Lecorbusier

There are still some white metal ones around ... which can be quite nice. 51L does a nice range.

Taking Bill Bedford and his Mousa Models range as an example .... I fear the latter! His earlier kits were mainly etched brass and a lot of fun to build - but he appears to be phasing these out in favour of resin and 3d printing. The chassis is still brass ... but the rest you don't even glue together.

Whilst this is undoubtedly true, it does have repercussions. My day time job is as an architect .... looking at how this job has changed over the last 30 years is a case in point. Back in the day hand drafting was the name of the game - this included artistic representation and painting/colouring alongside technical drawing. It also included a fair amount of modelmaking ... both exploratory and for presentation. Today everything tends to be done in digital format .... drawings are managed via keyboard and mouse, 3d representations are developed automatically from the data via the given software, rendering is 'created' by rendering packages rather than by painting. Modelling tends now to be a virtual skill (a 3d model on screen), and increasingly physical models are now 3d printed direct from the computer. All of these activities certainly require high level skill sets and are highly creative and subjective .... but my point is that increasingly craft skill and the employment of the 'thinking hand' is no longer relevant. In this virtual world I do fear for the 'crafts' as it will become increasingly easy to let machines and the software take the strain - they are quicker and in most cases better. For someone who gains pleasure from 'physical' crafting (I just like making things ), this is a sadness. There is an element of letting the baby out with the bathwater in all of this for me, as many of the psychological benefits and rewards of working with your hands are being lost.

That is really encouraging. There is also a good link between wargaming and model making which supplies a good route through ... I just wonder if there might be a similar link through the heritage railway scene and the hobby is missing a trick. However being something of a loner myself at the present, I perhaps do not see the full picture. My comment on 3d printing was in no way to denigrate it ... I find the possibilities quite exciting .... but it will likely replace quite a few of the traditional craft options over time.

I tend to be sanguin about the situation. It is my general observation that people who like to make/build things .... make them. People who don't ....don't. It was I think ever thus. The vast increase in the number and quality of RTR has enlarged the former cohort at the expense of the latter within the hobby. The main problem as I see it is the ability of the hobby to attract replacement modellers now that the model train set is no longer (and has not been for the past 30 years) a mainstay toy for children ..... nor are the railways central anymore to life in general. Modelling in the sphere of railways is very enjoyable - but there has to be a pathway into the hobby. Add to this the demise of the model kit in general as a mainstay of childhood toys and such pathways for those who like to make/build become more and more niche. This drop off in making/doing spreads right across life .... the collapse in the scope to tinker with cars is a case in point - similarly few make there own clothes any more .... one could go on with the list! Seen in this light you could argue that 3d printing is quite a worrying development.

Another option might be to contact the Scalefour soc.? In P4 because of the nature of the beast , having a layout to run stock on/play trains might be attractive whilst work is underway on the main project? .....particularly if the layout is well respected. Changing the gauge might be rather problematic for such a layout.

So by that reasoning so long as each wagon is well set up you coast as many wagons round a spiral as you wish .... but when climbing there will be a limit before derailment?

Is there a difference between climbing and descending? ie.... when coasting presumably the forces are much more favourable, but when climbing much greater eccentric forces are involved?

That really reminds me of one of the layouts on the Right Track DVD ?

what would have been the number of wagons on a typical long goods or mineral train .... for mineral would it have differed between full and empties?

Too True

Difficult though it may be to discipline oneself but, given a situation of limited space, arguably it is the space that should dictate the design/subject. I know we all have a subject and layout we would like to build .... and so try to work out a way of achieving it ..... but arguably in most instances this is putting the cart before the horse.

Sounds like a great subject for a special edition of BRM or similar publication .... or even a limited edition book? Though it may be that we are also running out of people with the requisite knowledge and memory! I am not aware of a history of the greats of railway modelling. I would have thought it could support a limited print run. Or perhaps that is just a silly idea.

Ignorant as accused m'lud!!! You wouldn't have any examples of their work by any chance? Always interested in finding out about such things. I found a stash of my old Railway Modellers from late 77 - 79 whilst rumaging in a box in Mum & Dad's garage a couple of months ago .... I was amazed at the sheer number of adverts for model shops ... and a large number actually stocked kits!!!! London had a whole host and large number actually in the centre. Given that I am told there is currently a decline in vendors attending shows nowadays ....in favour of a solely internet presence (wizard springs to mind) they do seem lost halcyon days.

Two things strike me here... Firstly, perhaps a significant degree of the loss of interest in railways stems from their demise as the common carrier and the changing nature of transport. There is no doubt that with the loss of the goods sheds and all the comings and goings which this entailed, coupled to the massive changes in scale and scope of operation, contemporary railways are definitely less interesting. Add to this increasing automation and the resultant reduction in type and kinds of staff on the system and the identity of the system has fundamentally changed. The railways are just not as important and not as vital to life as they used to be. Secondly, the 60 year ago scene at Chester as described appears to have involved a staggering variety of motive power ... a situation limited to a specific window in time .... so perhaps not solely to do with steam as a technology in and of itself. You were certainly fortunate to have been around at such a time. just some idle musings

I was always under the impression that train spotting as a hobby partially resulted from the lack of other entertainments at the time .... many talk about interest waining with the acceleration of youth culture in the early 60s and the growth in other entertainments. I have also heard that it had as much to do with the sheer variety of locomotives after the war and the fact that they were found all over the network. I wonder if in an alternative future where BR standard locos in increasing numbers became all that ran .....on into the 70s (assuming no change over to diesel and the phasing out of pre war locos) ..... whether things might have become equally dull ....even without the loss of steam?

Isn't it fascinating how we are all products of our time as well as our own tastes/prejudices. Being a mere slip of a lad at 55 I missed steam completely (apart from the odd nostalgic holiday visit to the Talyllyn). I also suffered from Beeching etc and so had no nearby railway - transport was either bus or car. My experience of trains was later and limited to the 125s ..... and that during the period of running down BR prior to the privatisation programme. So diesel trains including DMUs have always felt grubby, smelly, overcrowded, expensive, late & unreliable to me .... not great formative associations! Perhaps it is not surprising therefore that I have a rose tinted view of the great days of steam ... Romance, speed, luxury, style and everything polished and gleaming ... from Edwardian splendour to 1920s/30s glamour. Having returned to modelling and seen some of the wonderful things achieved, I now have a much broader, nuanced and pluralistic appreciation of the railways ... but that has not changed where my heart lies. Perhaps if the humble DMU and diesel haulage had been consigned to history for 30 years, I might have a degree of nostalgia for a lost past ... but unfortunately that is not how I see things currently. Having said that, watching an archive film of an early DMU travelling from Newcastle towards Carlisle with full view through the front window over the driver's shoulder is quite captivating!

As they say .... you make your own luck Was it Gary Player who is meant to have said.... ....It's very strange, the harder I practice the luckier I seem to get ..... or something like that - though I think the essence of the quote goes back much earlier than Player.

I came across this series of videos linked on the Scaleforum .... people might be interested ..... I found the process very interesting - though the series is a work in progress.

I have to admit I have never really understood the allure of long distance steam journeys (particularly at speed) over diesel or electric. I travelled a fair bit in India 30 years or so ago and found it difficult to tell the difference between steam and other forms of traction .... apart from having to keep the windows shut to retain a semblence of cleanliness. Shortish journeys (particularly on curvy track) yes ....with stops to look at the loco .... but long journeys seem much more about the rolling stock and the company than about what does the pulling. Standing on the lineside and watching the thing go past is of course a whole different kettle of fish. Am I in a minority here?

Both are also by Santiago Calatrava .... hence why it might be difficult to place them in terms of a particular railway - though to my eye one is very French, and the Swiss example posted earlier also feels very Swiss .... but I suspect that's because I am particularly attuned (I am told sheep all look different to a shepherd!). The first is the Gare do Oriente, or alternately, the Lisbon Oriente Station The Second is the Gare de Saint-Exupéry TGV (formerly Gare de Satolas TGV) near Lyon, France.

My view is that it would be quite hard to argue otherwise .... however, of more interest to me is why? Is it because of the technology? ....perhaps but I'm not sure. I have a sneeking feeling it has more to do with the relative importance of railways in the various eras. If we enter a new railway golden age because of requirements to reduce carbon emmissions .... meaning that the network expands again, with more frequent services and more freight .... I wonder if it will become more interesting. French and Swiss railways certainly appear more interesting than UK ones at present and it could be argues that they do occupy a more pivotal role within those countries? That being said, we will never have the sheer variety of the post war era again, and standardisation is going to be far greater than under the big 4 and earlier ... hey ho!

Though they can in some instances be quite uplifting ....maybe?

No ... English and resident in London. Just happens to be the name I chose when setting up the account - though I am interested in his work. As I am interested in the Midland circa 1903 I make the tenuous link with his designs at Le Chaux dur Fonds and the naming of Matlock Bath as 'little Switzerland'! So we get... Not at all what you normally associate with Le Corbusier