On looking into Old Railway Modellers

[Eclipse247]

I too was something of a fan of Ray Pope's books. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories and was also, even at a fairly young age, impressed that the model railway equipment described was recognisable as, for example, the r-t-r of the era. For example the West Country "Barnstaple" was frequently mentioned which, I assume was the Dublo or Wrenn model. Hornby's factory at Margate was also mentioned and, as I recall, met with Telford's approval as a staunch Southern man .

The Model-Railway Men is now available to buy/order in paperback from most bookshops and Amazon.

 

 

Thanks. Mark

[Killian keane]

The July 1961 issue includes an article on how to build a wisbech and upwell tram around a motor bogie by none other than Wilbert Awdry (remember that in those days toby was a y6 not a j70), I have a lot of old railway magazines and railway worlds from the '40s to the '80s

Edited April 30, 2017 by Killian keane

[5050]

The July 1961 issue includes an article on how to build a wisbech and upwell tram around a motor bogie by none other than Wilbert Awdry (remember that in those days toby was a y6 not a j70), I have a lot of old railway magazines and railway worlds from the '40s to the '80s

I did that using the chassis of a Triang Dock Tank.  I might even have the remains of it somewhere!  I've got the magazine - complete with razor blade cuts on the relevant pages.

 

BTW, his name was Wilbur - wasn't it?  He wrote a few modelling articles over the years.

[PatB]

Definitely Wilbert. I'm told that I met him once but we'd have hardly been on first name terms though

[BG John]

No need to find the magazine, as the article is reproduced here.

[kevinlms]

Definitely Wilbert. I'm told that I met him once but we'd have hardly been on first name terms though

First name is Rev., isn't it?

[Killian keane]

First name is Rev., isn't it?

Yes, he was a vicar, the wisbech and upwell tramway ran through his parish, he was good friends with teddy boston from the cadeby light railway

[phil_sutters]

The one you mention, plus the various incarnations of Mac Pyrke's Berrow.

 

John

I was living a couple of miles or so from Berrow, at Highbridge and could never get my head around the way 2Ps and spam cans got there and never passed us! I did admire the modelling though. Ah! that's probably where my aversion to layouts with names I know, that have no or little similarity to the location as I know it. 

Edited May 1, 2017 by phil_sutters

[Killian keane]

I havent any old editions of rm but I have been inspired by this thread to sort out my large collection of old railway magazines, railway worlds and trains illustrateds

[Dava]

Some of those old mags look worryingly familiar!

 

Dava

[St Enodoc]

I havent any old editions of rm but I have been inspired by this thread to sort out my large collection of old railway magazines, railway worlds and trains illustrateds

What a great little magazine Steam Alive! was.

[Killian keane]

What a great little magazine Steam Alive! was.

Hear hear! I have 8 of them, out of, as far as I can tell, 14

Edited May 2, 2017 by Killian keane

[Dunsignalling]

The Modeller is like the shipping forecast, or, for adherents, the CofE: always there, sometimes if only burbling quietly in the background; marking-off the years from cosy-childhood to possibly-jaded-late-maturity; a reassuring presence wherein change is so slow-paced as to be imperceptible, except when viewed at great distance in time; and, it covers a wide spectrum, from near-super-fine, to nearly-straight-out-of-a-box, across all scales and all formats, in a balanced way.

 

Also, it is very largely made up of articles written by modellers, for modellers, with very little "professional" (sadly often journalistic and/or dumbed-down) content.

 

The fact that, almost since its inception, it has consistently seemed rather dated, about ten or fifteen years behind the times, like a slightly outmoded cardigan, is part of the appeal.

 

If it ever looks on the brink of closure, I will personally start a preservation society.

 

A National Treasure!

 

Kevin

I'd add one more thing, Railway Modeller has pretty much become a running documentary of the hobby it serves and promotes.

 

For many years, it was explicitly, but never pejoratively, aimed at the "Average Modeller" and it provides a fascinating record of that target's movements. 

 

The longevity of the title, combined with the inclusion of content ranging across most aspects of (UK) railway modelling along with a surprising number of what prove in hindsight to be significant developments, make it a pretty good barometer of what is going on across the mainstream of the hobby.

 

Material on innovations that fall by the wayside in the year or more that it takes to pass through the magazine's digestive system tends to be excised naturally. 

 

All in all, though, anyone in the future who wishes to study the history and development of the hobby from the mid-20th century onwards, really should start with the Railway Modeller.

 

 

 

John

Edited May 2, 2017 by Dunsignalling

[5050]

Definitely Wilbert. I'm told that I met him once but we'd have hardly been on first name terms though

  Well, there you go, every day's a school day!  I've been living under a missaprehension for many, many years!  Thanks.

[New Haven Neil]

  Well, there you go, every day's a school day!  I've been living under a missaprehension for many, many years!  Thanks.

 

Hence the Austerity tank named after him.

[Killian keane]

Hence the Austerity tank named after him.

Edited May 2, 2017 by Killian keane

[Pacific231G]

I'd add one more thing, Railway Modeller has pretty much become a running documentary of the hobby it serves and promotes.

 

For many years, it was explicitly, but never pejoratively, aimed at the "Average Modeller" and it provides a fascinating record of that target's movements. 

 

The longevity of the title, combined with the inclusion of content ranging across most aspects of (UK) railway modelling along with a surprising number of what prove in hindsight to be significant developments, make it a pretty good barometer of what is going on across the mainstream of the hobby.

 

Material on innovations that fall by the wayside in the year or more that it takes to pass through the magazine's digestive system tends to be excised naturally. 

 

All in all, though, anyone in the future who wishes to study the history and development of the hobby from the mid-20th century onwards, really should start with the Railway Modeller.

 

 

 

John

Hi John

The phrase they used was "For the Average Enthusiast" meaning mainstream rather than mediocre and I agree with you about it forming a running history. I think though that as well as being a record of the hobby RM strongly influenced its development. It always encouraged layout building over the building of individual models and I think that's been one reason for the hobby's great popularity here. It's other great strength has been the way that it's allowed the personality of layout builders and layouts to be expressed in their articles; we felt we knew people like Denny, Hancock, Pyrke, Charman and many many others. That is of course down to the skill and wisdom of the editors and Cyril Freezer in particular made a huge and often underacknowledged contribution to the development of the hobby. Apart from those by John Ahern, articles in contemporary editions of MRN and MRC just seem much drier than those in RM. 

Edited May 3, 2017 by Pacific231G

[Nearholmer]

Perhaps we should form an "800 Club", in view of the fact that the next, June 2017, edition will be the 800th.

 

I can certainly claim to have read every single edition, although I'm not old enough to have bought each edition as it came out.

 

There must be a hardy few who have been subscribers since the start; I wonder whether they've managed to track any down, so that their photos can be included in the 800th.

 

Kevin

[St Enodoc]

Perhaps we should form an "800 Club", in view of the fact that the next, June 2017, edition will be the 800th.

 

I can certainly claim to have read every single edition, although I'm not old enough to have bought each edition as it came out.

 

There must be a hardy few who have been subscribers since the start; I wonder whether they've managed to track any down, so that their photos can be included in the 800th.

 

Kevin

Great idea Kevin. I'm sure that Steve Flint will have something up his sleeve for June

 

I too now own and have read every issue, although August 1966 was the first that I bought in real time, so to speak.

 

Hope I'm still around and compos mentis enough to read issue 1000.

[br2975]

Personally - I think we can trace the change in modelling standards to the challenge laid down by Cyril Freezer circa 1963, to several LMS enthusiasts, (Messrs Jenkinson, Essery, Whitehead et al) a.k.a.  the LMS Society which resulted in a series of articles on LMS wagons, locomotives, coaching stock and lineside structures; all with detailed drawings.

.

These articles set a new benchmark for future modellers and authors, which some current magazines could do well to study.

.

As for inspirational layouts featured in the RM during the 1960s; I offer several:-

Leighton Buzzard (Linslade) 4mm EM,

Tetfield 4mm 'OO',

Torpoint 4mm 'OO',

Mill Dale 4mm 8.? gauge,

Augher Valley 'OOn3'

 

Brian R

Edited May 4, 2017 by br2975

[hayfield]

Hi John

The phrase they used was "For the Average Enthusiast" meaning mainstream rather than mediocre and I agree with you about it forming a running history. I think though that as well as being a record of the hobby RM strongly influenced its development. It always encouraged layout building over the building of individual models and I think that's been one reason for the hobby's great popularity here. It's other great strength has been the way that it's allowed the personality of layout builders and layouts to be expressed in their articles; we felt we knew people like Denny, Hancock, Pyrke, Charman and many many others. That is of course down to the skill and wisdom of the editors and Cyril Freezer in particular made a huge and often underacknowledged contribution to the development of the hobby. Apart from those by John Ahern, articles in contemporary editions of MRN and MRC just seem much drier than those in RM. 

 

 

I still take the Railway Modeller and most months don't even bother to flick through the pages of others. They seem to have a good selection of layouts in most scales, though in 00 gauge seem to class those layouts which do not use their track as 4 mm scale. They also have a good selection of articles about building models etc, though the main focus is for layouts.

 

Its a format that works, as it sells more and has lasted longer than any other magazine. And does what it says on the tin (to coin a phrase) a model railway magazine for the average modeller, certainly not for all or a specialist periodical. For me the adverts are just as useful as the features, the shear amount of advertisers is a testament to its popularity.

 

The next issue is due in the post anytime now

[Dunsignalling]

Hi John

The phrase they used was "For the Average Enthusiast" meaning mainstream rather than mediocre and I agree with you about it forming a running history. I think though that as well as being a record of the hobby RM strongly influenced its development. It always encouraged layout building over the building of individual models and I think that's been one reason for the hobby's great popularity here. It's other great strength has been the way that it's allowed the personality of layout builders and layouts to be expressed in their articles; we felt we knew people like Denny, Hancock, Pyrke, Charman and many many others. That is of course down to the skill and wisdom of the editors and Cyril Freezer in particular made a huge and often underacknowledged contribution to the development of the hobby. Apart from those by John Ahern, articles in contemporary editions of MRN and MRC just seem much drier than those in RM. 

Apologies for the misquote. No excuse for it as I had the October 1969 issue on the desk next to the laptop.

I no longer have the space to keep accumulating magazines but, whereas most get recycled or passed on complete, many issues of RM get "filleted" for items that I do want to keep. 

 

My roll call of the influential tallies with yours but I would also cite the contribution of the LMS Society members from the 1960s onward to the development of better modelling based on proper information. The above issue was out to refer to Ken Morgan's article on LNWR 0-8-0s.

 

As you say, "readability" has been a strong point ever since Cyril Freezer's days; I'm not familiar with much that preceded him. RM has always appeared on reasonably decent paper, even when other publishers seemed unable or unwilling to source it, which has helped older issues to survive. Even nowadays, there's one title I usually avoid unless it contains something of real interest because the feel of the paper it's printed on makes me cringe and the ink smudges if I've been eating crisps!  

 

John

Edited May 4, 2017 by Dunsignalling

[locomad]

For me the adverts are just as useful as the features, the shear amount of advertisers is a testament to its popularity.

 

The next issue is due in the post anytime now

I've every Modeller since 1958 and some before, however have had to thin them out a bit for storage reasons, the weight was about 730 kg that's 3/4 of a ton, I've thrown the adverts out from 1980 apart from Xmas edition s this got the weight down to about 350 kg and a lot less space. Yes shear amount of adverts

[Nearholmer]

Are you sure you've got the numbers right? They look out by maybe a factor of ten to me.

 

Current edition weighs 0.458kg, complete with adverts (pretty obsessive, eh? Weighing the RM at 0700 on a Sunday morning).

 

Even if all editions weighed that much, and they certainly didn't, 800 x 0.458 = 366.4kg.

 

My guess, based on the thinness of editions up to and including the 1970s, would be c100kg, with ads (unbound) or without ads (bound).

 

Anyone care to weigh their collection?

 

Kevin

Edited May 7, 2017 by Nearholmer

[melmoth]

...pretty obsessive, eh? Weighing the RM at 0700 on a Sunday morning..

 

 

While you're about it, what's the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?