009 micro modeller

So pretty low then, and not subject to the same sort of safety considerations. I was under the impression that even 110V stuff is a bit more regulated than that, but not as much as higher voltages obviously. A quick Google suggests that even now Seaton (with its slightly larger, heavier trams compared to Eastbourne) is only 120V. Not sure how that would translate to the power requirements of a ‘main line’ 15” gauge sort of line. Yes, though I’d be surprised if that was allowed now on a new line. It’s not just the normal third rail safety stuff but the fact that miniature and NG lines often have low or rail-level platforms, which in some cases would put the conductor rail above platform surface level. Isn’t Volk’s only 160V, possibly less? Frustratingly I can’t find any pictures of the Maldon line I mentioned but there’s a bit about it here, and there is a listing for it (with the loco described as a 4wRE (rail-electric)) in an Ian Allan book published when it was still in operation. Arguably the Maldon line was (or could have been) relatively safe though from a passenger point of view as it was (as I understand it) just a straight line, with the train running up to the end and then reversing back to the station (the diesel-powered Hall Leys line in Matlock is another miniature line with a similarly simple straight line layout, among other examples). So in that scenario there’s multiple opportunities to reduce the risk of people getting near the (already low-voltage) live rail, if you wanted to - e.g. third rail and collector shoe always on the same side, away from the passenger platform, third rail stops before the end of the track (as at the pier head station on Hythe Pier, where the loco is always at the shore end), sealed/non-existent doorways on the third rail side so people can’t alight onto it etc. A line like the RHDR with much more complex track and platform layouts would be a different matter. Anyway, getting a bit more back on topic (unusually it wasn’t actually me that started the NG electric tangent, though I did contribute to it) and thinking about the RHDR. It’s already a lovely line so I’m not sure it needs a load of other stuff to make it more popular etc., but one idea I did have a few years ago relates to the fish railways at Dungeness, that fishermen used to haul their catch across the shingle. At least one of these is 15” gauge (I think others are 2’), either using an actual disused mineral/gravel branch off the RHDR or at least reusing its track on a different alignment. It’s disused these days I think, but what if it was restored and connected up to the RHDR balloon loop at Dungeness, to provide a branch line/feeder service and allow passengers to explore the unique landscape there? Edit: I think the one I’m thinking of is described as ‘Beach Fish Line’, diverging just after the level crossing over Dungeness Road: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romney,_Hythe_and_Dymchurch_Railway On Google Maps I think it’s the still prominent line opposite Ness Cottage and Beach Cottage, though there do appear to be remains of others as well and I can’t work out how it connected to the RHDR main line.

And perhaps more reliable than one with an original engine? (Unless you’re thinking of the environmental reasons for battery power, which is an equally valid point.) Agree on the subject of battery power - the NG/miniature lines that I can think of that exclusively use battery electrics (including one that I sometimes drive on) are short and quite low-speed (and not using massively heavy trains). It would be interesting to see how the BVR and others get on/have got on with theirs (the BVR one is a brand new Clayton loco - not sure it’s even in service yet) but I’m not sure what they envisage a working day looking like for that - if it’s capable of rescuing a full train plus dead loco and taking it on a full return trip up and down the line that’s still a bit different to actually being rostered as the train loco for the entire day. On the subject of overhead wire I’m not so sure. The (currently inactive) 15” gauge tramway at the Conwy Valley Railway Museum (and I think the similar, working 18” gauge one at Heath Park in Cardiff, though I’ve only visited the Conwy one) have less clearance than full-size tramway electrification, though I think still well over most people’s head height. The Conwy line also runs parallel to a Network Rail line for almost its entire length, which probably has both pros and cons from a safety point of view. As far as I know they are both 110V lines though, you’d probably need a higher voltage for an RHDR-style operation which would lead to more stringent regulation. Getting very off-topic now but until around 2004 in Maldon, Essex there was a 10 1/4” gauge line with, rather bizarrely, 110V third rail electrification (though on that point, I notice some of the Dotto-type train rides seem to take their power from a third rail and I’m not sure how that works safely). I think my favourite 15” gauge overhead electric though is Minirail’s Amber Arrow, though that only ever ran in its original form on unelectrified lines, accompanied by a generator car. Not sure what voltage Claude Lane’s trams used originally (they were originally 15” gauge, before he moved up first to 2’ at Eastbourne and then 2’ 9” as still running today at Seaton).

Indeed, though based on the narrow gauge and miniature railways that already make a lot of use of battery traction I don’t think you’d necessarily need ‘half a trainload’ (though it does rather depend on the operating speed and how frequently they can be charged, which I think is the issue with somewhere like the RHDR). Bure Valley (a comparable long 15” gauge line) has a new battery loco.

I don’t think that comes across in the way it’s presented at the events the railways run though, especially for the target audience. Interesting that people have mentioned Victorian-themed events - that’s an era that logically is much more tied to empire nostalgia etc. and is what is often called ‘contested history’ in a way that WW2 generally isn’t - yet that doesn’t seem to come across so much in the way that museums and heritage railways present Victorian events.

Not sure it’s comparable. Can a family-friendly event based around a fictional character really be ‘irresponsible’ in the way I meant in the quoted post?

You might find this interesting: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/mrw_forums/rh-dr-hythe-to-sandling-t3419.html (And there is discussion of electric traction, but not especially seriously. It has been done on other public 15” gauge lines though, so not necessarily insurmountable, but perhaps prohibitively expensive over that sort of distance, and with the higher voltage necessary.)

Why? Some railways are Accredited Museums. Surely if you’ve previously taught history you’re aware of museum education as a concept? Agreed, and as alluded to by others earlier perhaps also because fighting against Nazi Germany seems to have been (at least with hindsight, knowing how evil it was) pretty uncontroversially the right thing to do. Most major historical conflicts are not as clear-cut (or at least they don’t appear to be). And even if you think it’s a bit more complex than the bit I’ve put in bold that’s the general perception that a lot of people have, which perhaps is the important thing in this context. There has been some drift but as I suggested earlier, possibly because the answer to the original question is fairly obviously ‘no’, given the various other events that many railways run, and also because the premise (implied in the question) that the railways concerned are doing these events solely as money spinners and not for any other reason is perhaps a bit flawed. Isn’t that sort of the point though - that nostalgia is a bit (too) selective in remembering the good bits of the past and not the less positive stuff? That’s the problem with having an excessively nostalgia-fuelled narrative in a space where people might expect or want to see a more objective historical one (especially when, as in some of the WW2 events described in this thread, some people are ‘nostalgic’ for something they didn’t actually experience, though they might have seen a lot of fictionalised portrayals made a little later on).

Which particular loco do you plan to fit them to? I know you’ve used a few different ones.

Very nice. Is it still ‘cheapo’ with the 3D printed bits? I was wondering the same before in the context of my use of plasticard and plastruct for some of my builds (whereas I think @33C mostly uses card). Not that absolutely every aspect has to be absolutely low cost necessarily, I was just wondering.

7 & 8 are steam locos.

There is some research into ideas about ‘nostalgia’, and whether/how there can be ‘progressive nostalgia’ (i.e., pretty much the opposite of the sort of reactionary stuff you describe) being done in the museum sector, often in the context of ‘living museums’ like Beamish or the BCLM (which in terms of their presentation style are closer to heritage railways than other types of museum generally are).

I believe it’s off-site, not sure where exactly though.

Possibly because the key era for them to recreate is often the 1930s and earlier (when they were still open and carrying passengers), and in some cases they have more access to Victorian/Edwardian rolling stock and only had a relatively minor part in WW2 history. I mentioned earlier the sessions that I do about WW2 as part of one of my museum jobs. One of the eyewitnesses for these describes feeling excited earlier in the war, in addition to the more obvious negative emotions that you’d expect. Surely the point though is that it’s a bit irresponsible in situations where the organisation concerned is perceived to fill an educational role, or even more so when heritage education is a stated part of its charitable objectives (even if not explicitly linked to that particular event)?

Although I realise this might not work anyway as it seems as though you probably would have to move all of them singly at some stage.

Yes, which might be more prototypical (because you probably wouldn’t, in real life, power up all the locos just to move them around a depot, you’d haul them with a loco that was already switched on - less of an issue perhaps with some of the SGLR locos that are battery electric, but relevant for steam and diesel locos). On the other hand, DC with isolating sections does get round one issue with this design - variations in loco length. Most Inglenook designs seem to work better if the wagons are all of fairly similar length (to avoid say, three short fitting in a space intended for two long wagons) but here you could avoid that problem as there would only be able to be one loco in each section at a time anyway. Then again this requires the locos to be more spaced out than they would be on DCC or radio control, so the layout potentially takes up more space, and requires the track on the traverser itself to be split into at least two electrical sections (for a 3-2-2 Inglenook, I think it would be three sections for a larger one). Edit: I must admit I was thinking of a smaller 3-2-2 Inglenook (rather than 5-3-3) for this, which would usually mean rakes/moves of only up to two locos at a time, with five locos in total. A larger setup is where I think the DCC option would come into its own.