Thursday, November 04, 2021

Huts, couplings and Thomas in BRM

 I've been out with the camera this month, to visit a very important, and very old, model railway. 

Ffarquar Junction was built by the Rev W Awdry well over 60 years ago. As well as being the earliest form of Thomas the Tank, it's also a fascinating time capsule showing how model railways used to be built. 

With the limited materials of the time, a pleasant scene has still be created that would still please many modellers today. 

Many of the locomotives are built from kits that disappeared from the market long before I was born. Now in the care of the Talyllyn Railway, the stock lives in this home made case which has also survived many years use. 

On the workbench, I've built a trio of small hut from the Intentio range of laser cut kits. One has been turned into a weighbridge on the industrial scene featured in the last two issues. It's nice to be able to set a model into some scenery, but not always possible because of deadlines. Here, there are a few extra tweaks showing how to alter an existing model railway. 

Finally, on BRM TV, I'm looking at couplings. 


Since the Rev Awdry's layout uses Sprat & Winkle couplings, I took the opportunity to explain them more fully. I show how they work, and how I have fitted them to rolling stock. 

There's also an interview with the guys looking after the layout giving a bit of history to the great man's model railways. 

All this in the December 2021 issue of BRM. 


2 comments:

James Finister said...

Loved the Awdry article, but I have to say there is a point in your Intentio build where you seem to have performed a miracle of laser cut kit building. Somehow you blended the corner brick joints in really well.

Phil Parker said...

No blending required or I'd have mentioned it. The cutting is superb in these kits. That's what you pay the premium for. The only thing I'd have done differently is lightly sand the dark ends slightly to reduce the colour before painting.