Our world in miniature, hobbies

Hi all Our model railway is a bit like a dolls house, in that we can move the figures around. In the next pic, Mayjan & Tricia have met up and are waiting for their train. Our model, being a bit bigger than a dolls house, we can have different eras, so is this Mayjan & Tricia from many years back? Who are the boys that are following them, pretending to kick a ball along, but unable to take their eyes of the young ladies on their way to school? More & more of you are now appearing in HallBrooks, as I get to know you. Please do be careful. I always have an idea in mind of what I am looking for in a person, even at such small scale. My paint brush might come out to change a blazer colour as we go along. When a new person appears, I put them initially in the background, where they then grow on me & I wait to see an opportunity to place them further into main view. There are seven of our forum members in HallBrooks at present. Some figures are more difficult than others. Finding someone at (4m to the foot scale) with their head buried into a laptop or having a camera in their eye is not easy, but please do be aware. I now attach more importance to this side of our railway than any other. Just as you bring our forum alive, so you do with our model. I am sure that when Pam & I are out or asleep, the railway is run by all of the people in it. That is what I want to believe anyway!

Hi Philip, I think that as it's Easter Monday we may have been going to Blackpool for the day. Happy days.

Hi Dutchman, Hi all, At least our forum railway projects do go ahead & get finished! So, I now have another project in mind. This time it is at the other end of the railway, what we call Hounds Hill or previously called Five Field Lane. It's the branch, that sits on the side of the main fiddle-yards, where the mirror is seen in the pictures. Originally, I had to cut the branch nearly four feet short so as to be able to play at my synths. They will all be going in a rationalisation of my music stuff. I will then be able to finish the branch off, all the way to the end wall with two more short electrically switched fiddle-yards. Long enough to hold three coach trains with a loco. It will make Hounds Hill a through double track station which I hope will greatly add to the operating interest, watching the trains disappear under the town square. At the back of my mind is the one time plan to extend the Coventry Canal on to the Grand Union near to Warwick. So that is where our railway will go, instead. I can picture the scene now, looking south from Hounds Hill with starter signals at the end of both platforms. It will also allow me to increase the size of the run-round loop which is in the platform. I hope that you like this idea. Image 114 on my indoor hobby gallery, gives a broad picture. The retaining wall at the end will become a double track short tunnel, as it will be going under houses. This close up is where the BMMO bus is in the first picture. I did wonder if the trees might have to go, but looking at the top of Beachwood Tunnel yesterday, which is very short & the engineers do not seem bothered about the trees on top of it there. A lot more thought required yet, so as to get the effect right, but I hope to have the chief civil engineer (Sean) in full swing during the wet days of his school summer holidays. I like to think of our railway as OUR forum railway as everything now is driven from my reflections of the posts on our forum. You on here make it real & alive.

Morning Philip, What is the cost of an average size cottage there? Is there a real estate agent in the vicinity? It looks an ideal place to live, and by the look of it the town planners are doing a great job. Thanks for taking us around.

Hi Dreamtime, Remember the song about half a sixpence? Most of those resin cast houses are just fronts or half-casts. Where needed on some, I have attached the rear half. This is fun. We might have a few more detached houses at that end, once the engineering work is complete. The proposed railway extension is basically just adding two fiddle yards (hidden sidings), to the two lines that can be seen. In so doing, not only will it make the current dead end station into a through station, it will enable that end of the railway to be finished off tidy, rather than the portable bolt on bit part, that I have to remove when I want to play on the synths. That in turn will allow the completion of the top scenery. I have about three months to think it all through. With only very minor mods' required to the existing lines, I am very enthusiastic about the improvement. The work should be carried out in just one phase, unlike the three of last years Longford Park extention, which took several months over a period of half a year, of work. If a member should ever like to see our railway operating, I am sure that we can sort something out. It is not recommended for children, as it is too slow for them. They usually like to see constant activity where trains are running all of the time, popping in & out of tunnels. Being told that the next train is in about half an hours time does not go down well. That is how trainspotting often was, & the value of the model for me is nostalgia for those times past.

Proof that there is a God: Bachmann have announced that they will be producing an LMS Stanier Crab/Mogul*, there will be 3 versions initially with a choice of flush or riveted fowler tenders. They are: 31-690 LMS Stanier Mogul 2955 LMS Lined Black Era 3 31-691 LMS Stanier Mogul 42969 BR Lined Black Early Emblem Era 4 31-692 LMS Stanier Mogul 42968 BR Lined Black Late Crest (Preserved) Era 5 (and 9) All feature 21 pin DCC sockets, tender pick ups and a £118.95 RRP. All information from the Bachmann website. The Stanier Crab/Mogul 2-6-0 was a very common sight on the railway in and around Coventry but up till now has never been released as a ready-to-run model. I wish though they were producing an "in-service" late-livery version and not a preservation one. Am staggered that Hornby couldn't be bothered to produce a 2-6-0 from their existing 2-8-0 model since they already have 90% of the tooling required. *"Crab" and "Mogul" were nicknames for steam engines which used the 2-6-0 wheel arrangement.

I love our 'crab'. Hope you like it here, Dutchman, as it is waiting for the all clear to proceed with the Bescot to Banbury daily freight. Since that picture was recorded a few years ago, we have recently widened the viaduct to full double track.

Hi Dutchman, Hi all Summer-time is not my traditional time to be spending indoors on railway projects, but with my grandson's free time at a premium (exams & stuff), I am forced to timetable any work on our railway around his availability. We are currently adding a new fiddle yard to our present terminus Hounds Hill, so that it becomes a through station. I have not long returned from a shopping expedition at my model shop in Sutton Coldfield today. A couple of points along with a few odds & ends. Pete (shop-owner) has a new Bachmann small mogul (the mickey-mouse) in weathered green livery, which I might be tempted to buy. This is the current terminus, Hounds Hill station. Where the retaining wall is at the end, that will be replaced with a double track tunnel entrance, taking the railway under the present town & into its own semi-auto fiddle yard. It means that nothing will change to that picture except for the line continuing on. Another pic showing the temporary retaining buttressed wall, which will disappear.

Of course Philip I'm trying to remember if I ever saw a Hughes Crab working the Leamington-Nuneaton line. I know there were a few shedded at Nuneaton. That would be Western Region green wouldn't it Philip? I think Coventry shed's own Mickey Mouse was black, although built at Swindon? It was a regular sighting on the Spon End viaduct.

Hi Dutchman, Yes it is a Swindon-built mogul. I saw one at Banbury fitted with a copper lined chimney. Just outside of our South Warwickshire boundary is Kingham. This was another favourite train-spot location for me, as it was at one time a busy quadruple junction. Not anymore. It was often where Swindon running-in locos would sometimes appear on what were called soft duties. I saw several overhauled Ivatt 2-6-0 locos like these working through this location.

BBC4 tonight...The Joy Of Train Sets..

Hi all, Hounds Hill is becoming a through station. Final detailing & signal needed to complete the project. ps The tree looks silly especially on top of a canal tunnel. It will have to go.

Hi Philip, That will cost you, getting those transplanted.

It all looks great Philip, may I ask where is Hounds Hill I have never heard of it.