t-b-g

I find that there are really two types of modellers. Those who really "get" operating and those who don't. When a good operator is really "in the zone" and running a layout well, it is a joy to watch. I see operating as being like many other model railway skills. It is as much a skill to develop and master as soldering, weathering, or painting and lining. You can take the trouble to learn how to really get the best out of the layout you are running or you can just be satisfied that something is running. It isn't really that difficult but it is all about getting those little pauses right between changes of direction, along with trying to make the loco move as if it is many tons of metal, rather than a toy.

There comes a time when model railways can diverge from true prototype practice and be better for it. Victoria Park is really too small for a prototype which would have a pilot loco ready to release a train loco. You do get small real terminus stations without a run round. Eyemouth comes to mind. That was shunted using gravity so only the train loco was needed. I don't see anything wrong with using a bit of modelling license to create a small layout with more operational potential than the prototype equivalent may have had. If you have room for a small layout with only three points and can make it less prototypical but interesting to operate or more prototypical and dull to operate, give me interesting every time.

Without checking dates I can't be 100% certain but the locos on Buckingham have been in regular use for up to 77 years and I think they have probably all been in service longer than the real life ones. Even the ones with long lives on the GCR, like the N5s and J11s, lasted around 65 years maximum.

A few years ago, I had an opportunity to visit the real Dunkirk. At low tide, seeing the wrecks of the vessels still there in the sand all these years later and knowing we were standing in the place where so many died was very moving. It is such a serene, peaceful place now and there are a few good places to visit, which have been made into museums. Well worth a visit if anybody is interested in such things.

What you do get in ballasting is a slight variation in the colour of the stones. There may be exceptions but even a load of stone from the same quarry won't necessarily be exactly the same colour. When I do ballasting nowadays, I either use a ballast that has that variation or make my own by mixing one or more different ballast colours. You also get dark and light areas, which you can see in your photo. The area in the 4ft and between the tracks ahead of the loco is a bit darker than around the slow lines. Commercial ballasts often have too even a colour and too even a shape and size and it can take a bit of work to make them more natural looking with a bit of mixing. So having a degree of variation in the colours of the stones and in the overall shade of the ballast in different areas can add a good degree of realism. Edit to add a snap to illustrate my latest efforts. This is supposed to be grotty ash ballast in a terminus rather than a high speed main line.

I had the great pleasure of visiting Lime Street at its home base a while ago, with a couple of friends. I many respects, I got much more out of that visit than I did seeing the layout in that environment than I did seeing it at shows. There is so much superb modelling that I was able to appreciate and enjoy "close up" that you just can't see at normal exhibition viewing distances. We were there for a few hours and the layout wasn't even fired up and running but it didn't matter. There is just so much to enjoy just looking at it as a static model and chatting about the techniques and methods used to create it.

Most of my buildings are from plasticard. In this case, it is embossed brick on a thicker shell. The brickwork is Slater's embossed English Bond, which is correct for many railway companies, including the LD&ECR. I don't know whereabouts in the world you are but I will be doing a demo on building construction at EXPO EM in May, at Bracknell. I will have the buildings with me and I will be demonstrating my construction methods. Regards Tony

I agree entirely Jol and I have seen and heard similar things. The best demonstrators get that balance just right. You need to be able to spot the right person to open up a dialogue with. You also need to be showing methods that encourage people to have a go when they get home, rather than "look how clever I am" techniques that are so complex you have to be a well practised expert to get them to work. Some of my favourites are simple tips like making a nice tiled roof for a building, or doing the glazing bars on a window. Another is showing people just how quick and easy it can be to file up rails to make a crossing nose or a blade. Such things can make the difference between somebody having a go at making buildings or points or never trying. It is immensely satisfying if you see the same person a while later and they are now confident at carrying out the work. That has happened more than once to me. I never have any delusions about actually completing much modelling at such a show. The best I do is to come away with a few filed up bits of rail, if I haven't given them away. I really enjoy doing demos but it took me several years to learn how to do it in a way that I think suits the situation of an exhibition. It is a skill that needs to be developed and honed, like so many others. My next trip out will be at EXPO EM in May, where I will be doing a demo on making buildings.

I have told this tale on RMWeb before but many years ago, I was at a show in Doncaster with a layout. A mum and dad were looking on with a girl, probably around 8 or 9 years of age. The girl piped up with "My grandad drove the Mallard". I said that I knew the names of some of the people who had driven Mallard and if she told me her grandad's name, I might have heard of him. "Joe Duddington" was the answer. So especially around the right parts of the country, I never treated such claims as suspicious again!

As a regular Demo stand volunteer at shows, although I have cut back to just a couple of shows in the last few years, the idea that you should proactively approach everybody walking by is a bit of a non starter. It comes across as a bit desperate and pushy to me. My approach is to be doing "something" practical but to keep an eye out and spot anybody pausing or showing a bit of interest. Then a "Morning/Afternoon. Are you interested in xyz?" is a good opener. Having a few part built and finished models on show, to show the various stages of the work, perhaps with a visual display such as some photos or a laptop with a video draws people in too. Just sitting at a desk with some leaflets may be a nice easy weekend for the people behind the desk but it doesn't add much to the show.

I have a vague recollection of seeing a photo of an 08 with a shunter's truck attached to it at Doncaster. The wagon type was different as it was a former brake van chassis, which still had the concrete blocks on the ends. It is ages since I saw the photo and I can't remember where I saw it but you needn't feel that it is totally wrong to have an 08 with a shunter's wagon/match truck attached.

That is looking very promising. You have really captured the layout of the station nicely.

As if! You must have been tucked away in a corner somewhere as I went round all the different floors and levels and still missed you. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Tony

Back home from a super day out at the show. Lots of chatting and catching up and some lovely layouts. I managed to miss Trerice completely and remembered that I wanted to look it up when I was half way home. Sorry Jerry!

Yes, the Automatic Crispin survives. In a non working condition. It may stay that way or one day I may try to get it up and running. Having operated Buckingham for over 10 years without it, I don't see it as necessary or even desirable but it would perhaps be nice to be able to demonstrate it to people who come to see the layout. It was developed to work the fiddle yard when Peter found himself without other operators and he wasn't keen on sending trains to himself using block bells and instruments. So it became a second "virtual" operator. It ran the fiddle yard, receiving and sending bell codes and setting the correct points in the fiddle yard. This was based on the clock, which drove an acetate roll with the timetable on it, with brass wipers making contacts through holes cut in the acetate. We find that the timetable has places where trains have to be run at faster than scale speeds to keep up with the clock and other places where there are long gaps between trains. I could put a speed controlled motor in the clock but we find it more relaxing and enjoyable to work the timetable as a sequence, allowing other operators adequate time for all the shunting moves. The idea of an automated layout with a series of trains following each other around a circuit is my idea of model railway operating hell! I appreciate that some folk are happy to build a layout and just watch trains run round but that would bore me silly.