Older Inspirational Layouts

[Chris M]

In terms of who has done the most to inspire people generally within the hobby I would have to mention Cyril Freezer, even if his layout plans weren’t all that accurate. I have successfully built a layout that used Cyril’s ideas rather than slavishly copying a plan and very enjoyable it was too. The big thing about Cyril’s writing was the enthusiasm that it contained.

Perhaps one of the biggest influences of the 1970s with some excellent layouts was Allan Downes. His “in search of realism” articles certainly inspired me and I think moved the overall quality of modelling forwards. They certainly made me think about how to do things better. It’s not so much about his techniques but

more about his philosophy.

Edited December 24, 2022 by Chris M

[D-A-T]

C J Freezer was my first inspiration but it was Iain Rice in Model Railways with his Tregarrick (Sp?) articles that really ignited my enthusiasm. As a child/teenager the ‘back story’ brought the layout to life. The fact it was being built to finescale standards but was fictitious opened my mind to possibilities that still echo to today as I much prefer a bucolic, ramshackled layout to a mainline one. 

[Pacific231G]

Cyril Freezer was probably mine too. I think his plans were more accurate than many allow but they seem to have been aimed at the sort of trackwork the person building that sort of layout would be likely to use, probably starting from Hornby-Dublo from the developed trainset type plans through Wrenn or Formoway to "standard" 3 ft radius points (in 00) for the more advanced projects. I've generally found that, when I try to reproduce them with something like AnyRail, they do fit the space.

Other infliences have been a fairly eclectic lot ranging from the Rev. P.H.Heath with Llanfair and the Piano Line, through the usual suspects (Pyrke, Charman, Denny, Hancock et al) to a number who've only ever published one layout but that layout has had something that really appealed.

[New Haven Neil]

Thank you gentlemen, for taking things back on track.  As I was catching up I was about to issue an appeal to do so before I asked Andy to lock the thread, but we're back where we should be.

 

@D-A-T Interesting you mentioned Ricey and Tregarrick - exactly back to where I started the thread!

[Not Jeremy]

 No specific layout in this post, but I'd go with the Freezer into Rice continuum.

 

I think Cyril is generally under-rated for his positive influence on our wonderful hobby these days.

 

And it is always a pleasure to meet and talk with Nick at shows up and down the land.

 

Yes, a great influence on the hobby one way and another.

 

RIP to both gentlemen.

[RJS1977]

The fact that there is a 318 page topic on this forum discussing just one of Cyril's many plans shows what an influence he was!

[New Haven Neil]

16 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

The fact that there is a 318 page topic on this forum discussing just one of Cyril's many plans shows what an influence he was!

 

Absolutely - there's not many of us that Minories hasn't touched in one way or another, even if we can't agree how to pronounce it!

 

PS - for me, Min, as in Mini.  Not Mine, as in Minor.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

I always thought the Freezer/Rice plans weren't the be all and end all to be necessarily slavishly copied, but a starting point for an idea to be nurtured.

 

Mike.

[New Haven Neil]

6 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

I always thought the Freezer/Rice plans weren't the be all and end all to be necessarily slavishly copied, but a starting point for an idea to be nurtured.

 

Mike.

 

Yes I agree totally, the inspiration - Riceys books and CJF's plans were the go-to source.  Still are!

[dunwurken]

6 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

 

It's no good telling other people what they should post. If you want to steer a discussion back on-topic you have to do it yourself by posting something on-topic.

 

Here's something half-way on-topic: Who in the hobby has done the most to inspire you?

 

For me I always go back to P. R. Wickham's "A Book of Model Railways" (1949).

 

I got out my time-worn copy to make some scans, and seeing the familiar pages again I spent a happy hour transported over 60 years back in time. Imagine the effect of stuff like this on a boy who thought model railways were what you could see in the Hornby-Dublo catalogue: 🙂

I hope that's got the topic back a little bit.

 

Martin.

Thank you Martin for getting back on topic.  Regrettably I had nothing new to add to the topic hence I resorted to a heartfelt plea.

My apologies if I came over as trying to tell people what to post.  I would never tell anyone what they should or should not post - I thought I was only making a plea to get back on topic and not ruin this excellent thread with a spat about exhibition  insurance.

In case there is any doubt about my inspiration it was P D Hancock.

Malcolm

 

[DLT]

3 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

PS - for me, Min, as in Mini. 

Or as in Minnie Bannister....

[New Haven Neil]

5 minutes ago, DLT said:

Or as in Minnie Bannister....

You have to be a certain age....

[pete_mcfarlane]

Diesel depot layouts were far more interesting to me when they were full of detailed Lima/Mainline/Hornby diesels. You could see what repaints,  detailing or conversion work the owner had done, in the days when 'proper' modern image modelling needed a fair bit of work. 

 

Out of the box Bachmann locos sitting there making noises are a bit boring by comparison. 

[RJS1977]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

You have to be a certain age....

 

Not necessarily - I was born several years after "The Last Goon Show of All".

[St Enodoc]

10 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

 

It's no good telling other people what they should post. If you want to steer a discussion back on-topic you have to do it yourself by posting something on-topic.

 

Here's something half-way on-topic: Who in the hobby has done the most to inspire you?

 

For me I always go back to P. R. Wickham's "A Book of Model Railways" (1949).

 

I got out my time-worn copy to make some scans, and seeing the familiar pages again I spent a happy hour transported over 60 years back in time. Imagine the effect of stuff like this on a boy who thought model railways were what you could see in the Hornby-Dublo catalogue: 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

I hope that's got the topic back a little bit.

 

Martin.

I like the description of the awning glazing!

[jollysmart]

13 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Absolutely - there's not many of us that Minories hasn't touched in one way or another, even if we can't agree how to pronounce it!

 

PS - for me, Min, as in Mini.  Not Mine, as in Minor.

 

I have seen a video which tells the way that the locals pronounce it, min-ories, not minor-ies, if that helps?

I alway pronounced it as min-ories but it was nice to have it confirmed.

[t-b-g]

I may have posted this before but it seems appropriate to use it again today.

 

 

 

[D-A-T]

I think that little Sacre 2-4-0 is my favourite loco on Buckingham.

Merry Christmas All 🥳

[Clive martin]

15 hours ago, pete_mcfarlane said:

Diesel depot layouts were far more interesting to me when they were full of detailed Lima/Mainline/Hornby diesels. You could see what repaints,  detailing or conversion work the owner had done, in the days when 'proper' modern image modelling needed a fair bit of work. 

 

Out of the box Bachmann locos sitting there making noises are a bit boring by comparison. 

 

[Clive martin]

I too remember some great layouts from the early to mid 80s that had some fantastic detailed lima Hornby and mainline diesels, i will have a look through my classic layout files for some of these layouts ,looking back at some of these older layouts has inspired me to start detailing locos again i am working on a fleet of eastanglian rail blue diesels useing the Hornby railroad 31and older Bachmann 37 0s as the base models for this fleet and enjoying every minute of the work i am doing on these models!

[Enterprisingwestern]

3 hours ago, D-A-T said:

I think that little Sacre 2-4-0 is my favourite loco on Buckingham.

Merry Christmas All 🥳

 

It's the wrong colour, all sacres are bleu!

 

Mike.

In Christmas cracker joke mode.

[Clive martin]

Just to get the ball rolling again Re older layouts Carradon Junction model railway constructor june 1987 is a nice example.this layout had a very nice fleet of detailed locos the star for me being a Hornby class 37 that would still look good beside some of todays super detailed rtr models!

[PaulRhB]

Inspiration in the model press was also influential for me, Roy Link’s drawings and coloured 3D plans followed by discovering Iain Rice’s articles. 
 

Early inspirational layouts for me were seeing Rev W Awdry operating this,

I think that may be the start of being interested in operation too. 
 

Ted Polet’s Craigcorrie & Dunalistaire and stock articles in RM also hugely influential because of the full Railway and operation. 
 

Mike Polglaze’s Via Mala for creating extended realities of what if lines :)

 

[BWsTrains]

6 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

 

Early inspirational layouts for me were seeing Rev W Awdry operating this,

 

Fascinating! When was the photo taken?

[PaulRhB]

8 hours ago, BWsTrains said:

 

Fascinating! When was the photo taken?

At this years Warley show thanks to the Talyllyn Rly volunteers. 
More pics and video here