Our world in miniature, hobbies

Hi. The only justification for our model railway appearing on my site gallery here is that I hope that it gives an impression of our secondary Coventry railways. I lack both the skill & space to copy any specific area. It would be easier to copy B'ham New St., which is very compact inside of two tunnels. Coventry station area in contrast stretches two miles, which is a nightmare for modelling. I am so grateful for the lovely comments posted to my gallery pics & the info help given on here. We are about to continue with a further small extension, this time through Longford Park. We might call it Wyken, Wyken Grange, or something-Hall? As we have already, the very simple track & buildings plan in our heads, the topography has to be decided. The countryside was there before railways were built & that's what we try to do with our railway, Hall Brooks.

Philip, I don't know if you were aware, but there was an amazing model of New St Station, with all the surrounding buildings, and with many trains operating around the network on electronic controls. It also incorporated a model of Rugeley power station. It was located just up the road from where I now live, in a back garden in Sutton Coldfield. It was known as DMNS, (Don's Miniature New Street) and had an open weekend for charity every year. We went several times. Unfortunately, Don Jones, who built it, died a couple of years ago and I understand it has now been dismantled, which is a great shame. I wonder if you ever got to see it. Here's a link to some photos: LINK

Hello. Yes, & I saw it a few years ago. I met those involved & it once featured on 'Midlands Today'. Peter, who owns the local Model shop in Ryland Rd, was there too. The fact that it was in the garden emphesises the fact of how much space is needed, even for a compact station like New St. Thank you for that. When I was designing our railway, I had considered doing a copy of Foleshill station, but even that would have required room length of over Thirty feet in OO.

For those that haven't seen the pics, heres a quick link to the site MrD-Di refers to... DMNS photos Are there any plans to re-build this anywhere - such a shame if there aren't

Hi, Tony & Mr. D-Di. It was such a huge project, the electronics required almost a telephone exchange as well as the modelling skills for the buildings. I have been to several permanent displays like Pendon near Oxford, the model in Derby museum and one in Paignton in Devon. Paignton has long gone & I have not a clue about Derby museum. Pendon is still on the web site. With so many intricate moving parts, model railways are high labour intensive. My model is now more than I can manage & pales into small fry compared to models like New St. If only!

I think the problem with DMNS was that it was constructed in the man's garden and ran around and through the features there, including a number of fish ponds, flower beds and rockeries. The tracks seemed to be permanently cemented into various bases, and as has been mentioned, the electronics were incredibly complex. It had been constructed over many years. So the practicality of ever moving it was non-existent. The system must have taken a lot of maintenance too, as much of it was exposed to the elements. So with the death of Don Jones there would have been no maintenance. No doubt this is why it has been dismantled, which is a great shame. It is possible that the house has been sold. DMNS used to raise large sums for charity. The open weekends were always well attended, and included refreshments and sales of models and memorabilia. I understand he had celebrities visit, including Robert Redford and King Hussein of Jordan.

Hi all. I have a number of stories to tell you about my early trainspotting days in Coventry, but for now I want to tell you the affect this HCF site is having on me & my model railway. On my gallery page, I have posted a few facts about railway operation around here, where we try to re-enact them on the model. I have a huge collection of locos & rolling stock, a lot of which is rather not appropriate for Coventry, but the stock on the railway at present more or less is. It means that more than ever now, I will insist that anything new for the railway is truly natural to Coventry. I saw a loco in Antics display case yesterday, (a Clayton Bo-Bo) which I quite like, but I can never remember seeing one around here & all of the info' that I have picked up so-far suggests that we would have to be fifty miles further east to have seen them, some thirty years ago. I think Coventry colliery & the Home-Fire plant used a 'Clayton' loco, but that was a mechanical drive, not the same as the one in antics. So you see, the HCF site is having quite an affect on me. I hope you liked that interlude. Picture from Antics on-line.

I've got this Bachmann DCC Class 25 at home. The yellow warning panel is much brighter than it appears in the picture, more of a lime-green. Was hoping to swap the bodyshell with a Class 24 but someone beat me to it at the auction:

Hi We have a two tone 25, D7645. We use it for our Banbury-Bescot freight. Its history is odd as it twice had a steam heating boiler installed and then removed, so we do not know if our passengers freeze to death if it works a winter time passenger train. Some C1 coaches had electric heaters installed but not many. Thank you so much for your comments. Please always advise me if you know that I have got some of my memories back to front, its my age!

Hi Dutchman. As you will have already sussed out, I have taken a lot of license with what I include on our model here at home. During my intense trainspot years, 1956 to 1966, I covered whole areas of the uk. My local spotting though was within a fifty mile radius of Coventry, the limits of my pocket money, to start with. There are places for which I have special fond memories, like Banbury or the other stations in Cheltenham, so on our railway I have invented a local passenger service to Cheltenham Malvern Rd, & St.James. In this pic, our class 25 or (type two)as it was called then is on empty stock duty. This is the stock for Malvern Rd. I am not even sure of the true route that such a train would take if it was in reality. I so loved the green SR stock as well as the N class locos that worked in to St.James. Just for your enjoyment I hope, here is a pic recorded ten minutes ago of the empty stock being cleaned & parcels loaded at Bramble Lane Gds. It will then be shunted into Hounds Hill Station, ready for another loco to take it on its way Best wishes

Thanks Philip, very nice indeed! Don't worry too much about authenticity. Always remember Rule No1: It's your railway so you can run what you like!

Thank you for that. Now that I am a member here, I like to think of it as our railway.

Well, that is a compliment Philip. I notice on OUR railway the sun is always shining. Everybody wave,here it comes

Hi again Dutchman At home here, over the years, Friday evenings have often been a railway hobby time for me, my son & my grandson. During bad weather it was shunting in our model goods yard, but on good evenings we often went somewhere for a train watch. My son is very involved with his band commitments & now my grandson is so tied up with exams & homework. So I have had to shunt on my own the last few Fridays. It's nothing more than playing trains, but when I operated our Banbury to Bescot freight this evening, it was roughly the right time for the real down train at 7.45pm due out of Coventry. I could not stop thinking of you, particularly as I saw a comment where you are involved with a model rail site. Our railway will never score marks from any close scrutiny, but I derive so much pleasure in being able to transport myself back to the sixtes & seventies. I have posted a couple more pics in my gallery with very much you in mind.

Thanks Philip, very nice indeed. I'm more of an 'armchair modeller' myself