TINGS haul

 

TINGS might have been a work trip, and I did buy a bit for future magazine projects, but it's a toy train show, so I can't resist adding to my stash, just a little. 

For a change, it was mostly good, useful material. Sheets of Plastikard at £7 for 9. How is this stuff still in the Anorak's Anonymous feeding bins late on the second afternoon? This shows how the hobby has changed. Admittedly, this is 15 and 20 thou sheet, but still very useful, or is this just me? I did pick some 60 and 80 thou sheets up from another vendor too, as I was completely out of those.  

The electrical tester will form a rant another day I fear, so we'll move on to the Peco goods shed, which is a nice little model and puts something back in the N gauge box, which emptied a little for the last issue of BRM. 

Finally, an American Gas Station. We'd looked at this for a future mag project, or rather, I'd looked at it and thought it was a good idea, my boss was less impressed. I'm sure it could be anglicised, but I think I'll build it as a fun little diorama as is. Looking in the box, there are lots of bits, always a good sign. 

And finally, some plastic shapes from Cheltenham Model Centre. William Morris said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful", and there is something childish in me that bought them because the colours make me feel happy. 

 

TINGS 2026

The International N Gauge Show is always a bit of a work trip. I'm on the lookout for layouts that will photograph well for BRM, and this year, despite being a little emptier than normal, the show delivered. I think there were 5-6 that I'd like to point a camera at properly. 

One of the highlights was Kato's "Oscar" - a tiny 009 locomotive which is very near being delivered. 

It really is tiny, with a very useful-looking chassis built around a coreless motor and brass worm gear/flywheel combination. Running was superb, and I can see a whole raft of 3D-printed bodies being produced for it. 

You know I like weird stuff; well, the Japanese layout Tsuro no Michi provided this with a CatBus on the roof of one of the buildings. 

Inspired by the CatBus, I've booked a trip to see My Neighbour Totoro on stage in London. Not what I expected to be inspired to do, by a model railway show!

And of course, cake. 6 out of 10 for the Victoria sponge. It was a little stodgy, but perfectly edible. 

I arrived as the doors opened, and left just before chucking out time. In my mind, this makes for a good day out, and excellent value for money. 

All the photos are over on Flickr.  

Saturday Film Club: Was this the Midland Railway's Most Beautiful Locomotive?

Maybe. But it's no Sea Lion is it? 

The golden fishplate

 

With Andy and Louise's BBC Gardener's World Live layout in the current issue of Garden Rail, I should show you this souvenir of the show - the Golden Fishplate. 

Laying all the track for this mammoth project took many days, but by Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before the judges were due to arrive, Andy finally connected up the last bit of the circuit. With a clean fishplate, the golden (OK, brass) one. We all cheered, and then went back to work. 

At the end of the show, we pulled the tracks apart as quickly as possible. There was a lot to dismantle, and while LGB stuff will stand up to abuse, it's probably not going to like having real railway sleepers dropped on it. 

We stripped the layout in an hour, and at this point, I found myself presented with the section fitted with the Golden Fishplate. 

I'm not sure what to do with this next - maybe put it in a frame of some sort as a reminder of a very special event. It's touching that Andy decided to hand it to me. After a couple of days of hard playing trains, it was very welcome!

Better barge corners

 

I wasn't going to mess around too much with this kit, but once the sides and ends of the cabin were fitted, the corners didn't look very good. Picture on the Petitie Properties website suggest I haven't done anything wrong either. 

To me, the solution was obvious: stick some slips of stripwood in the corner gaps, and sand them flat. Shock horror, the plan worked. I found some suitable wood, which was slightly oversize, and PVA'd it in place. Then went away and let it dry properly. 

A couple of days later, and with a sharp blade in my scalpel, the wood was trimmed back. A little sanding, and an acceptable finish was obtained. Again, not perfect, but I want to get this thing done. 

 I'm not unhappy with the result. It's one of those jobs that you do, and no one notices you've done it. But they would if I hadn't bothered. 

Warehouse Wednesday: Rundown barns

Hat tip to Duncan Young for finding these wonderfully atmospheric shots, and arranging permission for me to post them here. He tells me they are from Hunwick in County Durham, taken by Richard Lloyd, but that's all I know. 

Well, apart from them being full of very modelable features. Look at those collapsing doors. Easy enough to model with some scribed and Plastikard that is then attacked with a knife. 

Then we have the windows. Boarded up on the brick barn, and largely devoid of glazing on the stone one. Wiggly tin roofs, I could go on, but I need to find an excuse to make a model! 

 

Llanfair haul

A small pile from the show this year. Most of it comes from the Fairbourne Railway, who were selling Christmas and gift tags that will be perfect for my railway friends in the festive season. Stupidly cheap too, I wasn't going to pass them up. 

They also had a copy of The Narrow Gauge magazine, with an article of Isle of Man trains I've not seen. I didn't buy the other Manx booklet in the box, as I'm sure I have at least two copies already. Best leave it for someone else... 

The big buy was a Plateway Models motorised pump trolley kit. Now, you may remember there was one in the Llangollen stash. So why buy another? 

Simple - I rushed the build and it all went very wrong. Wrong enough for the kit to end up in the bin in frustation.  

But I really want this model, so I'm going to give it another go. With the benefit of hindsight, I hope to produce a working trolley, and series of blog posts this time. 

Llanfair 2026

Wales is lovely, but it's a long way away, and the roads are wiggly. The trip was worth it though, as Llanfair show continues to improve. The atmosphere was great, especially in the gym, where Indian Hill Railways set off the fire alarm with the coal-fired locos. 

I arrived early to drop off the Corris loco with Accucraft after the Garden Rail review. Then, back outside to join the queue to pay to come in, and bask in the sunshine whilst booking another day out on my phone. 

Inside, there were plenty of layouts, with everything working well. The Telford tram shown above really appealed, being meths fired and quite old. There was a matching coach which appeared later .

Trade was really good. As is my usual plan, I chatted a lot, and picked up a couple of items for GR reviews in the future. 

Kes had brought along a selection of locos from here late father's Compton Down Railway, and these always resonate with me. No expensive live steam, lots of make-do and bodge, including one sat on a Hornby 0-4-0 O gauge loco. My favourite was Sampson - live steam, but with stick-on decoration which is wearing/weathering nicely. It's really taken on the look of a working engine that gets a wipe down with an oily rag. 

And there was cake. 

After my early start, I needed a cup of tea, and used it to wash down a bacon butty once I realised they knew how to cook the stuff. No just defrosted meat here!

Lunch was a turkey and cranberry roll, followed by Victoria Sponge. Chosen because a couple of people, knowing my interests, recommended it, and they were right. My only moan was that both the ticket desk and cafe were cash-only, or I'd have brought some Welsh cakes and bonag for later consumption!

The thing about Llanfair, is that it's part of a bigger event, and I really wanted to make the trip to Welshpool for the narrow gauge railway show before it closed at 5pm. It can take half an hour to drive there too, especially if you get stuck behind a steam lorry as I did a couple of years ago...

Held in the shed at Welshpool station, the show is a bit of fun, but there are always a few quality layouts to be seen, and again, good chat to be had. I'll be photographing Andy's VoR layout seen about later in the year, so it was handy to catch up. 

The layout that really caught my eye though, was Little Knittington. 

I'm sure many people will scoff at it as a silly knitted model, but look closely, there is so much detail in here. The time and effort taken to create it must have been immense. As for the imagination, more than your average fine-scale layout I suggest. We need a bit of this at normal shows, if nothing else to appeal to the general public who will probably see it for what it is - fun. 

Anyway, another good show. There are plenty more photos over on Flickr.  

Phil's lecture

 

Just over a week ago, I gave a talk to the Lutterworth Railway Society. Entitled "The Joys of Model Railway Publishing", I used my "career" writing for model railway, and other magazines as the basis for a look at how publishing for our hobby has changed over the years. 

It's an interesting world. Those early articles were wordy, and light on photos. Tony Wright shot my first layout on a medium-format camera, and took 12 images. Yes, just 12. When I come back from a shoot, I'm looking to have 50+ to choose from, and that's the stacked ones. The process can involve 1500 pictures taken on the day. 

A bigger change has taken place with practical articles though. A picture is worth a thousand words, and they are so much easier to take now. No more waiting nervously for the photos to be processed, knowing that it wouldn't be possible to reshoot them. Reproduction is better now, so we show people what to do, instead of just telling them. 

There are also articles I no longer need to write. Cutting up diecast lorries because there wasn't much choice available? No point in that now, at least in 4mm scale. 

We also look at how model railways got me work looking after websites, and how the web has changed publishing to. Even this blog makes an appearance. 

The good news is that no one fell asleep. Some enthusiastic applause finished the evening - and I remembered to listen to this, something I used to be hopeless at when giving conference presentations years ago. Allow yourself a few seconds to bask in the adulation rather than running off the stage. 

I enjoyed it. Public speaking doesn't scare me, quite the opposite, so I'm going to see if I can do this again. A couple of contacts have been supplied to me, but if your group fancies an hour + Q&A (my favourite bit) of my waffle, hit the Ask Phil button on the right-hand side of this page, and we'll have a chat.  

Saturday Film Club: The Down Bristol Line, as seen from the Driver's Cab at Pendon

People are always coming up to me and suggesting that it would be fun to put a camera in the front of a model train.

Well, this video from Pendon shows why I disagree.  

The problem with most model railway layouts, is that they are designed to be viewed from the front. What the camera sees is lots of scenery on one side of the track, and a giant (relative to the scenery) room on the other.

For me, this doesn't work. When I photograph a layout, I'm happy with this First Person View, but that's because I can remove the room, and replace it with sky, so the illusion is maintained. While this is possible with video, it's a lot of hard work. 

This makes me suggest, that if it doesn't work on one of the greatest models in the world, what chance do the rest of us have?  

Carrying road vehicles

 

Visiting a wargaming store last week, reminded me that I took this photo when Melbridge Dock was on display. It shows how I cart the selection of 4mm scale road vehicles around in a case designed for transporting little figures. 

Essentially, there is a layer of shaped foam top and bottom. When the case closes, the models are gripped by this. I found that this was a little severe; we are talking plastic models, not metal soldiers, but cutting the points off the foam helped. 

My Dad used to enjoy the job of removing vehicles and putting them in the case. He'd let me deal with the locos and rolling stock, but wasn't so worried about these bits. It's sobering to think that when I got them out for display, he was probably the last person to touch them.

Unfortunately, Games Workshop don't sell these cases any more. I bet mine is 30 years old, but I found something from Green Stuff World that looks adaptable.  

All is not well with the sides of the barge

 

It was all going so well. The sides of the barge looked good. I'd even found some waterslide crests to liven up the red areas from a box at Bournville. 

As a finishing touch, I gave them a light coat of matt varnish from my Army Painted rattle can. 

It dried badly. In fact, it dried too early - before hitting the model. Result: a finish that might have been matt, but has the texture of fine sandpaper. I tried to pretend that I could live with it, but after a little while decided to be honest. 

So, the red areas were given a light sanding with a very fine abrasive. I wasn't looking to remove the paint, just smooth the varnish. Amazingly, it worked OK. Not perfect, but good enough. A light brushed coat of matt, another sanding, and I was happy enough to brush (I'm not messing with spray paints for a while) satin acrylic on. 

After that, the layers were assembled, complete with glazing. OK, the results aren't perfect, but as I said at the start, the aim is to finish something, and the search for perfection will be the enemy of that. As it is, sorting this out has taught me something; mistakes often do that! 

Garden Rail - October 2026

 

This issue takes you behind the scenes of one of the most ambitious temporary garden railways ever built, the stunning BBC Gardeners’ World Live display created by Andrew Christie. We tell the story from transforming a car park into a gold award-winning railway garden, to keeping trains running for thousands of visitors. 

We're also heading to Scotland to visit Forest of Glee, a remarkable exhibition garden railway built for the Falkirk Model Railway Club show. Created indoors in November, complete with real flowers, and a fully operational railway, it's proof that garden railways can flourish anywhere with enough imagination. 

On the workbench: 

• Testing Maxitrak's new Corris live steam locomotive 'Sir Haydn' 
• Building a coal tub 
• Painting people for beginners 
• Engineers wagons
• LGB's first kit-built wagon 
• Developing an outdoor line 

Plus the latest products for modellers in larger scales. 

Garden Rail is available from all good newsagents, and our online store. 

Element Games, Birmingham

 

Located in an unfashionable arcade five minutes walk from Snow Hill station in Birmingham, Element Games is part of a chain, catering for wargamers. 

It's home to the largest selection of model paints I have ever seen in one room. You won't find Humbrol or Revell, but pretty much everything else is there. Loads of brands I've never heard of, and quite a few I have, but consider them "advanced". 

My problem was that I'm working on a GWR station, and needed some light stone, dark stone etc.  The book stays use Precision Paints, but the web says there's no chance to buy the full set of colours. 

Anyway, I wander in with my book, hoping to pick up some alternatives. An assistant asks if he can help, then proceeds to spend 15 minutes working around the various ranges, looking for the best colour match. I've got five acrylic colours, from four different makers - full details will be in the article. 

I was especially impressed when he said there was one range he wasn't selecting from, as he'd never used that paint. That says he's using the products from the store, and has some knowledge of them, always a good thing. 

So, there aren't any toy trains, and the small number of plastic kits are properly weird, but for paint and other modelling materials and tools, I'd certainly recommend this place. Best of all, according to their website, they have stores all over the country. The next one to open is in Covent Garden, so someone has a budget...

Element Games website.  

Bournville haul - the joy of scruffy boxes

 

Small shows are a happy hunting ground for me. Since I'm not looking for the latest RTR, I'm free to scrub around under tables and in scruffy cardboard boxes for interesting stuff. 

The first prize has to be a Gaugemaster Combi controller - for a fiver! I have been pondering buying something from the range for loco testing anyway. OK, it doesn't have the separate power supply, but that's a generic item that I should be able to pick up easily enough. I'll have one somewhere as I've used a Combi on a couple of layouts in the past. I think it's stuck to the NG7 project at the moment. 

After that, there is some microstrip for a quid a pack, piercing saw blades for about the same, dry print lettering and Tiny Signs posters, the latter for a current BRM project. 

Finally, a row of sprung SPDT toggle switches for three pounds. All this is junk to most people, but I rate it higher than the latest shiny Accucraft product, but then I'm a bit weird. 

I'm the same with books - there are very few big hardbacks for me. But those slim publications that never made it to a second print run, and whose distribution was very limited, that's my thing. Especially if there is an Isle of Man connection. 

So, we have Manx Transport Kaleidoscope, of course. I may well have a copy, but why risk it for 50p/ Bagnall: A narrow gauge legacy is new to me, and I can't have looked through it as there is a whole chapter devoted to the Groudle Glen locomotives. That wasn't going to stay in the box! And we finish with Davyhulme Sewage Works and its railway - which has some interesting pictures, and let's face it, an unusual subject. Sewage works railways aren't common models, but the photos suggest that there is some interesting scope for one. Best of all, this lot came from a preserved railway stand, so the money is off to a good cause. 

The postcard kits for telephone boxes are just a bit of fun, and I do love a K6...

Bournville 2026

I wasn't really looking to visit a model railway show. But then UKModelshops told me that the Bournville show was taking place the next day, and I decided a train ride would be nice. I remembered from last year's visit that the show is next to Longbridge station, making for an easy trip. There was a layout on the list that intrigued me, and that would (hopefully) compensate for the lack of cake I also recalled. 

The ride was nice. I read a book and looked out of the window occasionally. The journey involved a change in Birmingham with a bit of a stroll around New Street station, noting that a 'spoons has appeared since I was last there. I like a ride on a train and quite like the Class 730 units with their super-wide connections between coaches. Despite the heavy use they get, the insides are still pretty tidy too. 

Arriving at Longbridge, I decided to follow people who I thought might be going to the show. I chose well, and a group of three of us chatted during the five-minute stroll. 

Inside, I hunted down the layout that had caught my eye - Moonbase Apha. 

The first thing to say is that this owes nothing to Space 1999. There are nods to 2001 and Silent Running, but this is very much its own creation. 

What it is, is a good idea, exceptionally well done. 

3D printed monorails, cleverly making use of OO gauge track that has been heavily modified and ex-Tri-ang mechanisms, circulate around the station complex. Both passenger and freight trains have been modelled, and several designs of each. There is a distinctly Flash Gordon look, with a hint of the early APT designs and even Belgian "Goggle" trains. 

Inside the buildings, people move along a travelator, or rotate inside geodesic domes. Outside, Airfix astronauts perform various tasks, including examining a black rectangular object in a hole.  

The modelling is sharp. The lunar landscape is exceptional. If I'd just come to see this one layout, I wouldn't have been disappointed. I have suggested we need it at the NEC next year...

The rest of the show was OK. Apart from the American narrow-gauge layout, there was amazing, but I remind myself that every one of these models is being exhibited by a proud owner, and there were a few ideas I will be taking away with me. It proves my point that you can always learn something from any layout, no matter what the standard. 

And no, there wasn't any cake. A can and a Double-Decker bar sustained me until I returned to the 'spoons spotted earlier.  

More photos over on Flickr.  

 

Saturday Film Club: Severn Crossing Monorail

An unexpected monorail - that breaks down! Fascinating. 

Book Review: Manx Electric Railway - Motorman Basics Handbook

 

It's time to order my 2027 calendar - the 2026 one is filling up with all sorts of things, and bookings will soon stretch past December. 

While on the Isle of Man Railways website placing the order, I spotted the Motorman Basics Handbook, for a paltry £3.

When the package arrived, I opened up the book and was surprised. OK, it's a slim publication, but inside is packed with all sorts of nerdy, technical detail for those interested in MER trams, or just trams generally. 

The driving and stopping mechanisms are explained in great detail - I'll need more than a single read-through if I'm to take it all in. Suffice to say that if you've ever wondered what goes on inside the pedestal the driver stands behind in a tram, it's all in here!

Likewise, the various braking systems are fully covered with some excellent diagrams.  

This book is part of the ultimate driving experience. Presumably this is a longer session than the one I took a few years ago. No book for me! It was still great fun though. Driving a real tram, on a live line, complete with wandering sheep. 

 

At the back of the book, there is a rundown of the different types of driving cars and trailers to be found on the MER. This stock listing is worth the price alone, as there is a lot of variety in the fleet. 

 A must for the Manx transport enthusiast, or anyone interested in tramways generally. 

Scenic work in the October issue of BRM

 

Plenty of Phil in the October BRM, and in some interesting scales. 

We kick off with building a couple of N gauge (OK, 2mm scale) garden sheds from Metcalfe kits. They really are tiny; that's a 10p piece under one of them.  

Why am I building sheds? Well, I needed them for a diorama. 

We're taking part in the "Make a Scene" competition, so I was presented with a pack and told to go away and make something with it. Digging through my stash of N gauge materials, I found the makings of a bungalow, and an allotment. 

In the pack are some interesting scenic materials, so I set off and produced something simple, but I hope, very achievable.

My camera has been out, and sticking with the N gauge theme, the first layout is Ambleton Vale. 

Chock full of interesting details, this is the first layout I've seen with a racecourse. 

Next, we step up a scale to 3mm*, with Hanton Tarrant.  

*That's proper British 3mm scale. 1:100, not that upstart TT:120.

It's a scale I love, and with boats and a rhinoceros. Can't go wrong there.  

With my reviewer head on, I take a look at Rapido's 009 wagons. 

And finally, for BRM TV, I explain colouring bricks.

 

Roof making

 

Regular readers will know I'm a fan of dry-fitting kits together to spot possible problems later in the build. 

Looking at the sides on the barge, I'm not 100% sure where they sit. Logically, the bottom of the side sits atop the sides of the hull. But there is a gap at least one layer of card could sit in. Get it wrong though, and the roof won't fit. Looking at the photos in the instructions, I think I'm right, but there's one way to be sure, make the roof. 

Work starts by putting a curve in the piece of card forming the roof. A set of metal rollers would be ideal, but mine are buried in a cupboard, so I just rolled a bit of dowel back and forth, with the card on my thigh - less chubby people can use a couple of towels. 

It worked fine, so the next job was to fit some MDF formers in, which are clipped in place as shown. Finally, a spine fits into these. I did all this quite quickly so the glue didn't have time to dry until everything is in place. The cutting of the MDF ensures very tight fits, but there is a tiny bit of movement of the MDF formers in the holes in the card. 

Speedy work ensures this isn't a problem. Using normal PVA rather than Roket card glue would have been wide too, but didn't occur to me at the time. Fortunately, I've got away with it. Luck or skill, you choose.  

Bow pen rims

 

Looking at the sides, I thought a nice brass rim around the edge of the windows would look good, but it would need to be perfect. 

It occurred to me that maybe I could run a bow pen around, with the corner of the card in between the jaws. This would keep it consistent. 

With no idea how this would work, I loaded it with neat Darkstar Molten Metal Brass, and had a go. After all, if it went wrong, I could wipe away my shame, and slap some red on top. No one would be any the wiser. 

And you know what? It worked perfectly. I was able to trace around the edges easily, and the acrylic paint flowed perfectly. I'm quite pleased with this!