Mosslanda musing: more terminal ideas...
The combination of N gauge and IKEA Mosslanda shelves is a curious muse, but one that I am struggling to shift of late. Their long narrow but compact form suits single track terminus especially, I find myself pondering how various architectural forms could be expressed in their volume...
I've previously shared my Wrecsam Canolog and Traeth Hafren layouts alongside more plans for Bristol and Stourbridge Town. More recently there have been ideas for the Isle of Wight. What we have here is something more run down, perhaps typified best by the BR blue DMU. Dark cinder like ballast soaked with years of oil and coal dust, dark dirty walls, sooty smoky canopies and tired but functional station furniture. Those gates were ticket inspectors would nonchalantly lean 'tickets please', closed and locked on Sundays. A feeling that the urban regeneration beginning to hinted at will sweep all of this tired, old fashioned and decaying railway system away.
Thank goodness int reality we've seen a real rejuvenation in urban rail. That doesn't stop me channelling those views and ideas in these sketches. You'll not find a coherent plan here, these are ideas collected on paper sketches over the past few weeks re-drawn on the iPad alongside their inspiration. I can see an opportunity for a more complex 'fiddle stick' for operation - especially if the size can grow to something more like Paxton Road. A series of multiple units can be held 'off stage' and cycled through to maintain interest and 'ring the changes'. The opportunity to play with light and dark and shadow is exciting and I see here possibilities with custom etched components. There is also the thought that we could adopt the space, as I did with my previous Bristol Templemeads plan, to model part of a larger station and the image of Liverpool Central reminds us that even great stations can come to inglorious ends.
I hope these ideas and my continued enthusiasm for the possibility of a real 'hifimicro' using this format prove infections - I'd love to see what others can do in the space. In the meantime, enjoy the weekend and whatever the day ahead brings, until next time, more soon...
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Have you looked at Falmouth docks station James? Very distinctive canopy and potential for docks traffic too. The situation at Looe is lovely too. This isn't just a ruse to get you to design another Cornish layout, I promise! Take care.
ReplyDeleteI am familiar with both, yes Tom. I’ve done Looe before: https://paxton-road.blogspot.com/2022/07/a-quart-into-pint-pot-looe-branch.html
DeleteFalmouth always left me cold, as a prototype! It is interesting what gets under your skin isn’t it, sometimes!
The Falmouth branch maybe lacks the bucholic china clay atmosphere I agree. My favourites are the carbis wharf and Wenfordbridge branches.
ReplyDeleteHi James
ReplyDeleteI always look at your various schemes and am interested in the way you use a small space to generate a big picture, but seldom do they ring any bells. However the comments around Falmouth had me thinking
While now it appears both Falmouth stations are little more than a single track platform, certainly that was not always the case. I had a day trip from London to Falmouth back in July 1973 to look at the railway in Falmouth Docks. The BR Dock Station was then closed but the buildings platforms and the track remained. I noted in passing there were two platforms and the goods yard was used to hold any trucks ( largely tank wagons of fuel for ships being repaired) moving to and from the Docks and Engineering Company which was reached via a steep branch just west of the station.
I wonder if a micro layout could work with the closed station as background and the goods yard serving the dock as the theme. I don’t remember how far the industrial steam locos worked and whether they came into the goods yard, although by then much of the rail traffic in the docks was internal.
I can look up more of my notes and photographs if of interest
I also meant to comment on your Friday post and especially the Penrhyn locos. Are you going to publish a little more about them? I have always liked the Barclays since I glimpsed one through the shed door on Red Lion in 1964 and I wonder how you sourced the outside frames on, I assume, “Jubilee 1897”.
I was very pleased to see you have a new book and Compendium Mk2 coming out please put me down for both
Best regards
Alan
Thanks Alan, I have such a broad interest in railways that is is more often space I play with, rather than a specific prototype or interest. At present I’m very space starved and so Mosslanda are a pleasant muse. Remember in my first book I talk about marrying the space to a prototype, well Mosslanda work best in N, and prototypes of limited scope!
DeleteThank you for the kind words about the other things. The Penrhyn 009 will feature when finished.
I’ve seen photos of the industrial system at Falmouth docks and if you have anything I’d love to see more!
Hi James
DeleteI understand about your broad interest and how Mosslanda fits as a way of making moving images of an interest at a particular time. I think I have said before I tried to keep focussed on only one or two themes but it can be difficult!!!
Will see what I can sort out on Falmouth Docks and Engineering
Best regards
Alan
More thought provoking stuff. That photo of Pwllheli reminds me of time spent on Skegness railway station on the other side of the country.
ReplyDeleteHi Ian, I await with interest to see how this N gauge adventure may lead you, it will be fascinating to watch from across the pond!
DeleteI've been tempted by a scheme based around a motorail or car maker scenario, like Abingdon or Kings Cross Milk Yard. The NGS do the carflats....
ReplyDeleteI always have in mind loading/unloading in those instances. It is why I prefer covered wagons or tanks for goods trains, and in small spaces, passenger traffic. How do you model car loading without physically placing cars on and off wagons?
DeleteAh, you are too young to remember the old Triang Minic road rail terminal! I reckon it could be done with magnets, or by modelling the actual ramp off scene
DeleteAre you not still having to mess about with loads though? its a faff - and gets in the way of getting lost in the scene? At least for me...
DeleteA comparison with the situation in Central Europe might be interesting.
ReplyDeleteHere in former Czechoslovakia real single track termini (STT) type stations and halts actually arose rather unintentionally, some of them long before the change of the national political system in 1989. The lines were broken at the state border (not only by the former Iron Curtain, there is such a case even at the border with Poland) or on the inland peripheries, deliberately abandoned by the infrastructure management and later on at least some of them partially resurrected under political pressure from local authorities and regional governments. What do these cases being not remnants of large mainline stations have in common? Their locations are not in urban areas but in the open countryside or on outskirts of small towns and villages.
Please try yourself to google some examples:
https://www.google.com/search?q=otovice+zast%C3%A1vka&client=firefox-b-lm&udm=2
https://www.google.com/search?q=loket+p%C5%99edm%C4%9Bst%C3%AD&client=firefox-b-lm&udm=2
https://www.google.com/search?q=horn%C3%AD+slavkov-kounice&client=firefox-b-lm&udm=2
https://www.google.com/search?q=n%C3%A1dra%C5%BE%C3%AD+%C5%BEacl%C3%A9%C5%99&client=firefox-b-lm&udm=2
A Czech fellow modeller was given an idea to combine two STT halts into one track section and it turned out like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32akkatunLw
His comment was originally like "this is only a sort of joke" but finally he decided to fully automate the operation by means of a "zig-zag" chip available here in Czechia and now his railbus (ČSD Class M 131.1, 549 items manufactured, operated in the period of 1948 - 1984, almost 50 preserved in Czechia and Slovakia, about a half of them operational or under repair) pendulates back and forth completely spontaneously.
What a wonderful build on this Hank, I love it! I wish I could justify doing something, perhaps I should look for an N gauge railbus model!! Seeing some of these ideas did remind me of my plans to do a Polish narrow gauge layout at some point - I know totally different prototypes, but to my untrained eye I see parallels in the presentation of these light railways.
DeleteWell, here in Czech(oslovak)ia the M 131.1 railbuses were replaced after 1978 by the Class M 152.0 (since 1988 Class 810/809, the latter intended for operation without a conductor) with 680 units. They were literally ubiquitous on ČSD and later ČD rails before 2005. Almost 300 of those were later (2005 to 2012) converted to two- and three-piece units of the Classes 814 and 814.2 and dozens more single units were radically modernized (new diesel, new power transmission control, completely new electronics etc.) and "humanized" (new seats, new windows, hooks for bicycle transport etc. - nicknamed "Regiomouse") for operation on the most minor local lines, where they are still to be in service until the end of their working life. At this moment there still remain with ČD ("Czech Rail - the national passenger transport operator") approx. 80 units (not all of them operated regularly) of Class 810 (incl. their clones - Classes 809, 811 and 816); dozens more have been and are gradually being sold off to private operators and heritage preserving organizations.
DeleteAnd I've almost forgotten the cases when railbuses carried mixed and freight trains. Officially, mixed trains - i.e. passenger trains with freight service - only ended in Czechia in 2004, after the separation of the freight carrier ČD Cargo. The 810 was capable of carrying freight loads of up to 80 - 90 metric tons, i.e. up to 9 empty 4-wheel freight wagons or 3 loaded ones, or a single loaded 8-wheel one. On many minor branchlines this was amply sufficient to cope with all freight transport requirements.
Some difficulties might appear when seeking the 810 models: For N scale it is nowadays almost impossible to obtain them. For continental H0 and TT:120 scales (the latter one very popular here in Czechia) it is much better - at this moment you can find RTR models of various origin, both new (most often from the Czech small series manufacturer mtb-model.com) and used, the latter in continental online marketplaces like eBay.de (German) and aukro.cz (Czech). And lately - after the takover of the German RTR manufacturer Kühn by ROCO - there appeared new ROCO (still designed by Kühn) H0 models of Class 810; there are rumours that they should be made in TT as well. The prices are usually modest, the quality is acceptable for a low-intensity sort of operation on micro-layouts. More or less, you just have to have a lot of patience to seek them, but sooner or later you can get them.
To conclude: If someone wants to build a micro-layout on the theme of Czech railways since 1980s to the present day, acquiring a model of the Class 810 railbus is a necessity, if not an obligation
Those 810 rail cars, I have seen them in the Roco range before and been drawn to them - but for me, the problem is the price, new, in the UK is too much for a whim. I shall keep my eyes peeled for cheaper second hand options. I'd love to try a Mosslanda - perhaps in TT, if Roco do bring one out!
DeleteThere is a cheaper option for the ČD 810/010 railbuses in TT120: the injection-moulded kit from LPH, available from many of the online Czech model shops (and ebay, etc). Price seems to range between £5-10, decal sheet another £1 and there are also detailing etches which can be had for a few quid.
DeleteMotorising options are available, hopefully with the rise in TT120 an easier route to powering one will become easier.
The kit goes together well and easy to mid into the 010 trailer car version.
I've about a dozen built (or to build), including 2 motorised, for my Czech TT120 micro Nové Město na Nedostatku (CM Oct 2022)