Ffarquhar by Rev. W. Awdry

[PaulRhB]

The Talyllyn Railway stand had the Ffarquhar Branch on display at Warley and here are a few photos 

 

 

With no disrespect to the guys I suspect the Reverend may have commented about the speed of some moves but they were having fun and putting on a great show. It was running very well for a layout I last saw as a kid 40 odd years ago! Reading aloud from the Reverends notes to accompany moves in the sequence was a nice touch and it was a fun and friendly, (possibly slightly nutty), crew operating 😉 Just realised I didn’t get the chap narrating in the photos but kudos for the narration 👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by PaulRhB

[PaulRhB]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PaulRhB]

 

 

 

 

Original Toby model

 

 

 

[PaulRhB]

Thanks to the TR crew for bringing it along 😀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[adanapress]

I don't think that's the layout I saw him operating all those years ago n the vicarage near Wisbech.    I do recall him saying that his original Toby had been pinched at some event or other.  I certainly gave him an item of rolling stock, in return for his help with my book,

on the line,  privately published  long long ago.  I took my own single unit diesel railcar along to show him and try on his layout back then. and he made one the same, bodging two Triang bodies. 

[PaulRhB]

8 minutes ago, adanapress said:

 

I don't think that's the layout I saw him operating all those years ago n the vicarage near Wisbech. 

 

This is the mk2 layout the original was in the December 1959 Railway Modeller and I understand replaced because the old one didn’t fit in his new car!

 

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by PaulRhB

[Pacific231G]

4 minutes ago, PaulRhB said:

This is the mk2 layout the original was in the December 1959 Railway Modeller and I understand replaced because the old one didn’t fit in his new car!

 

 

Thanks for posting the images and video Paul.

I didn't know that the TRPS had maintained it as an operating layout but good for them. As a youngster, I met Rev Awdry and the Ffarquahar branch at one of the MRC Easter shows at Central Hall Westminster but I'm not sure whether it was this version or his original 6ft x 4ft "Mauruce Deane pattern" layout.  I think probably the latter as it couldn't have been much later than about 1961. 

[PaulRhB]

43 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

didn't know that the TRPS had maintained it as an operating layout but good for them.

Yes it’s been operated on special events at Tywyn and usually resides in the Awdry’s study display. 

 

 

Considering the restricted view there this was a real treat and considering it’s age it stands up pretty well. 
 

 

 

 

[Paul H Vigor]

I note that his locos were/are face-free??

[SteveyDee68]

5 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

I note that his locos were/are face-free??

And (IMHO) all the better for it!

 

Don’t mind the faces on the locos in the books/illustrations, but gives me the creeps on models (or 1:1 locos too, for that matter)

 

Steve S

[PaulRhB]

11 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

I note that his locos were/are face-free??

And there are other layouts like Tom F’s that model the railways without faces. The faces remind me of the books but I always knew the real locos didn’t have faces 😉

Strange isn’t it that the little faces are more popular than ever but called emojis 😂

[DavidB-AU]

What's the coach between Toby and Henrietta? It looks European.

[PaulRhB]

6 hours ago, DavidB-AU said:

What's the coach between Toby and Henrietta? It looks European.

Quote from the wiki

https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/The_Quarryman's_Coach

 

 

“The Quarryman's Coach is a four-wheeled coach that works on the Ffarquhar Branch Linewith Toby, Henrietta, Elsie and Victoria. The coach is used for transporting workers along the Quarry Tramroad to Ffarquhar Quarry.

Like Elsie, the coach was never featured in any Railway Series books, however was present on the Rev W. Awdry's Ffarquhar layout.

 

Basis

The Quarryman's Coach's basis is currently unknown. The model appears to be cut down from a German balcony coach.”

[PaulRhB]

Doing a bit of Google image searching found this that seems to share similar balcony ends and stamped end brackets for the roof. It may be an earlier version of this model as it doesn’t quite match but I reckon it’s the same prototype. 
 

Marklin #4002

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by PaulRhB

[Din]

The man in the waistcoat is Luke Ryan, who runs the TR's video and social media side, if I remember rightly he's also in charge of the Studi Awdry.

 

They're certainly a mad, and fun lot that group.

 

When Luke brought some of the Skarloey and North Western models to the first Statfold Model Railway Show, I remember chatting a bit with him at the end of the show on the Sunday, only for Richard Awdry to appear from nowhere, to lean in towards Luke and go "Plenty of bubble wrap, please." before vanishing!

Edited November 29, 2022 by Din

[Legend]

The Rev W V Awdry was very much a part of my upbringing. How nice to see he is still being celebrated by running his own creation. Looks very nice layout too. Well done the guys from the Talyllyn.

[TheSignalEngineer]

I remember meeting Rev. Awdry operating his original layout at an exhibition at the Birmingham and Midland Institute in the early 1960s. Nice to see the surviving one still running.

[PaulRhB]

Does anyone know which year this appeared at the Model Engineering Exhibition at Wembley conference centre? We used to go each year but have no photos to ascertain the date I saw it. I’m guessing it was late 70’s or early 80’s as I had the Thomas annuals which featured it too around then. 

[Tom F]

On 28/11/2022 at 23:00, PaulRhB said:

And there are other layouts like Tom F’s that model the railways without faces. The faces remind me of the books but I always knew the real locos didn’t have faces 😉

Strange isn’t it that the little faces are more popular than ever but called emojis 😂

Thank you for the mention Paul. I don’t post my modelling on RMweb anymore, but I thought some of you maybe interested to know my Skarloey layout (which has now grown considerably) is in this coming months Railway Modeller.

 

 

[PaulRhB]

17 minutes ago, Tom F said:

interested to know my Skarloey layout (which has now grown considerably) is in this coming months Railway Modeller.

 
I’ll look forward to that, where do you post updates now? I know you did a bit on NGRM but my phone / internet service has an ongoing intermittent access issue which means I only get in sporadically on there. 

[Tom F]

12 minutes ago, PaulRhB said:

 
I’ll look forward to that, where do you post updates now? I know you did a bit on NGRM but my phone / internet service has an ongoing intermittent access issue which means I only get in sporadically on there. 

Thanks Paul

 

I only post in my private Facebook group these days (happy to send you a link if you drop you a message, rather thank hijack the thread further)

[Pacific231G]

On 28/11/2022 at 22:46, Paul H Vigor said:

I note that his locos were/are face-free??

They always were and, for its time, Ffarquahar was a very accomplished small layout. I don't know if the stories included the branch before he built it as a layout but there was a certain amount of cross pollination. Duck the pannier tank, for example was so named because the Gaiety (Castle Art Products) 57xx pannier Awdry bought as a spare loco for Ffraquahar had a definite waddle when it first arrived (later cured but the name stuck).  Gaiety also produced a GWR brake van (telegraph code toad) which may have been the origin of "Toad" in the books.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Pacific231G

[adanapress]

Whilst visiting Rev Awdry way back then he suggested to me that it would be nice to visit the

regular driver of the tram, one Charlie Raunds, who was then in the local hospital.   I did so

taking the usual grapes,  and found him full of local politics, he was on  (? chairman?)  of a  local council committee and was worried that while he was away unwell some sort of palace coup would remove him from office!  A lovely man, real proper railwayman and happenstance he knew my Uncle then the District Motive Power Super at Norwich Thorpe.  In due course he fixed a footplate ride for me on the then new diesel.   Quite a day that was!

[Paul H Vigor]

3 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

They always were and, for its time, Ffarquahar was a very accomplished small layout. I don't know if the stories included the branch before he built it as a layout but there was a certain amount of cross pollination. Duck the pannier tank, for example was so named because the Gaiety (Castle Art Products) 57xx pannier Awdry bought as a spare loco for Ffraquahar had a definite waddle when it first arrived (later cured but the name stuck).  Gaiety also produced a GWR brake van (telegraph code toad) which may have been the origin of "Toad" in the books.

Gaiety Duck's 'waddle' - a quartering issue?

[Edge]

3 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

They always were and, for its time, Ffarquahar was a very accomplished small layout. I don't know if the stories included the branch before he built it as a layout but there was a certain amount of cross pollination. Duck the pannier tank, for example was so named because the Gaiety (Castle Art Products) 57xx pannier Awdry bought as a spare loco for Ffraquahar had a definite waddle when it first arrived (later cured but the name stuck).  Gaiety also produced a GWR brake van (telegraph code toad) which may have been the origin of "Toad" in the books.

A lot of the stories used Ffarquahar Mark 1 as their model for illustrations etc. The current touring layout is Ffarquahar Mark 2. The original was far larger and non-portable.

 

The models did a lot for the stories - Duck’s ‘waddle’ did inspire the character, and Henry’s rebuild at Crewe in the stories was courtesy of Awdry finally calling quits on the first model of NWR no.3 and starting again with a black 5 model.