Inversnecky & Drambuie

[Long Line]

Brilliant, that made that weekend on the ale in York, all the more worth it!

 

Mark

[nick_bastable]

Spent a few days in the North including a day at the NRM

 

 

The quality of the modelling for the time speaks for itself

 

[Donw]

Real pioneer stuff.

Don

[BobRowlands]

I&D appeared at the Model Railway Exhibition in 1951. A picture of it is in Model Railway News May 1951. The layout was advertised as

Treble-O and was exhibited as a working layout in the basement of Central Hall.

[Donw]

Well at that time there was no N gauge no 2mmSA Treble-O was the nearest thing.

Don

[bécasse]

In the early 1960s I was a schoolboy at Dulwich College and, incidentally, already a junior member (=exhibition slave) of the Model Railway Club.

 

The Norwood MRC held its annual exhibition at St Lukes Church Hall in Norwood which was an easy stroll across from the College after Saturday morning school, furthermore, I had discovered that the senior chemistry lab technician at the College was, in fact, the Norwood MRC chairman (although, sadly, he was soon to be taken from us by a sudden heart attack).

 

In 1962 (I think, 1963 is also possible), I was delighted to find the Inversnecky and Drambuie layout on display, albeit non-working, complete with its musical cases and a few items of rolling stock. I was familiar with the existence of the layout through its presence in Beal's Modelling the Old Time Railways and it was an inspirational delight to see it in the flesh. I have absolutely no idea how it came to be exhibited there or, indeed, by whom, but there it certainly was. I have no memory of a fiddle yard with turntable, so it may well have not been present with the layout.

 

That particular show was memorable in one other respect. There was a prominent Model Railway Club member, name but not face long forgotten, who collected (and ran) expensive but impressive American HO brass models - BigBoys and the like. He was a member at Norwood and, of course, present and he introduced me to an American gentleman "on a flying visit from the States where he has just taken over as editor of Model Railroader" - Linn Westcott.

[Donw]

In the early 1960s I was a schoolboy at Dulwich College and, incidentally, already a junior member (=exhibition slave) of the Model Railway Club.

 

The Norwood MRC held its annual exhibition at St Lukes Church Hall in Norwood which was an easy stroll across from the College after Saturday morning school, furthermore, I had discovered that the senior chemistry lab technician at the College was, in fact, the Norwood MRC chairman (although, sadly, he was soon to be taken from us by a sudden heart attack).

 

In 1962 (I think, 1963 is also possible), I was delighted to find the Inversnecky and Drambuie layout on display, albeit non-working, complete with its musical cases and a few items of rolling stock. I was familiar with the existence of the layout through its presence in Beal's Modelling the Old Time Railways and it was an inspirational delight to see it in the flesh. I have absolutely no idea how it came to be exhibited there or, indeed, by whom, but there it certainly was. I have no memory of a fiddle yard with turntable, so it may well have not been present with the layout.

 

That particular show was memorable in one other respect. There was a prominent Model Railway Club member, name but not face long forgotten, who collected (and ran) expensive but impressive American HO brass models - BigBoys and the like. He was a member at Norwood and, of course, present and he introduced me to an American gentleman "on a flying visit from the States where he has just taken over as editor of Model Railroader" - Linn Westcott.

I believe it may have been on the 2mm stand.

Don

[Pacific231G]

Well at that time there was no N gauge no 2mmSA Treble-O was the nearest thing.

Don

There had though been some modelling in 2mm scale in the 1930s. A.R.Walkley, who pioneered 3.5mm/ft scale with his "portable goods yard", exhibited a small layout in the scale at the Wimbledon club andI've jsut noticed an article by Edward Beal in MRN in 1934 in which he describes a 2mm scale MPD layout on 3/8 inch gauge track  he'd built for a friend. He wasn' though sure what to call the scale and suggested H00. I've not though seen any 2mm scale layouts as complete as I&D before it.  

Ron Bryant's own description of his layout from a book on Minimum Space Model Railways that he wrote but never publsihed is reproduced on the 2mm society website here and if it's typical of his writing it's a shame he never did publish the book  http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/inversnecky/index.htm In it he does mention being influenced by the Beal article.

[BobRowlands]

I saw I&D at NRM a couple of years ago. It has always been an inspirational layout to me. I decided to do some research on RWG Bryant and in the MRN April 1951 I found an article on Burghead that he wrote   and decided to model it. I found plans in the July 1953 edition, of the buildings. The layout is now finished and is on the exhibition circuit. I decided to do it in paper and card using methods of Edward Beal, as Madder Valley was another layout that I had admired from my early days of modelling. I have used plywood for the base boards The scenery and buildings are all made from paper and card, but designed on a computer. The scale is N Gauge. 

[Pacific231G]

I saw I&D at NRM a couple of years ago. It has always been an inspirational layout to me. I decided to do some research on RWG Bryant and in the MRN April 1951 I found an article on Burghead that he wrote   and decided to model it. I found plans in the July 1953 edition, of the buildings. The layout is now finished and is on the exhibition circuit. I decided to do it in paper and card using methods of Edward Beal, as Madder Valley was another layout that I had admired from my early days of modelling. I have used plywood for the base boards The scenery and buildings are all made from paper and card, but designed on a computer. The scale is N Gauge. 

Do you mean John Ahern? It was he who built the Madder Valley Railway, which is happily still with us at Pendon.

I still find both his and Edward Beal's books and articles interesting and often inspiring but they represent very different but perhaps equally valid approaches. John Ahern very much developed the artistic  idea of the railway meandering through a landscape though the MVR is quite an interesting layout to operate.; Madderport in particular is still a good plan but it's also a place you feel you'd love to visit. Beal developed the idea of the complete railway in miniature focussing mainly though not quite exclusively on the railway side of the fence with a focus on the full range of main line operation. His West Midland Railway seemed far more rooted in a knowledge of prototype practice and track layout than most other layouts before the war.  He never did say though whether he had regular operating sessions on the West Midland Railway.  

[tebee]

I found this note on the Internet about R Bryant (dated December 2003)

 

On 3th December, R.W.G. (Ron) Bryant, builder of the famed Inversnecky &

Drambuie 2mm scale layout, died peacefully in a residential care home in

Ottawa.

 

He was an active modeller until quite recently, when health circumstances

forced a more intensive care regime.

 

Further searching onthe Internet suggests he changed to 3mm scale in the mid to late 1950s. I have a very faint recollection of seeing an article in Model Railways of a 3mm scale freelance Scottish layout built in Canada - maybe the North Caledonian Railway or something similar. I now wonder if it was RWG Bryant's?

Well I know I'm digging this thread up from the dead, but I just found it in a Google search.

 

Both his layouts have been firm favourites of mine for many years - I have a scan of the TT North Caledonian articles in my online archive here   http://tbmod.com/rm/Closely%20watched%20trains%20Freelance%20TT.pdf

[alastairq]

I have to say [especially as a one-time 3mm [TT] modeller].....I do like the 0-6-0ST..the Triang Jinty with the pug saddle tank. It really looks the part! perhaps it ought to be mentioned in the Jinty-bashing thread?