Older Inspirational Layouts

[south_tyne]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

 

 

I remember reading somewhere that, in model railway terms, we wish that we had been born ten to fifteen years earlier than we actually were. These, and my own, thoughts seem to bear this out.

 

I think that there is definitely a great deal of truth in that. Maybe it is a longing for something that is unobtainable or simply not tarnished by reality. I find the late 1960s and very early 1970s to be the most fascinating time in railway history. Lots of traditional steam-age infrastructure and rolling stock still evident but in the hands of first generation diesels and all in the lovely corporate blue and double-arrow. The jarring between some ultra-modern intercity services and the rest of the network is fascinating to me personally. I must admite, I love a bit of the seedy and run-down and pour of photographs in books of this period.

 

I am most definitely strange however! I know this is a period when many lost interest in railways and left them behind for a while. My dad, who looked through this period as a teenager cannot understand my fascination with it. He on the otherhand harks back with nostalgia for the railways of 1950s, a time he can hardly remember. I suppose it shows we're all different but maybe that we also long for the unobtainable, the periods we do not remember, a nostalgia for a time we never knew. I know he always says... "if only I was 5-10 years older, think of all the places I could have gone to see steam and the lines I could have travelled on..."

 

Perhaps simply it is a case of thinking things were so much better before our time and we just missed out on the golden period. To make a sweeping generalisation, I think railway and model railway enthusiasts are somewhat nostalgic and sentimental people, so that could explain a lot! it's probably just human nature. 

 

Anyway, apologies; I'll stop waffling and let us get back to discussion of classic layouts! 

 

[Pacific231G]

25 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

231G

 

I recently found some photos showing the LNWR exhibition layout in the NRM Photo Collection, LMSR subsection.

 

The layout (in fact I think two different layouts, the one for which the plan was given in MR&L, and a smaller one) are visible in overviews of the joint LNWR/Caledonian "West Coast Route" publicity stand, which also includes other, static, models of various things, including an absolutely huge (1/12th scale I think) model of a WCJS sleeping car, partly sectioned to show the sumptuous interior.

 

The photos seem to date from 1908, when new services and new stock were introduced, and it isn't possible to make out what was at either end of the scenic part of the layout at that date ........ my surmise is either nothing, or a simple hidden yard, and that the turntables were added because the staff on the stand got driven to their wits end by playing trains all day! The layout is scenicked in typical Greenly style, which is to say retaining walls, and railway infrastructure, including full and rather good signalling, with not a blade of grass in sight!

 

Another aficionado tells me that the LNWR record book for their travelling trade stands, recording all the exhibits, and where there were as they moved around various shows (I imagine things like: Fern, potted, immensely large, grecian-style pot on tall stand - Paris, June 1909), is also in the NRM collection, so there is more to be discovered ........ in the unlikely event that anyone id bothered!

 

There is much speculation as to whether the "technical" parts of the layout, including the trains, might actually have been built by Butcher and/or Jupp(??), rather than BL, because Butcher in particular was way ahead of BL in finesse and in electrical matters, until they sold-out to them.

 

Kevin

Thanks Kevin, I'd like to see those. The fact that Model Railways (It became Models, Railways and Locomotives in 1911) had no photos of the original LNWR layout suggests that it wasn't built by Bassett Lowke

Please note that I've substantially revised my own post about these early layouts in light of new information.

 

Bassett Lowke did build the LNWR's instructional railway for signalmen and this is as interesting as you suggest

 

 

For this sort of model, trains needed to only include a single passenger or goods vehicle

 

[Pacific231G]

4 hours ago, awoodford said:

That model of the ECML is quite wonderful. It brought to mind the model by S.F. Page (Longdon, Newborough & Easton Railway) that appeared in 60's RM, which represented a sizeable chunk of the line between Kings Cross and Peterborough, complete with a 3 track version of Kings Cross. I've always had a soft spot for those layouts that go in for such extreem compression of main line subjects. Anyone remember Eric Fisher's model of the GWR mainline in the West Country on 3 or 4 levels? I think it was described in a 1950's or early 60's Model Railway News.

Alan.

 

Hi Alan

I remember H Eric Fisher's Birkenhead Joint. It was Railway Modeller's Railway of the Month in October 1963 and won their annual best article cup that year If you go to

https://peco-uk.com/pages/railway-modeller

Then scroll down to the RM cup archive the bottom of that page and scroll right till you get to 1963.

The main station (shown) was closely based on Newbury and I think the layout was on two levels running round a double length garage. It was rather magnificent.  The layout also included a Birkenhead Woodside terminus complete with a Mersey ferry. Had he buiilt an earlier layout? There were several layouts based on the GW in the West Country

 

Was there ever a complete plan and description by S.F. Page of his LNER  layout? I remember being frustrated by various articles about the layout that never quite told the whole story. In my book a layout article without a scale plan  is incomplete!

 

Though it's been a sort of legendary layout for most of my lif I've never actually managed to visit the Gainsborough MRS O gauge interpretation of the ECML. It's a layout that fills most of the rooms of an old Victorian school

http://www.gainsboroughmodelrailway.co.uk

 

 

 

Edited April 18, 2019 by Pacific231G

[Trevellan]

My very first model railway magazine purchase was the November 1967 Railway Modeller. In the years since there have been many layouts I regard as classics. P.D. Hancock's Craig & Mertonford was one; a freelance, but totally believable railway, David Jenkinson's Garsdale Road was another I kept going back to. I'm not an LMS fan as such, being born in BR days, but it was an excellent fine scale tailchaser. In more recent times the amazing Hursley showed just what realism was possible on a relatively modest layout. Others have mentioned Bredon, the impressive train-set sized layout that punched well above its weight. Sadly, I don't currently have the space or time to be inspired, but I thank those modellers who have entertained me down the years.

[Nearholmer]

231G

 

The LNWR photos are within this collection https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co423016/london-midland-scottish-railway-collection-collection-of-photographs

 

I haven't found a way of linking to individual images, so it is case of working through a (distractingly interesting) heap. There are, IIRC, four photos of relevant bits of publicity stands.

 

Not wishing to pick nits, but the change was from MR&L, to M,R&L (notice the comma), and I think it changed subtly again later - I always just refer to the whole run as MR&L.

 

Cover (falling off!) of No.1 below. I've got the first two years unbound, then two years bound, then ....... no more, because I had no more money in my pocket at that moment ........... why, oh why did I not just walk round the corner to the cash machine and secure the whole box from the house-clearance guy who was selling them?  ........ of course, he never turned-up at the market again, and nobody else knew him! Profane words do not cover it!

Edited April 18, 2019 by Nearholmer

[Nearholmer]

Just spotted this in my young son’s newspaper.

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

Had he built an earlier layout? There were several layouts based on the GW in the West Country

H Eric Fisher had an earlier layout called something like the Cornwall and Devon Railway. I've seen a write up but it wasn't in the Modeller. Possibly an MRC from the 1950s?

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

Was there ever a complete plan and description by S.F. Page of his LNER  layout? I remember being frustrated by various articles about the layout that never quite told the whole story. In my book a layout article without a scale plan  is incomplete!

I don't remember seeing a full layout plan but I have seen a block plan of how the stations related to each other - possibly in the August 1964 Modeller, although the layout was also featured regularly in the Meccano Magazine (due to its extensive use of Hornby-Dublo equipment I assume).

[DLT]

On 16/04/2019 at 13:59, john new said:

.. and from further back in the past Berrow, Charminster (or was it Charmouth?) and Marthwaite. The reasons for liking the them differ but they are one's I can remember from down the years. That must be a definition of inspirational. One  feature I particularly liked was the idea of a removable buffer stop/tunnel mouth to allow continuous running versus the usual end-to-end.

 

 

Charford, or The Charford Branch as it became, built by John Charman.  It was this layout that featured the removeable buffer stop in the private siding that lead to a hidden continuous run

Cheers, Dave

[Pacific231G]

4 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

231G

 

The LNWR photos are within this collection https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co423016/london-midland-scottish-railway-collection-collection-of-photographs

 

I haven't found a way of linking to individual images, so it is case of working through a (distractingly interesting) heap. There are, IIRC, four photos of relevant bits of publicity stands.

 

Not wishing to pick nits, but the change was from MR&L, to M,R&L (notice the comma), and I think it changed subtly again later - I always just refer to the whole run as MR&L.

 

Cover (falling off!) of No.1 below. I've got the first two years unbound, then two years bound, then ....... no more, because I had no more money in my pocket at that moment ........... why, oh why did I not just walk round the corner to the cash machine and secure the whole box from the house-clearance guy who was selling them?  ........ of course, he never turned-up at the market again, and nobody else knew him! Profane words do not cover it!

Hi Kevin

Thanks for the link to the LNWR collection.

It's also interesting to see what the magazine cover actually looked like as I only have the first three years and as bound volumes. Unti I was given those by a friend who was having a clear out I'd always thought that Model Railway News was the first magazine dedicated to railway modelling as a distinct hobby rather than simply a branch of model engineering.  I "feel your pain" about missing those later editions as I made the same mistake when I had the chance to acquire a complete run of bound volumes of pre-war Model Railway News and only took about half of them that included articles I was interested in.  I have since managed to rectify that mistake but still have one or two gaps in the two years for which I only have loose editions.  

 

I was taking the main title as that used as the page header and that went from Model Railways to Models, Railways and Locomotives with the February 1911 edition though the cover title changed from Model Railways and Locomotives to   Models, Railways and Locomotives with the January ediiton. Though that may seem like nitpicking it did reflect a definite change of direction by Henry Greenly to "extend our scope, and embrace the construction and working of other models besides railways and locomotives".  In practice that was mostly steam and power boats, at least in 1911, but he did seem to  wander back into general model engineering alongside definitely model railway themes like layout design and signalling practice (I do like his knotted string lever frame interlocking and wonder if it actually worked!)

 

I've no idea why he made "... and locomotives" a subsidiary title as they accounted for at least half of the content. 

 

I'd like to see some of the later editions as there is a definite gap between 1911 and the arrival of Model Railway News in 1925 during which time the hobby changed enormously.   Were there any more references to the railway company exhibition layouts in 1912 ?

 

 

[kevinlms]

On 15/04/2019 at 16:55, SD85 said:

Interestingly I spent most of yesterday sorting through and grouping about seven years worth of RMs from the late 90s and I have to echo the sentiments above. 96 & 97 were vintage years indeed and as my first ever RM was the Feb 96 issue I too have much nostalgia for this period. 

 

I echo the sentiments on College Grove which was superb and a great first effort into the senior scale. Wonder if the builder is still around? 

 

Engine Wood is also up there as well as Ken Webb's model of Exeter Central, Port St George, Gas Works, Horselunges and Aberhafren. All great layouts. 

 

From a similar time period I remember a small O scale layout in BRM called Minima Bay which was very inspiring. 

Since your talking about layouts from the 1990s. Here is a list of Railway of the Months from that period and some outside that date range. I have a lot of work yet to do, to complete!

 

Edit to add.

Some of the authors refer to later follow ups, including letters.

 

2nd edit to add 2nd and subsequent parts - some were there previously, but not all. While not strictly RotM, they are here for completeness.

 

RotM 201904019.xls

Edited April 19, 2019 by kevinlms
Updated info.

[Pacific231G]

On 19/04/2019 at 01:45, kevinlms said:

Since your talking about layouts from the 1990s. Here is a list of Railway of the Months from that period and some outside that date range. I have a lot of work yet to do, to complete!

 

Edit to add.

Some of the authors refer to later follow ups, including letters.

 

2nd edit to add 2nd and subsequent parts - some were there previously, but not all. While not strictly RotM, they are here for completeness.

 

RotM 201904019.xls 55.5 kB · 4 downloads

Thanks Kevin these are really useful. If it's interesting, I wouldn't be at all worried about whether a layout article is actually an RotM. They quite often featured a  second layout  and some of those can be just as interesting and significant if not more so. For example, I don't think the Rev. P.H. Heath's 00n3 Llanfair was a second layout in August 1962 - RotM that month was Lladerek and Belindavon- while his Piano Line was definitely a "proprietary modeller" piece and they've long been two of my favourite and Inspirational Layouts. 

Edited April 20, 2019 by Pacific231G
updated information

[Donw]

I was looking in Eames shop having some Christmas money in my pocket when I discovered the Railway Modeller Feb 62 issue two stunning articles Portreath and John Charman's timetable for Charford. I suddenly realised what railway modelling should be about.  The April issue then followed up with Jim Russell's magnificent loft layout. Oh and I went to Central Hall for the MRC exhibition. I did sort of drift off with Bikes Beer and Birds a few years later for a while but the bug has never left. 

 

Was Alan Redgwick one of the Keithley lot Ravensbeck etc. or is my memory playing up?

 

Don

 

[south_tyne]

24 minutes ago, Donw said:

Was Alan Redgwick one of the Keithley lot Ravensbeck etc. or is my memory playing up?

 

 

Maybe? Although I think it was the Normanton and Pontefract club he was involved with at the time of the article. Admittedly it is well over 20 years ago since that was published! 

[south_tyne]

7 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

Thanks Kevin these are really useful. If it's interesting, I wouldn't be at all worried about whether a layout article is actually an RotM. They quite often featured a  second layout  and some of those can be just as interesting and significant if not more so. For example, I don't think the Rev. P.H. Heath's 00n3 Llanfair was an RotM while his Piano Line was definitely a "proprietary modeller" piece and they've long been two of my personal Inspirational Layouts. 

 

Definitely agree on that one. Some of the layouts I have really admired over the years were not RotM - looking back, out of the four I highlighted as my favourites, only two were. Ivydale (All Hallows) wasn't, although how it wasn't is mystifying in my humble opinion  

 

I wonder how they select which layouts are RotM? Presumably just at the behest of the editor? 

[Barry O]

Alan Redgwick is still in the Normanton  and Pontefract club.

Baz

[Steamport Southport]

1 hour ago, south_tyne said:

 

Definitely agree on that one. Some of the layouts I have really admired over the years were not RotM - looking back, out of the four I highlighted as my favourites, only two were. Ivydale (All Hallows) wasn't, although how it wasn't is mystifying in my humble opinion  

 

I wonder how they select which layouts are RotM? Presumably just at the behest of the editor? 

 

I think it was what was deemed best of the month by the editor and they were the ones that were put forward to be voted Layout Of The Year by readers.

 

It may have changed now though. I only buy RM occasionally.

 

 

 

Jason

[ejstubbs]

On 18/04/2019 at 19:13, Nearholmer said:

The LNWR photos are within this collection https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co423016/london-midland-scottish-railway-collection-collection-of-photographs

 

I haven't found a way of linking to individual images, so it is case of working through a (distractingly interesting) heap. There are, IIRC, four photos of relevant bits of publicity stands.

 

This is one of them:

 

Edited April 20, 2019 by ejstubbs

[south_tyne]

4 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

I think it was what was deemed best of the month by the editor and they were the ones that were put forward to be voted Layout Of The Year by readers.

 

It may have changed now though. I only buy RM occasionally.

 

 

 

Jason

 

I though as much. Mind a few years ago my mate's layout appeared in RM and east selected as RotM but ended up finishing third on the overall layout of the year competition. I think it was included as 'Plan of the Month'. Obviously impressed a lot of folk, if not so much the editor at the time!!

 

[kevinlms]

4 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

 

 

It may have changed now though. I only buy RM occasionally.

 

 

 

Jason

Nothing changes in the style of Railway Modeller! The biggest change for decades, has been moving the contents page, from just before RotM to the inside front cover - so they can get a 2 page spread.

[kevinlms]

8 hours ago, ejstubbs said:

 

This is one of them:

 

I found this, too bad about the given date of 1925!

[kevinlms]

7 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

 

This one makes it 100% clear why containers were to be loaded on single plank wagons ONLY. The poor old crane is right on its travel limits.

 

[Pacific231G]

On 19/04/2019 at 20:52, Steamport Southport said:

 

I think it was what was deemed best of the month by the editor and they were the ones that were put forward to be voted Layout Of The Year by readers.

 

It may have changed now though. I only buy RM occasionally.

 

 

 

Jason

(Updated following information from St. Enodoc)

Not quite Jason. For much of its history The Railway Modeller Cup has always been awarded to the articles getting the most votes from the magazine's readers. In practice that almost invariably is one of the Railways of the Month but it doesn't have to be. The first cup, in 1953, actually  went to a pair of articles on timetable operation on the Sherwood Section by N.S. Eagles (which had been a Railway of the Month the previous year so this was perhaps deferred recognition by the readers)

I wondered why so many of the layouts we've found inspirational came from Railway Modeller but looking through back issues of Model Railway Constructor and Model Railway News they simply didn't place the same emphasis on individual layouts.

 

Unless they were the detailed mutli-part "how to" or "how I built it "  features that MRC often ran - including the Buckingham Branch mk 1 in 1948 in 3 parts  and mk 2 in 5 parts in 1951- articles about layouts tended to be relatively short, especially in MRN. There were exceptions to this but, unlike RM's policy of a featured layout every single month and possibly a second layout, in the other magazines layout articles took their place amid articles about loco construction,  signalling, track, buildings et al. OTOH, apart from Peter Denny's excellent three part detailed how-to articles about the first Leighton Buzzard  I don't think RM ran many if any such "how to build a layout" series.  I think that may have changed to some extent in later years but in the 1950s and 1960s it was a very evident difference perhaps reflecting a subtle difference between raillway models and model railways.

Edited April 23, 2019 by Pacific231G
fact check

[kevinlms]

2 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

Not quite Jason. The Railway Modeller Cup has always been awarded to the articles getting the most votes from the magazine's readers. In practice that almost invariably is one of the Railways of the Month but it doesn't have to be. The first cup, in 1953, actually  went to a pair of articles on timetable operation on the Sherwood Section by N.S. Eagles (which had been a Railway of the Month the previous year so this was perhaps deferred recognition by the readers)

I wondered why so many of the layouts we've found inspirational came from Railway Modeller but looking through back issues of Model Railway Constructor and Model Railway News they simply didn't place the same emphasis on individual layouts.

 

Unless they were the detailed mutli-part "how to" or "how I built it "  features that MRC often ran - including the Buckingham Branch mk 1 in 1948 in 3 parts  and mk 2 in 5 parts in 1951- articles about layouts tended to be relatively short, especially in MRN. There were exceptions to this but, unlike RM's policy of a featured layout every single month and possibly a second layout, in the other magazines layout articles took their place amid articles about loco construction,  signalling, track, buildings et al. OTOH, apart from Peter Denny's excellent three part detailed how-to articles about the first Leighton Buzzard  I don't think RM ran many if any such "how to build a layout" series.  I think that may have changed to some extent in later years but in the 1950s and 1960s it was a very evident difference perhaps reflecting a subtle difference between raillway models and model railways.

Through the later 1950s, there was a whole series of 'How to' articles, usually around the 'Junior Modeller' layout. Most show no author, which I thought were written by Cyril Freezer. But others have suggested that they were written by Mr Pritchard. Since apparently he was very keen on young people joining the hobby, that makes sense.

[Steamport Southport]

16 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Nothing changes in the style of Railway Modeller! The biggest change for decades, has been moving the contents page, from just before RotM to the inside front cover - so they can get a 2 page spread.

 

I stopped buying it in the late 1980s and when coming back into the hobby I was surprised how much it had changed. Hardly any practical articles apart from scenery and mostly layouts. Far too much narrow gauge and seeming aimed at a younger generation than it was.

 

Hardly any loco or rolling stock articles apart from an occasional plan (often a reprint).

 

Maybe if you buy it regularly you don't notice the changes. I looked at it and went elsewhere.

 

 

Jason