fezza

Mine was a loop on a 6x4 with a brown stone Hornby main station building and goods shed on one side and a Wills Halt on the other. Between were goods sidings shaded by toffee stick trees. There was also a platelayers hut from Airfix and a Peco? fogman with brazier. Locos included Nellie, a Mainline Royal Scot and a J72. Great days. I adored that layout and more than 30 years later I doubt I'll ever build anything that was as much fun. When I was about 14 I decided to be more 'professional' and build an end to end GWR BLT. It never really worked and I lost interest. Even now I prefer ovals...

Anyone seen these yet? Dapol Facebook says they were due to go to retailers at the end of February. Its 1st March tomorrow...

One final picture showing a huge ginning plant in the background. I would like to find out more about how these railways were financed - I suspect major ginners and traders like Carver Brothers were involved... The ELDR and FLR seem to have been largely British owned by the 1920s. It is also possible that some independent lines also existed. One recent book by a plantation owner talks of Deaucaville lines in the Delta in the 1930s - an odd term given the EDLR seems to have controlled the known Delta lines by then.

Another one from Calthrop - useful for modellers wanting to understand how cotton was compacted for transport. My guess is Egypt but I can't be certain...

A rural scene - the fez suggests Egypt and the open expanse suggests the Fayoum.

Yes I suspect much of it would still be relevant today. You still see irrigation schemes like this today in the Delta and Fayoum. Manual labour, strip farming and mules are still present too in some places. It's just a shame the trains are now subsidised Toyota Trucks... The Fayoum is still a great place to visit. Maybe one day someone will build a narrow gauge railway as a tourist attraction. The place still gets a lot of domestic tourism being so close to Cairo.

One more - if you modelled it people would say you could never load narrow gauge vehicles like this... Without overbridges, loading gauges were generous!

Yes - here's another scan - a rather overloaded vehicle. Try getting this to run in 009 around 9 inch radius curves...

An atmospheric view of a light railway through an old Egyptian mud brick village.

An Egyptian village station presumably in the Fayoum.

A Fayoum picture from Calthrop... A van for transporting mules and the manager's horses.

Found this in my collection - the Bagnall 4-4-0 built for the Egyptian Delta Light Railways from the Bagnall catalogue. In service they seemed to have had a few modifications.

I forgot to post this one - a fine image of an original Port Said Railway train. Perhaps one of the most elegant narrow gauge trains anywhere in an attractive setting... As the PSR was quickly converted to standard gauge, there aren't many photos of this line either. If anyone knows of others, please post or link.

I also found this. Any help with identifying the loco would be appreciated. I am always amazed by the expertise on this board.

Thanks I am happy to defer to your knowledge. I think my comment came from looking at a website source so it could be a misinformation. I will check. Meanwhile here are two nice Egyptian modelling projects. The second is a narrow gauge military nurses' transport. Can't see Bachmann producing a model of this anytime soon! The first is a camel transporter complete with camels. It's standard gauge but rather fun!

I will check my notes - I thought the military authorities did experiment with diesel but I could be wrong? It was very new technology certainly. I am not an expert and would be interested to hear of other sources. I got interested during my time living in Egypt. The Egyptian NRM had very few sources on either the Delta or military railways.

An even more obscure prototype--the narrow gauge military railways of Egypt during WW1. There are some great pictures on the Australian War memorial site. Diesel and petrol power in 1917. These seem to be from the Port Said system and possibly the railway to and around El Arish. The captured Turkish engine and skips would be a nice HOe project, perhaps using the Roco 060t and stock as a basis.

Here are a few files I've found relating to the Egyptian Delta system - map and typical wayside halt. I also found a goods tariff list. Oh for a time machine... a huge system and almost nothing remains.

There is nothing wrong with buying lower cost poorer quality models if you like them, but rehashed Lima isn't going to attract new younger modellers who are used to high quality tech in other fields. I have a good career and the cash to pay. I also understand generational inequality. I don't blame any youngster being angry with older wealthier people telling him that he's wrong about pricing and if he can't afford it then tough cos I'm all right Jack. . The long term future depends on affordable good quality models. The fact that stock hangs around and supply is contracting suggests the manufacturers haven't got it right with year on year price increases.

I was sorry to see some attacks on a younger student member of this forum. If you are in your 70s and benefitted from free education, cheap housing, secure employment, gilt edged pensions, early retirement, and rising asset/ real estate prices attacking a young person complaining about the rising cost of his hobby is not a good look. Especially as some of you (statistically) probably voted to take away his right to live and work in 27 other countries... Let's have a bit more thought for fellow hobbyists on here, especially those who may not be as well off as you.

Young people are tech savy, very demanding consumers these days and often very well informed. They are not interested in poor 1970s technology branded 'Railroad' - and certainly not that GWR 101 that was out of date even when I bought it as a kid around 1984. And the youngsters I know can recognise a 117 - but aren't going spend that much on a single DMU (one that is 50% more in price than a top of the range Ps4 pro system)

Prices are killing the hobby for new entrants. I constantly hear parents at shows using words like 'ridiculous' 'mad' and suchlike when they see the price stickers for new stock. My small group of modern image modeller friends were all up for a 117. None of us will be buying at that price... they are basically asking £100 for an 00 gauge coach...

Yes I am a big fan of Lance's work. He has a similar approach to design as Iain Rice, although with less focus on finescale standards making his plans more achievable for Joe Averages like me.

It's worth remembering that exhibitions play a much smaller role in the American Model railroading scene so there is less incentive to build small portable layouts. In urban areas groups of friends operating each other's home layouts is a much more popular social activity than in the UK so there is an element of friendly competition which tends towards size and operational complexity. It's no bad thing really. If anyone actually sees MRP in Smiths could they let us know? No sign of it in my patch yet...

They look fabulous except for the 'bottom of the chimney' gap. I am sure that can be corrected or tightened with a little bit of care, but it is strange that this should appear on publicity examples. I think there will be even more GWR branch lines on the exhibition circuit in the near future. Anyone got any unusual plans for their 58xx / 48xx - ie, where they operated on more obscure lines?