A really nice video covering the FT&OCR putting it in the context of the Festival of Britain. For those interested in the wider subject beyond the railway will enjoy the footage showing the sites now.
There's some decent production values here, with a good script and some research. It's the right length too - so many YouTube films go on too long for their material, but this doesn't overstay its welcome.
You know how it it - you buy a new model and feel the need to record an unboxing video to go with it.
Well, this isn't exactly new - it's the G104 4-wheel coach from the late 1970s, but it's new to me and I had an idea for a moving look around.
I know nothing about these buildings, other than when travelling to Rocks by Rail for some filming a couple of weeks ago, I new when I saw them I'd have to stop on the way home to take photos. Even the design is new to me, although they are modular, so presumably these can be found elsewhere.
I'm not even sure where I found them as it was the edge of a village. However, if it helps, all these images are full-size if you click on them. There is some great modelable detail here.
Something new in railway publications launched last week - Smoke & Steam is a new bookazine from World of Railways.
My contribution is a piece on weathering model steam locomotives. There's isn't a lot of modelling content in here, but as publishers of BRM, we were obviously put a little in.
The bulk of the articles are well-written prototype pieces by respected authors. Each is a long-form article with plenty of illustration. To ensure quality, those same writers have "peer reviewed" each other and changes made. In addition, the BRM team have had a look as well.
Contents:
Following the Flagman - Dover’s seafront railway – Paul Isles
Forgotten Railways - The Peak District mainline – Graham Nicholas
Iconic stations: Exploring Salisbury – Graham Muspratt
Travelling in style: The Cornish Riviera Express – Adrian Vaughan
Mallard: A Pictorial Journey – Tony Wright
Semaphore Signalling - Why the GWR was different – Mike Romans
There’s only one Edinburgh Waverley – Ian Lamb
Restoring an SR Merchant Navy – Graham Musprattt
Goods locomotives of Buckingham – Tony Gee
Moving Into BR - the GWR becomes the Western Region - Mike Romans
Weathering a locomotive – Phil Parker
I'll admit I have a favourite - Following the flagman - because of the cracking images of dockside steam locos including P class and B4 tanks. With one of the later in the "to do" pile, I'm not going to bother looking much further for my prototype.
Last week, I was in the office and got my paws on the test shop (an EP in toy train terms) and was mightily impressed. This doesn't feel like a bookazine, it's a softback book. The paper quality is very high as a coffee-table publication was the aim, and I think it's more than there.
You might say "Well, you would say that" - and I'd certainly have told you that I had an article in there as I always do, but not be quite so impressed. The gestation process for this publication has been protracted, but mainly due tot he effort put in to make it as good as possible and not a cheap/quick mag to grab a few quid. There's enough of those already!
At £9.99 for the paper version, this isn't cheap, but the money is all on the page. The plan is to get this in WH Smith later in the year, but if you want a copy now, they can be ordered in both paper and digital forms right now.
