Clik here to view.
Doncaster Model Engineering show 2018
Finding myself needing to make a trip to Doncaster, I managed to arrange this for the same date as the first day of the ME show. Well, they are less than 10 miles from my appointment, so even though...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I un-DCC'd a loco
Last week, I had the chance to save a locomotive from the curse of DCC.Pete had lent someone an old Lima 0-4-0 diesel shunter to test some Dingham couplings on the O gauge layout. Putting it on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
George's Trains - Toronto
Ā Handily situated for both the back of the Rapido Trains office and a main line real railway is George's Trains, which describes itself as "Canada's Greatest ModelTrain store!".The shop is pretty...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Warehouse Wednesday: Falmouth factory
My parents have been on holiday to Falmouth and since my Dad is as interested in old buildings as me, I gave strict instructions to come back with some photos.Ā Here's the fist, a factory on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
3D printed 02, 2 scale cakebox and lots of interviews in BRM
They've given me a microphone in the June issue of BRM, and I know how to use it.Ā Friday at the Doncaster show was spent helping people bring layouts into the racecourse and then asking them lots of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ceramic restoration
I don't like seeing broken things, especially if the broken thing is some sort of creature, even a pottery one. Thus, the sight of a clay chicken who had taken a tumble from a wall in our garden...
View ArticleSaturday film club: Heavy haulage lorry trials
In 1953, the NCB arranged a series of heavy lorry trials at Arkwright colliery. This is the film of those lorries from Scammel, Foden AEC and Euclid in action.Ā The video transfer isn't great, but the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ALSR Reading 2018
A quick jaunt to Reading a couple of weeks ago brought me to the Association of Larger Scale Railway modellers show. Covering scales from Gauge O upward, it was obviously right up my street. The first...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Manx loco inspiration
Model railway exhibitions are there for entertainment and inspiration. I certainly got a dose of the later at the Larger Scale show.Ā Long-term readers will know I've always wanted to build a layout set...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mystery tool
Visting the Black Country Living museum last week, I spotted this tool in the window of the hardware shop. The question is, what is it?Ā I've put the image up so you can click on it for a larger...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Warehouse Wednesday: GWR Goods Shed
This week, I'm indebted to Nick Wallace for these photos of the ex-GWR goods shed at Liverpool's Albert Dock. You can see the sides of the dry-dock in the foreground which, along with the excellent...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Credit Valley Railway Company
Visting Credit Valley Railway wasn't really an option. OK, getting there from Toronto took me about an hour of riding buses out into the middle of nowhere to places I couldn't pronounce, but the Rapido...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Faller e-Train coach
Always on the lookout for interesting rolling stock for garden railways, I was reminded a couple of months ago about the Faller E-Train. Produced in the 1980s for use with Playmobil-like figures, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Saturday film club: Unboxing the Guy Arab bus
Quite a lot of last weekend was spent doing model bus things with Jason from Rapido Trains. More of this in a couple of weeks, but I couldn't resist bringing you a rare unboxing - the manufacturer...
View ArticleClik here to view.
G-Rail 2018
G-Rail has moved. Last year we were at Stafford showground, this year the Harvey Haddon centre in Nottingham.The venue offered many advantages, not least a working mobile phone signal that was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
07s
The world of Ready-to-Run models keeps nibbling away at my kit built loco collection.Hitting the streets recently, according to the advertising arriving in my in-box, is the Hejan class 07. I've seen...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Book Review: The Pretenders by Lawson Little and Dave Holroyde
Publisher: Mainline & MaritimeISBN: 978-1-900340-48-9A4 softback52 PagesĀ£9.95Internal combustion locomotives sporting a steam engine shaped body aren't a widely written about the subject. There's...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Warehouse Wednesday: Wooden barn
I'll confess that one bit of Canada I didn't take to, was Niagara on the lake. We stopped off there on the way back from our trip to the fall as part of the coach tour. According to the driver, lots of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vintage Speedboat in Model Boats magazine
July's issue of Model Boats magazine sees my vintage speedboat Miss-chief appear on pages 66-68.Since the kit isn't available, I've turned the piece into a description of the trails and tribulations...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Scalecraft Salty Sam
In the darker recessed of eBay, I recently found a Scalecraft kit dating from a time before postcodes judging from the return slip in the box. Scalecraft produced a range of snap-together motorised...
View Article