March - Market Deeping Model Railway Club

March 2016
www.mdmrc.org
The News Letter of
Celebrating
40 Years
of
Railway Modelling
•
Including:
•
•
•
Chairman’s Report
Layout Roundup
American Layouts Part 2
Thurlby Railway Part 1
Sidelines
Chairman's Report
Market Deeping
Model Railway Club
www.mdmrc.org
Market Deeping Model Railway Club
based in Lincolnshire to promote and
further interest in model railways.
Chairman
Colin Brown
Treasurer
Peter Wilde
Secretary
Alan Hancock
Since my last report there have been no
more new members but we have had
several requests and expressions of
interest in joining the Club. At present we
have had to put them on a waiting list until
we can clarify the number of members we
can accommodate whilst still complying
with the requirements of our insurance,
fire regulations etc.
Our Christmas social evening was a
success and enjoyable and many thanks to
Monica Hildred who once again provided a
splendid spread together with Chris
Boardman's 'rat' pies.
Contributors
Alan Hancock
Colin Brown
Joyce Stevenson
There is to be a tidy up and clear up of
the Club room when the weather improves.
Editorial
My apologies for the
publishing this issue.
delay
in
Thank you to all who helped with
stewarding at the St Neots exhibition at
the Wood Green Animal Sanctuary.
Please see the notes on Page 10 about our
own show and the 40th anniversary
celebrations.
I am most gr atefu l to all
contributors and especially to Nigel
Chubb who obtained permission from
Joyce Stevenson to publish the
article about Thurlby Station, Part
One of which features in this edition
Colin S Brown
chairman@mdmrc.org
8th March 2016
Brian Norris
sidelines@mdmrc.org
www.mdmrc.org
Page 2
March 2016
Sidelines
An enduring affair
American Railroads and Me.
By Alan Hancock
Part 2
What was special about modelling American outline? Although we are now used to
British layouts with amazing levels of detail I would suggest that this standard was
being achieved by American modellers decades ago at a time when our own layouts were
often comparatively crude. I was inspired by the work of such people as John Allen,
Malcolm Furlow and George Selios. To me they captured the atmosphere of their
chosen modelling environments perfectly, and they are all worth looking up on the
internet. New materials and techniques seem to make their debut there before they
are adopted here, and although scratch building does not seem to have been as popular
in America, the more accessible modification of a basic model to ensure that details
are correct for a particular place or time is very important, and the appropriate
accessories are readily available.
Similarly American locomotives have in my
experience usually been superb runners
straight out of the box, with features such as multiple
pickups and fly wheels common in all
scales at a time when they were
largely unknown to British
manufacturers – Bachmann were
producing smooth running locomotives for the American market long before they made
an appearance here. HO scale of course means that there is no conflict between track
gauge and stock size so there is no need to build in EM to maintain the correct ratio.
Operation has been greatly assisted by the Kadee coupler and its companions, which
unlike most British automatic couplings have at least a semi-prototype appearance and
enable complex shunting to take place, usually without modifying stock.
Some American models are indeed very expensive – the collection of the exquisite
“Japanese (or more usually now Korean) Brass” is a hobby in itself – but quite high
quality sound equipped locomotives can be obtained remarkably cheaply. Not only is the
market itself large, but because the same locomotive was often used in large numbers
by several railroads with only minor variations it is possible to cater for a range of
purchasers using a single mould.
Modelling American also has two practical advantages for exhibitors. Firstly, in such a
(Continued on page 4)
www.mdmrc.org
Page 3
March 2016
Sidelines
An enduring affair
American Railroads and Me.
(Continued from page 3)
large country with such a variety of environments and administrations – often remote and
beyond the reach of any authority - there really is probably “a prototype for everything”.
Things that would be frowned on by British or European railways seem to exist somewhere. Secondly, American layouts are still not common at exhibitions in the UK. For
example as far as I am aware there was only one at Peterborough this year. In my
experience this means that a) they do attract a considerable amount of interest from
those spectators with an open mind who like a change from the ubiquitous British branch
line and b) although they certainly exist, the American equivalent of the dreaded “rivet
counters” are very rare over here, and as an exhibitor you can get away with things being
not quite right!
For me there has also been an extra benefit. Modelling has been the way in to a greater
understanding of America itself. I now have a better recognition of the enormous
difficulties presented by an often harsh physical environment of mountain, flood and
storm which persist to this day despite enormous technological advance. I am keen that
period detail – advertisements, posters, vehicles - on my layouts should be as accurate as
possible, and my research to ensure this has taken me into such varied areas as sport and
the circus, crime and finance, the history of Native Americans and Chinese labourers, the
changing position of African-Americans in society, the almost unbelievably dreadful
working condition of many railroad employees and the role of unions for good or ill, the
impact of wars both foreign and domestic, the great depression, and the changing role of
the states and the federal government in transport policy and provision.
I now watch films and
television featuring
railroads with a far greater
understanding of the forces
acting within American
society at any given time. I
long to reproduce the
opening scene from “Bad
Day at Black Rock” - almost
model-like in its
perspective, with the Southern Pacific diesel in the stylish “Black Widow” livery rolling
through the desert towards the ramshackle town
(Continued on page 5)
www.mdmrc.org
Page 4
March 2016
Sidelines
An enduring affair
American Railroads and Me.
(Continued from page 4)
- or the hobo jungle in “Emperor of the North”. And of course there is the heightened
appreciation of the context of the railroad related music I love, from blues and big-band
to country and rock n’ roll – Lead Belly through Boxcar Willie and Glen Miller to Elvis
Presley and Chuck Berry.
In song the Rock Island line (actually about inter-state freight rates!) might indeed have
been a “mighty fine road”, but that did not prevent it from going in and out of bankruptcy
before finally failing completely in the 1970s as one of the greatest financial collapses in
American history, and that is a microcosm of the fate of the national railroad system.
The railways may have helped to open up America and underpinned its rise to a global
power, but their collapse in the late 1950s following the development of the interstate
highway and the jet airliner was spectacular and swift, despite imaginative and desperate
attempts to sustain them, which is why it is one of the eras I find most fascinating to
model.
If I were entering the hobby today with the easy availability of high quality British
outline offerings I would probably never even consider modelling American railroads, but
in so many ways, and not just in simple modelling terms, I should undoubtedly have been
the poorer for it.
Long may the love affair continue!
Alan Hancock
November 2015
www.mdmrc.org
Page 5
March 2016
Sidelines
Layout Roundup
Could Layout ‘Leaders’ please let Sidelines have pictures and more up to date information where possible for
the next issue due in April. Email to sidelines @mdmrc.org
Amberdale OO
Market Obthorpe O
The signals are now
installed and being
operated by servo’s
using the MERG servo driver boards.
Doncaster was it’s first outing since its
extension was at where it was well
received. A photo appeared in the Daily
Telegraph showing Steve Whitehouse
and LMS 8F on Amberdale's viaduct
Most of the track is
in place. Next phase
is solder all
necessary track
joints and tie bars, cut electrical
sections, install point motors and check
that it can be operated. With the
warmer weather on the horizon track will
be ballasted and painted. Two new
baseboards will be constructed each
approximately 2ft long. One for the
turntable and the other for the station
forecourt Signal box about to be
constructed and several small detail
items will also be built. Platform to be
started soon (station buildings already
exist.) Other buildings to be designed
and built with the low relief factory
planned. Signalling being planned.
Dundle II OO
Peter Davies and his team are doing a
lot of detailed planning using Anyrail
software and have re-designed the track
layout.
Dundle II is still its interim name and we
hope to get a new one from a ‘Name the
Layout’ competition at its first public
outing.
Sutterton EM
Granbourne OO
Kirkhaven N
www.mdmrc.org
Woodcroft EM
Woodcroft also
went to the BRM
Doncaster
exhibition and was one of only two
layouts that attended BRM’s first
exhibition some twenty years ago.
Page 6
March 2016
Sidelines
Thurlby Railway Station
This article is reproduced by kind permission of Joyce Stevenson and is based on
her own article on the Thurlby Village web site
Joyce Stevenson looks back at the golden age of steam and some of the mishaps along the
route.
THE Bourne and Essendine railway was opened on May 16, 1860, and over the years
provided Bourne’s first and longest serving passenger route, connecting the town with the
main east coast network run by the Great Northern Railway (GNR).
Passenger and goods trains puffed back and forth along the six and a half mile track for 91
years, following a route which curved gently along the fen edge from Bourne through a
countryside of woods, hedgerows and a patchwork of small fields. Sadly, those halcyon
days were punctuated with occasional accidents and mishaps along the line.
“The halcyon days of steam were not always free of mishaps along
the line.”
(Continued on page 8)
www.mdmrc.org
Page 7
March 2016
Sidelines
Thurlby Railway Station
(Continued from page 7)
Charles Brown 1951 Thurlby Station
Published In the Bourne Local February 13th 2009
Joseph Birkett, the 21 year old son of the Wilsthorpe crossing keeper, was one who lost
his life on the line. Joseph was employed by GNR to extinguish fires caused by sparks from
the steam engines but in August 1870, he died as a result of horrific injuries which were
sustained when he laid on the railway track in the path of a train approaching Thurlby
station. His wasn’t the only inci­dent and one morning dur­ing the summer of 1892, an
engine and four trucks were derailed and overturned at Wilsthorpe siding. A mistake by the
points operator caused the acci­dent but in this case the consequences were not tragic. The
guard was badly shaken, but there were no injuries, and by afternoon engineers had the
goods train safely back on the rail,
The old trains were so punctual they were often used as a time check; but there was one
occasion when a delay resulted in a serious accident. On a July day in 1890, a shepherd,
(Continued on page 9)
www.mdmrc.org
Page 8
March 2016
Sidelines
Thurlby Railway Station
John Cooper, was taking a flock of
sheep to Ogery Farm (west of Wood
Lane, Northorpe).
To reach the farm they had to cross
the railway. On arrival at the
crossing, the shepherd, who was
deaf, carefully checked his watch
and noted the train would have
passed 15 minutes earlier. He
opened both gates and drove the
sheep across the track; but before
he reached the opposite gate the Essendine train, which was running late, came speeding
round the bend, Mr Copper frantically waved his arms to warn the engine driver to stop the
train. The sheep in panic, ran back across the track in front of the train. Forty of the sheep
were killed. The badly mutilated carcasses were taken to Bourne where they were
prepared by a local butcher and dispatched to the London Metropolitan Meat Market.
In another fatal accident 71 year old Sarah Ann Hare was hit by a railway engine between
Bourne and Thurlby on Wednesday, October 11, 1916. Mrs Hare’s injuries were so severe
that it was only later, following inquiries, that she was identified. The inquest at Thurlby, the
day after the accident, revealed that Sarah Ann had gone sticking and was walking along
the public footpath which ran through her garden across the railway and into the north
fields. The fireman on the 10.45 train from
Bourne saw Mrs Hare climbing over the stile to
cross the line and sounded the whistle, but being
deaf she was unaware of the train. Following the
accident, engine drivers were ordered to blow the
whistle when approaching the crossing, which
also gave notice of the imminent arrival at
Thurlby station and frequently acted as a time
check.
Thurlby Railway Station
Continued in the next issue of Sidelines…..
www.mdmrc.org
Page 9
March 2016
Sidelines
The End of the Line
Diary Dates
(spotted at the recent Larger Gauge show at
Leamington Spa)
31st March
Annual Club Dinner
Please let Colin know if
you can come
30th April
Stamford Show.
This year we celebrate
40 years as a club.
Please sign up on the
club notice board
17-19 June
27 June
Great Central Railway
Exhibition
A.G.M.
Please let Brian Norris have any diary dates
you would like to see published.
The next issue will be sent out towards the
end of April
Committee Roundup
The latest set of minutes is now
available on the website. Do log in and
have a read.
If you have any matter you wish the
committee to discuss. Please advise
Alan or Colin before the next meeting
on 19/05/16.
To All Members
Please help with our exhibition in April and put your names on the list on
the club notice board. Profits from our exhibition helps pay for the layouts
that we are building whilst keeping our subs as low as they are.
This show also celebrates our being a club for the last 40 years so please
help to make it a success both financially and enjoyably by volunteering.
www.mdmrc.org
Page 10
March 2016
Sidelines
For Sale:- Dave Smith Items
Something to Sell?
Hornby
Bke/2nd Pullman
LMS 50'corridor Parcels
LNER J15 0-6-0
Why not advertise it here?
Bachman
LNER V2 2-6-2 Green Arrow
LNER O4 2-8-0
Email details and photos to
Rolling Stock
LNER Conflat With Open Container
LNER 21t Steel Loco Coal Wagon
LNER 20t Grain Van
LNER 20t Fitted Brake Van X 2
LNER 50t Brick Wagon - Used On Woodcroft
LNER 20t Plate Wagon
LNER Long Ct Van
LNER 3 R0ad Parcel Vans
LNER Scammel Mechanical Horse Road Vehicle
sidelines@mdmrc.org
and
give 10% to club funds
See Colin Brown or Mick Quinn for
further information
BOOK LIST (Ex David Smith)
From Stirling To Gresley 1882-1922
Great Northern Pre-Group Scene No 2
Top Shed
Gresley Locomotives A Pictorial History
Rail Centres - Peterborough
LNER Wagons
Illustrated History Of GNR Signalling
Peterborough Tramways
LNER Constituent Signalling
East Coast Joint Stock
The Power Of The A4s
GNR Engine Sheds Southern Area
LNER
Stopping Train Britain
19th Century Railway Drawings
End Of The Line
The Restaurant Car
Railway Carriage Album
150 Years Of Railway Carriages
www.mdmrc.org
Page 11
F A S Brown
O S Nock
P N Townend
B Haresnape
P Waszak
P Tatlow
M A Vanns
G D Austin
A A Maclean
K Hoole
B Morrison
R Griffiths
G Hughes
A Frater
A Prior
P Atterbury
G Kitchenside
G Kitchenside
G Kitchenside
March 2016