Our world in miniature, hobbies

Phillip, you've made a neater job of that than Network Rail or whatever they call themselves now, it's very neat

Hi Catshed, Hi all Just a bit more blurb. Model railway artwork is so ironic. We go into our gardens to clear scrub, weeds, cut the grass, hedges & so on, yet I am doing the reverse on the railway. I hope to have another picture of the Penny Park viaduct area later, showing the most rapid growth of vegetation ever seen on our planet. How unrealistic is that? There are loads of pictures in my gallery of our railway, with notes & explanations about its operation. LINK I like to think of our railway as our forum railway. It is not a copy of a specific location, but, it's my notion of what a railway would have been like, had we have had one in Holbrooks from the fifties onwards. I started thoughts on the present railway at the Millennium & construction of the first phase was started by March 2001. What has really been a delight, are the lovely comments from members on here, as well as pointers & ideas. My grandson has his own modern image railway at his home & so I am grateful for the time that he spends helping me. My eyesight is just not up to any prolonged close work. On a technical note, this is the first model that I have ever built using open frame construction. That does place strains on my carpentry skills, but the end product means that we are building in a prototypical fashion. The topography first then the railway. Hence, we can extend where any space in the room permits. Also, as in the present project, which is extending a line into a new station in Longford Park, we are able to upgrade the existing layout, before the new extension is started. Another feature which I enjoy, is trying something new out. Most conversations at exhibitions, at some point come down to track bases. Ours here is mostly laid on hessian, but some locations have balsa, upside-down hardboard, & compressed foam which we have used for the first time on the viaduct. The jury is out at present on the foam & we may well revert to using balsa. That will require a couple of days work to replace.

Excellent Philip & g/son, and thank you. It looks better every week. I can imagine you both sitting there and painstakingly working away for such a perfect result. I can see a 'room extension' on the horizon !

Hi all

Fantastic work there Philip ( and family ). The detail is just great. The man hours that has gone into that. " Did you work on the real railways ? "

Hi Baz Thank you very much for your kind comments. I have never worked for the railways, I was an accountant for Courtaulds Engineering for 35 years. I have always had an interest in railways.

Have to say Philip I also thought you were ex-BR . You seem to have a real passion for railways in general. And I just love your rail layout, it's a pity they don't have an Olympic category for this type of hobby, I am sure you would take gold (was that ok Philip? did I say it as you told me to say it?) lol. Only kidding Philip its a great hobby . Love to see the many postings on this topic. Colin

Hi again Colin, The real truth is that I would love to be able to draw or paint pictures, but I struggle to draw a straight line. I have even had some art lessons, but I am just not up to the skills required. So our model railway is my attempt at 3D artwork. Pam & I often go into the railway room and transport ourselves back to the sixties. The couple on the bench in Penny park is us two. All of the people on the set are real, so much so that when the Longford park extension is built, just wait to see who from our forum start to appear. We transport people in time, so that you may find yourself as you are now. That is the fun as well as nostalgia. We think that, sometimes when we are not here, the railway starts up on its own & is run by the figures on it.

Hi all A couple of heavy showers, just as I was intending to go out this morning changed my mind for me & I decided to carry on with some detailing to our railway. I have added crown stone to the viaduct walkway wall & also added a repeater dolly signal to the signal post, which shows the state of the point immediately forward of the signal. Trains-potting as I have for a life time, has taught me that so many pieces of railway infrastucture are made to match any particular situation. On flicr now, there are thousands of pictures of examples of various kinds of signals. I hope you like mine here. Model railway stuff can be expensive, but I keep my eye open for what might be on ebay. I have just successfully bid for a job lot of old, but good condition Hornby signals. To have bought new would have cost about

Very nice Philip, I've never seen one up a post before mostly used to see them as ground signals there used to be a lot in Banbury Marshalling yard before they ripped them out in the early 80's, I've seen the larger Banner repeaters up on posts on long station platforms, there were so may variants of signals it's hard to catalogue all of them but 'S & T' Signal and Telegraph used to be one of my side hobbies when visiting railways, I was always fascinated with the mechanical interlocking frame underneath the main lever frame in a signal box, shame it was so hidden except for very small windows. Keep up the good work

Hi. A HallBrooks interlude, Prairie tank waits at Bramble Lane with an evening stopping passenger before proceeding on to Burrow Hill. All of the locations on the HallBrooks railway are just as though a railway had been built, connecting Keresley Colliery with a fictitious junction at Arley. A wider picture. This train has worked up from Leamington, via Coventry, Coundon Rd, Foleshill & then Three Spires Junction. Well, that is what I pretend anyway.

Hello Philip, Carry on pretending, I am right there with you. (With kind permission of Pam of course) You are doing a great job with our railway and I am sure the rest of the forum agrees. (ps. Whilst I am on here and it seems as if most of you lads and lassies are on 'first name' basis these days - Mine is Josie. Hope I am not being too forward ! and I am in a dream most of the time - dreaming of home) Edited by TonyS, 1st Aug 2012 8:19 am (Quote removed as original in post above)

Hello all & thank you, Josie. I have no problem with first names, now, but I was very shy when I first came onto the inter-net. On here I am who I am & my pic on here is me. Identity theft is always an issue, & even though we who contribute on here, mostly enjoy each others company, there are many that view our site who never join & could be anybody, up to anything. I was so fearful of identity issues, that a close friend of mine begged me to let her have pics of our railway to put up on her flicr photo site that she no longer used for her business. So I insisted that if she did, she pretended that the railway was hers. That was 2007. I meet Valerie for coffee often, (I did the books for her business) & we remain very good friends in just the same way as I enjoy your company Josie. So, when are we meeting at Squires, or the Guild Hall cafe for coffee?

Hi all My ebay signal order arrived today, so I set work to make an advanced starter from Holbrooks. The right arm gives access to Burrow Hill station platforms. The left arms to Burrow Hill through line with the distant for the next section to Tippers Hill which is where our branch joins the Nuneaton to B'ham line at Arley. I trust that this meets approval. I still need to fit the walk-ways which I am working on now. Bramble grove now has a platform starter as do the sidings, so passeger trains can now work between Hounds Hill & Bramble Grove, & on to Longford Park when built. To have bought these signals new would have cost well over

Oh, don't I wish !