Layouts or articles in magazines that have inspired you.

[kevinlms]

Just to throw in a further one...another inspiring one for me was 'Horselunges' - light railway atmosphere again, this time in P4 and exquisitely modelled.it appeared in the RM around 1996 time if I remember rightly. I did manage to see this layout in the flesh around a decade ago and it didn't disappoint at all!

Horse flesh?

 

FWIW it was September 1996.

[Mark C]

Not to mention all of your articles, John.

Yes, Owlcombe (Scale Model Trains?) definitely...

[Western Star]

MRJ 24 and 28 - two parts of building GWR Dean carriages in 7mm using Slater's kits.

 

Absolutely brilliant modelling and a way to build models beyond personal skill levels.

[37114]

There are two layouts from issues of Railway Modeller which that inspired me to build an end-to-end shunting layout.  Rowthorne is a countryside station which typically sees a first generation multiple unit or a steam locomotive with a pick up freight.  Pallet Lane is a station in an industrial city and features a cement plant.  Both are a similar size and have a run around loop, a couple of sidings and a hidden fiddle yard.  The modelling skills that built the layouts are evident in both, so it's well worth looking at a few photographs, both layouts can be found online.

 

The creator of Rowthorne gave an interview for the RM Christmas DVD.  He explained how, when placing scenery on the layout, he would start placing scenery at one end, then decide what would "Fall into place" next; this sounds like a good approach to me.  Pallet Lane has a topic on this forum.

 

Pallet Lane owes it's inception to Ian Manderson's Easington Lane, I remember seeing it in magazines but also at a show many moons ago (Bath?) and deciding then that it was the standard I wanted to aspire to even if I couldn't match it.

 

Other inspirational layouts for me were Carron Road, Model Rail (when it was a supplement in RAIL) did a spread on it and I was amazed at the time by the quality of the design, the compact nature and the scenic work, while an earlier layout of mine was inspired by Pengwynn Crossing when it first appeared in RM in it's original format.

[brianusa]

The Meccano Magazine!  Whether it was my O gauge or Dublo. I was enthralled by the pictures of either scale with basic scenery and buildings I didn't have on my ovals.  The same Hornby hedges and trees all looked the same but time you added some fences, even Countryside pieces such a minor detail could be overlooked.  All this euphoria disappeared when Dublo's successors warranted a more scale layout with  home made or purchased scenery and buildings which ended up on my Buckfastleigh layout.  It was then I realised I was not so good as others and switched scales eventually ending up back with a tinplate layout; definitely toy like with both O gauge US and UK trains running together.  Not everyone's idea of the perfect railway, but it's kept me quiet for the last fifteen years or so and is a lot of fun and relaxation.  The MM also got me to return to Meccano sets also!

 

Brian.

Edited September 22, 2016 by brianusa

[RANGERS]

Too many to mention but it started with Wallsea in the Railway Modeller, Jan 1977 I believe it was. Without it, I might have gone and done something more profitable or less costly. Barry Walls has an awful lot to answer for!

[Poggy1165]

A new one from me. An exceptional 00 layout, Thurlstone, in Model Rail's Great British Model Railways, No 4.

 

Quite exquisite.

[Martync]

The layout that took me from train sets to railway modelling was Ian Futers "Ashleigh" in the Sept 72 RM.  This also contained the first sight I ever had of "Buckingham" - a great favourite.  The only Futers model I ever saw in the flesh was the P4 "Otterburn" which I saw at a De Havillands club exhibition in Hatfield in - I think - 1979.  This was a revelation to me, and I spent ages watching it.  At the same exhibition there was also an excellent OO model of Ventnor, complete with chalk downs - I never saw this featured in any magazine though.

 

A surprising omission from this series of posts is "Ditchling Green" by Gordon Gravett.  This was a wonderfully simple layout, but beautifully finished.  I can remember seeing this at Guildex in 1992, with my 4 year old son on my shoulders (he's now 28!).  His favourite loco on the layout was "the engine with two domes"....an ex LBSCR C2X of course!!

 

I did see Iain Rice's "Woolverstone" at a show in Manchester once - again the only piece of his work I've seen in the flesh.

 

I only occasionally buy the odd magazine now, as it seems the days of the inspirational layout are long past.  However, I do have boxes full of older magazines to return to for the memories.........cue violins!!

[westerner]

The layout that inspired me to have a go at railway modelling was Brian Fayle's Harlyn Junction in the January 1970 Railway Modeller. The cover photo was the first time I had seen a model railway look so real. I still re-read it at least once a year. By the way the "toddler was 3 shillings (15p) in those days now £4.40 nearer enough 30 times dearer, an advert in the back of the 1970 edition advertised a Triang-Wrenn A4 at £7-50 so using the same muitiplier of 30 an A4 today should cost about £225. In the latest issue of the Railway Modeller Kernow are advertising Hornby A4s at £129-99.  So if the comparison is reasonably accurate when inflation is taken into account modern locos are cheaper tha they were in 1970.

Edited November 13, 2016 by westerner

[caradoc]

A couple of layouts featured in the 'Model Railway Constructor' way back in the 1970s, which I found hugely inspiring:

 

Jan 1972, Colonel Vaux's O Gauge Caledonian system, a large layout with a superb collection of stock. Much of the layout (track, locos, stock and signals for example) was hand-built. Sadly the layout had been dismantled and sold shortly before it featured in the MRC.

 

Jan/Feb 1973, Coventry Model Railway Club's OO Gauge system; This was a huge layout in which trains actually went from somewhere to somewhere else. I wonder what became of it ?

[Nearholmer]

Westerner

 

I've been using the RM cover price "inflation and relative cost index" for years now (I always use decimalisation as the marker date, because I recall RM being 3/6 one month, and 17.5p the next), and I'm heartened to see that your findings support mine: r-t-r, and a lot more besides, has got cheaper, in real terms, over the past few decades.

 

So, why does it sometimes feel the opposite? Loads of factors, including relative spread of wages, I guess, but there is something about what we feel we ought to be able to afford.

 

In 1970, everyone knew that a Wrenn Pacific was a jolly expensive toy, which only a lucky few could afford (hence the success of Triang, undercutting Hornby Dublin with a cheaper, inferior, product). Somehow, we now seem to think that a superb 00 A4 ought to cost one weeks pocket money for Mr Average. Maybe we got spoiled by the short period in the 2000s, during which Chinese products really were very cheap, because of poor wages there, and an overvalued currency here.

 

 

Kevin

Edited November 14, 2016 by Nearholmer

[Jol Wilkinson]

Layout that inspired me in MRJ - the only magazine have regularly read for many years - include Hursley by Martin Welch, Stanmore by Dave Pennington, Bramblewick by Tom Harland, Clarendon by the LWMRS, and Aylesbury by Geoff Wiilliams . There are others that provided odd "bits" of inspiration but especially any article by John Hayes and Geoff Kent..

[Chris M]

I would agree with many of the layouts already mentioned. I also find many lesser layouts an inspiration because I know I can make a layout to the same standard whereas I know I could never match the quality of some of the best layouts. If there were only brilliant layouts I may have given up long ago.

The writer who has had the most influence on my modelling is undoubtedly Cyril Freezer. Articles and editorials in the modeller and of course the track plans books. When coming back into model railways my first N gauge layout was based on one of Cyril's plans.

[Nearholmer]

While I'm in a chipping-in mood ......... I think everything mentioned thus far has been UK, or built by a UK modeller .......

 

I spent a fair while in US H0, modelling a fictional shortline in Maine, and the modelling inspiration there came from multiple authors in Narrow Gauge & Shortlines Gazette. During the 1980s and 1990s, those guys were pioneering techniques and approaches to the hobby just as much as people in the UK, and for a time were ahead of the UK ain't scenic technique, weathering etc. I couldn't list the number of things I learned from NG&SLG over that period.

 

I think Mr Rice built a Maine layout in the early 2000s, and it would be interesting to know whether or not he was a NG&SLG reader too.

 

A strange footnote: my fictional line was The Maine Coastal RR, based heavily on the Belfast & Moosehead Lake. while I was building it, a real railroad called The Maine Coast came into being, adopting a livery spookily similar to mine!

 

Kevin

Edited November 14, 2016 by Nearholmer

[Mike]

1940's Model Railway News and John Aherns Madder Valley. To me it was a railway in the landscape with a history and of its time a truly great piece of modelling. Yes I'm old enough to remember it in real time.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Mike

[MartinWales]

Chris Pendleton's North Shields, Duncan Wilcox's Croft Depot, Geoff Kent's Black Lion Crossing, Martin Brent's Arcadia, Ian Futers' Lochside, Jas Millham's Yaxbury, amongst others......which i'll remember once I've finished typing this....... 

[JeffP]

I can think of four that have inspired me, so that I have read and re-read the articles.

 

One called "Chipping" in Railway Modeller, about a freight only branch with blue diesels.

One called "If Only" also in RM, this time an engineer's yard in 7mm scale with PWP diesels and wagons.

Martyn Welch's "Hursley" and also anything about the "Aire Valley Line", a narrow gauge line built by Derek Naylor. I loved the idea of the trains actually having places to go, and the branch line was very atmospheric. "Danes Crossing Works", and the article about the re modelling of the seaside terminus loosely based on Whitby, have also been read so many times the magazines are almost shredded.

 

For track plans, one in RM called "Cranby Junction" almost got modeled in N gauge, but lack of space even then intervened.

 

And there was a short article, also in RM featuring a triangle of track with three points and a single narrow gauge loco and a hut, the author had modeled a rabbit hiding in the grass, and talked about doing it in a larger scale to feature butterflies and flowers. One photo, supposedly of the loco at dusk against a freezing sky, was very atmospheric.

[Oldddudders]

 anything about the "Aire Valley Line", a narrow gauge line built by Derek Naylor. I loved the idea of the trains actually having places to go, and the branch line was very atmospheric. 

 

Derek has been, hopefully still is, an RMwebber. 

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

There was one in railway modeller when I was younger can't for the life of me remember the name of the layout or issue it was in but they had taken a plan from the peco set track plan book and run with it. It was western region branchline. My mum binned the issue it was in years ago. But it inspired me that an oval could look super realistic.

 

Big james

 

Rather oddly, whilst searching for class 071 sound files, I came across this

 

 

which reminded me that my lifelong love of EMD diesels in part stems from an early Rail Enthusiast cab ride article - probably from around 1981ish - describing a ride to Kilarney in an 071...

Edited November 16, 2016 by Dr Gerbil-Fritters

[Zomboid]

The article which inspired me to get off my bum and actually try building something was this: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/94485-tilley-yard-south-chicago-winter-1956/

 

I then read an awful lot about micros etc here and on Carl Arendt's site, but up to that point I had it in my head that I needed at least 8x4 to build a layout.

[Nearholmer]

JeffP

 

It wasn't the Crowsnest Tranway, by Roy Link, by any chance, was it? He was a RM staffer in the late 70s, and founded the magazine NG&IRM, which I think he is editing again now, following Mr Barlow's passing.

 

I think that if you google, you will find that Roy has a website devoted to the many incarnations of the tramway.

 

Kevin

Edited November 16, 2016 by Nearholmer

[JeffP]

YES!! It was and thanks!

[5050]

Whilst 'working' on the pre-owned books and magazine stall at Wakefield Show over the past weekend I was able to look through a good selection of RM's and MRC's from the 50's and early 60's.  This reminded me of many layouts and articles that have obviously remained in my memory banks  - but 'temporarily' forgotten.  Not just layout articles but layout suggestions, practical 'how to' articles, drawings, prototype information etc. etc.  I even bought an issue of MRC which was a 'prequel' of an article I've already got and liked, the 'Works Yard' by Peter Winding.  It has some very atmospheric drawings of the prototype from the hand of PW himself - and I am now desperately trying to not find the excuse to build it!

 

What really came to mind was the relative ratios of editorial to adverts compared to today's publications.  Much more useful - and practical - content and scratch building advice with associated black and white line drawings.  To me, much more easy to understand and follow than a load of colour photos etc.

 

Or am I just being a luddite................................

[Nearholmer]

It's no coincidence that repair manuals, lego instructions, and, we can only pray, the instructions on how to use the US Big Red Button come with good, clear line drawings, free from extraneous detail.

 

RM is probably the most conservatively-styled, apart from MRJ, but even it is slowly falling prey to the "bigger photos, and more of 'em" bug.

 

What is wrong with articles containing actual writing???

 

Anyway, that's enough grumpy old bloke stuff for now.

 

Kevin

[westerner]

 

 

What really came to mind was the relative ratios of editorial to adverts compared to today's publications.  Much more useful - and practical - content and scratch building advice with associated black and white line drawings.  To me, much more easy to understand and follow than a load of colour photos etc.

 

Or am I just being a luddite................................

I'm not sure I agree at least as far as RM is concerned  Having just looked at a 1970 RM which had 35 pages of adverts to 32 pages of editorial compared to a 2016 issue which had 69 pages of adverts compared to 89 pages of editorial. 47% editorial against 56% editorial A recent BRM roughly 50% editorial. I think it there isn't a lot of difference but the recent mags do seem to have more editorial.