Our world in miniature, hobbies

There's one that runs at Copsewood Sports Ground. See here for details

There's also the Coventry Model Railway Club at the Canal Basin who have an open day sometime in August (I think) as well as one in Leamington . In September there are two local model railway exhibitions, RmWeb Live at the Ricoh and The International N gauge Exhibition at the Meridienne Centre Both on the weekend of the 13th/14th.

There's also this one as well Ryton Pools Miniature Railway which used to be in the Memorial Park many moons ago.

The 2015 Railway Modeller annual has got an article about the superb (and very large) O scale model of Coventry Station by David Deere-Jones. The model is set in the 1930s and also includes a photograph of the "City of Coventry" taken in the 1940s and one of the line near the station. The layout is being documented because it is about to be broken up as David is emigrating.

Hi all My eyesight being a downer lately has meant that I have not carried out any significant work on our railway this winter time. However, that did not stop this CCT (Covered Carriage Truck) arriving in my Christmas stocking. The railway is fully operational, the job that I wanted to do is slightly cosmetic & can wait. It will have too! Anyway, these CCT vans were built in the thirties, to carry both motor as well as horse-drawn private carriages. I saw one being unloaded at Inverness back in the late fifties, the "shooting gentry" used them for their vehicles. They required an end dock loading bay for use. When the motor rail services were introduced by BR in the sixties, the CCT vans were in effect redundant, but I often saw them in general parcels trains still running until the late seventies.

Hi all A couple of new locos ordered for our Hall Brooks railway. It all looks very ominous for the steam fleet, hey! That is besides an early livery blue class 25 on loan from my son's railway.

Hi all Helping out until the new diesel locos arrive at Hall Brooks, class 25 in blue, has been borrowed from my son & grandson's railway & is seen here at Hounds Hill, coupled to its guards vans. It brought this evenings fitted goods for Longford Park. The crew have gone into Pam's café for a tea & Coventry God cake. As previously said, each new diesel, renders a steam loco into storage. The railway operates with 16 locos, plus two DMUs & one EMU. Only five steam locos remain in operation at present.

Morning Philip, I suppose you do have to keep up with the times but I do like to see the steam loco's too. It looks like business as usual at Hall Brooks.

Hi all, Hi Dreamtime The only snag, ordering on-line is that I am stuck in home this morning waiting for the parcel. Not the best of mornings though. It is dull & wet here.

I love that part of your railway showing the canal as well as the train track. Hope your parcel came I to love the old steam trains. I cant wait to see the new station at the Ricoh will you be building that too.

Hi Morgana & hi all A new, ex-works condition "Baby Deltic" loco waits with its parcels train bound for Curzon St, alongside a sub-unit. Just to explain that the name Baby Deltic, was coined without too much thought by us train-spotters as they had little in common with the very successful class 55 Deltics which ruled the East coast mainline for two decades. The Baby deltics, or class 23 diesel electrics on the other hand had a very short & chequered career. Laugh, they were even banned from tunnel sections in London as they produced far more toxic exhaust than steam locos. What a pip!

Hi all At this point many of you will consider that it really is the time for the white van to come for me & to take me back to the rest home. In my mind, our railway is a stage show act of what I remember as a train-spotter, growing up during the final years of steam. The Baby deltic loco in the picture was put on our railway just for the photo, as I have not made my mind up as to which steam loco to take off, for it to replace. So it is sitting on a short piece of track in a display cabinet as an ornament just now. Next week, when I have finished the detailing of the new class 14 industrial diesel loco, which also arrived by post yesterday, that will be another steam loco to take off. I have just come from sitting in our railway room, where for over an hour my thoughts have drifted in & out of my memories from when this was actually happening all around us here in Coventry & the rest of the UK. In an odd way, our railway room has become a comfort zone for me. GOSH! Is that the white van come already?

Hi Philip, I am sure that many of us are envious of your railway. Like you I find that the sight of an old railway engine, an old car, or even the model of one will bring back memories of times gone by. The image of your Class 14 brought back memories to me of very similar looking diesels working the coal trains from Keresley Colliery down to the main line. This would have been in 1973/74 when I was living in Holbrooks. Those engines were painted bright yellow and I am sure you are now going to tell me were from a different class entirely. Keep up your excellent work so that we can all share your memories. Before writing this I have checked that there is no white van outside my house!. Regards. Roger

Hi Roger Our member Ron is the man to speak to regards our local railways. Also, I like to think of Hallbrooks as our (yours & mine) forum railway as so much of the inspiration, particularly the last five years has come from our forum chat. The Longford park project came directly from forum posts. Many of the pictures contain forum members, so please be careful. In the meantime you might enjoy this link http://www.derbysulzers.com/threespires.html On our forum, we keep models separate from real railways as they are such huge topics. Hope you enjoy.

Hi Morgana, We have two sections of canal in Hallbrooks. One at Hounds Hill (first pic) & also at Longford Park.