternative - which I took on my first visit - was to walk from Didcot station.  It is now possible to take a slightly shorter route asa. result of the housing development north of the GWML but the roads are far busier than they were over 50 years back and I would now be very hesitant to recommend that alternative. 

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The OS map shows a traffic-free cycle route (green circles) from Didcot to Pendon as well as the footpath from Appleford. Screenshot from Bing maps here:

post-6971-0-79633100-1535221162.jpg

 

Maybe 4km from the station (the blue grid is at 1km intervals). I can't vouch for the quality of the route or surface, but the red square with the 5 indicates it's part of the National Cycle Network.

Edited by eastwestdivide
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I saw a diesel engine once, I have no wish to see another.

 

Ditto for me, but substitute for the word diesel:

 

1) any GWR (all look the same to me)

2) any of today's "plastic" especially in kindergarten colours

 

(ok I've got my coat)

 

Stewart

Edited by stewartingram
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The OS map shows a traffic-free cycle route (green circles) from Didcot to Pendon as well as the footpath from Appleford. Screenshot from Bing maps here:

attachicon.gifPendon map.jpg

 

Maybe 4km from the station (the blue grid is at 1km intervals). I can't vouch for the quality of the route or surface, but the red square with the 5 indicates it's part of the National Cycle Network.

 

In the 1970s I used to cycle from Oxford to Didcot, in part along the A34 Abingdon bypass - Don't think I would risk that now ! Thanks for all the public transport suggestions but from where my Mum lives in Oxford. going by car is by far the quickest and most flexible means.

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My advice to anybody who has never been there is this - just go and visit Pendon. I think it can be summed up with one word - remarkable. Is it a bit hyped and a bit of a modelling magazine cliché? Yes, but it also happens to fully merit the attention it receives and the hype.

 

Today was the first time I'd visited for a long time and it made me wonder why, to call the Vale scene a model railway layout really misses the point. The Vale scene is an effort to preserve a particular part of England at a particular moment in time in miniature, it is not a model railway layout per se but a three dimensional historic image of rural England in 1/76 scale. If you understand that then you understand why there is no anti-diesel bias at Pendon, no more than the fact they don't have a model of the Ark Royal on the layout demonstrates a bias against the RN and model ships.

 

The Vale scene is the corner stone of Pendon, but the Dartmoor and sea wall scenes are stunning in their own right and the Madder Valley railway is a wonderful piece which just oozes charm and a layout people should make the effort to see. With respect to the Vale scene (and even the Dartmoor scene to a lesser extent) the trains are almost incidental, in fact I hardly noticed the trains on the Vale scene as I was too engrossed in the rural snap shot. The standard of modelling and attention to detail really is as good as is claimed, it would be equally worth visiting if there were no running trains in my opinion.

 

A mention about the staff, I think there is an assumption in some quarters that it is all dreadfully serious and the people there are a bit stuffy. Nonsense. The chaps on duty today were terrific, thoroughly engaging and clearly passionate and willing to talk to visitors in a way which wasn't patronising at all. I really enjoyed chatting to them and their pointing out all sorts of subtle details I'd have missed, it was a real pleasure.

 

If you love models then you won't spend a better £7.50.

 

Well said!

 

The whole story as to why Pendon was started was all about the disappearing local scene of the 1930s and a plan to record and recreate some of it before it vanished for ever. It wasn't to show life in the 1960s, which were still in the future when the modelling was started. The trains are almost an incidental, something to add a little movement to an otherwise static scene. The fact that the locos and stock were and are modelled to the same high standard of hand building that the scenic work is done, with much of it done by one of the true "big names" of the hobby lifts the railway side of it to another level.

 

But if the railway was entirely static and non working, at least on the Vale scene, it would hardly spoil my enjoyment of the modelling on show.

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