If the history of railway modelling were to be described in one hundred objects, what would those objects be?

[Nearholmer]

Does item 13 actually include CJF himself as an ‘object’’?

 

The list is looking good so far.

 

IMO it’s a bit light on pre-WW2 things, considering that getting on for half of the history happened before then.

 

Can I suggest a piece of tinplate track, and a section of ‘scale’ permanent way on wooden battens, probably both 2R for clockwork, because the choice of track was a key ‘toy’ vs ‘model’ differentiator from a very early stage.

 

Also, a Bassett Lowke lever frame, because signalling was very important to the pre-scenic modeller, and we don’t seem to have any.

[whart57]

No CJF is listed as the co-author. A bit clumsy writing perhaps

[Andy Hayter]

Unless I missed it, no one has mentioned the introduction by Dapol of affordable 0 Gauge.

[jcm@gwr]

9 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

Unless I missed it, no one has mentioned the introduction by Dapol of affordable 0 Gauge.

 

I would suggest it was Ixion, followed by Minerva, that started it, but Dapol have fine-tuned it.

[Nearholmer]

It was among my blizzard of suggestions yesterday.

[F-UnitMad]

1 hour ago, Andy Hayter said:

Unless I missed it, no one has mentioned the introduction by Dapol of affordable 0 Gauge.

 

1 hour ago, jcm@gwr said:

 

I would suggest it was Ixion, followed by Minerva, that started it, but Dapol have fine-tuned it.

Lima & Tri-ang started 'affordable' O Scale in the early '70s in the UK. Atlas/Roco did it at the same time in the USA, & Pola & Rivarossi in Europe. It's just that in Britain the R-T-R models weren't particularly good, so decent O scale got a reputation for being expensive and high end quality - something that many O modellers were quite happy about as it massaged their ego. The recent rise of affordable, realistic O Scale R-T-R was not welcomed with open arms by the whole O scale community, for certain. 

[andyman7]

Great topic and suggestions - could I add:

 

- GWR Terminus to Fiddle Yard layout

 

Typifying the hobby in the 1950s to 1970s for those who were moving beyond train sets. The layout would of course feature many of the already-noted artefacts, no doubt a Wills kit on a Triang Jinty chassis, Streamline track, various adapted Airfix kits, some Dublo repainted and detailed stock, and would somehow attempt to elude the halcyon days 'before the war' that existed tantalisingly out of reach in that era.

Edited December 27, 2020 by andyman7
Spelling

[The Johnster]

12 hours ago, Simond said:

The Peco / HD knuckle coupler was better in almost every aspect than the TL,

Swings and roundabouts, but there's a reason that the Peco/HD knuckle has fallen out of use.  Pros, it was easy to uncouple from overhead and didn't look completely horrible on mk1s and Pullmans (neither would it have on Bullieds, Thompsons, Gresleys, or ECJS).  Cons, it was every bit as ugly and visually unsuitable for UK/European outline models as a t/l (and so are Kaydees), and was hopelessly unreliable on curves or (especially) anything except perfectly laid changes of gradient. 

 

It is a very good coupling for use in rakes that need to be uncoupled from overhead so long as there are no gangways in the way, and I considered using it within rake for the mineral rakes on Cwmdimbath.  In the event I've gone the other way and  these are permanently coupled with the correct James' Trains 3D printed NEM instanters and 3-links, and are effectively two long articulated vehicles, one loaded one MT.

 

I don't like the look of t/ls, or the trainset association they convey (which would be a problem with Peco/HD as well), but they have helped me achieve very good running approaching 100% reliability in terms of buffer locking/override derailments and straight up 100% reliability as couplings; can't recall having a parted train since I started using them 4 years ago apart from one or two instances of pulling out from NEM pockets.  I standardise on Bachmann NEMs in conjunction with Parkside dovetail mounts, which enables a standard height and protrusion beyond buffers to be achieved, essential for reliability.  I doubt this performance could be met with Peco/HD knuckles which have an inferior performance in propelling, where t/ls act as centre buffers and preven buffer lock.  'Reverting' to tension locks (because of failing eyesight and steadiness of hand, I'd used scale couplings for years before this) has enabled me to increase the capacity of my fiddle yard as I am now able to use setrack curves and turnouts on the non-scenic part of the layout.  In operating terms that means 6 roads instead of 4, with enough room between them for my awkward chubby little chip fingers...

 

I can think of some aspects of the Peco/HD knuckle that were as good as, or no worse than, tension locks, but none in which they were superior, in any way.  I'll grant you there have been some truly hideous tension locks over the years (looking at you, Lima) but modern NEM spec t/ls work well, and hold the stock acceptable distances apart at the buffers while keeping the buffers apart from each other when propelling.  Neither are visually or operationally  a substitute for scale couplings, but I have had to accept that scale couplings are a) beyond my ability to manipulate now, and b) I don't have the space for the railway I want with them.  I can live with the compromise.

 

I looked at alternatives at the time, 4 years ago, that I realised that I could not manage scale couplings.  The parameters were 1, that complete reliability was needed, 2, that they should be easy to install, 3, that I could get at them to uncouple at any place on the layout (shunting is vital to my operation). and 4, that they couple automatically, and perhaps most important, 5, that they were readily available.  The only vialble options were tension locks or Kaydees, and my feeling is that Kaydees are best used on bogie stock and less suitable for my 4 wheel wagon fleet; in any case, the confusing variety foxed me.  Everything else was too fiddly or unsuitable as they needed magnets and uncoupling in specific places; who hasn't been entertained at shows by the Kaydee shuffle. 

 

My opinion is that the Peco/HD knuckle was one of the reasons, not saying the only but one of, for the downfall of Hornby Dublo.  Wrenn, when they took on items from the HD catalogue, ditched it faster than a grenade with the pin pulled out, which shows what they thought of it!

 

As I've said, the tension lock coupler is the most important single item to appear in the hobby in the last 70 years; it has to be top of any list that is not chronological.  It's not perfect, in fact it's pug ugly, but it works pretty well, and it'll do.  Bit like The Johnster, really...

[whart57]

19 minutes ago, andyman7 said:

Great topic and suggestions - could I add:

 

- GWR Terminus to Fiddle Yard layout

 

Agreed. However I have been struggling with an object that would represent that. Likewise a way of representing the minimum space layouts of the nineties and noughties

[Jeff Smith]

Romford self-quartering wheels, the standard OO wheels for many kit-builders.

[BernardTPM]

1 hour ago, F-UnitMad said:

 

Lima & Tri-ang started 'affordable' O Scale in the early '70s in the UK.

The Tri-ang Big Big Train was introduced in 1966, so more or less took over as the large scale toy train from the last of the Hornby tinplate. The Lima 0 gauge range was a spin-off development of the Tri-ang range that they at one time sold, hence the same coupling head.

[F-UnitMad]

KADEE.

 

It's spelt KADEE.

 

K - A - D - E - E. 

 

It's even spelt like that on their Website.... https://www.kadee.com/

 

How hard can it be???

 

Rant over; I do in fact agree that a Kadee doesn't look any better than a tension-lock on British stock, except those that have buckeyes in real life. It's especially wrong on rinky-dink little steam-era 4-wheel wagons.

[whart57]

Halfway there

 

The list is up to fifty now. I'm not sure if there are another fifty objects or whether it would be better to refine the list. The nature of the beast is that many choices actually duplicate others. I don't know which way it will go, probably best to just wind the key a few more times and let it run..............

 

History of Model Railways in 100 Objects

1. Birmingham “Piddler”
2. Marklin German import
3. Basset Lowke “Black Prince”
4. Item from a large Edwardian SE&CR layout – can’t remember the name of the owner
5. Bing OO trainset
6. Tinplate track
7. Tinplate era electric trainset
8. Photo of “Maybank” at the MRC Annual exhibition
9. Basset-Lowke signals and lever frame
10. Hornby Dublo 3-rail
11. Pre-war card kits – e.g. Leeds/Steadman ones
12. Hornby Clockwork 0-4-0 tank engine
13. “Miniature Building Construction” J H Ahern’s book on making buildings as a link to “Madder Valley”
14. Rovex “Princess” loco and coaches
15. First edition of “Railway Modeller”
16. BRMSB Standards booklet (side panel: NMRA standards, MOROP)
17. Tension Lock coupling, with Hornby Dublo “knuckle” coupling
18. Triang Series 3 track – a move away from solid moulded or pressed track bases and a consolidation of a complete track geometry
19. PECO’s “60 Plans for Small Railways” mainly by Cyril Freezer
20. Wire framed trees by G. Iliffe Stokes
21. Triang Jinty – two of them so both OO and TT
22. H&M Controller – not sure which one
23. Wills Finecast White metal kit
24. Romford wheels and axles
25. Solenoid point motor
26. Airfix Booking Office kit
27. Railway Modeller articles of the first permanent “Buckingham” layout
28. Stewart Hine’s high frequency coach interior lighting for Pendon
29. Lone Star push along die cast models and subsequent Trebl-O-lectric loco
30. A “Superquick” card building kit
31. Triang “Lord of the Isles” with clerestory coaches – historical railway modelling goes mainstream
32. A copy of “Mixed Traffic”, or the equivalent magazine/newsletter from the 2mm Association, S Gauge Society etc, to represent the emergence of societies dedicated to a specific scale or gauge
33. Triang’s Royal Mail set (with mailbag pick up and drop-off) and their “Giraffe” car – the sublime and the ridiculous of 1960s automation gimmicks
34. Slater’s Plastikard
35. PECO N gauge “Jubilee”
36. P4 wheels
37. Transistor control units, in particular the small handheld walk round units
38. Iain Rice’s book, Layout Designs, finescale in small spaces
39. Hornby Zero 1 Control Unit
40. Mainline J72
41. Thomas the Tank Engine train sets
42. First British model locomotive to be made in China
43. Heljan Class 31 in O gauge. Or a better example of the first RTR O gauge that wasn’t crude or chunky and could be said to have truly revived interest in 7mm scale.
44. Loksound DCC Chip
45. Flyer or poster for the annual Warley Exhibition
46. “Nellie” and “Smoky Joe” – the evolution of the budget loco and wagons trainset
47. Static grass applicator
48. First model locomotive to be designed and marketed by computer
49. First rmweb Homepage
50. Episode of the Great Model Railway Challenge

 

[Tankerman]

I would like to add the H&M point motor, as far as I'm aware the first one to give reliable operation  over a long period of time, particularly on exhibition layouts.

[Nearholmer]

Solenoid point actuators date from the dawn of time in model railway terms, certainly well before WW1, and firms like Bassett Lowke were selling them all the way through, but they tended to be bulky and expensive, so if the H&M or Peco ones get into the list they must get in on some critereon like cheapness, and stand as proxy for all solenoid point actuators. 

[Tankerman]

1 minute ago, Nearholmer said:

Solenoid point actuators date from the dawn of time in model railway terms, certainly well before WW1, and firms like Bassett Lowke were selling them all the way through, but they tended to be bulky and expensive, so if the H&M or Peco ones get into the list they must get in on some critereon like cheapness, and stand as proxy for all solenoid point actuators. 

 

Based on my own experience, and only that, I'm happy to put the H&M forward on the basis of low price and reliability.

[Nearholmer]

I'd still pitch for an exhibition entry ticket and an MRC membership card because without exhibitions and clubs railway modelling wouldn't have flourished.

 

Your Item 11, the pre-war kits, were wood and paper, usually with white-metal buffers, steel wheels, and brass or white-metal axle-guards, rather than card.

 

And, I'd still pitch for a Leeds Bakelite wagon or coach, because Britain was first in the world to make moulded plastic model rolling stock c1938.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Nearholmer]

And, can the "tinplate era electric train set" have a loco with a wound-field, rather than permanent-magnet motor, please. Although PM motors were tried from c1910 onwards, they didn't really get any good (or permanent) until the mid-1930s.

 

And, we surely have to have something with Henry Greenly's "name all over it". He did co-design the Bing Tabletop, so maybe that serves, but he was so massively important to the start of the hobby that possibly we should include either one of his books, or the magazine that I flagged yesterday, which he edited.

Edited December 27, 2020 by Nearholmer

[PatB]

5 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Does item 13 actually include CJF himself as an ‘object’’?

 

Well, it's not like he's got much else to do these days. 

[Ian Smeeton]

To bring us right up to date, a 3 d printer, with an example of something in each main scale.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[Nearholmer]

Not sure how his family would feel about us erecting a mausoleum and putting his mortal remains on permanent display, though.

 

Maybe we could also have a tomb of the unknown railway modeller, made from sundeala board and 2x1.

[MJI]

Controller, only one H&M to include

 

Powermaster

[Simond]

Please amend #24 to include Slaters loco wheels in 7mm!

 

also Hornby Dublo 3-rail had an operating mail coach in the early 60’s.  I well remember learning never to put the operating button in my mouth again after electrocuting my tongue at the age of 6 or 7...

 

atb

Simon

Edited December 27, 2020 by Simond

[Metr0Land]

Have we had Hornby's move to China in the late 90's and the rebuilt Merchant Navy?

 

It was a seismic shift at the time, getting the models you want at a price you want and was radical thinking for the day.

 

Clearly, 20 years later some (a lot?) of that benefit has been eroded, and maybe we will yet see production moving to other lower cost production areas, but it was a good way at the time of getting out of a cul-de-sac and kick-started us having really good OO models at attractive prices.

[whart57]

I have the move of manufacturing to China in there but personally I don't know the first loco to emerge from that