Last week my son and I went on a road-trip. We crossed 5 countries in a day and reached Germany, staying in the town of Wuppertal near Dusseldorf. Outside our hotel in the middle of town a series of girders span the river, supporting this... This may look like something from a sci-fi movie, but this is a public transport system, the 8-mile long Schwebebahn (or suspension railway) links a series of towns along the river Wupper valley that now form the modern city. It is built mostly over the river itself and opened in 1900, and with a 10-minute service frequency it still carries millions of pe ..read more

In the business of the exhibitions over the last couple of months I'd forgotten to highlight an article of mine in the November BRM. The article covers the build of the least glamorous of station facilities - the toilet! In this case, it's a Dapol 7mm scale laser-cut kit based on the gent's at Chelfham on the Lynton and Barnstaple railway, so has a narrow-gauge connection.  The laser cut card is a relatively recent medium for model railway kits. The article shows how I assembled and painted it, and added some extra details to bring it to life.  ..read more

A few additions to the stock list today. A couple of Ffestiniog bug-boxes and a yellow Baguley Drewry.  The bug boxes will of course go well with the England and Double Fairlie locos. The Baguley will probably end up on works trains, I don't really need another modern diesel but it is nicely detailed, looks great on the layout, the yellow pops out, and of course it runs sweetly.  However, I was also drawn to it because of the one at Amberley, in which I had a cab ride a year or so back.  My model will no doubt get some weathering to make it look like a well-worked loco ..read more

Last weekend I took Loctern Quay to Tolworth. Here's Andrew Bolton operating. Although it hadn't been out for some time it worked well, of course with the new wagons added to the fleet. It wasn't the only narrow gauge layout. The Wantage Narrow Gauge Tramway (009, Richard Holder) is modelled on Wantage - but narrow gauge rather than standard. The prototype was so narrow gauge in atmosphere that this actually works - with some of the stock of the prototype represented.  Wisteria Collop (009, Dave Simpson) is an attractive scenic narrow gauge layout.  Kaninchenbau (H0e, Iain Mo ..read more

In the run up to the Uckfield show I thought Hexworthy could do with a few more road vehicles in the car park, I've struggled to find "ordinary" modern or recent vehicles, but I did have a couple of (original) Minis from Oxford Diecast, a relatively timeless model. I'd also been given an RAC motorcycle and sidecar, wrong era for Hexworthy but will look at home at Loctern Quay.  As with any commercial model they looked far too shiny and clean, too artificial, so the first task was to disassemble the cars. Sadly, these models are riveted rather than screwed together, but I've drilled out th ..read more

Yesterday I took Hexworthy to the Newhaven club show in Seaford. Here's my helper for the day Martin Collins at the controls.  Set-up now is pretty slick, delayed slightly by someone who'd parked their car so close to the handrail by the entry with the boot open so that entering the building meant squeezing through an 18" gap while ducking under the tailgate! A mysterious short early in the day was thought to be due to a point changing but not switching electrically, and there were a couple of derailments leaving the fiddle yard but fewer than at Uckfield, otherwise all went smoothly.&nb ..read more

On Saturday I'll be taking Hexworthy to the Newhaven club exhibition (in Seaford). Following the two days at Uckfield there were a few issues I wanted to address to improve running. One was the uncoupling magnet under the bay platform line - this seemed to "grab" at metal wheels of coaches causing jerky running, and the small quarry Hunslets could actually stall. Operationally, the magnet isn't needed as I don't use the bay as a siding, stock remains coupled to the loco, so the obvious solution was to remove the magnet. The cupboard-catch magnet had been stuck in place through a hole in the ..read more

The Bachmann Baguley-Drewry 70hp is a lovely model, and I wanted to use it on works trains for Hexworthy, but my wagons are all fitted with Microtrains couplings and the Bachmann models come with the standard 009 type coupling. I know the Bachmann EZ mate couplings can be swapped in, but while they'll couple to Microtrains, they don't work reliably in uncoupling.  The large buffer blocks have a big square opening to clear the standard coupling, that is pretty close to the size of the Microtrains draft box which can be accomodated after a few strokes of a file. The model is supplied with a ..read more

Once again the Uckfield show presented an array of top quality layouts covering a range of themes, any would have been star attractions at some smaller shows. I think there were about 20 layouts so I won't try and cover them all here, but here are some of my favourites, mainly focusing on the narrow gauge and light railway themes.  Bunkers Lane (O9) - Bill Flude. I've seen this grow on NGRM and saw it at Alexandra Palace, but it rewards another look. It's colourful and fun, with lots of details, trains are always moving (with sound too), and being double-sided there's a lot more to it tha ..read more

Back in the summer I posted how I'd made new, longer, support beams for Hexworthy as it is longer than Awngate was. In the run up to the Uckfield show I painted the beams, and the upper part of the trestles, in the same grey paint as used for the facia of Hexworthy. I didn't bother to paint the lower part of the trestles as they are hidden by a drape. I've also marked on in Sharpie which way round the trestles go and where the beams locate. The bolt just pushes through to secure the beams in place - I could add a nut, but gravity does the job well enough! I used to attach the drape with draw ..read more