F-UnitMad Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 ...can anyone explain to me why I have suddenly acquired a whole bunch of SNCF coaches plus a French Terminus and overall roof? Pictures later! ummmm..... no!!??!! With that new Qualification, won't it make you a Doctor Dr..?? (cue memories of 1980's Pop group song ) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Ooh, not Mistral or Cisalpino coaches perchance? (cos that's what I would buy ) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNER4479 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 can anyone explain to me why I have suddenly acquired a whole bunch of SNCF coaches plus a French Terminus and overall roof? Mon Dieu! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) The American Pike won't be going anywhere, it's just - and Ian Roundhouse is partly responsible with the wonderful Dobríš - I have a long held desire to build an impressionistic 'French City Terminus'. I decided to start collecting rolling stock off ebay for this, and there is no intention for it to be in anyway an accurate reflection of any actual French railway, more of an homage to the spirit of Andy Hart and Peter Denny, both of whom were influential in my early years starting out on the big model railway adventure. At some distant time, a layout may appear featuring broken nose and short cab electrics towing rakes of Grand Confort, Corail and vert et gris stock. It's pure whimsy on my part, and a bit of light relief from the US pike. Track plan probably based on Paris Bastille.... Purists will wince, but I just find something magically alluring about this: these: and these: I know I'm probably mixing eras, prototypes, etc etc. But it's simply a little exercise in reliving some childhood nostalgia. If at some point a thread appears, it will be called The Rooster has landed.... Edited October 23, 2015 by Dr Gerbil-Fritters 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Oooh Bastille http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/93553-push-pull-coaches-on-the-gare-de-la-bastille-vincennes-line/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Also, I'll just leave this here. Not all French, but the French bits are best 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I love those shark-nose electrics. Characteristically French (well, French speaking, since I'm sure I've seen them on SNCB as well), which made them so much more exotic than yet another 47... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) 'Nez Cassés' or broken noses, exported to Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Korea. Possibly other places? I'm sure I've seen them in North Africa. Edited October 23, 2015 by Dr Gerbil-Fritters 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Apparently that style front end came second in the BR class 60 styling competition. I do like how 60s look (and just 60s generally) but I think I'd like them more if they looked like that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dullsteamer Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I've seen diesel locos with this styling in Morocco. Very flash looking things they were, too. Cheers, Mark. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I like those electrics too, but as the Dutch NS Classes 1600 & 1700. My "Continental Whimsey" would be Dutch; a simple "Minories"-type Terminus, with blue/yellow EMUs, especially the Koploppers and Whalebacks Two things stop me - space, & the cost of European models. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Apparently that style front end came second in the BR class 60 styling competition. I do like how 60s look (and just 60s generally) but I think I'd like them more if they looked like that. (Sorry for thread drift!) Growing up in France, I love the nez casses and used to have quite a few models of them. Anyway, I was surprised recently to find this: http://uxtobirza.free.fr/trains/voir_loco.php?Classe=BB%207003(middle picture) that shows how French loco front ends began to evolve, part way to a class 60? Sort of back OT, after I gave up French models, I went American and all Espee! Cheers, John. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 It might be thread drift & going off topic, but really this interest in EU stuff, revealed in a US-outline thread, shouldn't be surprising should it? Those of us Brits who like US trains have already broken the usual "UK only" insular, blinkered interest of the average British modeller, and so are far more likely to find other railways appealing as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Absolutely! As I already alluded, I lived with my parents in France full time between 1979 and 1983 aged 14 to 18 and occasionally thereafter until their demise, I had some Hornby, Lima & Palitoy British models but was dissatisfied with their running, detailing and foul gauge so I tried the local stuff. At that time, I believe Roco had just started making French outline models but they were well out of my price range so I stuck with Joueff and Lima - imagine my surprise when I discovered that some Lima continental models had decent mechanisms!? As my parents had already dragged me around Europe and Morocco in a camper van, many times, I always took an interest in what railways were visible to me and after I 'grew up' (a bit!) I continued to travel and seek out 'new' railways, how can you not? Just think, those years I spent in France were imho, the 'drabbest' in Britains railway history wheras I had orange, red & silver, mid green and grey, orange & yellow locos of all different styles to look at and that was just the electric locos! And, by the time I went American, you could get a blue box Athearn loco with a good mechanism for around £25 - why not abandon British outline? Cheers, John. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 I'm more than happy for the thread to drift around. I wont be doing much on the pike this winter,and would rather we all chatted about lovely French electrics from the golden age (before the TGV decimated 'proper' inter-city trains. Saying that, I spent an hour in the shed to get away from symbolic transactionism, and noodled around for a bit with the French Terminus, which needs a bit of restoration work over the winter. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 So here it is, according to the "World of Trains" part set that I spent my pocket money on in the early-mid 90s, this is the design which came second (sort of) to the eventually chosen class 60. I like it more than what they did build, though I like that too... "World of Trains" was money well spent, as well - it's what made me realise that there's an awful lot of interesting railway beyond the shores of the British isles; South America and Africa in particularly have some fantastic systems (I love me a Kenyan Garrett) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Kenyan Garretts were, of course, built in Britain As Railways were, arguably, Britain's greatest gift to the world, & the real legacy of Empire, it is all the more strange that most/many UK enthusiasts choose to ignore everything overseas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 I imagine most parts of the old Empire had a lot of British (designed if not built) equipment. I guess it's just a matter of exposure. Don't know how bothered I'd have been if I hadn't had a weekly magazine telling me about steam trains wheezing across Patagonia and modern Scandinavian electrics (as well as a healthy diet of UK trains). At least as worthy of attention as British Rail was. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNER4479 Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 I'm more than happy for the thread to drift around. I wont be doing much on the pike this winter,and would rather we all chatted about lovely French electrics from the golden age (before the TGV decimated 'proper' inter-city trains. Well that's just too much of a temptation! You'll have seen this in my thread earlier in the year - photographed this June at Aix les-Bains. I understand it's sort of preserved but still operational? 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 Good heavens, RMWeb is one of the few sites I actually can access from here behind the bamboo curtain! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 (edited) The “British Chauvinism” thing is really strange. It’s like they think all American freight trains wheeze along at 15 mph on wonky track! Some people are genuinely surprised when I show them films of 1.5mile long double-stacked container trains doing 70 mph across the desert. I suppose it is like Americans who when introduced to me ask if I’m a “Dook?” Are you in North Korea, Dr. G-F??????? Best, Pete. Edited October 29, 2015 by trisonic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 I for one don't think all American trains creep along rickety track... it's just that those are the ones I like the best!!! What is difficult to get across to UK modellers is the sheer size of US trains (as in loading gauge), especially as the model scales don't correspond, so you can't demonstrate the difference with models. Photos of Class 66 locos being pulled to the docks in Canada were eye-openers, as are double-stack container trains, since the UK Loading Gauge is so puny that special wagons with small roller-skate wheels have to be used to carry modern containers (which are now taller than the originals such as Freightliner used to own). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 I for one don't think all American trains creep along rickety track... it's just that those are the ones I like the best!!! Certainly easier, more fun to model! Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNER4479 Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Went across the pond to see for myself last year. Yup - you guys definitely run big trains. And they don't hang about, either. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted October 29, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 29, 2015 There is nothing quite ike seeing these trains in the flesh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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