Saturday Film Club: A day with restored Sea Lion Steam Loco

A video of the best steam locomotive in the world ever? Of course I'm going to link to it from here!

Beatties does Fleischmann

 

In their day, Beatties didn't just sell British model trains, they were a supplier of the foreign stuff too. In those days, modelling anything beyond these shores was seen as weird; it still is in a small way today. 

Still, you could go to your local branch and pick up catalogues to get your fill of German goodness, which is why I've acquired a few for the collection - 1976 to 79. 

Looking through, there is very little familiar to my eyes, but then I'm no expert on continental trains. Some of the models look surprisingly crude. I'd always grown up believing that Euro trains were expensive, but of superb quality. Maybe, compared to the UK version they were. 

One surprise was finding out Fleischmann made their own slot car system, with some rather tasty-looking German racing cars available in miniature. Well, tasty, if you like racing Porches anyway. 

Another find was my little red shunter, which appears in all of these catalogues, showing just how old the model could be! 

 

Remembering Thomas the Tank engine

 

Back in the 1980s, the L&WMRS built a Thomas the Tank engine layout. It was a simple track plan, a couple of ovals with loops in the station, and fiddle yard. Some sidings existed, but were never used. 

Control was by a couple of old (even then) H&M controllers at the front, feeding through some panel mount ones at the back. Thus, we could let kids drive the trains, but limit their top speed. 

We had all the trains. In an era when Hornby made Thomas and Gordon, keen, and often finescale, modellers in the club, produced the rest. Even the relatively obscure ones like the Twins and BoCo. 

The 8 by 4, later 10 by 4, layout went out to the lot of shows. At one, we met Chris Awdry, the boy for whom the books were written, and had him sign the fascia board. After this, he actually came out with the layout a few times. 

My Dad and I were heavily involved in all this, and Dad loved it. He was an entertainer, and we certainly brought the fun to a few model railway shows.  

Eventually, taking the layout out became a bit of a chore, and we sold it to Banbury MRC. But, we kept the fascia. 

Obviously, a 10-foot-long board is a bit of a nuisance kicking around. Not a problem for many years as it could live in the club loft, but when we turned that loft into workspace, something had to be done. 

In time for the open weekend, Mike Collins turned the long board into something more manageable. He rescued the number plates used for the layout name, and Chris's signature. We now have a panel that can be displayed, so one of our most successful layouts can be remembered, even if it is only by a few of us now. My Dad would be very pleased. 

Warehouse Wednesday: Skipton derricks

While up in Skipton, and strolling around the canals, I took the opportunity to snap photos of a pair of derricks, on either side of an old warehouse. 

It looks like these are original features - you can see one in this photo from 1959, and another from 1974.

One coupling chain to rule them all

 

LGB couplings, Accucraft choppers, both incompatible with each other. The solution? A length of bath plug chain. 

Small scalers won't be impressed with the lack of fidelity of this setup, but outdoors, we are just happy that it works, and we can get on with running trains. 

I do love a cheap and simple solution.