Indice dei contenuti per November 2024 in Model Rail

Unusual scenes captured by the lens of Chris Nevard Stormy skies loom over Whitehall Halt as Driver Arthritic Arthur powers around the bend at breakneck speed with the 0823 mixed goods from Hemyock to Tiverton Junction, where the tanks will be added to the 0637 express milk and perishables train from Penzance. Waving Wally implores Arthur to slow down, for he has to collect a fresh consignment of country air which has just been loaded into the wagon, the air heading for that there London. In olden times, fresh country air destined for smoky towns and cities was always transported in open wagons as the constant ventilation helped to keep it fresh and avoided a musty aroma upon arrival.…

Workbench EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW Ballasting track tends to polarise opinion among railway modellers. Some say it's an extremely relaxing process, while others find it a messy chore. There's also an added layer of stress as, once the tracks are bound in position with glue and scatter material, making any corrections to or repairs can be tricky, to say the least. That's why we always recommend thorough testing of a layout's operation and wiring before committing to ballasting. Ensuring everything is working properly beforehand will save lots of head-scratching (and the odd tantrum) later. Indeed, if any gremlins appear after the ballasting stage, we can be fairly certain that it has something to do with the addition of glue, paint and fine stone chippings, making diagnosis simpler. So how…

Workbench EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW Many handmade model trees consist of a wire frame of some kind, like florist's binding strands or copper cable. It lends itself well to forming the basic shape, and the canopy can be arranged to cover the ends of the outer branches. The late George Iliffe Stokes – a true legend among scenic modellers – used to make his tree armatures from Bowden cable (employed for bicycle brakes or motor car throttles), and he would use wire wool for hedgerows, but the hard steel wire is unforgiving and quite coarse, especially for the smaller scales. The wire method gave me the idea to try a more modern equivalent, originally for making the backscene trees for ‘Bucks Hill’, so I tried using flexible multi-strand battery…

200 YEARS OF BRAVERY Since the RNLI charity was founded in 1824, its volunteer crews have launched the lifeboats over 380,000 times, saving over 144,000 lives, while its lifeguards – who became part of the RNLI's lifesaving service in 2001 – have saved thousands of lives at beaches across the UK. • To help or donate, go to www.rnli.org The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) marked its 200th anniversary earlier this year. It operates 238 lifeboat stations using over 400 lifeboats, varying from inflatables to fast all-weather vessels and hovercraft. It relies entirely on volunteers and fundraising, as accepting government money would probably mean accepting government interference. Today the volunteer crews are summoned to a call-out by a pager, activated by HM Coastguard. Back in the period covered by the…

Lincolnshire engineering firm Ruston & Hornsby was a pioneer in the field of internal combustion shunting locomotives and, between the years of 1932 and 1967, 237 four-wheel locomotives were built to the 48DS design – one of the smallest standard gauge diesels in the UK. At just 7.5tons and with an output of less than 50hp, the 48DS was not suited to the demands of main line operation, but it was ideal for use in a wide range of private owner and industrial settings. The Southern Region of British Railways took one example in late 1948, purchased from the Bristol Aeroplane Co., for Departmental use, being numbered as DS1169. Employed at Folkestone Warren permanent way yard on sea defence works until 1962, it moved to Yeovil Junction (for P-way duties)…

◆ GAUGE ‘OO’ ◆ MODELS Hornby • R7391 GWR Dunster Station (£54.99) • R7392 GWR Dunster Goods Shed (£49.99) • R7393 Chinnor signal box (£34.99) • R7394 GWR Dunster Engine Shed (£54.99) ◆ AVAILABILITY Hornby stockists Web www.hornby.com A plastic kit of Dunster station was first offered by Hornby many moons ago, but the delightful location – now part of the West Somerset Railway (WSR) heritage line – forms the subject of the latest Skaledale releases. The look of the station building and goods shed is captured admirably, featuring well defined (if rather uniform) stonework. The blend of colours are a close match with the real buildings. The goods shed includes an optional timber door for one of the archways, while etched metal window frames are fitted to both structures,…

Workbench EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW Most of us began our model railway journey with a train set laid atop a flat wooden board or table top. One of the easiest ways to begin adding extra realism is to introduce scenic contours, in the shape of hills, cliffs or cuttings, allowing bridges and tunnels to be introduced. But that will only allow scenery to be added above the level of the tracks, which may be relevant to certain real-life locations, but does limit the viewer's experience. Introducing scenic features below the tracks, such as embankments, underpasses, rivers and viaducts, can have a transformative effect to miniature scenes. Modellers have employed all manner of methods and materials to achieve these ends over the years, such as open-framed timber baseboards with the…

Workbench EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW With the scenic contours formed – and coated with a sealing layer of acrylic or emulsion paint – and the tracks laid and ballasted, it's time to add the ‘green stuff’. We've collated a range of techniques here to help you master the planting of various scatter materials, foliage and trees, as well as a step-by-step guide to electrostatic grass fibres. Once again, there's no prescribed correct way of recreating grass, hedges, trees and shrubs, and countless different approaches are possible. Indeed, the choice of scenic products these days is enormous. Much depends on the type of greenery that your layout demands, influenced by geography and season. That said, there are some key techniques featured here that will stand you in good stead and,…

Workbench EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW One of the most popular questions I'm asked at scenery workshops is ‘how can I model a canal?’ Some modellers are understandably nervous about modelling water because they have tried it at least once and the results were not what they hoped to happen for various reasons. I'm going to answer some of those concerns here and give you my top tips for modelling a superb canal so that you can go into your next build with more confidence. Canals were a vital part of the country's transport infrastructure in the days before railways and fortunately, canals are still a common sight all over the UK in rural and urban locations. They are also popular holiday destinations, with countless boat hire companies across the…

Workbench EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW Texture and tonal variety can be some of the most important elements of scenic modelling, with natural and man-made materials featuring a wealth of surface detail. Even the most sterile of modern architecture still has a degree of texture – just rub your hands over a concrete pillar and you can feel it. Look closely at it, and you'll see more than one shade of grey. In model railway terms, texture is vital to avoid an overly ‘clinical’ appearance, especially in terms of ground cover. Roads are not super-smooth, so a painted surface alone won't cut it, and sidings, depots, goods yards and freight terminals need varying degrees of texture in the ballast and hardstanding, which can be tailored to suit different eras and…

◆ GAUGE ‘OO’ ◆ MODEL Accurascale ACC2742 Class 31 5544, BR blue ◆ PRICE £169.99 (DCC-ready), £269.99 (DCC sound) ◆ AVAILABILITY Accurascale stockists Web www.accurascale.com First revealed in 2022 and greeted with much excitement, especially by those unsatisfied with the existing models on offer, the first of Accurascale's Class 31 models were very close to arriving as this issue closed for press. As with the production of the manufacturer's Class 37, the models will arrive in waves, led by a raft of BR Rail blue versions. Post-sectorisation era and BR green versions (including original style Class 30s) will follow, with Model Rail's forthcoming exclusive version of 31116 RAIL Celebrity among them. Received for review is 5544 in early 1970s pre-TOPS condition, wearing numerals in the ‘corporate’ font and double arrows…

‘N’ GAUGE LAYOUT TORBAY SANDS What makes this layout great? “The available width forced Daniel's hand with ‘N’ gauge, but he picked it up and ran with it to create a fabulous end-to-end layout that fits snugly in his garage. Once again, proof that you don't need to fill a room to have a stunning layout.” Modellers who began a layout during the pandemic is becoming a common theme within our pages. Now we are four years on from the initial lockdown, those who started layouts while there was nothing else to do have seen them through to their conclusion, and the results continue to astound. These layouts are made more impressive by how difficult some materials were to come by. The need to use scraps of whatever you had…

Workbench EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW There's no need to shy away from painting a sky for your layout, and you certainly don't have to be ‘artistic’ to make a good job of it. Copying one by hand instead of using a printed overlay does take a bit longer, of course, but it allows an unlimited choice and size. As a sky can often occupy a large section of a layout's background, let's see if we can get it to contribute something to the scene. This can be done by just studying and recording a suitable example, and you can always re-do an existing sky panel that you're no longer happy with. It's the same method we rightly adopt for most aspects of modelling, where the reference is the vital…

Workbench EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW When building a model railway, almost all modellers come across the same dilemma – how am I going to transition from the scenic section of my creation to the off-scene portion? The answer is with a scenic break. Scenic breaks on a layout usually consist of a road bridge or tunnel to deceive the viewer that tracks continue to another part of a layout or to hide a fiddleyard. These items can be constructed from kits, or scratchbuilt using any manner of material, but take time when producing them. To save time in not having to model a detailed scenic break with bridges and other structures, I instead chose to use a photograph of the East Cliff overbridge, also known as the ‘skew bridge’,…

Reviews ◆ GAUGE ‘OO’ ◆ MODEL EFE Rail E86020 Propelling Control Vehicle NAA, Rail Express Systems/Royal Mail ◆ PRICE £79.95 ◆ AVAILABILITY Bachmann stockists Web www.bachmann.co.uk Converted from Class 307 EMU driving trailer cars, a fleet of 42 Propelling Control Vehicles (PCV) was created during the mid 1990s. While the cars were unpowered, they allowed drivers to control the locomotive (either diesel or electric) from the opposite end of the train, for slow-speed reversing manoeuvres within mail terminals and stations. Amongst the work carried out to the cars was the addition of large roller shutter doors, two per side, for the rapid loading and unloading of mail trollies, matching the ‘Super BG’ and ‘Super GUV’ mail vans throughout the rest of the train. Given the TOPS code of NAA, the…