This months picture…
Picture of the Month – February 2023
Tag Archives: Drummond T14
Picture of the Month – February 2022
This months picture…
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Merry Christmas to you all, fill up your life with love, compassion, tolerance, peace, happiness and perhaps hopefully some time for modelling.
Who knows what the next few weeks or even months might continue to bring, please make the time to contact your friends and family, especially those whom might be alone, and not able to be in the company of others during these still most unusual of times. It is good and OK to simply ask “Are you OK?” and likewise it is “OK not to be OK” and reach out for assistance. The one good thing, if anything, this past 18 months has been the kindness and generosity of others to help and support each other, and long may this continue.
As the festive season and New Year break is upon us, I just wanted to say many thanks to all of you whom have taken the time to read my ramblings over the past 12 months. I hope you have found such ramblings interesting and informative. I have always enjoyed corresponding with many of you that have made contact me via email or the comments field on my various posts. I look forward to corresponding with you again in the New Year and maybe, hopefully, in person at an exhibition…
A further flurry of activity will be taking place at the start of the new year with Hornby (January 10th) announcing its 2022 range followed a few weeks later, at the beginning of February, by Bachmann making the next of their now quarterly range announcements. I will as always bring you all the Southern Railway / Southern Region related news on here as soon as their announcements are made.
Seasons greetings, whatever your faith or beliefs, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (or Nadelik Lowen ha Blydhen Nowydh Da! from the boss’ side of the Tamar) to you all!
and finally…
A Pictionary carol, snapped in my locality, for more of my local photography check out my Twitter feed and use the hashtag #viewfromthecottage
Picture of the Month – May 2020
This months picture…
Happy Spring Equinox
By way of a distraction from the current COVID-19 situation, today is the Spring Equinox so I thought I would celebrate the start of spring and the cheery splash of colour that daffodils bring at this time of year!
In the meantime stay safe, keep in contact (not physical) and if possible assist with any isolating family, friends and neighbours, keep washing your hands, support those key people that can not work from home and are required to keep our services, shops, deliveries and the fantastic NHS running!
Remember that the only things worth panic buying are Southern Model Railway items (click here for help to do this)!
Picture of the Month – October 2019
This months picture…
Fisherton Sarum can be seen on the 19th this month at the Beckenham and West Wickham MRC exhibition, St John’s Church, Eden Park Avenue, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 3JN
Also Canute Road Quay can be seen at the The Great Electric Train Show – Hornby Magazine – Marshall Arena, Stadium Way, Milton Keynes, MK1 1ST over the weekend of 12th and 13th October.
A summer excursion to Little Bytham
A am very fortunate through this hobby of ours to have met and made a good number of like minded friends. many of whom I would consider as being ranked as being talented and exquisite modellers that can achieve things far in excess of my humble efforts. Yesterday I was fortunate and privileged, to have been able to arrange for a small gang of fellow members of the High Wycombe and District MRS, to visit and play trains on Little Bytham the layout , of one such friend , the well known, talented and respected Tony Wright. Little Bytham is in fact being built as a collaborative effort via horse trading with other talented modellers whom have carried work in return for Tony’s talents in the building of locomotives etc.
Tony, who actually lives in Little Bytham, is modelling the East Coast Mainline Station and surrounds as it was in the mid 1950’s before both the station itself and the Midland and Great Northern that crossed the ECML at Little Bytham closed. The four track mainline through the station and its interesting track plan from an operation perspective is a perfect recreation of that period,and that, along with his superb stock completes the scene perfectly.
In addition to being operate his layout for the day, we were also able to run some summer excursion specials from our own collection, so I took great delight in adding a splash of malachite to the East Coast Mainline.
Firstly a few pictures in the shape a couple of my original Merchant Navy Pacifics 21C6 and 35023 ahead of a rake of Phoenix (ex BSL) Bulleid coaching stock, seen running alone the embankment and through the station as some of my fellow High Wycombe and District MRS members look on.
It is pretty certain that the Bulleid Leader never reached the ECML but I couldn’t resist. Also my Drummond T14 ran through Little Bytham with the SR Cinema coach no. 1308s and Bulleid ‘Inspection saloon’ no. 100s, both paired with their respective generator vans.
All in all it was an excellent, fun and enjoyable day just as the hobby should be. It was a real tonic of a day being full of laughter, enjoyment and great company.
I must express my own personal sincere thanks, and those of all of us at the high Wycombe and District MRS to Tony for allowing us and trusting us to play on his train set!
ps. also thanks to Tony for taking and providing me with the last two photographs, that remain his copyright.