In praise of Bradford Barton

We've all seen them, those uniformly square format, photo albums with the colour coded spines. Most second hand booksellers will have a few on their shelves. Over the years I've built up a small collection of the blue labelled diesel series. It's tempting to dismiss them as lightweight when compared to the scholarly output from publishers like Wild Swan. They make a very for a pleasant browse, a small size, railway themed, coffee table book; but is there more to them than that? Obviously I think that there is; here's one I picked up from my friend and book seller Nick Lowe.

It's a little way away from my usual interests, but it's helped me to see the value in these predominately pictorial publications. The photos are of use in sorting out the nuts and bolts of what we choose to model, though the coverage isn't as full as a detailed profile, but where they really score is the conveyance of atmosphere, that hard to quantify attribute that separates the truly great from the technically competent. Take a look at an image from Industrial Steam.

It would not be a particularly difficult scene to model, the austerity tank is available in a variety of scales, but the photo guides one beyond the infrastructure, there's the effect of the weather in the puddles and the pale grey silhouette of the head gear. I've also picked up on the human intervention in the new putty to the window of the lean to building and the tin of grease or paint left on the sill.

Start you search for these inspirational volumes here.

The end; loss, sadness, joy and beauty 2

On Sunday a friend who knows that I have a weakness for such things gave me this slim book.

Like North East Focus it's more of a booklet than book, but the quality of the images more than makes up for their number. It's a fabulous thing that has become an instant favourite. Here's a sample of what lies within.

It's well worth keeping an eye out for; I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Loosing the fun

It's dawning on me that our hobby is changing. The slow and steady incremental developments that have always been with us are leading us towards a point where a dramatic shift, out of all proportion to the increment that takes us there, will happen. Each year brings fresh models of a standard that pushes kit and scratchbuilding to the sidelines, now the preserve of those who do it not out of necessity but choice. Quite how all pervasive this trend has become has been highlighted by the release by Bachmann of the Pendon range of ready to plonk buildings. I find it hugely ironic that the models that embody the most painstaking and patient approach our hobby have begat  resin copies now available to the idle comfortably off at the drop of a wallet.

Model railways used to be a creative hobby; I fear that we'll soon see retail therapy overtake creative endeavour.I can't in all honesty see where the fun in that is. My youth was a blur of sticky fingers, Superquick kits, Humbrol paints and tubes of Airfix glue. They may have been crude and childlike, but they set me up for a lifetimes enjoyment of making things. I'm convinced that making things is fun, it's something that we see in all children but that often gets lost in our busy adult world where short cuts to having things seems like a good idea.

Here's the latest thing I'm making. Nobody else will have one quite like it and it's kept me utterly absorbed for hours. Ready made buildings; you can stick 'em where the sun don't shine..

The end; loss, sadness, joy and beauty.

I was born in 1960 and as a result I only have a few vague memories of working steam on British Railways; being held up to see over the wall at York sheds, lineside from a holiday caravan at Filey and a glimpsed view of a black five from our train heading to Penmaenmawr in'67. For some time after 1968 much of what the railways did and looked like was indistinguishable from the end of steam, apart from doing it with diesels. It's this era where my memory starts to have more substance and fewer holes. It's these memories that drive Morfa slowly onwards.

However I have become unreasonably interested of late in the last couple of years of steam. It's been a bit of a slow burn that emanated from this slim softback I've had for a good few years.

It has some fabulous images within, it's the sort of title that turns up for a couple of quid on the shelves of second hand books at preserved railways and is well worth the price of a pint. (note:- not an open invite to discuss beer price structures and regional variations)  As well as the images it has short pieces by each of the contributing photographers, each a young man in the late sixties. I think it was the descriptions of the scrapes, friendships, youthful folly, exuberance and the sense of being carefree that chimed with my own experiences of being a similar age ten years later on. Even though my particular bag at the time was climbing and walking in the mountains, many themes seemed shared. Recently I was given a stack of Steam World magazines, in the 2007 issues there was a four part series by Ian Krause documenting his time with a camera in '67.  Magazine and book led to an interweb trawl for further words and pictures. I've come up with this autobiographical account by Paul Riley and this tribute by Ian Krause that are well worth a read.

Countdown to Corris 4

After much frenzied model making I can post the fourth and final episode in the countdown series. My Latin American tramway is sufficiently advanced to be able to take decent photos that give a fair impression  of what the finished item will look like. More importantly it's now at the stage where I wouldn't feel too embarrassed at it going on public display. there are a few jobs to tackle tomorrow, and many for after the show, but I can rest tonight as all looks to be under control.

Just to remind everyone that the tramway will make its public début this coming weekend at the Corris Model Railway & Toy Exhibition. Corris School 10:30 - 5:00 Sat, Sun and Mon, 27th, 28th & 29th August.

Countdown to Corris - 3

Well the in time completion of the Latin American tramway is going to be a bit of a knicker gripper, so I thought that I pop up some photos of a very tasty model that I know will be at Corris on the August bank holiday weekend, and every other day the railway is open for that matter. It's located in the station and museum at Corris, well worth a visit in its own right

 

It's the 009 model of the Corris Railway itself featuring scenes along the line; Pantperthog, Maespoeth, Corris and Aberllefenni. The model is static at the moment, but non the worse for that. I'm afraid that my photos don't do the even though I removed the glass from the case, you really have to see it to appreciate it.

The good book

At the end of last month I heard through the grapevine of the death of P D Hancock, one of the pioneers of 4mm scale narrow gauge modelling. I've always enjoyed his writing in the Railway Modeller and his book Narrow Gauge Adventure - The Story of the Craig and Mertonford Railway was often borrowed from the library when I used to live in York. In part prompted by the sad news, and in part due to a chance find on my friend Nicks bookstall, I find myself with my very own copy. The last week or two have been spent reading it a bit at a time, and what a joy it's been. Quite apart from the lovely models within, the book works so well because it's so well written. There's nothing forced about the prose, it's a gentle explanation of how the model came about; it's easy to imagine being in the presence of P D Hancock himself as he speaks about his creation. Don't take my word for it, find yourself a copy, you won't be disappointed.