Wright writes.....

[t-b-g]

Hi Tony (G);

 

First an apology for only seeing this fascinating discussion on this thread today (30 August) when most of it has taken place in February! But, I literately have only come across this while 'surfing' the RM Web in some down-time on a lazy Sunday afternoon here in NZ. I hope Tony W will also forgive me for my rather belated visit to this thread/topic.

 

As you know Tony (G) I have been another admirer of Buckingham for sometime and have had the absolute pleasure of meeting you and visiting Buckingham under your excellent guardianship twice in recent years. Both visits have been a highlight of my modelling hobby time; the operating session we did together last year was a big technical challenge but also so much fun -all at the same time! (and the Kit-Kats helped of course!).

 

The wonderful photos of Tony W a couple of pages back of Grandborough Junction bring back wonderful memories that's for sure. Your response commentary equally enjoyable. So, as many commentators to the topic have acknowledged the significant, inspirational (I would say Everest-like) contribution of Peter Denny and his layout to UK modelling I just felt like adding my own observations and support for the comments expressed in this part of this great thread.

 

People like you Tony (G) and you Tony (W) provide experienced and sensible and comment/observations that we can all learn from. Long may that continue...

 

regards, Andy R

 

Hello Andy and greetings to the other side of the world!

 

Many thanks for the kind words.

 

I still have to pinch myself every time I go into the shed and see the old layout there,. Much work still remains to be done before I can say that all we have left to do is regular maintenance and operating but the layout is already giving us a great deal of pleasure.

 

We are having regular operating sessions twiice a week and each time we do, we keep a list of faults, which I try to deal with before the next session. Only this last couple of weeks I have rebuilt some of the points at Grandborough to remove the worst of the gauge and alignment discrepancies and have managed to alter the loco that ran the wrong way and given it a cosmetic make over, as the original lettering had completely gone and the black paint was through to bare metal through 50 plus years of wear.

 

So ex WM & CQ No 401 is now identifiable again by the number on the bunker and is no longer known as "That backwards one".

 

The running is getting better and better and we can have a two or three hour session now with barely a fault to record or attend to.

 

I was thinking about the impact the layout has had over the years the other day. Somebody asked me if I had any regrets about taking it on and asked me if I had a choice of looking after and operating any model railway that had ever been built, what would it be.

 

My answer was easy. No regrets and I wouldn't swap Buckingham for anything!

 

Cheers,

 

Tony

[AndyID]

It is wonderful to me that so many modellers have managed to keep models made 50 years (or longer) ago.  Because of my work travels only a few pieces managed to survive the shipping and the remainder are gone, lost for ever.  Even those that survived need lots of TLC to recover from the vagaries of travel.  Looking back my personal effects made some interesting journeys in containers far from where I have ever been - one shipment from London to Singapore in 1978 went via the Trans Siberian Railway.

 

Probably not a World record, but I built a layout in a 9' x 7' garden shed in Prestwick, moved shed and layout to Paisley. Moved layout (it was in four sections) to Arizona. Moved layout to basement in New Jersey. Decided it was too small for the basement, so I scrapped it (might have been a mistake!)

 

If I had not scrapped it, it might have gone from New Jersey to Idaho, then to California and eventually back to Idaho.

[Andy R]

Tony G; thanks for your reply so early in your morning.

 

Glad to see you are getting good operation sessions with the layout improving with age... (like a good NZ wine) and through your systematic, careful tweaking and maintenance. It sounds like it has now got to the point of you guys having fun...which is satisfying.

 

We will be back in England next June but I don't think I am able to pop up to play in the shed this time...shame.

 

Will keep in touch.

 

Tony W -I trust I am not 'derailing' your fine thread.

 

Regards, Andy R

[t-b-g]

Tony G; thanks for your reply so early in your morning.

 

Glad to see you are getting good operation sessions with the layout improving with age... (like a good NZ wine) and through your systematic, careful tweaking and maintenance. It sounds like it has now got to the point of you guys having fun...which is satisfying.

 

We will be back in England next June but I don't think I am able to pop up to play in the shed this time...shame.

 

Will keep in touch.

 

Tony W -I trust I am not 'derailing' your fine thread.

 

Regards, Andy R

 

We certainly are having fun. Which is what it is all supposed to be about after all. An operating session on Buckingham is, for me, about as good as this hobby gets.

 

There is plenty of time for you to re-arrange your visit to give you a spare day......

 

Cheers,

 

Tony

[coachmann]

Needing just a couple more Staniers to complete the sets for the M&GNR section, I acquired a pair of ex-Arfix/Dapol ones at Pickering last weekend for a very low price. Granted, these aren't all that good, but by changing the wheels, making sure the roofs were seated properly and adding some weathering, they pass (not too close) muster as 'layout coaches'. Eventually, they'll be donors for Comet sides, but for now the armoured sides will have to do. Work in progress, I think it's called. 

I am slightly intrigued by the fact that a man who builds locomotives doesn't build coaches. Adding etched brass sides to those old Airfix coaches does not end there when the underframe is also in need of a complete rebuild. Using Hornby Gresley donors is a different kettle of fish because of the domed roofs, plus they keep weight down. 

Edited August 30, 2015 by coachmann

[Tony Wright]

Tony G; thanks for your reply so early in your morning.

 

Glad to see you are getting good operation sessions with the layout improving with age... (like a good NZ wine) and through your systematic, careful tweaking and maintenance. It sounds like it has now got to the point of you guys having fun...which is satisfying.

 

We will be back in England next June but I don't think I am able to pop up to play in the shed this time...shame.

 

Will keep in touch.

 

Tony W -I trust I am not 'derailing' your fine thread.

 

Regards, Andy R

Andy,

 

In no way are you derailing this thread - quite the opposite.

 

If I could have the slightest influence in this wonderful hobby, it would be to encourage folk to make things for themselves. Yes, I know we've been here before and there are all the usual excuses, but, above all else, railway modelling is a creative hobby - personally in my view.

 

Who, then, could be more personally-creative than Peter Denny? I'm delighted that Tony has taken on Buckingham and is lovingly 'keeping it going' in a most-sensitive way. He's keeping Peter's modelling spirit alive in a way, lest no one forget just what a contribution to the hobby this modest country parson made. 

 

I've included some general shots below, taken when the layout was in Truro. Included, are Peter's workbench, loading and unloading operations and the Automatic Crispin. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At a time in the hobby when it appears (at least to me) that there is more and more reliance on what the out-of-the-box trade has to offer (though this is rarely right - too expensive, the wrong choice, etc, etc.), the work of pioneers like Peter Denny, and those who continue in the same spirit of modelling like Tony Gee are to be commended. 

 

As for good running, that's something I always aspire to, or try to. On Friday evening, younger members of the Spalding MRC ran Little Bytham - very well. The weak link, as always, was me. 

 

When you're next in the UK, why not combine a visit to Buckingham with one to LB. They're less than an hour apart. 

Edited August 30, 2015 by Tony Wright

[Tony Wright]

I am slightly intrigued by the fact that a man who builds locomotives doesn't build coaches. Adding etched brass sides to those old Airfix coaches does not end there when the underframe is also in need of a complete rebuild. Using Hornby Gresley donors is a different kettle of fish because of the domed roofs, plus they keep weight down. 

I think you're being slightly disingenuous there Larry, with respect.

 

Doesn't build coaches? Having built over one hundred from kits - BSL/PC/Phoenix/Southern Pride/Kirk/Mailcoach/MJT/D&S/Comet/Roxey/others and modified/altered countless more, may I not be 'excused' the odd 'work in progress' abominations? I don't have the resources to commission high-quality work from others (apart from the occasional out-sourcing of loco painting), so build (almost) all the locos and passenger rolling stock myself. I have acquired some of Tony Geary's splendid vehicles, but since there are over 250 carriages required to make up all the main line sets, the M&GNR bit (which only needs 30 carriages) has been rather neglected. 

 

I realise the underframe detail on those old Airfix vehicles is also sadly lacking in accuracy (though I have fitted a dynamo and representation of the brake gear - something I neglected to mention), but, as I say, it's work in progress. Even after subsequently adding Comet sides and a reworking of the underfame, will they still be wrong? 

Edited August 30, 2015 by Tony Wright

[St Enodoc]

Andy,

 

In no way are you derailing this thread - quite the opposite.

 

If I could have the slightest influence in this wonderful hobby, it would be to encourage folk to make things for themselves. Yes, I know we've been here before and there are all the usual excuses, but, above all else, railway modelling is a creative hobby - personally in my view.

 

Who, then, could be more personally-creative than Peter Denny? I'm delighted that Tony has taken on Buckingham and is lovingly 'keeping it going' in a most-sensitive way. He's keeping Peter's modelling spirit alive in a way, lest no one forget just what a contribution to the hobby this modest country parson made. 

 

I've included some general shots below, taken when the layout was in Truro. Included, are Peter's workbench, loading and unloading operations and the Automatic Crispin. 

 

Buckingham D.jpg

 

Buckingham E.jpg

 

Buckingham F.jpg

 

Buckingham H.jpg

 

Buckingham I.jpg

 

Buckingham J.jpg

 

Buckingham K.jpg

 

Buckingham N.jpg

 

Buckingham O.jpg

 

Buckingham P.jpg

 

At a time in the hobby when it appears (at least to me) that there is more and more reliance on what the out-of-the-box trade has to offer (though this is rarely right - too expensive, the wrong choice, etc, etc.), the work of pioneers like Peter Denny, and those who continue in the same spirit of modelling like Tony Gee are to be commended. 

 

As for good running, that's something I always aspire to, or try to. On Friday evening, younger members of the Spalding MRC ran Little Bytham - very well. The weak link, as always, was me. 

 

When you're next in the UK, why not combine a visit to Buckingham with one to LB. They're less than an hour apart. 

Tony, thanks for posting those photos. It is fascinating to see what is outside the frame, so to speak, and to see how the whole layout fitted into the room that used to be its home. The arrangement of the controls and the high backscenes are especially interesting. I've never seen a photo of the AC before - quite remarkable not only in its own right but also for how it was squeezed into the space on the shelf. And was that genuine Fluxite on the workbench? I'm down to my last tin and haven't found anything quite as good to replace it yet.

[coachmann]

I think you're being slightly disingenuous there Larry, with respect.

 

Doesn't build coaches? Having built over one hundred from kits - BSL/PC/Phoenix/Southern Pride/Kirk/Mailcoach/MJT/D&S/Comet/Roxey/others and modified/altered countless more, may I not be 'excused' the odd 'work in progress' abominations? I don't have the resources to commission high-quality work from others (apart from the occasional out-sourcing of loco painting), so build (almost) all the locos and passenger rolling stock myself. I have acquired some of Tony Geary's splendid vehicles, but since there are over 250 carriages required to make up all the main line sets, the M&GNR bit (which only needs 30 carriages) has been rather neglected. 

 

I realise the underframe detail on those old Airfix vehicles is also sadly lacking in accuracy (though I have fitted a dynamo and representation of the brake gear - something I neglected to mention), but, as I say, it's work in progress. Even after subsequently adding Comet sides and a reworking of the underfame, will they still be wrong? 

I dropped myself right in it the there. Apologies, as I had overlooked your previous coach building this early on a Sunday morning. Knowing that moulded handrails are anathema on locos but coaches are only 'layout coaches', I'm best keeping out of this one.  

[APOLLO]

Peter Denny's Buckingham layouts had a great influence on me back in the 60's. I still have the Railway Modeller mag (around 1964 ?) which was devoted to his layout. The intrigue for me was his gas works, how he wrapped card round one of his wife's cooking pans (2 of em - one a bit smaller than the other) laminated to make a gas holder. I duly tried this and got a clout round the ear for evo-sticking up mothers best pans !!

 

Gas works !! Wonderful places, my first day of work was at Wigan gas works in 1969, nearly getting run over by a small diesel shunter, just before the coal gas plant was closed.

 

Glad to know his layout is in safe hands.

 

Edited to add - Just remembered, In that mag above was a series of articles written by peter. How he built  the Gasworks, Buckingham Signalbox and portable work bench. These articles are also in his book "Peter Denny's Buckingham Branchlines Part 1" published by Wild Swan. Both Pt 1 & Pt 2 are excellent books. Peter also wrote about the smoked brick paper he used in his gas works buildings ,  I've forgot the make, but he searched high and low for the last remaining sheets back in the 60's. (Was it erg ?). Smoky brick paper, can anyone recommend one (to buy, not download).

 

Brit15

Edited August 30, 2015 by APOLLO

[Allegheny1600]

Hi Tony W,

A mere "like" cannot suffice for those wonderful photos of Buckingham so thank you, very much indeed!

I think I have only seen black & white photos previously and I do find your colour ones give the layout a freshness that is appreciated. What really gets me is knowing that everything is handmade - everything!!!

The Automatic Crispin, what a testament to an incredibly inventive mind, I love the story of how it came to be.

Great job, Tony G. for being the layouts caretaker, rescuer, giver of new life.

Someone once said to me, we don't own these models, we just take care of them for a while - that's all I mean by caretaker by the way.

Cheers,

John E.

[Tony Wright]

I dropped myself right in it the there. Apologies, as I had overlooked your previous coach building this early on a Sunday morning. Knowing that moulded handrails are anathema on locos but coaches are only 'layout coaches', I'm best keeping out of this one.  

Please, Larry, don't keep out of anything. My locos are just as much 'layout locos' as are my carriages 'layout carriages'. Neither is an example of a glass-case model!

 

In a way you've hit on a very pertinent point - how loco-centric this hobby is. Some little time ago I observed a quite magnificent Pickersgill 4-6-0 (in live steam). I've rarely seen such exceptional modelling. But, its train - any old thing the operators could put their hands on. Admittedly, this was in the larger scales, where model engineering is more to the fore, but it's also to be seen on several OO layouts as well. Beautiful, hand-made motive power, with not the slightest attention to what it's pulling.

 

Keep up the good work! 

[Tony Wright]

Hi Tony W,

A mere "like" cannot suffice for those wonderful photos of Buckingham so thank you, very much indeed!

I think I have only seen black & white photos previously and I do find your colour ones give the layout a freshness that is appreciated. What really gets me is knowing that everything is handmade - everything!!!

The Automatic Crispin, what a testament to an incredibly inventive mind, I love the story of how it came to be.

Great job, Tony G. for being the layouts caretaker, rescuer, giver of new life.

Someone once said to me, we don't own these models, we just take care of them for a while - that's all I mean by caretaker by the way.

Cheers,

John E.

Thanks John,

 

Your comments about those pictures are really too kind. They were taken, hand held, with bounced flash off the ceiling (you can see slight shadows around things like the lamp shades). The proper ones, for the magazine, were lit with photo-floods - I'll post some more in due course. These were really only 'record' shots, but they do show the layout in its Cornish environment - a room built on to the back of Peter's semi in Truro. Not big, but full of atmosphere! 

[jrg1]

Is it possible to start a separate thread for Buckingham?  The photographs are incredible.

[salmonpastures]

Is it possible to start a separate thread for Buckingham?  The photographs are incredible.

What a great idea,,, I also found Tony W's colour shots of Buckingham very interesting to say the least.

His workbench is of particular interest.

The fact that Tony G is now lovingly restoring it is surely an indication of how important Peter Denny's work is to the whole hobby.

I know I am biased as a GCR fan but some layouts are quite simply "special".

What Denny was doing 60 odd years ago will still be relevant to the hobby for a long time after we are all gone.

An archive of "special" layouts would benchmark what is possible without relying on the next release from China.

 

Power to you Tony G,,, I am sure Divine Inspiration will flow your way on many occasions.

 

SAD   

[Focalplane]

I too remember those Buckingham articles in the magazines and books from way back. I have one book in my Library at my French residence with a colour photo of Buckingham - the encyclopedia of Model Railways I think it is called.

 

But what strikes me is not so much the quality of Peter Denny's work but the reverence with which people wrote at the time, as though it was indeed going to be the watershed layout all the way to today's out of the box easy options. The layout which many of us do think of as a hallmark of the pastime.

 

It's great to know the layout is in good hands. And writing for myself, I have no problem in Buckingham being discussed here, among its friends and protégés. But Tony W is the one to decide!

Edited August 30, 2015 by Focalplane

[Chimer]

Despite the title, there's a lot about Buckingham in this thread .......

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/80479-a-borchester-market-layout-appreciation-topic/

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

As a Buckingham fan from being a small lad reading my uncle's RM articles about it in the 60's, I SO enjoyed those photos.  Colour versions of the ones imprinted in my mind.

 

What strikes me is that it is a bit crammed in, in the old style, and I don't care a jot - it looks magnificent, and invites me in to look and to want to run it, and isn't that what it's all about?  Seldom have I been taken to drooling over something so much these days.

 

Thanks Tony!  You have lit a fire....

[manna]

G'day Gents

 

As GOOD as Buckingham is, there's another BR(E) that always caught my eye and that was Bert Collins, 'Hitchin' (without, Cambridge Junction) but the rest of it was there, including the loco and the line to Bedford, Love it.

 

manna

[Barry O]

Tony

You make a very valid point. People seem possessed by locomotives and less well versed in the stock which runs behind it.

 

Grantham is fortunate to have some very knowledgeable stock providers who also know about the way the trains were formed. This does mean the layout is shown as a complete story.

 

IOn the other hand I watched a layout at a show last year. Djh 9f with the cylinders pulled into the right place followed by 4 TTA oil tankers an unfitted brake, some mineral wagons and then three Tate and Lyle vans. NiceNice loco shame about the train!

 

Baz

[St Enodoc]

Tony

You make a very valid point. People seem possessed by locomotives and less well versed in the stock which runs behind it.

 

Grantham is fortunate to have some very knowledgeable stock providers who also know about the way the trains were formed. This does mean the layout is shown as a complete story.

 

IOn the other hand I watched a layout at a show last year. Djh 9f with the cylinders pulled into the right place followed by 4 TTA oil tankers an unfitted brake, some mineral wagons and then three Tate and Lyle vans. NiceNice loco shame about the train!

 

Baz

Possessed or obsessed?????

[Barry O]

Possessed as they seem to be driven to buy them.:-)

Baz

[davefrk]

IOn the other hand I watched a layout at a show last year. Djh 9f with the cylinders pulled into the right place followed by 4 TTA oil tankers an unfitted brake, some mineral wagons and then three Tate and Lyle vans. NiceNice loco shame about the train!

 

Baz

 

 Why can't we have a button for 'unbelievable'.

 

Some other crackers seen recently.

There was a poster for a large model railway show a couple of years back and the big picture was of a station with a BR loco with Southern coaches but in the yard were a whole string of pristine PO coal wagons and three BR vent vans exactly the same but with box style numbers. Did this make the exhibition attractive to punters, maybe but not to modellers.

An exhibition guide with a photo beside a layout description, the photo was of an obviously Tri-ang Caley single hauling one Gresley teak coach and that wasn't even a brake.

Or how about a blue Class 25 with a nicely made up train of Mark 1s complete with brake 3rd and tail lamp...... all in blood/custard. a special perhaps?

 

We need an unbelievable button...

 

Dave Franks

[Tony Wright]

G'day Gents

 

As GOOD as Buckingham is, there's another BR(E) that always caught my eye and that was Bert Collins, 'Hitchin' (without, Cambridge Junction) but the rest of it was there, including the loco and the line to Bedford, Love it.

 

manna

Hitchin was one of the layouts which most inspired me as I was 'learning the craft' so to speak. Bert Collins was a professional railwayman and really knew his stuff. Like Peter Denny, he was self-reliant and made just about everything himself (with the occasional RTR modification).

 

It's been my privilege down the years to photograph the work of several of these 'pioneers' - those who provide real inspiration by the craftsmanship of their own hands.

 

 

 

 

 

Why it should be that the ER main line should provide the incentive to build far more depictions of it than any other, I don't know. There are nowhere near as many layouts representing the WCML, SR main line to the West and either of the GWR main lines westwards or to the West Midlands. 

 

Another ECML belter was Biggleswade. Built by a group on Teeside; again all their own work and much the better for it. It was my privilege to have some of my locos run as guests. 

 

 

 

 

 

When I look back at the likes of the work I've recently illustrated, it's a most humbling experience. All these guys have been entirely self-reliant - they've made things for themselves, by themselves, amongst themselves, and to a very high standard. They're what I call real railway modellers. I've had to rely a great deal more on the work of others. 

 

I've been asked to prepare a synopsis for a book on 'Modelling The LNER/Eastern/NE/ScR'. I've certainly got plenty of material! 

[stewartingram]

Having a stack of magazines -mainly the big 3 back to around 1960, but some copies back to the 1948 era, I cannot recall hitchin. Was it ever featured in the mags?

 

Stewart