Tabla de contenidos para April 2024 en Model Rail

The practical aspect of last month's Masterclass, featuring two of our exclusive new Class 11 models, was the most enjoyable bit of modelling I've done for a while, even if it was done in something of a hurry. Now that I have a pair of post-BR industrial ‘11s’ at work on my layout, including a National Coal Board orange example (ex-12099), I'm a very happy bunny. More recently, while clearing away some boxes, I came across several early decorated samples, including more of the orange Class 11s, albeit with a few livery errors and several missing parts. Having been bumped around for months, handled by countless pairs of hands and not assembled to ‘production spec’ in the first place, the samples were a bit rough and ready. After all, they…

While the doom mongers continue to prophesise an impending catastrophe for the model railway hobby, 2023 proved to be another busy year for new releases. Yet more high-quality models appeared in ‘N’, ‘OO9’, ‘OO’ and ‘O’, many of which represented a first outing for certain prototypes in ready-torun form, while others promised superior renditions to previous efforts. ‘TT:120’ has also continued to grow, albeit in a modest way, precluding it from Model Rail's awards – for now. As ever, Model Rail readers have helped to recognise excellence in the design and manufacture of model locomotives and rolling stock from a range of manufacturers. It's interesting to see which products gained the most favour in each scale, confounding some of our own predictions, while confirming others. Moreover, it was good to…

Workbench EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW Last year, I began building a new ‘OO’ gauge layout loosely based on Carne Point in Cornwall, on the River Fowey, where china clay is unloaded from railway wagons and transferred to ships for export. Back in 2021, I was able to take one of the hour-long boat trips from Fowey harbour, which pass the Carne Point loading terminal. Although no ships were anchored next to the jetties, I did get a great view of the various structures and surrounding landscape. There was also a handful of CDA hopper wagons dotted around the location, presumably awaiting attention before rejoining the main fleet. On my return home, I reviewed my photographs and set myself the task of building one of the smaller loading sheds, together…

3mm:1ft SCALE LAYOUT BLUISH What makes this layout great? “Working in a non-mainstream scale means that a modeller faces the challenge of building many elements of a layout from scratch, or adapting existing kits. It may seem daunting, but the level of reward is un-matched” Have you ever built a small model railway as a practice run for a much larger layout? It's been known, but most of us will just dive straight in with the larger layout and correct any mistakes as we go along. Phil Mason, on the other hand, discovered that after some home renovations he had the perfect opportunity to build a new layout and help out his club along the way. “The layout came from an unusual source, as we'd had a new fireplace installed…

Reviews It was in 2003 that Hornby took what was considered by some to be a risk by releasing a range of the Southern Railway's unconventional ‘Q1’ 0-6-0s. Healthy sales immediately pointed to all kinds of possibilities in what had hitherto been a relatively conservative market. The emergence of the BulleidRaworth ‘Booster’ electric locomotive from the Bachmann EFE Rail range – 21 years later – demonstrates just how much the RTR market has changed. Only two ‘Boosters’ of this particular type were built by the Southern Railway: Nos. CC1 and CC2, later British Railways Class 70s Nos. 20001 and 20002. Even so, their many guises mean that there are five versions to choose from: SR grey No. CC1, SR malachite green No. CC1, BR black and aluminium/silver No. 20002, BR…

When William Stanier joined the LMS in 1932, the closest thing the railway company had to a modern mixed traffic locomotive design was the Hughes ‘Crab’ 2-6-0. Instead, Stanier set about creating a true ‘go anywhere, haul anything’ 4-6-0 locomotive that could offer superior performance and economy on both passenger and freight work, while being easily assembled and maintained. Building on his previous experience with the GWR's ‘Hall’ 4-6-0s, the LMS Class 5 featured a tapered boiler, twin outside cylinders and 6ft driving wheels. The first example appeared in 1934 and construction continued into BR days, with well over 800 examples eventually constructed by 1951. Assembly was undertaken at Crewe, Derby and Horwich Works, while private builders Vulcan Foundry and Armstrong Whitworth also gained contracts to assemble 100 and 327…

Reviews Built in 1988 by Powell Duffryn, the PCA bulk powder tank wagons were designed for carrying imported alumina, loaded at Blyth on the Northumbrian coast, to feed the British Aluminium smelter at Lochaber, near Fort William. Traversing what must be one of the most scenic routes for a freight service, the wagons also represent the last regular freight traffic over the West Highland line. During 2011, they were even hauled by a preserved ‘Deltic', 55022 being hired owing to a GBRf motive power shortage. Revolution Trains announced its ‘OO’ PCA project in the summer of 2022, with models arriving with retailers last month, attractively packaged in four-wagon sets. Received for review is a set of tanks carrying the branding of British-Australian mining company Rio Tinto Alcan. British Aluminium has…

Unusual scenes captured by the lens of Chris Nevard Every year, all railway employees would have to undertake a full health check, including the horses used for shunting. Part of the test was to ensure that, in the event of a motive power shortage, employees were capable of at least being able to pull or push a wagon around the yard. To ensure fairness, a dynamometer car was used for the test, with staff given financial incentives to exceed expectations. Needless to say, the horses regularly triumphed over their twolegged colleagues, and were rewarded with extra apples and even the occasional beer.…

It's funny how things turn out. Building my modern wagons can be so much fun, even though certain facets of the job can get a little repetitive, especially when building long rakes. That's not the case when it comes to coaches, as I've never really found much joy in building them. Big metal boxes with pesky little people inside them – who could possibly find them enjoyable?! Aha! But that was until I was asked to build some Mk 3 coaches from the Skytrex range. Consisting of injectionmoulded components for the main body, with separate sides, ends, roof and floor, the kits are simple to put together. The sides and ends, which fit together really well, can be painted and finished before assembly which, to me, makes the whole thing…

‘OO’ GAUGE LAYOUT LAUGHTON What makes this layout great? “Colin has demonstrated that you don't need metres and metres of track filling your baseboard to make a layout believable or interesting. Small branch lines, where the railway is barely a blot on the landscape, were common and Colin has recreated this faithfully.” Model railways can go through many iterations in their lifetimes, either with an alteration to the trackplan, season, era or location. When you've had a layout for 20 years it's natural to want to change things slightly as the years go by, and that is precisely what Colin Chisem has done with his ‘OO’ layout ‘Laughton’. The real railway never reached the East Sussex village of Laughton. Instead, the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway made a large…

Workbench EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW George Dent tackles a trio of Hornby TTA tank wagons, explaining his tried-and-trusted methods for creating a lifelike, work-stained finish. Oil tank wagons provide a wonderful weathering opportunity, especially those from the later British Rail period, which were often seen with layers of grime and vertical streaks caused by repeated spillages from overhead loading equipment. When Hornby's new TTAs arrived for review (MR322), I couldn't wait to shunt them onto my weathering workbench and decided to treat them to a layered approach for maximum realism. The following demonstration features techniques I've been using on tank wagons for the past decade or so, tweaked a little between wagons to ensure that no two vehicles look the same. Anyone who has attended one of my rolling…

Faced with having to create 1.5 metres of harbour wall, I was pleased by the fact that the real location features various types of structure. There are stone and concrete walls, sections of corrugated steel pilings and sections of weed-covered embankments, so there would be plenty of variety. Luckily, while rooting through my boxes of stockpiled materials, I found a number of useful products… DOCKSIDE WALLING Branded as part of Gaugemaster's Fordhampton range of lineside structure kits, this Faller plastic kit provides over half a metre of dockside walling, portraying the heavy-duty corrugated steel pilings that can be seen along rivers, canals and wharves all over the UK and abroad. As well as the lengths of wall, extra detail fittings are also provided, such as capping stones and mooring bollards.…

Reviews When Cavalex first announced its Class 56 project, my initial reaction was to question whether we really needed another ‘OO’ version. I was more than happy with my collection of Hornby models, which were a huge step up from the old Mainline ‘56’, although that had been one of the best-looking models of the 1980s. However, as the Cavalex project progressed, it was fascinating to see production samples at exhibitions over the past year, revealing just how special this ‘56’ could be. With the first production batch of models arriving in early February, I couldn't wait to get my hands on ‘large logo’ blue 56093, which I'd pre-ordered for myself. Cavalex also kindly sent us a sample of Load Haul 56055, providing a contrast in liveries and detail appointments.…

Southern Railway Chief Mechanical Engineer Oliver Bulleid was renowned for his highly unconventional, yet often brilliant, locomotive designs. At heart, he was a fundamentalist for the capabilities of steam technology. The creation of the Southern's experimental electric Co-Co locomotives was therefore at least as much the work of Alfred Raworth, the company's unsung chief electrical engineer. Third-rail electrification had proved successful on SR suburban routes, but until the war it was restricted to EMU services. The first Bulleid-Raworth 'Booster', No. CC1, was built at Ashford in 1941 and was fully capable of handling the type of longer distance locomotive-hauled work; such as the London Victoria-Newhaven boat trains and goods trains on the Brighton main line. A second locomotive, No. CC2, emerged from Brighton in 1945 (incorporating minor detail differences like…

Reviews Last year marked the centenary of the Grouping, when many disparate independent railway companies were merged by government order to form four regional entities. The London Midland & Scottish, London & North Eastern, Southern and Great Western Railways would become known as the ‘Big Four’, and their period of operation up to the Second World War would be seen by many as the golden age of Britain's railways. To mark the significance of the anniversary, Hornby announced a special quartet of steam locomotives, one from each of the ‘Big Four’, to be offered in special packaging and strictly limited to 500 pieces each. For review, Hornby kindly supplied the LMS representative, Fowler ‘4P’ 2-6-4T No. 2300 in lined crimson livery. Supplied with a numbered certificate in a foam-lined container,…

If it ain't broke, don't fix it… Take the British Railways Standard ‘2MT’ 2-6-0 at face value and you'd be forgiven for imagining that the likeness with its LMS forebear design meant that it was a straight lift from H.G. Ivatt's 1946 blueprints. Rather, the chief mechanical engineer's gauge-friendly locomotive had been a disappointment for a modern, post-war design. Performance trials with No. 46413 in the early days of British Railways showed performances were only equal to a GWR ‘Dean Goods’ 0-6-0 – not much of an achievement for a design half a century newer and with mod-cons, like superheaters. Tweaks made at Swindon to the blastpipe, and fitting a taller, narrower chimney did the trick. Suddenly, No. 46413 was able to take a 15-coach (455 ton) test train to…

WHAT'S NEXT? Peter explains how he recreated the waters of the River Fowey. Want to know more? Here's a list of sources that Peter found useful during his research. BOOKS Realistic Railway Modelling: Layout Design by Iain Rice (Haynes Publishing, 2011) China Clay Trains in Colour by Maurice Dart (Ian Allan, 2000) Illustrated History of West Country China Clay Trains by John Vaughan (OPC, 1987) Modelling the British Rail Era by Ian Fleming, Steve Flint, Ken Gibbons and Jeff Taylor (Santona, 2000) Modern Locomotives Illustrated Annual No. 2 (The Railway Centre Ltd, 2011) MAGAZINES ‘Whiter than White Parts 1 & 2’ Model Rail, November and December 2000 issues DVDS Telerail's Rail Freight Today Vol 6 South West Tel: 01524 735774 Web: www.telerail.co.uk WEBSITES www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/…

The UK's upsurge in coal-fired power generation in the 1970s, due to a hike in oil prices, led British Rail to urgently pursue a dedicated fleet of new diesel locomotives. Class 47s had become the staple traction for heavier merry-go-round (MGR) coal services, linking collieries and power stations, with pairs of Class 20s also putting in sterling efforts. However, a more powerful and resilient design was needed, which led to the Class 56 Co-Co, developed in conjunction with Brush. Owing to a lack of capacity at UK works, production of the first 30 locomotives was sub-contracted to Electroputere in Romania. Numerous issues arose with these early locomotives upon delivery, delaying their introduction until 1977. The remainder of the 136-strong fleet was subsequently built at BR's Doncaster and Crewe Works, with…

Reviews First mooted in 2019 as a joint venture with Darstaed, the first batch of LMS ‘Black Fives’ have now arrived, produced solely under the Ellis Clark Trains banner. Representing one of the most ubiquitous steam locomotives of the later LMS and BR steam eras, Stanier's Class 5 4-6-0 is an excellent choice for a ready-to-run model in any scale, but it looks especially impressive in ‘O’. Dealing with such a large fleet of locomotives, with myriad detail differences and design tweaks across 842 examples, Ellis Clark's design team have wisely decided to concentrate on a single batch of ‘Black Fives’ for now. Accordingly, the suite of new releases depicts only those locomotives built for the LMS by Armstrong Whitworth, at its famous Scotswood works in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (LMS Nos. 5225-5427).…

Having been out of production for the past few years, Hornby's LMS ‘8F’ 2-8-0 has made a welcome return, with two versions now available. Both have been kindly supplied by Hornby for review, depicting LMS No. 8310 and BR No. 48518, each exhibiting a few minor detail differences. No. 8310 was built at Crewe in late 1943 and features a straight reversing rod and a welded tender, while Doncaster-built No. 48518 represents an ‘8F’ built in 1944 with a curved reversing rod and is paired with a riveted tender. Based on Hornby's 2003 tooling, a number of improvements have been made, including provision of a 21pin DCC interface and speaker mount within the tender, with a four-wire plug and socket transferring power between the tender and locomotive. A five-pole, skewwound…

If there's a prototype that you think needs to be offered ready-to-run, here's the place to voice your opinion… Locomotive: NER Raven Class Y/LNER ‘A7’ 4-6-2T Scale: ‘OO’ Proposed by: Max Walters What is it? Although designed originally under the auspices of Wilson Worsdell, the North Eastern Railway's Class Y 4-6-2Ts were built after Vincent Raven had taken over as chief mechanical engineer, with 20 examples turned out from Darlington Works in 1910-11. ‘Pacific’ tank locomotives were a rarity in the UK and, unlike most 4-6-2 tender engines, the Class Y was built specifically with heavy mineral traffic in mind. Boasting a large boiler, three 16½ x 26in cylinders and three sets of Stephenson link valve gear, they proved to be very capable locomotives. Perfectly suited to the task of…