Wright writes.....

[Leander]

34 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

 

I'm trying to decide who the other chap is. Any clues? 

 

 

It does look at lot like Geoff Taylor.

[richard i]

36 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

 

Seen before, but me painted by Tim Elcock.

 

I'm wearing (as always) glasses here.........................

Do you do requests? Tony through the ages. I would need one of you c1910 so top hat / bowler hat and massive glass plate camera with tripod legs. 

Richard

[Buhar]

I think that might be Hills in the North/Grantham/Red Leader

[Headstock]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

I've never been likened to Boris Karloff before!

 

Good evening Tony,

 

my apologies, I was thinking more of the Count of Model railways. A1, A2, A3, A4 ...............

[Headstock]

42 minutes ago, richard i said:

Do you do requests? Tony through the ages. I would need one of you c1910 so top hat / bowler hat and massive glass plate camera with tripod legs. 

Richard

 

Or perhaps attired in Doublet and Hose, with sketch book.

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, t-b-g said:

The jeans and the "fashion model" pose look like pure Geoff Taylor. As for the other guy.......

Haven't seen him for years, so I might be doing him a grave disservice, but my first thought for the bloke on the left was Bob Dawson - although Buhar's suggestion also works.

 

As for the other one, he reminds me of someone but the amount and colour of the hair don't quite fit...

[Tony Wright]

5 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Haven't seen him for years, so I might be doing him a grave disservice, but my first thought for the bloke on the left was Bob Dawson - although Buhar's suggestion also works.

 

As for the other one, he reminds me of someone but the amount and colour of the hair don't quite fit...

It could well be Bob, John,

 

The moustache? 

 

And, I'm not quite bald; yet!

 

I think Tom wants me and Bob on his layout because we've contributed to it - locos with me and buildings with Bob. Rather a nice touch. Could this set a trend? Models of the owners on their layouts with models of those who've contributed as well. My platforms would be a bit crowded!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[westerner]

Tony, if your layout was set a few years later you could have modelled your house and railway shed, possibly with you and a few friends moving between house and shed. And in the model shed would be a 1to76th model of Little Bytham with your house a nd shed and so on ad infinitum

[Tony Teague]

10 hours ago, Leander said:

 

It does look at lot like Geoff Taylor.

 

I agree, I thought of Geoff as soon as I saw it.

[Chamby]

1 hour ago, westerner said:

Tony, if your layout was set a few years later you could have modelled your house and railway shed, possibly with you and a few friends moving between house and shed. And in the model shed would be a 1to76th model of Little Bytham with your house a nd shed and so on ad infinitum

 

Ad infinitum?  I reckon that first model of the model would be about 6 inches long, so do-able, but the model on that one then works out at about 2cm... so just the one model of the model is feasible, unless Tony can do a barter with Willard Wigan!

[Tony Wright]

10 hours ago, Chamby said:

 

Ad infinitum?  I reckon that first model of the model would be about 6 inches long, so do-able, but the model on that one then works out at about 2cm... so just the one model of the model is feasible, unless Tony can do a barter with Willard Wigan!

An interesting thought, though who is Willard Wigan? 

 

Models of models rarely work, though I have seen a miniature railway represented on a standard gauge system, which seemed to be quite effective.

 

Certainly, 'forced perspective' works very well, where the scales diminish the further away from the observer the scene is. Copenhagen Fields is a brilliant example of this, and the Missenden Modellers' Ealing Road creation for the telly last year used it to great effect. Apart from the 'nonsense' of being accused of cheating, why didn't this layout win? It was entirely believable, unlike the railway in the sky, but maybe (definitely not?) something which looked 'real' wasn't suitable as a winner. 

 

 

Copenhagen Fields; surely one of the greatest layouts ever made? 

 

Another layout where the scale diminishes to great effect in a small area is B. A. Bodil from the Netherlands.

 

 

 

The railcar is in 7mm scale, then it's represented in HO, then in N as the viewer peers up the valley. 

 

Having not long returned from a splendid day as a demonstrator/loco doctor at the Sleaford Show, may I please thank all of those with whom I spoke, and thank particularly those who contributed to CRUK, for which Mo and I made £17.00. I was able to fix a few things, but failed with a model I've never come across before. It was made by a French firm, PMP, and represented a massive Bo-Bo-Bo overhead electric loco, made of really heavy metal. One of the two motors refused to work on the track, but worked under bench test when crocodile clips were applied. The inside was a serpent's nest of various different coloured wires! I left well-alone.

 

Does anyone know of these 1950s'-made models?   

 

 

 

 

[Chamby]

15 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

An interesting thought, though who is Willard Wigan?

 

Willard Wigan is a micro sculptor, who uses a microscope to sculpt.  He is known best for his sculptures placed in the eye of a needle.

 

[Anglian]

Chiltern Green and Chee Tor are two railways in the landscape that spring to mind. Chiltern Green, like Little Bytham, has most of the four track main line on an embankment offering excellent opportunities for viewing and photography. 

Edited June 1, 2019 by Anglian

[Anglian]

On 31/05/2019 at 21:05, Tony Wright said:

 

Seen before, but me painted by Tim Elcock.

 

I'm wearing (as always) glasses here.........................

 

Sorry for my double post.

 

I painted several versions of Tony and have to admit to doing some research (but of course!). A number of pieces on You Tube gave the chance see Tony's 'wardrobe'. I use Vallejo acrylics and tend to mix in Stone Grey to desaturate the hues. Effectively this is adding black, white and a bit of yellow bias to any given colour. Acrylic paints can be over bright in their neat state and often need knocking back to look natural. I experimented with giving the camera lens a tiny spot of gloss varnish but the effect didn't look realistic, so I over painted it.

Edited June 1, 2019 by Anglian

[Tony Wright]

10 hours ago, Anglian said:

Chiltern Green and Chee Tor are two railways in the landscape that spring to mind. Chiltern Green, like Little Bytham, has most of the four track main line on an embankment offering excellent opportunities for viewing and photography. 

I have photographs of Chee Tor, but none, unfortunately, of Chiltern Green. 

 

I think the latter was one of the first in my opinion to 'break the N Gauge mould' regarding layouts consisting of nothing but masses of track, going round ridiculously tight curves and nowhere for the eye to rest. I think I'm right in saying 'N Gauge' because (I believe) weren't either the fast or slow lines laid in that, rather than 2mm FS? I know the Luton Hoo bit was 2mm FS. 

 

Gransmoor Castle, forerunner of the 2mm FS Chee Tor, from the Manchester Club was also a precursor of showing what could be done in N Gauge with regard to realism. There were others, of course, and the work of the late Andy Calvert should also never be forgotten in that regard. 

 

Tim Watson's own layout at the time showed 'the way', and it's significant that his contribution to Chiltern Green and latterly Copenhagen Fields (along with a good team, of course) has raised standards in the 'smaller scale'. 

 

As for 2mm FS, it's my privilege once again to be invited up to Laurie Adams' place today to attend the regular group area meeting. The talk today is about interlocking. I'm sure it'll be fascinating. 

 

Though I'll never model in 2mm FS myself (and certainly never in N Gauge), a huge amount can be learned with regard to 'cross-fertilisation' among the different scale/gauge societies. Like the equivalents EM Gauge Society and Scalefour Society, catering for users of 4mm Scale, the 2mm FS Association is definitely a builders' scale. One cannot just buy something in a shiny, see-through box, plonk it on the track and open the controller, as one can in N Gauge and OO Gauge (and even more so now in O Gauge as well!) and say 'I'm a modeller'. No, it requires personal craftsmanship, skill, dedication and resolve. That's not to say that those qualities cannot be put to good use in OO and N - and they should be if a half-decent model railway is what's wanted - but modelling in the finer gauges is not an easy option. Nor should it be. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[CF MRC]

12 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Models of models rarely work, though I have seen a miniature railway represented on a standard gauge system, which seemed to be quite effective.

 

 

Thanks for the comment re: CF Tony, artistic perspective, rather than just reduced scale has had to be used a lot more at the KX  Top Shed end in recent developments. 

 

We actually have a model of Keen House on the layout. It is tucked in at the back of the park - the ‘fields’.  The fact that it is 40 years out of period, and a mile out of position we quietly overlook.  It is on our ‘to do’ list to make models of all our packing crates and have them being loaded up into a steam Foden furniture removal wagon. 

 

On Chiltern Green the fast lines were laid to 9.42 gauge, although in practice, only the down fast ever ran fine scale locos.  The big difference in the track was that it was hand made using 55thou high nickel silver strip that we had drawn specially for the layout.  At the time, Peco N gauge was 80thou high and even the more recent 55thou track is visually compromised by having a wide ‘top’. 

 

Tim

Edited June 2, 2019 by CF MRC
Adding info on CG track.

[Mallard60022]

On ‎01‎/‎06‎/‎2019 at 07:09, Tony Wright said:

It could well be Bob, John,

 

The moustache? 

 

And, I'm not quite bald; yet!

 

I think Tom wants me and Bob on his layout because we've contributed to it - locos with me and buildings with Bob. Rather a nice touch. Could this set a trend? Models of the owners on their layouts with models of those who've contributed as well. My platforms would be a bit crowded!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Interestingly Tony that is what I was mulling over a few years back when 'certain' really helpful folk either actually fiddled up The Junction, or contributed something. I offered to have 'characters' around the layout, including train crew (were they called that in the late 50s/early 60s?) with appropriate names, possibly adapted a little to suit the era. For example, up The Junction, there may have been a Track Inspector named Wright. So, not quite as clever as having the actual miniature person, unless they have had themselves 'produced' in 3D print in a suitable pose, but fun nevertheless. I'd be having to find out quite a lot of folks' surnames though otherwise it would be Stewart 'Stubby' Welsh (or Cornish depending on his wish) in the Tunnel Gang or as Assistant Station Master.

Phil 'Alf' Ramsay 

[Atso]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

One cannot just buy something in a shiny, see-through box, plonk it on the track and open the controller, as one can in N Gauge and OO Gauge (and even more so now in O Gauge as well!) and say 'I'm a modeller'.

 

Not all of us "N gaugers" plonk RTR straight on the track Tony... 

 

 

[Hollar]

14 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

An interesting thought, though who is Willard Wigan? 

 

Models of models rarely work, though I have seen a miniature railway represented on a standard gauge system, which seemed to be quite effective.

 

Certainly, 'forced perspective' works very well, where the scales diminish the further away from the observer the scene is. Copenhagen Fields is a brilliant example of this, and the Missenden Modellers' Ealing Road creation for the telly last year used it to great effect. Apart from the 'nonsense' of being accused of cheating, why didn't this layout win? It was entirely believable, unlike the railway in the sky, but maybe (definitely not?) something which looked 'real' wasn't suitable as a winner. 

 

 

Copenhagen Fields; surely one of the greatest layouts ever made? 

 

Another layout where the scale diminishes to great effect in a small area is B. A. Bodil from the Netherlands.

 

 

 

The railcar is in 7mm scale, then it's represented in HO, then in N as the viewer peers up the valley. 

 

Having not long returned from a splendid day as a demonstrator/loco doctor at the Sleaford Show, may I please thank all of those with whom I spoke, and thank particularly those who contributed to CRUK, for which Mo and I made £17.00. I was able to fix a few things, but failed with a model I've never come across before. It was made by a French firm, PMP, and represented a massive Bo-Bo-Bo overhead electric loco, made of really heavy metal. One of the two motors refused to work on the track, but worked under bench test when crocodile clips were applied. The inside was a serpent's nest of various different coloured wires! I left well-alone.

 

Does anyone know of these 1950s'-made models?   

 

 

 

 

 

Certainly a layout at pains to emphasise the vertical dimension. 

 

I might have been a bit scornful of the anorexic railcar if I hadn't seen something similar (laid up for "restoration") at a preserved mineral tramway in Tasmania. It was used for taking the workforce down to the quay when there was a ship to load.  With three trains a day at the height of the operating season, it boasts the busiest level crossing on the island.  The permanent way would shake the fillings out of a set of dentures but it was delightfully as-was in everything except the seats in the trucks.

 

I remember the work of J K Nelson, who pioneered the use of perspective in modelling.  His home layout  had HO trains running in the foreground and 2FS on the embankment in the middle distance - entirely convincing.  He was the prefectionist's perfectionist.  He told me that the steelwork on his Runcorn Bridge was cut individually piece by piece to use perspective to fool the eye that it was longer than it actually was.  He may have been being mischevious but given the quality of his other work,probably not.

 

Tone

[Tony Wright]

5 minutes ago, Atso said:

 

Not all of us "N gaugers" plonk RTR straight on the track Tony... 

 

 

Of course not, Steve,

 

And I never implied that's what all N Gauge (or any RTR gauge) modellers do. But, they can. 

 

Indeed, it would be madness in my view not to exploit what is available off-the-shelf ready-made in my opinion. I do it in OO, all the time. I assume your lovely little N2 is sitting on a proprietary chassis? 

 

The point I wished to make, and perhaps didn't express it well enough, is that if one goes down the 2mm FS path, or the EM Gauge or P4 path, or the S7 path, or any other 'scale' gauges, out of necessity one has to be a 'hands-on' modeller. A very skilled one at that. That is unless one gets a body of top modellers to make everything for you (the generic 'you'). That way, all one needs is money! 

 

Of course, that's not to imply that those who model in the 'proprietary' gauges aren't just as much 'hands-on' modellers, nor just as highly-skilled as those who choose to make their trackwork more accurate. It's just that one can 'enjoy' putting together an RTR system without those prerequisites in my view.

 

Anyway, I'm just off to the 2mm FS meeting (while Mo pursues her hobby of gardening). Speaking of fine gauges, at the last meeting, I admired and praised a piece of complex trackwork which someone had made, stating how good '2mm FS looked'. Only to be told it was FS N Gauge! Just the sort of stuff you're doing.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

[Michael Edge]

5 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I have photographs of Chee Tor, but none, unfortunately, of Chiltern Green. 

 

I think the latter was one of the first in my opinion to 'break the N Gauge mould' regarding layouts consisting of nothing but masses of track, going round ridiculously tight curves and nowhere for the eye to rest. I think I'm right in saying 'N Gauge' because (I believe) weren't either the fast or slow lines laid in that, rather than 2mm FS? I know the Luton Hoo bit was 2mm FS. 

 

Gransmoor Castle, forerunner of the 2mm FS Chee Tor, from the Manchester Club was also a precursor of showing what could be done in N Gauge with regard to realism. There were others, of course, and the work of the late Andy Calvert should also never be forgotten in that regard. 

 

Tim Watson's own layout at the time showed 'the way', and it's significant that his contribution to Chiltern Green and latterly Copenhagen Fields (along with a good team, of course) has raised standards in the 'smaller scale'. 

 

As for 2mm FS, it's my privilege once again to be invited up to Laurie Adams' place today to attend the regular group area meeting. The talk today is about interlocking. I'm sure it'll be fascinating. 

 

Though I'll never model in 2mm FS myself (and certainly never in N Gauge), a huge amount can be learned with regard to 'cross-fertilisation' among the different scale/gauge societies. Like the equivalents EM Gauge Society and Scalefour Society, catering for users of 4mm Scale, the 2mm FS Association is definitely a builders' scale. One cannot just buy something in a shiny, see-through box, plonk it on the track and open the controller, as one can in N Gauge and OO Gauge (and even more so now in O Gauge as well!) and say 'I'm a modeller'. No, it requires personal craftsmanship, skill, dedication and resolve. That's not to say that those qualities cannot be put to good use in OO and N - and they should be if a half-decent model railway is what's wanted - but modelling in the finer gauges is not an easy option. Nor should it be. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Chee Tor was a very impressive layout, the first one I remember which really exploited the vertical dimension. It's only real fault was the extremely unlikely single track tunnel - this was supposed to be the Midland Railway which didn't go in for such things, in fact it had the most multi-track (more than 2) route mileage of any railway in the world.

[Northmoor]

3 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

Chee Tor was a very impressive layout, the first one I remember which really exploited the vertical dimension. It's only real fault was the extremely unlikely single track tunnel - this was supposed to be the Midland Railway which didn't go in for such things, in fact it had the most multi-track (more than 2) route mileage of any railway in the world.

I'd never thought of that about the single-track tunnel but you're probably right.  Regardless, Chee Tor was the first layout I ever saw exhibited which just "blew me away".  I kept going to see other layouts at that exhibition but went back to Chee Tor about three times.  As you say, exploiting height as much as length - it's not especially large, from memory - which gives such a great sense of a railway in a landscape.

Having seen Copenhagen Fields in the flesh a few years ago, the same desire to keep returning would have applied had I not been time-constrained at the exhibition.  Wibdenshaw probably falls into the same category; another really exceptional piece of work.

[Anglian]

I agree about Chee Tor – I always thought the decision to have the single track was a shame as it detracted from the 'mainline through the Peaks theme' on which the layout was based. I know the builders said they wanted a reason to stop trains at the front of the layout but I never understood why they didn't put in a lie-by and have slower trains set back. This would have enabled more activity (with both up and down mainlines) and been more prototypical considering the line they were modelling.

[Tom F]

On 31/05/2019 at 18:19, 9793 said:

Anyone recognise these two trouble makers? 

 

4mm Modelu, superb painting by Claudia Everett.

 

Just to clarify, the other gentleman is indeed Geoff Taylor.

[Atso]

9 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Of course not, Steve,

 

And I never implied that's what all N Gauge (or any RTR gauge) modellers do. But, they can. 

 

Indeed, it would be madness in my view not to exploit what is available off-the-shelf ready-made in my opinion. I do it in OO, all the time. I assume your lovely little N2 is sitting on a proprietary chassis? 

 

The point I wished to make, and perhaps didn't express it well enough, is that if one goes down the 2mm FS path, or the EM Gauge or P4 path, or the S7 path, or any other 'scale' gauges, out of necessity one has to be a 'hands-on' modeller. A very skilled one at that. That is unless one gets a body of top modellers to make everything for you (the generic 'you'). That way, all one needs is money! 

 

Of course, that's not to imply that those who model in the 'proprietary' gauges aren't just as much 'hands-on' modellers, nor just as highly-skilled as those who choose to make their trackwork more accurate. It's just that one can 'enjoy' putting together an RTR system without those prerequisites in my view.

 

Anyway, I'm just off to the 2mm FS meeting (while Mo pursues her hobby of gardening). Speaking of fine gauges, at the last meeting, I admired and praised a piece of complex trackwork which someone had made, stating how good '2mm FS looked'. Only to be told it was FS N Gauge! Just the sort of stuff you're doing.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

 

Sorry Tony, my comment was make with tongue firmly in cheek...

The N2 is sitting on a proprietary chassis, a slightly modified Farish 4F. While the wheelbase is wrong, the front and rear driving wheels are more or less in the right place.