Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Fleet Profile - Graham Farish, Royal Scot Class, 46159 The Royal Air Force (Pride & Propulsion)



Locomotive 41659 "The Royal Air Foce" in British Railways dark green with 'late crest' lviery of the 'Royal Scot' class of locomotive is the newest addition to my fleet and currently taking centre stage on many runs.



Disigned in the mid to late 1920's by Sir Henry Fowler, 70 of the Royal Scot class (4-6-0) locomotives were built between 1927 and 1930 and named after regiments of the British armed forces.  The Farish (Graham Farish)  model is produced in the locomotive's final incarnation before the withdrawal from revenue service finally in the mid sixties.



Two locomotives are known to survive in (tourist) operating service today, these being:

  • Locomotive 46100.  Class: Royal Scot.  Name Plate: Royal Scot
  • Locomotive 46115.  Class: Royal Scot.  Name Plate: Scots Guardsman




Thus far the loco has proven a wonderful little unit, running extremely smooth and having little in the way of problems what so ever.  The images above simply display some table top running in which it handles tight curves and point switching with aplomb (the front lead wheels never routinely go astray).  It is not the most powerful of locomotives, but given all I am asking is for it to haul a half dozen Farish-made British Pullman cars (which are extremely light weight and free-wheeling) it is proving itself capable and then some.





Sunday, March 27, 2011

Fleet Profile - Minitrix Orient Express (Heavyweight Series)





Growing up as a kid of humble origins and as an avid lover of railways I soon developed a taste for the great railways of Britain and Europe where the romance of railway travel, in my humble opinion, reached it's zenith with the Orient Express (thanks to it's visionary mastermind Georges Nagelmackers who founded the famous Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits in the late 1800's).  And therein lies the rub, when we think of the Orient Express we must remember to separate the physical train from the journey.  While the journey may be the Orient Express, the actual hardware (the rolling stock) is the product of Nagelmackers and his "Wagons-Lits" company.




Wagons-Lits, apart from fielding rolling stock for the Orient Express, fielded rolling stock for trains all across Europe, including:

  1. Orient Express - Paris to Istanbul/Constantinople (also linking to the port of Calais and the British Pullman service to London as time went on).
  2. Nord (Northern) Express - Paris to St Petersburg
  3. Sud (Southern) Express - Paris to Lisborn in Portugal (by connecting with the Nord Express in Paris, connected St Petersburg to Lisborn)
  4. Train Bleu - Calais/Paris to Nice in the south of France (taking holiday makers to the French coast)
  5. Night Ferry - London to Paris (via a ferry transporting the coaches from Dover to Dunkirk at the narrowest point of the English Channel).  Note the modern Venice Simplon Orient Express transports passengers by ferry to Calais from Folkstone England, but coaches are not ferried on this service.
The Minitrix "Orient Express" set includes 2 CIWL type F baggage cars, 4-axle car with a wood body in teak and a conductor's cupola.  Originally produced in the early twentieth century.  A WR type dining car, such as can be seen here WR Type Heavyweight Dining Car.  And two WL type sleeping cars.  A photo of which is displayed.




The Minitrix set is hauled by a variation of the French SNCF 230 E 4-6-0 locomotive without smoke deflectors.  My locomotive is pictured below.



If someone is able to help me out with a real life photo of this locomotive (without smoke deflectors and the correct cylindrical boiler and firebox housing I would greatly appreciate it.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Back on Track ... Blogging that is ...

Woah, two blogs in two days (I'm practically a workaholic?).  While my inspiration levels are up I thought I'd pop in another post in the mean time to say that I will soon start blogging about my current collection (and ambitions therein), given I have little to report on in the way of layout development.  Here's hoping I can stay on track at least with the blogging ...

Monday, March 14, 2011

Procrastination Much ... ???

Sigh ... This blog has become an ode to my own procrastination. Which is really quite depressing. But for anyone out there who has come across my blog let me tell you that the last 18 months have been spent establishing ourselves into our brand new (new build) house. So suffice to say any cash we have had has gone into all sorts of projects around the house including, construction, front yard, back yard, new furniture, vegie gardens, rain water tank, security and so forth. And we still have a long way to go.

Also too at this point I am looking for a new job which isn't a thrilling experience (hopefully something will come through soon). For a long time I had wanted to work from home in my own business (still do) but, as an accountant starting from scratch getting the client build required up is not the overnight job that some people seem to think it is. For example, unlike many friends in other fields I can't readily show people examples of work I have done. Whilst this is disappointing I am refocusing my search for commercial roles within a half hour from home.

However, in the mean time I have recently regained some vitality in my interest and determination to get a layout off the ground. Also too if I return to a commercial role, my home office can be freed up to house a modest layout. So I guess there is a silver lining.

I visited an exhibition this weekend past, the first I have been to in quite a while and I was introduced to the concept of "T-Trak" modelling in N-Scale and the friendship groups that grow out of this. Now this is very appealing to me, as sadly I do have to admit I had more knowledge of railways when I was 12 then I do these days (at the ripe old age of 33). So a network group of like-minded enthusiasts would be a good thing for me to get in to. Not to mention that I haven't done any scenery work since I was 15-16 ... we might as well say I am starting from scratch. In my early teens I had constructed a simple up and over double loop with a couple of sidings and a station (when I say double loop, I refer to the same direction "not" as in a figure eight.

I would like to know what people think about T-Trak modelling. I know it has some strong limitations and some strong opposition from the traditional modelling fraternity. I don't want to make any mistakes in this decision. Whilst I am not about to give up on my (modest) tri-level design, which has been a dream for years, I have to concede it still only remains on paper. My frustrations at my own lack of development are getting to me now. For a while I was able to meet those desires by building up my locomotive and rolling stock collection, but I have more than enough for the moment. Particularly when you consider I have nothing ready to run them on aside from sections of Peco track that have to be taken out, set up, dissembled and reassembled on the dining table.

I am ready for something now a little more permanent. But do I stick with my original plans (which could be somewhat larger than is convenient) or move to the T-Trak method, which seems to lack imagination in some senses and relies on the group effort aspect of exhibiting . If my allotted space is not much more than a door or a reasonable dining table (for example), can I create an inspiring layout on the T-Trak method? Because I can really see at least how getting started on the T-Trak method in itself could be perpetually inspiring ... but simply to run trains in endless circles maybe not so much. What about elevations, yard operations or perhaps a round house?

Well clearly I have some more thinking to do ... if anyone is out there reading this I'd value your input.

Mike