2020 saw the last trips for the Isle of Wight tube stock, nicely filmed here. Had we not been locked down, I'd have been tempted to make the trip for this. My one visit to the island saw me stand on the station, but not see any trains. I did travel by hovercraft though, a win in anyone's book.
Looking at the countryside scenes, I'm wondering if there is an interesting moving diorama to be built with an EFE Rail train, shuttle unit and chunk of countryside. Nothing too long, but an attractive moving picture.
It could be an interesting project for someone - as could a similar concept set in Stourbridge, but featuring a Class 153 "skateboard", or even a Party People Mover.
ReplyDeleteOther locations could also make for attractive moving displays - perhaps on a shelf - perhaps using different stock like a Railroad Class 121 or GWR AEC railcar.
The posh new models from Heljan etc. would almost certainly be an overkill - too good and too expensive for this sort of "fun" display project.
Well, it could be an enjoyable project for someone - probably not me, as I've got so many other ideas I really want to work on.
To be brutally honest, I'm currently finding it very difficult to even make progress with a simple fixed diorama - which only needs to fill a 200mm cake box.
Even my long-planned table top MPD switching puzzle is starting to look like a "pipe dream" at the moment - which is interesting, because I've always been a militant NON smoker - so I don't even have a pipe to use in "mulling things over".
Returning a bit closer to the original topic, I wonder how long it might be before some RTR or kit manufacturer comes out with a model of the "D trains" that are replacing the former 1938 tube stock on the Isle of Wight - well either that or the D78 surface stock they're adapted from.
I know that some drawings of the D78 stock found their way onto the "freedom of information" site "what do they know" - not a complete set, by any means - but probably useful to anyone with the inclination to prepare their own CAD drawings.
Preparing a set of drawings for a "D train" would probably involve further sources (or photogrammetry, or perhaps guesswork).
At one point, I wondered about building a model of one of these myself - but various family issues prevented this before I could even get started. Now, such a build would need to take its place in an ever lengthening queue ... .
I love the idea of a Party People Mover. In lieu of their development, perhaps we could have special party carriages on trains.
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