D-A-T

My modelling interests, thanks to threads like this amongst other things, keep moving backwards in time. I now find the pre-Grouping period fascinating for so many reasons I’d bore you all to tears if I tried explaining them! But videos like this are an inspirational for so many reasons but mostly for showing that the 1900s were not black & white!

Not only are you an exemplary craftsman but you are also a mind reader! The mention of a special file for root canal work sent a shiver down my spine 😬

The first Exhibition I went to was Doncaster MRC’s exhibition at Danum Grammar School. Late 70s it would be. I think the exhibition would have been January(ish) as I spent my Christmas and Birthday money on the Linka plaster moulding system there. The first big time exhibition, like @CKPR, was York, again late 70s at the Assembly Rooms and the DeGrey Tea Rooms. The pillars stuck in my mind as well! I saw my first Ian Futer’s layout there, a roundy-roundy which has stuck with me ever since plus later Lochside which was a big influence on me. Now my memory fails me as it was either Yatton or Winton (possibly neither!) which had a sign up saying an Express Streamliner would be going through at 3pm and I thereafter kept nagging my parents as to what time it was so we wouldn’t miss it 🤣

Tim Horn baseboards. He does ‘standard’ sizes off the shelf but also ‘bespoke’ sizes. I ordered bespoke boards direct from him at either a S4 or EMGS Show and it took about 4 weeks for them to arrive. Excellent quality and fit and very easy to build. Still have his turntable fiddleyard to build.

I’ve often thought that a kickback row of carriage sidings would be more appropriate to Minories that trying to include Goods facilities as they would, following the ethos of the design, be dispersed down the line so to speak. In fact, in later Plans Handbooks, it was so as there were designs for junctions, goods yard, loco shed etc. Also, as per Bradfield, a potential scenic break in front of the Fiddleyard/Storage area.

Bradfield Gloucester Square springs to mind. Lots of videos on YouTube showing the variety of traffic and the ebb and flow during the day.

The article says much of the track was salvaged from a previous layout and that new trackwork used 1/32 printed circuit board. All are plain turnouts apart from one 3-way.

Looking at the full track plan the terminus is called Victoria, there are hidden sidings and other stations so I think this is the layout you mention. Especially as the builder is reluctant(?) to be named.

I’m wary of posting anymore for copyright reasons. (Under the fair use doctrine of copyright, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports). The track plan is from an an old, 1970s I think, MRC Annual. The article is by S W Stevens Stratten who I believe was the Editor(?). There are photos of the layout but no mention of the builder. The layout is built in a garage and has “representations” of East Croydon, Clapham Junction and Reigate.

My “enlarged” Minories (when it gets built) will be based on ‘South for Moonshine’ which I think has more than hint of Borchester Market about it as well.

Sorry I don’t post often so I’m not used to the Forum software. The above quotes should have been in my previous post. Mea Culpa.

But Buckingham GC is Marylebone in all but name. To my way of thinking it is a grown up Minories.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Warley and Hattons is a case of pure coincidence but for the doom mongers it is an ideal opportunity to make 2 + 2 = 13. Business, of all varieties, is forever changing, whether it be because of changing demand, unattractive pricing or the company reading the market wrong; it has to evolve. If it doesn’t evolve it will be overtaken and will stagnate and eventually cease. (No imputation on Hattons intended or implied). The Warley show is harder to analyse in a “business” context as it is not a business as the “owners” do not benefit directly. There are comparable shows organised by genuine businesses that directly or indirectly benefit said business. But if said business employees got older they can recruit new young employees to replace them. Obviously WMRC can’t do this so the fat lady has finally sung. For the hobby I think the demise of the show is a Concorde moment. Now for the Doom Mongers this is all grist to the mill and enables them to read the worst possible connotations into the situation and “bash” the hobby. I believe that the MSM still regard the hobby as an “anorak” hobby for those on the fringe of society, ie not part of the chatteratti, social media, liberal elements. PS On a purely personal note the closure of Eileen’s Emporium was a greater blow for me. Would that some enterprising Young Turk take up the reins!

GLOAT! I like that. To me it is a genuine toss up between Copenhagen Fields and Buckingham Great Central.

I believe this is a 1930s photo.