“BEYOND DOVER”

[Northroader]

LARKRAIL MODEL RAILWAY SHOW.

I’m afraid the summer’s slipping by far too fast, as it always seems to, so more outings are needed. This morning on to trains down to Bath, and the No. 7 bus to Larkhall, a really pleasant setting within the ambiance of Bath. There’s a one day model railway show here which I’ve had the intention to get to for some time, and it is well worth it, I find. Relatively small, but the layouts are really chosen very carefully, so there’s something for everybody, and it’s a good friendly atmosphere, with several RMweb notables around.

To start with, here’s a link into the show’s thread, with plenty more pictures than my impressions which follow.

 

Top billing for me was Obbekaer, a H0 Danish 1950s line by @Middlepeak which I’ve linked on here back on page 6:

 

I took several pictures, including the two fiddle yards, which I always find interesting, even if you’re supposed to look at just the main board, and a close up for the station buildings, as I very interested for now in how much space, relatively, station facilities take up on a layout. Then there’s a dinky little 0-4-0T, although there’s still another scratch built one to come, I believe.

There’s a Danish PRf open that I have that I must really finish, and get on with more goods stock from details which @Mikkelkindly furnished, so pull my finger out. 

Also European interest, there was Cogirep, a SNCF micro layout by, @Barry Ten just three sidings with a kickback. Seeing it I was surprised how compact it really is, maybe all the buildings make it look bigger in photos.

 

 

Somewhere “Beyond Dover”, but a bit further than we go, and you’ve got this fantastic layout of a war shattered Beirut, by @Lineas Cubanas As modelling goes, this is sensational for capturing a time and a place

 

 

What else, taken from this side of the Channel? Well, let’s hear it for PRE-GROUP, compact, attractive trains, here on Iain Rices “Longwood Edge”, with parallel LNWR and L&YR lines in the Pennines.

Then let’s hear it for TREES, I wasn’t overly bothered about an “Iron Lung” shunting ballast hoppers, but looking at the scenic treatment, I was swept away with the trees. This is @Re6/6s “Parkend Marsh Sidings” line.

There’s me with some H0 Heki trees going along “dop.. dop.. dop..” on my line, and then you see how it’s done properly.

Then, let’s hear it for BULK. I model in 0 gauge mainly because of the satisfying feel you get from picking up an ordinary wagon, compared with the smaller scales. I tried picking up a beautifully moulded tender for a steam engine in 00 scale at another show recently, it was far finer detail than I can do, very reasonable price, but I just didn’t get the same buzz from it. So, today, there’s @Devonbelle, who I regard as a friend, showing a nice shunting layout in Gauge 1, which I look at the prices and run away calling for my mummy. He picks up a lovely Terrier 0-6-0T, and he’s done it in cardboard! Cardboard!! Just wheels from Slaters and a motor to buy. Then there’s a m.d.f. Van. You can do Gauge 1 scratchbuilding as cheap as you like. It would be nice to try, and have a model I can take to bed with me, only I’m knee deep in gauge 0 bits.

 

I assure you there were several more layouts there, all quality craftsmanship, I’m just giving a personal account of the ones that caught my interest. If Callum does a video of the show I’ll stick a link on this post.

yes, another really good video has appeared. I saw some of it being made, he doesn’t have a crew with lights, sound, clapperboard and all that kind of stuff, just a little black box with a tiny screen sticking out, and all really well put together.

 

 

 

Edited July 18 by Northroader

[F-UnitMad]

On 13/07/2024 at 16:29, Northroader said:

, with several RMweb notables around.

Ha ha, very tactful, Bob!! 🤣🤣😉😉👍👍👍

Been following the Larkrail thread myself, looks a far more appealing show to me than the likes of the NEC!! Just a long way for me to travel, I would use up several years' worth of Brownie points to get there!

Nice resumé, especially the Gauge 1 shunty plank - defintely the sort of thing that could lead to dangerous rabit holes & slippery slopes if one isn't careful...!!!

[Northroader]

Only in Bath, Jordan, straight down the M5, and I’m sure your missus would enjoy Jolly’s and such like. No, the gauge 1 shuntyplank certainly made me feel very tempted.

whats with the flags, “happy Hogmanay from Peninsular and Oriental”?

[F-UnitMad]

1 hour ago, Northroader said:

whats with the flags

[F-UnitMad]

2 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

Hmmm.... so - that went well, not!! 🙄🤦‍♂️😂😂😂

[Northroader]

 

[F-UnitMad]

Well yes, things could've been worse. It could have been another loss against Germany, on penalties... 😱🤣

[Mikkel]

On 13/07/2024 at 17:29, Northroader said:

LARKRAIL MODEL RAILWAY SHOW.

 

Thank you for those photos, an excellent collection of layouts. Obbekaer sets new standards for layouts depicting Danish scenes, in my view - along with a few select club layouts here. I hope the trend will spread - for decades it's been neon green grass, throw-together Heljan buildings and unweathered stock.

 

As for the funeral in Berlin, I think England did OK in the final. Those Spanish wizzkids are unstoppable anyway.

 

Speaking of Spanish wonders, I seem to have lost the link to a blog by a well-known Spanish diorama modeller, whose name I cannot remember. His buildings are extraordinary. Does it ring a bell with anyone?

 

[Northroader]

MODELLER OF SPANISH SCENES.
 

This sort of thing? (He sounds as if he might be Spanish, and there’s a lista des blogs you might pick up on)

 

http://trainscape.blogspot.com

 

 

Edited July 18 by Northroader

[Mikkel]

Yes, that's the one - thank you! José Manuel Gomez. I've just been catching up on some of his posts.

 

This water is extraordinary: 

https://trainscape.blogspot.com/2024/05/linea-contorno-de-madrid-4.html

 

Street scenes:

https://trainscape-blogspot-com.translate.goog/2023/09/calle-convenio.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

 

Trains:

https://trainscape-blogspot-com.translate.goog/2024/02/material-rodante-en-pn-p-sorolla-y.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

 

 

[Re6/6]

Some truly remakable modelling there in all departments. Right up there with the best. Thanks for that Mikkel.

[Northroader]

Permit me to tell you, Senòr Kjartan, Don Jose Manuel Gomez es un hombre muy perspicaz. In his lista de blogs he has a link to Farthing.

Edited July 18 by Northroader

[Simond]

Senor Gomez is clearly a clever chap.  Most impressed!

[Northroader]

THOUGHTS ON PLANNING A LAYOUT.
 

Last September I turned up at my bungalow lugging an old baseboard, sole survivor of a wholesale clearout of the loft in the old place. The intention was that it would form the kernel of my new lines, mainly centred on the British element, but shared with the continental side of things. The main parameter for the layouts I have is that they are around microlayout size, with a terminal fed from a fiddle yard. Stuff happened, as it always does, the width was wrong, the length was wrong, and it was superseded by a new board fashioned from 10mm foamboard, which I’ve quite taken to as a means of construction. In the fullness of time I’ve gone off the idea of sharing British and continental on a single board, as having two interchangeable platforms of different heights didn’t turn out well, besides the look of bullhead track for everything. (Although some European administrations were using it still around 1900) The old baseboard then came in for use as a home for my American bits, with the top cut back and the under frame projecting out to support the fiddle yard. The American trains are all shorter than they should be, but I’m very happy with how this is shaping.  All very well, but no home for my continental trains anywhere, and I’m weighing things up for what to do here.

The thought came to me to share the American line, as this has low platforms. The only snag really is the track, as there are far more sleepers per unit length than an old European line would have. For now I’m just using as a basis of how it could be. First off there’s two pictures of the line when empty.

 

 

One thing I’m pleased with, and which has attracted favourable comment, is laying the main running line on a continuous curve, using a 6’ radius trammel, rather than having it straight, and parallel with the front edge of the baseboard. You’ll see a short rear siding, and a front siding marked in on the right, waiting for more copper clad sleepers. Lengths are in the proportion of three units on the main line, two units on the front siding, and one on the back siding. Trains are three units from the fiddle yard cassette. Arriving trains come, pause, back out to “run round” in the fiddle yard, reverse in, and then passenger trains can depart, and goods can shunt wagons round before departure. You’ll also see a grid marked off in inch squares, demonstrating there’s  room for a small station building for the passengers, with a footprint of 10” x 4”. The board size is 30” long, and 13” wide. What to do now? A duplicate board with more suitable track seems to be a good option, if it can be developed without the missus saying I’m trying to do too much. (She would probably be right, bless her, but where’s the fun in that?) I’ve taken a few pictures with continental items scattered round, while I plan where to go.

 

Edited July 24 by Northroader

[Donw]

That looks rather delightful. I suggest separate boards are the way to go. For one things you dont have to find somewhere else to store the station and other buildings. It also helps that details can be fixed to the board rather than having to be removeable. While today there may not be so much difference between US and European dress I would suggest that in the days of that rather nice loco they would  have looked quite different. 

How to get it past your wife may not be as simple. I would go for the truth tell her it would be more work having to swap things about, and that you just want a nice setting for the stock you have already got.

 

Don

[F-UnitMad]

14 hours ago, Northroader said:

The thought came to me to share the American line, as this has low platforms. The only snag really is the track, as there are far more sleepers per unit length than an old European line would have.

An interesting conundrum there, Bob. 

Chris Ellis was always espousing 'Multi-mode' layouts in his magazines, personally I was never convinced it really works, despite trying it myself a couple of times. In this case it is, as you say, the track - delapidated secondary US track looks totally different to pre-WW1 (?? I guess?) EU branchline track, which I imagine was quite well looked after, and would be chaired rather than spiked? (again I'm guessing?).

I did use a mix of Peco UK & old Lima setrack on my Portway Mk2 layout, & no one seemed to notice at the couple of shows it went to, but then it was heavily ballasted & overgrown, and of course very wonky!!

Cue gratuitous photos...

 

[Northroader]

CHAMP DE MARS (PARIS OLYMPICS)
 

And outside the Gare d’Austerlitz….

 

Edited July 27 by Northroader

[Donw]

I am not sure how you would get such models past your wife?

 

Don

[F-UnitMad]

10 hours ago, Donw said:

I am not sure how you would get such models past your wife?

 

Don

That IS his wife!!! 🤔😉🤣🤣🤣

[Northroader]

Ooh-la-la! Mais, mon amis, how do you get there if you're not on a bateau? One of Clive Lammings excellent essays..

 

https://trainconsultant.com/2022/01/05/juste-lisch-et-son-batiment-voyageurs-de-la-gare-du-champ-de-mars/

 

 

[burgundy]

10 hours ago, Northroader said:

One of Clive Lammings excellent essays..

Has anyone found an index to Lamming's essays, as he is a prolific writer on all matters relating to old French railways?

Best wishes 

Eric  

[sncf231e]

On this page https://trainconsultant.com/2019/01/22/what-i-offer-ce-que-je-propose/ there is a complete list just under the text: 

 

La liste des articles parus sur le site-web « Trainconsultant »

 

, but just at the order they were published.

Regards

Fred

[Northroader]

Thanks, Fred, he is very prolific, but referencing his essays is involved, and I could quite happily just delve into his work, and give links all the time. While we’re at it, here’s another on the Eiffel Tower, with notes on how it developed from the epic railway viaducts:

 

https://trainconsultant.com/2021/04/12/la-tour-eiffel-fille-des-chemins-de-fer/

 

(P.s.,Eric, not just France - Greece, frinstance?)

 

Edited July 28 by Northroader

[Northroader]

VAIRES-s-MARNE.
 

Also at the Olympics, the British rowing teams are straining every muscle to gain hundredths of a second over the opposition. Me? I’m sitting in the shadiest, draughtiest part of the house trying to keep cool, with modelling operations suspended until the heatwave ends. Where’s all the rowing going on? Vaires-sur-Marne, department Seine et Marne, just east of Paris. It’s a pleasant  spot, with watery pools alongside the River Marne.

 

 

Property development, with this Arcadia just about twelve miles east of the Gare de l’Est, and the Strasbourg main line passing through. The first station for the commuters was no more than the standard wayside halt, a building very nice for a micro layout?

 

 

( edit, just having a closer look at the above photo,  there appears to be a cabin tucked away close to the over bridge, plus a signalman? Then is there a semaphore post standing up straight amidst the tangle of telegraph poles, maybe with a faint suggestion of Lartigue block signalling arm hanging down? Then looking across the tracks at the bridge, treadle switches at the side of the rails?)

 

Obviously inadequate for development, and having a rebuild in the 1930s, along with quad track going in. A triage, marshalling yard, also appeared, and this featured in “The Train” film, I think the location was used rather than somewhere else, although the pictured bombing raid was staged. The place really did get very heavily plastered in 1944 during the Allied advance.

 

 

Now, where’s the ice creams?

 

 

Edited August 3 by Northroader

[Mikkel]

Charming. Until that last shot!

 

Agree that Vaires in  that early rendition would be a nice model, two levels and all. The signalman's cabin would be a nice and easy place to start. Here it is without the trees.

 

Source: https://www.cparama.com/forum/vaires-sur-marne-t944.html

 

Edited August 2 by Mikkel