Edwardian

Bl**dy H*ll BG, I must learn how to do this! As my daughter might say, "awesome" (pronounced "ossum" as in "Everything is ossum")

Well, forgive me for knowing very little about the Southern, which I view with a sort of affectionate ignorance, or, possibly, an ignorant affection, but I agree with last 2 callers, Purley Oaks and 70E (which might well be the same place for all I know; there, ignorance fully demonstrated): I like 4-4-0s and the L1 is really smart looking loco. I'd like to see a version to modern RTR standards I could actually run a Lord Nelson I believe. Was it not the case that they were too heavy for the North Devon route to Plymouth and that for Navy Day in 1934 one ran to Plymouth on Great Western metals?

What a pity if it is dead. From the GW perspective, it gave better coverage overall than Comet; the two ranges overlap, but there's stuff in each not covered by the other. Thanks, Tim. In fact, the 7 I have are pretty much all from Ebay. I hadn't been able to find the missing 3, but I'll have a look.

Hmm, Have all but 3 of the 10-coach Centenary set (for the benefit of any Godless Heathens amongst us, that's the coaches built in 1935 (the Great Western's Centenary year) for the Cornish Riviera Limited). Emailed last year. Not even the courtesy of a response. Various other Colletts, e.g. B-Set wanted. Hmph. Wanted 11-coach Riviera set too (the 1929 set for the Limited). Hatton's Kings likely to find themselves seriously under-employed at this rate. Thought about some Ironclads for my T9. Really, there is quite a lot in that range that could tempt me. BUT, will try again based upon Tim Dubya's information. Not holding my breath, mind you.

There is a lot to be said for the "build it and they will run" philosophy. There has been a long, quiet explosion of Southern Railway/Region layouts over the last decade as this hitherto under-represented area grew fairly rapidly from RTR famine to RTR feast. And there are other areas where I can see this happening. RTR narrow gauge is well on the way. Standard gauge small industrials is another pocket. People will buy and run these. How many times do we see L&Y Pugs running as industrials? The LMS only sold 9 out of service if I recall, but, goodness, they've got about! Offer something more appropriate and it will be snapped up. There could be better coverage of Grouping subjects. This is certainly true of the 1923-1935 period; 1936 to 1947 is better served. Pre-Grouping could be less of a scattergun spread of shiny things for collectors and more coherent. Most of us are either wholly or partially dependent upon RTR. We will model more varied subjects if this is supported. Take, for instance, LB&SC circa 1912-14. I have an old Dapol Terrier in Marsh Umber. Bachmann has a Topping E4. There is the OO Works I3, soon to be released in Marsh Umber, and, of course, we are promised a Brighton Atlantic, which, like its GNR counterpart is a must for anyone who can (a) afford one, (b) has a soul ! Things of beauty, but, actually, you have quite a decent cadre of locomotives for a prototypical pre-grouping layout, and the Bachmann SECR C Class can visit! It need not over-tax either one's developing skills or one's bank account to supplement these with white metal kits. You don't have to be Guy Williams and RTR has given you one heck of a head start into something different and rather splendid. Manufacturers might like to lead us down a few more such interesting paths. That's my wish-list.

Thanks. When I can next block out time to concentrate on this and achieve Inner Harmony, I will go through these. I had tried to follow the online manual, but my head kept unscrewing and clattering to the floor.

Thanks. My ambition right now is to get to the stage at which I could actually frame a meaningful question.

Never have I felt so out of it. Downloaded Inkscape. Totally bewildering. Yet you all seem to understand it! I feel I could spend a thousand years stumbling around the thing and never learn to draw a straight line. It's worse than Templot (which had me in full Ed Reardon mode within minutes; I had to scrub that wretched program off my hard-drive and down 3 G&Ts before I could stop shaking). The Inkscape "guide" seems to relate to something with only a passing resemblance to the thing on my screen and was indecipherable in the absence of the knowledge the techies who wrote the guide assumed I had. As soon as it started gabbling about "snapping" in a way that assumed I was as familiar with this concept as with, say "walking" or "frowning", I was lost and never found my way back. How the Hell do you people do it?!? Quite possibly I'm a moron, but really, it's impenetrable to me! Yet you all post away as if using these programs is the most natural thing in the world.

I went to Hereford once. Regimental ball. All the chaps had black rectangles over their eyes. Most off putting. I went to Swansea once. Monumental Mumbles pub crawl. I went to Cardiff once (changing trains on a Sunday). It was closed.

I grew up on the borders of Danegeld. Inhabitants of the village 2 miles distant from ours spoke with a markedly different accent. This village's name had the 'by' ending associated with Viking settlements. Our village bore a name of Anglo-Saxon origin. I persist in the fanciful notion of a causal link between the differing accents and the differing origins of these two settlements.

Duncan, Hang on in there! I swore that, by a certain age, I would stop putting things off and take up modelling. I would make time. In fact, I vowed to do something worthwhile every day, even if that was research rather than hands on, because it would still be a necessary contribution to a given project. I did start, one year late, and it worked for a few weeks this spring, then a house move became necessary and every spare moment since has been devoted to getting the house ready for market. This, on top of a full time job, 2 young children and 4 dogs, has really done for the modelling, so I feel your pain. The good news is that, thankfully, the house received an offer almost immediately. We are making final preparations for the surveyor's visit tomorrow. Fingers crossed it passes muster. Wherever we go next will be a lot smaller, and, probably, a rental. It certainly won't have the 33' x 16' Games Room that could have hosted a model railway! If things go to plan, the next several weeks will be spent packing, not modelling! BUT, at the end of the process, at some point, I will have a large shed and time to do something in it. Goodness it's a job getting there, and I hope that you, too, can arrange things so that at some time in the not too distance future, you have the time to put Hinton Ampner together!

Chris, I meant to ask, what sleeper spacing did you go for in the end?

I went to a relatively minor exhibition 2-3 years ago, specifically to see Rowlands Castle. It was well worth the trip to see it in the flesh, furthermore, Peter Goss was an absolute gentleman, giving of his time to answer questions and delightful to meet. It is a beautiful model, and what I can only describe as a consistency in the way it is finished makes it very convincing. One of my favourites, without a doubt. Anyway, Hinton Ampner is a great concept and I look forward to seeing it 'emerge'.

So, Ashley Bridge:

Sorry to hear that and hope she is well. Mind you, could be worse; when the Memsahib pulled a similar stunt, she broke a George III tilt-top occasional table. Now it's not even a table occasionally.

Yes, strangely, I have a great reluctance to move past August 1914; when I think of pre-grouping, I think of pre-Great War, I suppose because this was the heyday, before the War took its toll. Though I read that some of the best locomotive performance was achieved meeting the traffic requirements of the war, we all know that this came at a cost. Post-war pre-grouping has less appeal, as does post WW2 pre-Nationalisation or Transition Era or "Death Steam". I suppose I am a heyday rather than a fag-ends enthusiast! From c.1895, by which time most of the familiar (to us) elements of the steam-age railway were in place, to 1914, is the most varied and colourful era, IMHO, though I do have a soft spot for that last great brief blaze of glory of the '30s, before it, too, was cut short.

My recollections were of stone-built terraces in the West Riding (I persist in the belief that Yorkshire is divisible by 3, not 4). Often hard to capture such details with confidence from old monochrome photographs.

Interesting, Chris. Paths, their materials and arrangement. I tell you, it's a subject all in itself. There are references to cinder paths near railways (I believe there is even a Catherine - "will ye still love me with me wooden leg" - Cookson novel named for one), and I have tried to represent similar with very fine sandpaper. I've seen pictures of what are essentially brick setts in garden paths. I believe these were often yellow, hence the Road to Oz, I suppose, or blue. Now, there is something for Scalescenes et al to tackle. Seemingly terraces were often built with no apparent divisions between gardens; the fencing being, apparently, left to the occupiers to erect. In the Yorkshire of my youth I recall paths made of flagstones that led directly across the backs of terraced houses, dividing them from the gardens, with all the stone-built privies forming a terrace of their own, often at the end of a row. These terraces often had communal 'drying grounds'. Possibly due to my own lack of observational skills, I don't recall an example of such arrangements in model form, though I remember seeing them as clearly as I can hear the brass bands playing "From the New World" whilst going to buy a loaf of bread. But, then, in them days, we were grateful to live in a hole in the ground...

Well, Chris, I feel I am a similar place. I have very little time for modelling, so must creep forward, but you are right that one must first piece together the every day scene. I am aiming for around the turn of the century and constantly face the challenge of establishing how things looked then, as opposed to now or in the relatively familiar '50s and '60s. Just something as simple as a garden path requires a degree of thought; no concrete patio slabs in 1900s gardens!

A recent find for me, and I have enjoyed catching up. Very much my sort of thing, I find, and I look forward to the updates.

Presumably a 4mm scale Mr Robinson beside some 7mm scale chain. I just want that hat.

Mr Stroudley said it was green, and I think you should respect that! My dog is a not dissimilar shade of "green". Terms are interesting. We all need to pigeon-hole for the sake of order and brevity, yet they can cause difficulties! For instance, from the enviable position of complete indifference,I have watched people bicker endlessly over the term 'Modern Image'; what it means, to which period it should be applied, whether it should still be used or should ever have been coined! BG John makes a fair point about 'pre-grouping'. Presumably, if you were London & North Western inclined, for instance, you could happily regard 1846 as the Grouping, whereas pre-grouping would be the days of the London and Birmingham, Manchester and Birmingham and Grand Junction Railways! Anyway, I'd like to see a Prussian layout (pre or post Unification, surely?) I'm pretty relaxed about the terminology, provided that you use nothing so misleading and so imprecise as to be worse than useless as the egregious 'Era' system that Bachmann has attempted to foist upon the British Outline scene! There, we all have our pet hates! As to the second Ashley Bridge picture I found, if I were considering opening a model shop, I might ask her to pose provocatively with the stock, smouldering over a Pullman, perhaps, or stroking a Pendolino (whatever one of those might be). You could work in some sophisticated wordplay around the word "model", as John E suggests. You never know, it might catch on.

OK, what about Labradors? I have 4 well worth modelling, 2 in goods black, 1 in Marsh Umber and another in Improved Engine Green.

Likewise Macclesfield MRC's Butley Town. They used to run a fully-lined Great Western Railmotor, appeared generally Grouping in a vaguely inter-war way, but with a post-war policeman and Zebra Crossing, with standard issue '50s school children (Merit in both cases) and road signage that, while it had its origins pre-war, would probably not have reached such a location in the '30s. A truly fine example of 'finescale OO' (for those who permit such a term), with lovely track, but solecisms included the rendering of all the architecture in Western Region chocolate and cream! In the innocent world of c. 1975-85, nobody seemed to mind and they all had fun. We had fun reading of their efforts; I remember drooling over pictures of this layout in full colour in the late lamented Contsructor. Actually, I posit two layout schemes for my own consideration; one a prototype location set in a specific 2-week period in a particular year, the other, fictitious, providing a span of at least a dozen years and being geographically ambiguous enough for me to run everything that cannot run on the first mentioned. Once I have world enough and time ...

Chris, you are kind to suggest it, but all I have is a row of cottages that have yet to receive gardens. As I am planning to move house it could be months before I have a chance to produce baseboards. As it will be a freelance line set around the turn of the Century, it will certainly be pre-grouping era and I will post in Layout Topics and link here once things start to take place.