On looking into Old Railway Modellers

[Barry O]

Yes - absolutely brilliant

Pleased to say that while Lydney is no more its builder Alan Smith is still busy building 3mm layouts.

Baz

[t-b-g]

My dad also had collections of old RM and MRC magazines and anything about Buckingham or Borchester was top of my list layout wise.

 

For non layout articles, I always thought that one called "Building a J6 twice" was highly inspirational. It included good drawings and a very full account of scratchbuilding a J6 in EM and another in OO.

 

It was one of those articles that made me want to go away and try it for myself, which I did. The first effort resulting, a J11,  was never finished but the article (plus "Locomotives of Borchester in the Constructor) got me into building locos from kits or from scratch and all these years later I still get a great deal of satisfaction from loco building.

[johnarcher]

The thing I enjoy least is the absolutely minute type used on some diagrams. Totally illegible to me, however many pairs of specs I put on. SWMBO had the smart idea of photographing the diagrams on her smart phone! and then using the zoom function to read them. Did people have better eyesight in 1956? Or did everyone own a big magnifying glass?

 

K

I don't know about other people but I certainly had better eyesight in 1956. Better most things come to think of it.

Thanks to another post for reminding me of Castlecombe and Molton - add that to my list.

[Poggy1165]

I remember the 'Denny Special' which was almost a complete magazine full of articles by the Rev. Peter Denny. Very few people could fill a magazine with interesting articles, but he did. 

[simpsonjock]

I have the magazine which that originally featured in - I think the title was 'The Wardlesworth Lines Committee'.

I have a suspicion that it was in one of the issues that featured one of the original articles on Garsdale Road, but I may be wrong. I will have to hunt through my magazine cupboard!

The builder (and author of the article) of the layout actually posted on RMWeb about it a few (?) months ago - think it was on that classic layouts thread mentioned above.

 

That's exactly the one I was thinking of - a great layout!

 

My early memories of the Modeller come from Weymouth Library, which had a collection of RM bound volumes in the children's lending section in the 70's - how enlightened! - which I used to borrow regularly, indeed almost permanently! They ran from 1970 to 1975, in maroon hardback covers - a source of great inspiration and ideas over what felt like a 'golden period' for the magazine, with many large 'system' layouts (I remember one which had just about the whole Western Region over several rooms, with multiple track everywhere!). 

 

As a slight digression the library also had a few of 'The Model Railway Men' books by Ray Pope - anyone remember those? - which were set on a boy's layout where the 'little people' came to life, and were named after iconic engineers - Telford, Stanier, Gresley, etc - it sounds cheesy but they were great stories and a good read. I see the books on eBay/Amazon these days for large sums. 

 

David

[railsquid]

At one point I had a fairly comprehensive RM collection from the late 60s to early 80s which disappeared during one of many house moves.

 

For those who have suffered a similar fate, there's a small online archive of some issues between 1963 and 1965 here: https://archive.org/details/railwaymodeller

[APOLLO]

Thread about the Lydney layout here

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/43203-1971-lydney-tt-layout/

 

A favorite of mine though I never saw a track plan. I modelled in TT back then, it inspired me, especially the abandoned tunnel !.

 

Another favorite was Borchester (around 1964), NOT F Dyers, but a western region based one, with a wonderful small gasworks made from an Airfix loco shed and Bilteezi factory - which I duly copied !!

 

Lots of inspiration back then Mike Coles Sundown and Sprawling modern image, and of course all of the layouts mentioned above. I'm a big fan of the late David Jenkinson, especially his revised Marthwaite with the Kibri bridge !

 

I don't have complete sets of 60's mags (wish I did !) - but I treasure those I have.

 

Brit15

[PatB]

That's exactly the one I was thinking of - a great layout!

 

My early memories of the Modeller come from Weymouth Library, which had a collection of RM bound volumes in the children's lending section in the 70's - how enlightened! - which I used to borrow regularly, indeed almost permanently! They ran from 1970 to 1975, in maroon hardback covers - a source of great inspiration and ideas over what felt like a 'golden period' for the magazine, with many large 'system' layouts (I remember one which had just about the whole Western Region over several rooms, with multiple track everywhere!). 

 

As a slight digression the library also had a few of 'The Model Railway Men' books by Ray Pope - anyone remember those? - which were set on a boy's layout where the 'little people' came to life, and were named after iconic engineers - Telford, Stanier, Gresley, etc - it sounds cheesy but they were great stories and a good read. I see the books on eBay/Amazon these days for large sums. 

 

David

 

I too was something of a fan of Ray Pope's books. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories and was also, even at a fairly young age, impressed that the model railway equipment described was recognisable as, for example, the r-t-r of the era. For example the West Country "Barnstaple" was frequently mentioned which, I assume was the Dublo or Wrenn model. Hornby's factory at Margate was also mentioned and, as I recall, met with Telford's approval as a staunch Southern man .

Edited April 3, 2016 by PatB

[Pacific231G]

231G

 

I was aware of, and even chipped-into, your "classic layouts" thread, and was rather hoping that this thread would elicit something slightly different, but certain layouts clearly "top" everything else.

 

I'm glad you mentioned Larpool & Easington, because it was a very clever layout, and one of the few (the only?) ever to be illustrated by a photo of the constructors wife carrying it. The Ffarquhar Branch is exceedingly clever too, if a tad unwieldy for portability. The Rev Heath's "Piano Line" ought to be mentioned too.

 

Personally, I'm deeply into layout track-plans, and always have been, so watching CJF "get his hand in" through the Fifties is the thing I enjoy most.

 

The thing I enjoy least is the absolutely minute type used on some diagrams. Totally illegible to me, however many pairs of specs I put on. SWMBO had the smart idea of photographing the diagrams on her smart phone! and then using the zoom function to read them. Did people have better eyesight in 1956? Or did everyone own a big magnifying glass?

 

K

Hi Kevin

Older Inspirational Layouts wasn't mine though I did post to it. The OP was New Haven Neil so he deserves the credit for starting that interesting thread.

 

For your thread I was trying to identify the actual articles in RM that inspired me rather than the layouts they described, sometimes I think the writing was better than the layout but that didn't make them any less enjoyable. However, the articles I keep returning to in RM from the 1950s and 1960s are almost invariably articles about layouts (though sometimes about their operation). That seems far less true for MRC and MRN, the other magazines around at that time,

 

MRN ran most of John Ahern's articles in the 1940s and 1950s also (later as Model Railways) most of Dennis Allenden's articles about earlier French locos in the later 1960s early 1970s.

 

MRC ran one of my absolute favourites, a "project layout" series in five parts from January 1958 by Mike Bryant titled  "Large Quart in  a Small Pint Pot". This was a step by step guide to building a particularly interesting  4ft x 2ft TT-3 layout that I wish I'd seen as a youngster.  For some reason, apart from the three "Building Leighton Buzzard" articles , RM never really went in for the project layout idea, possibly because they thought it would identify them too closely with the absolute beginner rather than the "average enthusiast" but also perhaps because Cyril Freezer's view was that the craft of railway modelling would or should normally be learnt in the local model railway club.

 

I agree with you about track plans. Minories is my favourite of CJF's plans and I liked the isometric projection he used to turn it into a three dimensional impression (It's actually a very easy technique and useful for envisioning a shelf type layout) but there are many others I also find interesting. He did a four by two plan for a 009/H0e layout that I did build, albeit with some modifications, though it never got far beyond bare boards.

 

I did mention P.H.Heath's Piano Line, it was the one titled "Holiday Project". The picture of J.A. Patmore's wife carrying Larpool and Easington was actually the first OO version. I thought that was too small to be convincing but the extra space provided by TT-3 made the second one a really neat little layout and I've always seen it as the first true Micro-layout.   

Edited April 3, 2016 by Pacific231G

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Many favourites already mentioned. I'll add, anything by Vivien Thompson, the Diggle and Halebarns saga, and the Rev Samuel's 'Bude'; to this day I feel the perfect expression of the BLT

[Nearholmer]

Sorry, 231G, I read-past your mention of the Piano Line.

 

And, although I read 1967 recently, my current excursion to 1956 made me forget that there were two generations of Larpool & Easing ton.

 

Another one that has just sprung to mind is an excellent model of The Rye & Camber Tramway, by MauricevDeane in, I think, 1955. He was about fifty years ahead of his time in modelling a very obscure n.g. prototype with exactitude; goodness knows how he collated the information to do so.

 

While on narrow gauge, another "high period" in RM history, in my opinion, was the mid/late seventies, When Roy Link was on the RM staff, and used his massive artistic talents to produce a series of perspective drawings of layout-ideas (IIRC, these were true perspective, not isometric, which I agree is a seriously useful technique in its own right). He also wangled into the magazine a series of very good articles about small narrow gauge i.c. locos, of the "four bits of angle iron and a lawn mower engine" ilk, which I think might have been largely researched by Andrew Neale. Somewhere, I've kept an edition from 1978, which had one of each of these sorts of articles in it.

 

Is it my jaded view of life, or is RM less eclectic now than it was up unit say, the 1980s?

 

Kevin

 

PS: found it. Look at this for a line-up of authors and topics (BTW, the railway of the month had an extensive LT fourth-rail element). The narrow gauge loco articles were written by Pete Briddon, not Andrew Neale, and the drawings that went with them were by Roy Link.

Edited April 3, 2016 by Nearholmer

[John_Miles]

The other thing I enjoy when looking through old RMs is C.J. Freezer's track plans - fitting a main line station and track onto a 6 x 4 baseboard, usually with a country section as well. We just wouldn't contemplate it today but at the time, they seemed like a good idea.

[Vanders]

I think it was the 'Wardleworth Lines', early 70's, built in a vicarage, with electric locos and long trains, and a representation of Woodhead tunnel amongst many other delights - including scale ferries. Great memory!

As nice as Wardleworth Lines is, that isn't the one. There were no electrics that I recall, but do very clearly remember a picture of a black 0-6-0 steam loco in front of the ubiquitous Peco single-track tunnel entrance. The only other thing I remember is that the person who built it had installed some push buttons on the front of the layout that children could push to make small dioramas work; one of them may have involved a smoke unit?!

 

What an utterly terrible memory I have!

[New Haven Neil]

While there was bound to be some cross over from my thread to this, there has also been some great articles mentioned on here that my thread didn't really invite - as it was layout centric, rather than article based - a much wider net which I wish I had thought of!

 

One thing is for sure, there isn't any disagreement on these subjects, we obviously all find them fascinating!

 

On the subject of Alan Smith, OD - he encouraged a young lad at Leeds show waaaay back, and took time to speak to him although he was by far the youngest person watching, at about 10/11 or so - in the Corn Exchange IIRC.............. and I'm still modelling!  He must have a few miles on the clock though?  CJF was also a person who took time to speak to me once at a show, when I was very young, it meant a lot to have that encouragement.

[C.A.T.Ford]

Do you hit them with it?

 

Mike.

 

Edit cos I forgets me name.

No, but if I find anyone reaching across the layout with a vernier to measure the stock they tend to meet Billy the baseball bat:-)

 

The point is that late 50s, 60s early Seventies if it wasn't available someone would work out how to make, kitbash, cut and shut the article and tell you. Over the years over the layout at exhibitions the questions have changed from, how do you do that? To, where can I buy that?

 

Everything is not going to be available at some point you may need to do it yourself and the magnificent cache of information that the OP suggested are an excellent start point. 

 

CAT

[Pacific231G]

Sorry, 231G, I read-past your mention of the Piano Line.

 

And, although I read 1967 recently, my current excursion to 1956 made me forget that there were two generations of Larpool & Easing ton.

 

Another one that has just sprung to mind is an excellent model of The Rye & Camber Tramway, by MauricevDeane in, I think, 1955. He was about fifty years ahead of his time in modelling a very obscure n.g. prototype with exactitude; goodness knows how he collated the information to do so.

 

 

Is it my jaded view of life, or is RM less eclectic now than it was up unit say, the 1980s?

 

Kevin

 

 

It was only at Ally Pally in 2010 that I discovered that Prof. J.Allan Patmore had produced later generations of the Larpool and Easington as well

He built this sometime in the 1970s and it is  24x18nches in TTn3.

 

Maurice Dean was also remarkable. Two of the articles I didn't mention, mainly because I didn't get hold of them until a few years ago, were from January and February 1952, only the third and fourth numbers published by Peco,  on the Culm Valley. January was Prototype of the Month and February was Layout of the Month. I'd seen his plan for this in the 1st edition of Cyril Freezer's 60 Plans for Small Railways but not the actual layout    I also have the articles on the very small layouts he built based on the Wantage Tramway in 4ft x 2ft in 00 (MRN March 1963) , Rye and Camber (RM Feb 1955), Welshpool (July 1962)and the Jersey Railway most based on a contnuous run with the terminus inside it so they could be operated terminus to fiddle yard or used as a continuous run.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Pacific231G

[Nearholmer]

Fascinating!

 

That is really only 24x18? Clever the way he has co-opted HOe/009 things into TTn3, I'm surprised more people don't do it, because things like W&LLR stock instantly become Irish, simply by deciding that they are a different scale.

 

If we extend our reach, temporarily, to Continental Modeller, there were some cracking little essays by Don Sibley (hope I remembered correctly) in the early 1980s, including one called "El Tortuga", which was an "out and back" in HOe. Very good little layout, which he bought over to ExpoNG at Swanley some years later. Very artistic, I thought, in that a lot of atmosphere was conveyed in a minimalist if sort of way, by use of colour ...... A "bleached out" look that says "Southern Spain".

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

 ...The point is that late 50s, 60s early Seventies if it wasn't available someone would work out how to make, kitbash, cut and shut the article and tell you...

 While totally agreeing about the inspiration to 'make it yourself' either by copying the author's method directly, or by seeing how the technique might be redeployed to a different starting point with a different end product in view; I do feel compelled to mention the slight 'economy with the truth' present in so many such articles. It seemed that the authors could obtain with no difficulty a RTR mechanism of this type, a body from here, a tender from there; and then let the bashing commence to produce the desired end product. But this impoverished teen got laughed out of the 1960s model shop when requesting such pieces as individual purchases (the shop name was of course 'Blunt' and that covered their mode of expression on this matter quite adequately). Complete RTR models were what was on offer, nothing else. That delayed my getting started quite significantly!

[Dunsignalling]

 

Is it my jaded view of life, or is RM less eclectic now than it was up unit say, the 1980s?

 

Kevin

 

 

I think that would have been an inevitable effect following the advent of Continental Modeller in 1979. 

 

John

[Oldddudders]

 While totally agreeing about the inspiration to 'make it yourself' either by copying the author's method directly, or by seeing how the technique might be redeployed to a different starting point with a different end product in view; I do feel compelled to mention the slight 'economy with the truth' present in so many such articles. It seemed that the authors could obtain with no difficulty a RTR mechanism of this type, a body from here, a tender from there; and then let the bashing commence to produce the desired end product. But this impoverished teen got laughed out of the 1960s model shop when requesting such pieces as individual purchases (the shop name was of course 'Blunt' and that covered their mode of expression on this matter quite adequately). Complete RTR models were what was on offer, nothing else. That delayed my getting started quite significantly!

 

And swapmeets etc, with tables full of bits, didn't really exist in them thar days, either. But then, sometimes now, the paint finish on many such modelling triumphs let them down - spoilt the ship, if you like. The ruse these days is to weather - but we don't all like that. 

[C.A.T.Ford]

 While totally agreeing about the inspiration to 'make it yourself' either by copying the author's method directly, or by seeing how the technique might be redeployed to a different starting point with a different end product in view; I do feel compelled to mention the slight 'economy with the truth' present in so many such articles. It seemed that the authors could obtain with no difficulty a RTR mechanism of this type, a body from here, a tender from there; and then let the bashing commence to produce the desired end product. But this impoverished teen got laughed out of the 1960s model shop when requesting such pieces as individual purchases (the shop name was of course 'Blunt' and that covered their mode of expression on this matter quite adequately). Complete RTR models were what was on offer, nothing else. That delayed my getting started quite significantly!

If that was H.A.Blunt I once wrote to them with a query enclosing an SAE They screwed up my letter and sent it back in the SAE. Nice people it seems. Most of my local Model shops had a rummage box in which you could find bits you wanted and even bits you didn't know you wanted.

 

My favourite shop the late great Hobbytime were always ready to help. Dennis would peruse the article puff his pipe and pronounce, he was usually right and would want to see the results of your work.

 

CAT

[Dunsignalling]

 While totally agreeing about the inspiration to 'make it yourself' either by copying the author's method directly, or by seeing how the technique might be redeployed to a different starting point with a different end product in view; I do feel compelled to mention the slight 'economy with the truth' present in so many such articles. It seemed that the authors could obtain with no difficulty a RTR mechanism of this type, a body from here, a tender from there; and then let the bashing commence to produce the desired end product. But this impoverished teen got laughed out of the 1960s model shop when requesting such pieces as individual purchases (the shop name was of course 'Blunt' and that covered their mode of expression on this matter quite adequately). Complete RTR models were what was on offer, nothing else. That delayed my getting started quite significantly!

Back then the "manufacturers" actually made everything themselves and most spares were obtainable if you had the patience to conduct the necessary written correspondence.

 

Tenders were, for many years, listed and sold separately from locomotives by both Hornby Dublo and Tri-ang.

 

John  

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Exactly so. Once I was old enough to get access to the London model shops like Kings Cross, then it all became much easier. They were clearly in good standing with the manufacturers, and 'everything' could be readily obtained.

[Nearholmer]

"........... then, sometimes now, the paint finish on many such modelling triumphs let them down."

 

But then, they were "let up again" by the soot, fog and whitewash photographs that the magazines contained.

 

I'm pretty sure that, if exposed to the rigours of modern digital photo, with the usual dose of track-level close-ups that some magazines include, many earlier models might look a bit less glorious.

 

K

 

PS: why do some magazines include so many track-level close-ups of layouts that use typical 00 track and wheels? It is very seldom that we operate our layouts with our heads laying on the track, and we all know that only the finest of standards, finely executed, can withstand scrutiny of this kind, especially when splashed across a full A4 page. Since we don't actually look at layouts like that, it conveys a false, cruel, impression. Rant over.

[Pacific231G]

Fascinating!

 

That is really only 24x18? Clever the way he has co-opted HOe/009 things into TTn3, I'm surprised more people don't do it, because things like W&LLR stock instantly become Irish, simply by deciding that they are a different scale.

 

If we extend our reach, temporarily, to Continental Modeller, there were some cracking little essays by Don Sibley (hope I remembered correctly) in the early 1980s, including one called "El Tortuga", which was an "out and back" in HOe. Very good little layout, which he bought over to ExpoNG at Swanley some years later. Very artistic, I thought, in that a lot of atmosphere was conveyed in a minimalist if sort of way, by use of colour ...... A "bleached out" look that says "Southern Spain".

I guess they fall outside the early period we've been looking at but I too have always liked Don's neat little layouts, most based on European tramways, that have appeared in Continental Modeller and appear at Expong most years.

 

I particularly liked El Tortuga when I read the article in CM and and it proved even better than I'd expected when I actually saw it in 2005. (It had also been at the first Expong in 1983 in Greenwich but I hadn't)

 

I'm afraid my photos from the 2005 Expong don't do it justice but it's H0e, just 39ins x 18ins with handmade track, and was, according to Don, designed as an out and back so as to not overstretch the tiny Joe Works mechanisms (which had themseves led to a small boom in microlayouts in Japan) .

Edited April 4, 2016 by Pacific231G