Wright writes.....

[The Stationmaster]

 

Maybe the clubs of the future, if they are to survive and grow, should look toward providing new-technology equipment access more than spending funds producing another formulaic layout to populate the exhibition circuit?

Possibly someone from the Risborough club could comment on that Andy - not only are they doing that sort of thing but they are demonstrating the potential at both of their exhibitions and thus showing it to people viewing/involved in the hobby at two possibly different levels (the Risborough exhibition being one which always seems to attract families while Railex appeals to a rather different market).

 

Indeed that in itself tells another story - with an open day (as do Wycombe of course) and exhibitions which in effect take in two different 'market areas' of visitors the Risborough club do present the hobby across a wide spectrum and Wycombe do the same albeit in a slightly different way with only the one (very good) exhibition.  Maybe the approach of these two clubs are a good example to the hobby of the way it can be done and a strong hint for the future?

 

BTW It may be that other clubs have a similar approach but these two happen to be fairly local so I get to see what they are doing through visiting their shows. 

[Tony Wright]

Many thanks to Mod 4 for carrying out my request to remove duplicated images. Apologies for my not knowing how it happened in the first place.

Edited October 25, 2014 by Tony Wright

[mullie]

Didn't mind looking at the photos twice or reading the text. Inspirational stuff.

[gr.king]

Whilst I'd say it is of very little importance anyway, presumably that corner gap in the sky would be camouflaged more effectively were the angular joint to be covered by a paper overlay curved to the largest possible radius.

[richard i]

There are the other issues for getting kids to join model railway clubs, which are, the time that most meet is late for any other than older teens to be allowed to consider on a week night, you also need supportive parents, most, like mine, will see it as a fad and hope you will grow out of it. I was given such little encouragement that i was never given a train set even though it was top of my christmas list for years. Also parents might be reticent to drop off their kid with a bunch of men who ware strangers to them, the only alternative is Dad staying and if he is not interested then he is not going to want to do that. So this means many have to wait until they have the freedom and ability to get themselves around before joining a club, hence the 25yr old bottom line in a lot of clubs. Chelmsford club have put on an afterschool activity at Moulsham School which Clive refers to and that is well attended. Incidentally one of the builders is my nephew so his father understod, if you like trains, you will like trains and you are unlikely to grow out of it. Luke will be pleased/ flatered to know that the layout was the equal of others there. I am by necessity a go it alone modeller now but certainly would not be able to do half of what i have without the help and advice from my two clubs, Wolverhampton and Witham.

[mullie]

Another issue for clubs is the requirement for anyone who comes into contact with young people to be CRB/ DBS checked and every individual involved has to be checked and It has to be paid for although in certain cases the fees can be waived for volunteers.This could be a considerable sum for a club and is renewed approx every three years. I have heard that some clubs ask that parents stay to avoid the need for such checks.

 

It is likely that the Moulsham club will either have school staff in it or the club members have been checked. Someone who hasn't had the checks cannot work unsupervised with children as I understand it.

 

I don't know how successful clubs deal with this Issue?

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Is this day and age, child safeguarding is taken seriously, and rightly so. Remember it also applies to working with vulnerable adults, not just children.

 

Children (despite what the media sometimes portrays) are very innocent. I was in a Reception class in a school last week and one of the children came up to me (a complete stranger) and gave me a big hug. As a former primary school teacher I knew how to handle things, but if, in a model railway club situation, things happen out of the blue with club members who are not used to working/being with children and young adults, then there is a possible potential for difficulties.

 

I'd have been wary if my son (when he was younger) had said that he'd like to spend an evening or two each week at the model railway club with grown men who play at trains.

 

I think the only reasonable answer is for the parents to attend and get involved with the club too. But if they have absolutely no interest in model railways, then I'm not sure what the way forward is.

[peach james]

If you have absolutely no interest in what your children are doing, then the least you can do is fake it !

 

How many hockey/football/basketball moms are there out there? 

 

Unfortunately, this appears to be a cultural thing too- "oh, your son's in football?  On the C team?  He'll get better- you'd better buy him these special cleats, and this course, and, and, and..." but how many children who are interested in, say, woodworking, have someone advocating the same way for them?  (over here, you can substitute hockey for football in 90% of the cases, but still...)  The same thing goes for model railways, or any "creative" hobby.  Heck, even cooking has more advocates for it than constructive hobbies.

 

Now, I have to admit, I am a member of a club which we do strictly put a 18+ cap on, in that as a member of a Adult Lego club, that's what we are...Adult Fans of Lego.  The simple explanation of that one is that kids have no need to be encouraged to play with Lego !

 

James

 

(NB- to avoid cluttering Tony's thread...this is 18+ lego...

 

Untitled by Peach James, on Flickr

 

That's the bridge set up for the 2014 train show.  16' long lego bridge) (edited)

Edited October 26, 2014 by peach james

[richard i]

18+ lego now that is something i have not seen, is that because it is sold in plain pagaging on the top shelf due to the nature of its content?

Richard

[DougN]

James and every one else one of the resurgent things that is helping people com into the hobby here in Melbourne the AFOL's club (lego club) has a layout that changes and grows every time it comes to a exhibition and when it is not there, I can almost see that there is a reduction in the number of people comming through the doors. So I think this is one way for the hobby to encourage people to see what it is all about. And BTW I am one of the younger ! Members at 40 who still model British though there are a number below me for a long time (10years) I would say we're I was the youngest in the local group. As an aside I have been a BRMA member since I was 17... Which scares some of the other members!

[St Enodoc]

James and every one else one of the resurgent things that is helping people com into the hobby here in Melbourne the AFOL's club (lego club) has a layout that changes and grows every time it comes to a exhibition and when it is not there, I can almost see that there is a reduction in the number of people comming through the doors. So I think this is one way for the hobby to encourage people to see what it is all about. And BTW I am one of the younger ! Members at 40 who still model British though there are a number below me for a long time (10years) I would say we're I was the youngest in the local group. As an aside I have been a BRMA member since I was 17... Which scares some of the other members!

For the avoidance of doubt, BRMA = British Railway Modellers of Australia - see www.brma.asn.au

[Tony Wright]

Another splendid day's operating has just finished at Little Bytham, in the company of good friends Tom Foster and Simon Roberts. In the afternoon, as I fiddled with a loco and processed pictures, I just left them to it. Running, I'm told, was very good. I think this pleases me most of all recently, where I can just abandon mates and they can run the railway by themselves to the sequence (which is still to be fine-tuned) or just run what they like.

 

 

Tom brought the latest example of weathering he's done for me, in the form of this Hornby B1. I think this is work of the highest quality, so natural; made all the better because it cost me not a jot of cash, just my time in assisting him with his loco building. I renumbered it, changed the horrid bogie wheels, substituting Markits ones, and also took off the unconvincing chimney. Again, a Markits product was the replacement item.

 

I've mentioned the dearth of new blood in the hobby, but with guys like him around (in their late-20s) producing work of this quality then there is surely room for optimism. He wants to learn more and become entirely self-sufficient in time in his modelling - making track, buildings, locos, stock, etc. It's surely beholden on the likes of me to help and encourage younger talent. I hope I don't let him, and the several others I'm assisting, down. 

 

 

 

 

Little Bytham Station now has running-in boards. Ian Wilson has made these, producing the Gill Sans lettering on his computer and making the boards from plastic bits and nickel silver wire. Another loco to be built for him beckons....................... 

 

I really am privileged to have such a 'team' of high-class modellers with me. We all work together helping each other, trading various skills amongst ourselves. The fact that nothing in the current workings together is besmirched by money changing hands is a great bonus. The team is made up of practical modellers, and it's a very lucky situation when that all comes together. That in many cases we can work on others' layouts too, just adds to the happy situation. 

 

Thank you my practical friends.

 

Edited to state that the loco does have a lamp - over its left-hand buffer, for a pick-up goods. It's just got lost in the white background with my Photoshopping!

Edited October 26, 2014 by Tony Wright

[davidw]

Hi Tony,

 

Any idea when the next Little Bytham DVD will be released?

 

Thanks,

 

PS The PDK A2/1 is going together really well.

[Tony Wright]

Hi Tony,

 

Any idea when the next Little Bytham DVD will be released?

 

Thanks,

 

PS The PDK A2/1 is going together really well.

David,

 

The provisional plan is to do the filming early next year, for release in the spring as part of the DVD for the April/May issue of BRM. 

 

I'd like to get a bit more done, though, as I hope you can see, progress has been rapid in the last few weeks. This, as mentioned, is principally due to the considerable input of others. It would be nice to have the final signal installed, and all of them operational by early next year. Graham Nicholas (bless him), of Grantham fame, has almost finished it (a wonderful job) so it's just a matter of time. 

 

Rob Davey is to come up next month and install the 'miles' of post and wire fencing on the west side. I hope he'll have an antidote to the inevitable twitching he'll develop!

 

My forthcoming jobs? 'Miles' of point rodding to make-up and fit - I'm already twitching! - and complete the M&GNR bit by making the tablet-catching sets of apparatus and adding the fencing. Does anyone have a drawing/photograph of the Whittaker gadget, please? The other one (for none Whittaker-fitted locos) I think I can just scratch-build from the pictures. The bridge will have to wait a bit on that section. I've also got the B12/3 to finish, along with the (just-started) P2 and the looked-at 9F. There's also the D&S M&GNR Buffet Car to build, a Southern Pride Mk.1 TSO and a Parkside horse box. 

 

I'll also be helping a mate build a chassis for a 43XX today and tomorrow. The winter's programme of building is well mapped out. 

Speaking of building, I've had a closer look at that Hornby B1. Even if I'd done my very best with a decent kit, I'd not have been able to get anywhere near that excellence; even if Ian Rathbone had painted it. So, what for the future of kit-building? I've lost count of the number of Comet frames I've put beneath Palitoy/Replica/Bachmann B1 bodies now. With Bachmann's latest chassis, that's not necessary any more, and Hornby's B1 overall is in a different league. The 'crumb' of comfort? Only that I've had my B1s (in various guises) for years already (the Jamieson one for over 40!), and I did make them myself. But, that's all. 

 

I'm glad the A2/1 is going together well. Please bring it over when you've finished it.

[The Stationmaster]

Whitaker apparatus - Google is your friend -

 

 

http://www.sdrt.org.uk/resources/whitaker/

 

http://www.sdjr.net/sd_signalling.html     (part way down the page)

 

 

I believe there is also some Whitaker equipment in the National Collection including ground stuff but it is most likely stashed away at York.

[BMacdermott]

Hello Tony and Mike

 

I may be wrong but I have a feeling that the M&GN apparatus was slightly different to that of the S&D. Mike Arlett is trying to find out for me, so I'll write back soon. In 4mm, any differences might be too small to worry about, but it's worth me checking - even for my own education.

 

Regards

 

Brian

[The Stationmaster]

Hello Tony and Mike

 

I may be wrong but I have a feeling that the M&GN apparatus was slightly different to that of the S&D. Mike Arlett is trying to find out for me, so I'll write back soon. In 4mm, any differences might be too small to worry about, but it's worth me checking - even for my own education.

 

Regards

 

Brian

The loco apparatus definitely differed in the way it was attached (or rather originally attached on the S&DJtR), don't know about the lineside kit.

[BMacdermott]

Hello Mike and Tony

 

It seems that there are drawings etc in Bob Essery's 'The M&GN Jt Railway and its Locomotives'. 

 

Brian

[Tony Wright]

Hello Mike and Tony

 

It seems that there are drawings etc in Bob Essery's 'The M&GN Jt Railway and its Locomotives'. 

 

Brian

Many thanks Brian and Mike.

 

As usual, I didn't look at my own sources first. I have the book - what a chump!

 

I think I'll just fudge together something from bits of brass, paint it black and hope nobody looks too closely. It sits hard against the corner of the signal box and can only have been used by Down trains to surrender the token - either that or the signalman leaned out from his extended verandah - because they'll now join the double track section to Bourne. Up trains always seem to collect the token from the signalman (or his assistant) with him standing in the six foot. Can I replicate that? Highly unlikely. 

[coachmann]

I think I'll just fudge together something from bits of brass, paint it black and hope nobody looks too closely. 

A man after my own heart.......

[landscapes]

Hi Tony,

 

Any idea when the next Little Bytham DVD will be released?

 

Thanks,

 

PS The PDK A2/1 is going together really well.

Hi David

 

Any chance of seeing some photos of your PDK A2/1 either under construction of the finished article when completed.

 

Also I second David's comments, it would be great to see and updated Little Bytham DVD some time in the future.

 

Regards

 

David

Edited October 27, 2014 by landscapes

[geoff west]

Oh dear, I do hope not.  With the correct chassis and brakes they make a nice model.

 

Could you tell me where you got the tractors from?

 

Regards Geoff

[ianwales]

David,

 

The provisional plan is to do the filming early next year, for release in the spring as part of the DVD for the April/May issue of BRM. 

 

t.

Any chance it can be a stand alone layout DVD rather than mixed up with a lot of other stuff

[jwealleans]

Hallo Geoff,

With Tony's forbearance, I can. They are Oxford Diecast. My children gave me two for Christmas a few years ago and mounted on the low wagons they go down very well at exhibitions, so I've made six now. I replace the steering wheel, repaint the seat and add an exhaust then they're given a dark grey wash to highlight the mouldings. Matt or Satin varnish tones them down a little and Robert's your avuncular.

HTH.

Edited October 28, 2014 by jwealleans

[PGC]

Hallo Geoff,

 

Wiht Tony's forbearance, I can. They are Oxford Diecast. My children gave me two for Christmas a few years ago and mounted on the low wagons they go down very well at exhibitions, so I've made six now. I replace the steering wheel, repaint the seat and add an exhaust then they're given a dark grey wash to highlight the mouldings. Matt or Satin varnish tones them down a little and Robert's your avuncular.

 

HTH.

 

And I hope Tony doesn't mind if I ask how you created the ropes to tie them down, please.

 

Thanks

 

Phil