Look what arrived on the doormat this morning. I really thought that I had run the course of my subscription of the MRJ. But the joy of receiving this package of goodness on this day of freezing rain and general gloominess is one small pleasure in ones rather dull existence. I have to say that there is little that I am necessarily interested in but once again I enjoy reading about the methods and authors of these articles. However I did really enjoy Geoff Forster’s ‘Designs for Bleddfa Raad’ in O Scale. Also John Chick’s ‘My Brain Trains’ bring an interesting slant to modern layout control.
Then there is another one of my addictions that needs feeding on the opposite page from the contents page. Which is “Unconsidered Trifles” from Wild Swan books and I have always enjoyed Geoff Kent’s output.
So once again more food for thought from the great people at Cygnet Magazines. Now where’s my cheque book to extend my subscription for another four issues!
Whist sitting at my desk thinking about all things modelling and also the complexity of creating things to put out on the world wide web my attention was distracted by a book peeking out of my bookshelf. Yet another one of those great ideas at the time that didn’t follow through to an actual product. Then my thoughts drifted to what else was in the bookshelf and what have I not looked at in some time, well in reality a long time.
I know it might just be me but I rarely “just get” books out of my shelf, but that’s changed now with the lock down. In this age of digital media I realised that I have long moved away from the printed word. I remember the days that I would look forward to getting the latest edition of Railway Modeller from our local newsagents on the Saturday after it came out, as this was the time I could make it to the town that stocked the magazine. But the joy in getting home and disappearing off to my bedroom to lose myself in little imaginary worlds for a brief moment in time has been forgotten, at least for me. I am sure there are many out there who have the contrary view and spend significant amounts of time and money building their collections. But for me part of the process is getting something for the immediate joy of reading. Then follows the putting in a place on a shelf and the distancing from the mind, probably, possibly for years.
The fact that I haven’t had this opportunity since I was that yoof sitting in his bedroom, sitting in front of these books now brings back the joy of that moment. Each book and magazine has a memory attached, sometimes it was the getting of it or sometimes the memory of reading it.
I could have way more books, way way more books in these shelves, but I have managed to keep my choices to things that are in my core interests. For me it would be way too easy to load up on a whole range of subjects that would keep me busy probably for the rest of my life. Don’t get me wrong its not that I don’t go down other paths elsewhere but on the whole this is all digital and takes up no physical space. In this age of pretty much everything being in some form on line, with a large amount of it not being or never having been in publication. With also the possibility of asking questions on related forums, there really is no stone that can’t be unturned.
As someone who has spent the majority of there life in motion, and with few places where I had time or space to spread these physical roots it has been both a blessing and a curse. But now I am actually happy I hadn’t accumulated a huge library as most of it would probably have been jettisoned anyway. What’s more of interest to me is distilling my knowledge of the particular subject I’m interested in. Building up archives that I have access to anywhere is more important to me now than having an impressive bookshelf(s). I now circulate books brought on a whim that either don’t fit with my core interests or that replicates information. On the whole I have managed to train out random compulsive purchasing, but occasionally one gets through! I have to say that the Wild Swan Modelling Series is my Achilles keel and have pretty much brought every book in this series, even if it doesn’t necessarily fit my modelling influences and skills.
Speaking of Wild Swan I received the last issue, which after some (fomo?) I couldnt remember when my subscription ran out and like a fool when the mag turned up did my civic duty and bunged the envelope into the recycle. Unbeknownst to me the final edition is printed on the label, who knew?! I kind of admire their complete lack of desire to enter the 21st century and the operations dept is an endless source of amusement for many. But in this time of seclusion I opted for the patience approach and crossed fingers that it would turn up at some point. Thankfully that is what happened and I am now signed up for another four issues, which is all they are offering at this current time. But four is better than non of this wonderful publication.
These mags are the only I buy now. Apart from an occasional purchase of other mainstream mags this is the only one I actively collect. Also the only one that I don’t slash n scan pretty much after purchasing. I have been known to occasionally leaf through one in a idle moment. I have recently started building an index of the mags I have, yes I know there is already one out there, but I like to have something that I have access to at all times and can quickly look for something of interest.
So for the time being I am revisiting some old paper friends and pondering if there are more I need or want to add to them.
Whilst at the Seven Valley Railway yesterday I popped back into their shop on Hampton Loade station to see if I could pickup some more missing MRJs and I wasn’t disappointed. Yes it’s become a bit of a quest. However my cunning plan of knowing what I had and what I needed fell down as the spreadsheet I had created on my phone was not accessible and consequently I ended up with some duplicates, so much for modern technology. Oh well I’ll just donate them back to my local railway shop, if they will have them. But I’ve now created a much simpler notes list that I can keep track of the missing issues whilst out and about.
There are some real quality reads in my haul including articles about layouts I never got to see in the flesh but wished I had, such as Gordon & Maggie Gravett’s Ditchling Green, Ddaullt and Darenth, not to mention Roy England’s buildings for Pendon, which I really need to go back and see.
I’m looking forward to getting home and reading these with a cuppa and note pad to revive the inspiration.
Whilst out and about today I saw that the latest MRJ on ‘Smiths’ shelves and took a quick flick through to see if it was one I wanted to get but with my new scan and bin it strategy it takes no physical space and limited digital estate so it makes sense to collect them all as you don’t know when a close interest in pre-grouping wagon chassis might hit! A rather cracking issue and particularly liked the Talyllyn wooden buildings article by Peter Kazer.
Thought I would start off a sporadic thread of things that I read which mainly consists of magazines. The one constant since coming across it when I was a member of a club is MRJ or Model Railway Journal. After all the other mags falling by the wayside I still get it virtually every issue and when at model rail shows I am even collecting the back issue numbers that I haven’t got. There is all ways something of interest even if the theme is not really my cup of tea as I like to think I can learn no matter what the scale it the techniques.
To this months edition is case in point. The lovely layout of Orford by Paul Clarke after a downsizing move had to replace his Debenham 7mm Layout with something much smaller. Just oozes character and detail and then there is more from Gordon Gravett on road surfaces on Arun Quay. Plus there’s a bit of 2mmFS but a bit beyond me. I love going back and browsing through my old collection when there’s a quiet moment and one of the few things I haven’t sold, donated, or scrapped. Long may it continue.
Time goes by and I am still not able to do anything physical with the challenge at the moment but I have been able to acquire some ‘things’ for the project as you can see from the picture below. I managed to get all of this for under five quid from a very generous chap who must of had these in his gloat box for quite some time, the going rate for the gauges are now £5 each and as you can see the price tag of £1.50 my guess is that it points to them being c1980’s.
As you maybe able to see from the photo on one of the jigs it denotes that these are for code 75 rail, now this being an cheap n cheerful project I have to think about how it is going to interface with the Peco track that I already have. Also sourcing Code 75 cheaply is going to be a bit of a challengeI think. I also need to find the PCB ties(sleepers) to build the turnouts and although I know you can get a sheet reasonably cheaply it then needs to be cut to dimension and this is where it then gets tough. So I will now look at other avenues. I know the 2mmSA do them but they will be over sized as the track gauge is 9.42. Would I want to individually cut each tie or leave them as is and try and cover up the additional length. Then theres always Fast-tracks but this is not a cheap option. I have been looking at and thinking about getting one of these tools but as most of my track planning is done on curves it would not seem to be suitable for this method.
Although I have manage to source some foamboard I am trying to work out whether this will be suitable for the project. I would like to build the picture frame effect and am not sure if a) I have enough FB b) it will be strong enough to support the weight of the proscenium effect. However the ease of construction and the amount of bracing can over come this given the right amount of materials to do it. The other option would be to use ply. I do have some 12mm ply, this is not light, from an old table tennis table but am not sure about the the structural integrity of it as it has been leant up against a wall for 20 odd years. Also the weight may be an issue. Cutting along long straight lines has never been one of my strong points and so I would have to beg, borrow or steal, (well maybe not steal 😉 ) a power tool of some sorts to assist me in this task.
So now the hard part I just have to come up with a track plan that is believable. So its off to scour Google Earth for an appropriate location in Vermont, New England. I want to keep it simple but have enough operational interest to keep ones attention and given that this will be a micro layout that maybe a bit of a stretch as generally the spaces needed for NA locations is greater than that of UK prototypes. I like the idea of switching cars out using a card system and that ties in with project three but don’t want to make it too complicated as to spoil the fun! Having now recovered my goods and chattels from storage amongst a whole bunch of things I had forgotten about I have uncovered some hefty book tokens and couple of iPhone programming books. Maybe an early Christmas present to myself of some Python books or maybe the new Gordon Gravett; Wild Swan scenery books will take precedences so I may get side tracked with those possibilities…
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
Whilst at the Seven Valley Railway yesterday I popped back into their 
Whilst out and about today I saw that the latest MRJ on ‘Smiths’ shelves and took a quick flick through to see if it was one I wanted to get but with my new scan and bin it strategy it takes no physical space and limited digital estate so it makes sense to collect them all as you don’t know when a close interest in pre-grouping wagon chassis might hit! A rather cracking issue and particularly liked the Talyllyn wooden buildings article by Peter Kazer.
Thought I would start off a sporadic thread of things that I read which mainly consists of magazines. The one constant since coming across it when I was a member of a club is MRJ or Model Railway Journal. After all the other mags falling by the wayside I still get it virtually every issue and when at model rail shows I am even collecting the back issue numbers that I haven’t got. There is all ways something of interest even if the theme is not really my cup of tea as I like to think I can learn no matter what the scale it the techniques.
Recent Comments