Not Jeremy

That picture is just garden railway heaven - deep joy! Still bashing away at mine, mainly gardening at the moment.. Simon

A great day, thank you to Stu, Graham, Phil and all the other organisers/participants/visitors. Neil's shirt lived up to everyone's garish expectations, I had lots of cameo conversations and enjoyed meeting 2manyspams Chris for the first time - up the Southern! And I was also lucky enough to come away with a really nice turquoise-ish ballpoint pen with a really interesting website on it. I hadn't realised I needed one but thankfully Kim was there to help me. Great layouts in abundant evidence, and it was an absolute privilege to meet Lord and Lady Spokeshave too...... Simon

Excellent, I look forward to receiving your update! Simon, busy doing Cameo administration....

IMORTANT UPDATE I haven't heard from a number of you who look as if you are still in, if you have not already done so then please respond as requested ASAP in order to remain in the competition! Simon Castens Creating Cameos Competition Judges Iain Rice, Chris Nevard, Gordon Gravett 26th April 2018 Dear Cameoteers Thank you very much for taking part in the Creating Cameos competition, we hope you are enjoying planning and building your models. We had a very healthy response covering a wide range of scales and ideas, and we have been impressed with the imagination and ingenuity of all entries. Thank you very much to everyone who has joined in, whether you are still “in” or not. We are sure that the idea of cameo layouts will go beyond the end of the competition and that further projects and models will result in the future, so thank you all again for your participation. The judges are getting together to consider entries and start shortlisting towards the end of May 2018. Following this process there will be further consideration of shortlisted entries in advance of a final selection. This will lead to the final display of entries at the “Railex” show at Stoke Mandeville stadium in May of 2019. We already know of some entries that have withdrawn and of course quite a few of you are documenting your building and experiences online through the RMweb and Western Thunder forums. In order to move on to the next stage in the competition please could you now contact us with a statement of how you are getting on with your entry, specifically: 1.) Are you still “in” and the final name of your entry and its scale. 2.) Summary statement of what your entry is; prototype, inspiration, the thinking behind it, any noteworthy features. 2.) Projected completion date of your entry. 3.) Current state of completion, expressed as a “percentage of completion” together with any notes or comments you wish to make. 4.) Evidence of progress so far, include pictures, sketches and a plan of the finished cameo, to include fiddle sidings, yards and any other protuberances. If you are documenting your build online, then feel free to provide the URL or location of the pictures of your progress rather than sending them directly in response to this letter. 5.) Anything else you’d like to say about your entry or the competition. 6.) Confirmation of your preferred/contact email address. Please could everyone respond to this letter by the end of Sunday 20th May. Please note that response to this letter will be a condition of continued participation in the “formal” aspect of the competition. Please respond by email to cameocomp@wildswanbooks.co.uk or by post to Cameo Competition, 3A Upper Lambridge Street, Bath, BA1 6RY. Thank you very much for your participation and we look forward to hearing from you! Simon Castens For and on behalf of Iain Rice, Gordon Gravett and Chris Nevard

"The thoughts of Mrs Trellis" might have made quite a jolly compendium suggestion earlier today,,,,

Another huge thank you and vote of confidence for Steve and Railtec from here in Bath. I recently decided some bogie bolsters would look a whole lot better with appropriate lettering and Steve really came up trumps. The service and communications were way beyond my expectations and the transfers themselves are superb. I am currently hatching some more lettering opportunities..... Thank you very much Steve! Simon

Very sad news, thank you for letting us know. I really enjoyed John's articles in the first issues of Model Railway News that I bought back in the late 60s, and it was a source of great pleasure for me to find him contributing on RMweb all these years later. As others have noted he had a really good eye for a model railway, one of our hobby's "greats" I think. RIP John Simon

Many thanks for the encouragement, I'm still chipping away at it. I'm finding some quite good "people stories" for the book, here's a snap of John Gregson outside the hotel he stayed in during the filming. Simon

Tim, I think you really are selling yourself short when you say None of us (well there might be a very few) are good at everything, so in the context of yourself and Mark I might observe that you have created some beautiful and completed model railways, which objective I think I am right in saying Mark is still working towards (Chagford Road excepted, which I liked a lot) And actually it was you I had in mind when I was thinking about what Mark had said, in terms of doggedly sticking at things and getting better at it. I mean, Chunky Halt to your beautiful Kemilway/Airfix 4MT in how many years? Apologies to people who don't know your modelling history, Chunky Halt is an obscure reference to the 1970s and the joys of 2"X1" timber, Resin W and Superquick brickpaper. Which reminds me, I have some coupling hooks to make out of etch waste once I have peeled the potatoes... Simon

Mark Thank you very much for taking the trouble to talk us through your journey. Article or not, you have just treated us to what is quite possibly the most erudite, balanced and interesting post that anyone has ever made (or ever will make) on an RMweb MRJ thread. For which I thank you very much. For what it's worth, I suspect it is the not giving up, throwing away and starting again and thinking through alternative possibilities that have got you to where you are now in modelling terms, rather than having something that others of us do not. I can think of several other friends and modellers who have achieved much with this sort of approach, which is what I am trying to do in my bumbling journey through the world of small trains. Thank you again for taking the time to set out your thoughts and sharing them with us all. Simon

I can tell you that the price of this book will be £42.50. It has been delayed by the Society continuing to make changes to what was a "final text". I believe I will shortly have a final proof to check. I am not going to hurry this as it is a complex book which I really do not wish to get wrong, it is therefore difficult at this stage to commit to a date. The book is definitely happening though and I hope people will consider all the effort, expense and, frankly, grief to have been worthwhile. Simon

Knuckles You have confused scale and track standards. They are completely independent of each other, you can use standard standards in 1/32 scale and equally Finescale or even ScaleOne32 in 10mm scale. Also, why do you insist on trying to quote 1/32 or 3/8th scale in terms of mm to the foot, it makes no sense at all! Simon

There will not yet have been any sightings, but it is up at Amadeus and delivery is expected very soon, I think. The editor is Gerry Beale and the magazine has a distinctly amphibian flavour, I believe. Simon

Just to prove my little point about buying cheap off markets today I bought the Jan 2018 Model Rail and the Nov Irwell Press branchlines for a £1 each unmarked as new. I could have also bought similar aged Modern Railways and Narrow gauge world if so desired. Why buy new when the publishers are eager to make something rather than pulp unsold stock ? B@LL@CKS The publishers are without exception NOT eager to make something rather than pulp stock by selling magazines cheaply, as you put it. They want a proper return on their efforts which is achieved by decent folk purchasing their products when they come out at their proper prices from news stands and shops. Without this happening all magazines will/would cease to exist. ​You will be getting your "wonderfully cheap" copies from some idiot who thinks he is being clever by selling out of date copies cheaply, all he is doing is stopping people buying the magazines when they come out, as you so very well illustrate in your misinformed post. (It might be a she but I doubt it, only us blokes can be so utterly feckless and gormless) I am heartily sick of so many ill informed folk expecting "everything for nothing" whilst still happily complaining about everything. Jeremy

There is also Martin Nield's Authentic Model Railway Operation from Wild Swan: http://titfield.co.uk/Book-shelves/Books-A4-det.htm#4739

No frogs or llamas in this book, might be a toad or two though... Photographed on the branch before filming started. Simon

Thanks for that Tim. It's true, I'm finally getting the book together using all the wonderful pictures and snippets of information I have been given over the last quarter of a Century. That picture doesn't show the two bereted blokes I'm trying to get names for very clearly though, here's a better picture of one of them: I'm going to see Colin Maggs next week to talk about his interest and involvement in the filming. Simon

What wonderful symmetry, MRJ has Mrs Trellis and MRJ threads have their very own "little ray of sunshine". God bless 'em both! Jeremy

Well quite, although I'm considering Barmouth North Mid Wales myself The text does stretch out to Bala Junction, and Peter did "do" Barmouth but not in this book. A second more northern Wales volume perhaps - we could put a nice picture of Severn Tunnel Junction on the front!! Simon

Available now, Peter Barnfield's memories of travelling around South and Mid Wales on mostly lost railway lines. Illustrated with his own superb photographs, routes covered include the Central and Mid Wales lines, the Brecon and Merthyr, Welshpool and Llanfair and others. ISBN 9781912038695 112 pages softback £14.95 There is no poetry in this book(!) but the text includes a charming introduction from Peter's wife Ginny, who many of you will have met, together with Peter's evocative writing which includes some amusing stories. Available direct http://titfield.co.uk/Wild-Swan/Reference.htm or from any good bookseller. Simon Castens

Now Available, a super photographic record of Aberllefenni Quarry and its narrow gauge railway operation in the hot summer of 1976. ISBN9781912038701 64 pages softback £12.95 Beautifully printed, the images are truly stunning and heavily feature the narrow gauge operations from the quarry down to the cutting shed in the village, the route, track, rolling stock and motive power - which was a tractor! And it features some poetry too.... Available direct http://titfield.co.uk/Wild-Swan/Reference.htm or from any good bookseller. Simon Castens

Quite so, I don't think that we (iain and I) have suggested that they are have we? I do think that the description in the context that Iain has used it is interesting and that it potentially defines/sets out a certain approach to building a model railway. Competition apart I found the book inspiring and thought provoking and it has got me thinking about potential projects. I don't buy the pretentious angle though. Simon

Fancy that Colin - aren't some people just incredibly ungrateful?! Really, I'm surprised you are still being so very generous, you really are the gift that just keeps on giving and giving and giving

Not in the same league as those wonderful HSTs, but possibly somewhere on a siding out on the Withered Arm? Here's to another year of railway modelling and RMweb - Cheers! Simon