Lecorbusier

And of course the Midland had Samuel Waite Johnson .... an artist amongst engineers .... so even goods locos looked the absolute bees knees Hurrah for subjectivity

Do you know what the background is to the name Silurian and why it was used for an A1 ? To my knowledge it is the name of either a geological period quite a long time ago .... or a race of aliens on Dr Who?

Tony, Your choice of era helps here ... and perhaps the choice of location. Pre 1914 images of Monsal Dale are limited (I have 4 to date) .... even ones from the 40s and 50s focus on the locomotives rather than the location .... and there are not too many of these. In this scenario, amalgamating features from a few locations might give you as good a chance at prototype fidelity as concentrating on the single location. Having played devils advocate, of course I am concentrating on the actual location.

Where things perhaps get more subjective is when the prototype location choice has limited photographic records, and/or is set further back in history such that the photos that do exist are front of house and staged. Research means that you are definitely modelling a real place and all the fundamentals are likely to be there or there abouts ... but a good deal of educated guesswork is required.

Not wishing to stray at all into politics, my view tends to be based upon personal experience and what I see. From that perspective I can see that there have been the occasional flurries caused by a blip in consumer spending as debt levels reduce slightly, and I can see that finance has recovered quite nicely, but manufacturing and construction has flatlined pretty continuously. Investment is dreadful, wages are depressed and being based in central London the rise in homelessness and food bank use is alarming. The number of seriously low paid no prospects no security jobs is eye watering. The cost of property is ridiculous, rents are ridiculous and as an observation from an architects standpoint, what is built in terms of accommodation is all about investment properties rather than places to live. I often take a walk along the south bank and its noticeable how many of the new developments have no lights on ... they are 75% sold but not occupied. The values of properties in my area are based upon interest rates not mortgages .... so if the maximum rent will give a 4% - 6% return on capital, it is a good bet as the capital is index linked (until the inevitable crash). This means the rent is between 1/3 and 1/2 what would be required to service a mortgage on the property .... yet the rent is as high as the market can stand. Thus you have lawyers and accountants renting because they can't afford to buy .... where that leaves the less well off is anyones guess! I suspect that the spike in christmas spending will be followed by a severe trough like last year, and I hazard a guess that the pet spending relates to groups that are not so materially affected by current conditions (home owners and the well off). In Oxford where I currently work a fair bit, you have a situation where the turn over in key staff (nurses/teachers - even doctors) has reached critical levels due to rental prices with people having to commute vast distances .... the University being Collegiate is lucky as the Colleges are major property owners and can provide housing for their staff (which is positively feudal). No, in my world I have not observed any upturn .... indeed I have friends who are doctors and they often discuss the rise of TB and Rickets in London, and the increase in the numbers using breakfast clubs at my kids schools has been noticeable. edit ... London Population 8.75Million (18% of England population) London Average salary - £34,000 per annum (includes all the super rich) = £2,200 net per month. London Average house/flat price = £484,000 (monthly mortgage repayment with 10% deposit = £2048). London average rental price = £1564 per month. Because of the size/density of population it should be remembered more poor people live in London per square mile than anywhere else in the country. Not talking about politics .... not suggesting any solutions or placing any blame apart from on the financial crash. Just saying that in my world there has been no upturn. None of my staff .... who are all qualified professionals ... are even considering buying a house - they laugh if it is mentioned - and there ages range from 26 to 40. Thank the lord for railway modelling and other rewarding pastimes!

I have run my own business for the last twenty years ... and from my perspective there hasn't been a noticeable upturn for the last 10.

Yikes when was the upturn ?

Couldn't agree more if that is the case. However I do know a number of layouts which ran well in there own home where they were built ... but all sorts of gremlins emerged when on the exhibition trail. Things have to manifest first before they can be corrected. ... something to do with changes in environment and I suspect the rigours involved in transportation. If you are an old hand on the circuit, I am sure that such things can be designed out, but not everyone is an old hand (or if perceived as so then with previous efforts were often part of a team with split responsibilities). Here I think P4 is at a disadvantage because of its increased sensitivity. The disappointment for me would be if such issues were not sorted over time and yet the layout continued to be exhibited.

I couldn't agree more. As an aside, I find it interesting how many people turn out to have a number of different scale and gauges of layout they are involved with. I do like it when people make a habit of jumping out of the boxes others try and put them in.

As an example of an imaginary layout which I think encapsulates the merits of one kind of approach .... and I am very glad it exists .... is Glendower

Baz, My comment was made purely on what I have read (I have not seen the layout just the pictures) and was not intended as a criticism. I had understood from what I had read that it was quite a sprint to get the layout ready for Warley. As we know Little Bytham has been subject to ongoing improvements in the scenic modelling these last number of years .... with the cottages being i think the most recent addition. I am simply making the point that many favourite layouts are works in progress, and it would be a shame not to enjoy them at exhibition or elsewhere because of this. Tim

In some ways I am a little jealous of you Tony. The older I get the broader and more catholic my tastes become .... music, design, art .... there is a trend here and this is mirrored the more I study of the model railway scene. I think given your 40+ year history I would have modelled widely different types and eras of layout - both actual and imaginary. I also think that judgement of the work of others can be complex. For example, I have been rather impressed with Sidmouth as a model. I believe it has been called out for poor running. I would make two observations in connection with this ... firstly that I find this does not ruin the model for me as other aspects are particularly fine .... but it does temper overall appreciation. Secondly, I know that the running was something the builder took very seriously with many hours spent perfecting it. I understand that it is now running well and the gremlins have been sorted. It recently ran as an exhibition piece in Sidmouth itself and I understand ran faultlessly. So I would argue that many if not all layouts tend to be ongoing endeavours, continually worked upon and improved over the years ... meaning judgements can and perhaps should change. Because of the appearance of completeness within track or stock, running is all too often called out (and its obvious why this is the case) where other shortcomings are often accepted .... incomplete scenic modelling, unfinished point rodding, unfinished back scene etc etc (I have heard little but praise for Shap). Perhaps the answer is to reserve final judgement until a picture of a layout can be built up over time.

Is this a question about what we choose to model .... in which case should ones response be limited by such things as space, time or money? .... or perhaps even skill level in certain areas. Is it about the compromises one adopts for a myriad of reasons? Sometimes compromises reflect personal taste and emphasis, but sometimes they reflect ability or opportunity. Or is it a question about what one might choose to model in an ideal scenario ... as the ultimate expression of personal taste and emphasis. What about if you were allowed to model more than one layout? ... and if so how many? Would things repeat themselves or would the range increase? Or is it a question about what layouts we like and appreciate? Interestingly I can find myself admiring and really appreciating some layouts which I don't exactly like! I have just spent an enjoyable hour re-reading articles about two layouts in the MRJ .... Little Bytham and Semley for Shaftsbury. Neither would be possible for me to model at the moment - or in the foreseeable future. Would I like to model either ... frankly I have not given it much thought. Do I like them .... yes - though with the caveat that I have not seen Semley running. They are contrasting layouts with contrasting goals and I am not convinced that it would be right to compare one with the other - I think they are both fantastic in there own ways, on there own terms and I am pleased they exist ..... one could of course go on adding layout after layout. It would be interesting to see what trends emerge - beyond the key one of quality modelling coupled to integrity. I have a suspicion that any hard and fast rules you try and set will immediately be broken by one layout or another for one reason or another. In Architecture I learnt early not to be too dogmatic or prescriptive. It is easy to deconstruct a poor example and state that it doesn't work for certain reasons .... right up until you come across a brilliant building which apparently makes all the same 'mistakes'. As I get older and more experienced, I find I say less and less .... though at the same time fewer works manage to impress me. In the end I just settle with enjoying those that do and trying to understand and learn from them.

I also understand there was/is a disagreement about monies owed relating to the original agreement. No idea about the rights and wrongs of this as I have only heard snippets from one side. The great thing is that it looks as if the kits will be available again - which is all that is really of interest to me.

It seems to me that Tom is following the classic trajectory within the hobby .... enjoyment as a kid/young man ..... on to other things through the 20s/30s/40s ..... returning normally in later life as the passion rekindles. The amount of threads I read from 40 or 50 year olds starting with ..... I used to enjoy model railways and then life came along dot dot dot. He may return or not .... but i wouldn't give up hope just yet.

Was it Tom who did some weathering demonstrations on the painting and lining DVD?

No problems with that ..... 'don't want to' (for any number of valid reasons) is quite different from 'wouldn't be able to'. I find it amusing how often we say the latter when we mean the former. If you wanted to (or had to) I have no doubt you could, but would assume its never held much attraction. Taking as the start point that like you your eldest is a practical man who is demonstrably good with his hands, and good at problem solving .. its uncanny how often an aptitude coincides with a passion and love of a subject - don't you agree? something to do with 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration as the saying goes. As an aside .... its amazing how the potential consequences you mention above focus the mind to ensure that you do things properly and test them properly !

Dare I say it ..... its a bit like soldering Tony - and I learnt that off your video! If you think about it, whilst often competent and good with their hands most mechanics are not rocket scientists and few are high performers academically .... so with reasonable application it is something most of us (practical people) should be able to master. I wasn't designing the engine or even adapting it ... just following the instructions really - and it is mechanical rather than partially electronic like today's offerings.

As a counter balance .... there are some pretty good 'how to' you-tube videos .... all posted without charge to the viewer. Often they seem to be a form of marketing but not always. I learnt how to build a VW air-cooled engine almost entirely from on line blogs and you tube videos. There are good manuals, but you tend to have to be a qualified mechanic to be able to access the information they contain. The videos completely de-mystified the process and explained the missing steps assumed to be obvious by the manual authors. I drove my camper complete with the engine I built all the way to Greece and back over the summer .... so - must have been good videos. Most were American ... I assume the posters would be sued pretty quickly in that parish if they weren't competent !

Absolutely wonderful .... you just have to do a video of this - preferably with a voice over describing the action.

That layout looks great from the picture Alastair ... do you have a thread on it?

Given the longevity and the amount of running I suspect many of their locos suffer from undue ware. On my own thread Alan Goodwillie recently posted this observation when discussing the museum layout he built and ran in Scotland

Tony, You often mention the other contributors to Little Bytham ... by group modelling I was more referring to this .... but perhaps it doesn't work like that?

I suspect it depends on when you visit ... As I intimated earlier, on my last visit I spent most of my time viewing the dartmoor scene and talking to its operator ... there was almost constant action and a running commentary on what we were watching ... including some Southern stock running through due to works on the Southern mainline. I agree about the glass though ... but not sure how you could get away from this.

You do seem to have an un-ending parade of friends coming through to play trains (and I can understand the reason why from the visitors standpoint). It would appear you have built a very nice retirement for yourself, particularly when combined with your current rate of modelling output (presumably including group modelling sessions) alongside family and social life - what a great existence ..... very lucky - though I'm sure fully deserved.