Old ideas stoked by new models…

The arrival of the Rapido 009 models alongside the latest commission layout build have reignited a long dormant flame for narrow gauge modelling in my heart…

This undated sketch recalls a simpler time in my modelling where East Works was still a pipe dream and something small and Welsh felt like the next step beyond the clay heath of Purbeck. It wasn’t built. I was distracted and then returned to clay. Then along came the Bachmann Quarry Hunslet and I walked away from the scale…

 

Not from narrow gauge though - for my passion and connection to this simpler and more human scale railway continued with frequent visits over the years to lines across the Wales as well as of course the Mecca that is Statfold Barn.

The flush of Ffestiniog models did engage a dalliance in the new fangled ready to run and I almost built a Boston Lodge halt cameo on the heels of the Boston Lodge commission… however that too perished under my perceived expectation of the wider and ‘new’ 009 community.

The flame wasn’t out though… I began a scheme with Steve to create a bit of a different model, selecting personal locations to recreate of a wider ‘what if’ system based in Kent and East Sussex. This had real promise but the energy dropped and for me, it stalled. I still lament selling on the wonderful hand made box van I built for that project.

So here we are - the flame is out. The fuel is low. Is narrow gauge modelling ‘dead’ for me? Then Rapido announce their range and Steve and I work with them behind the scenes to create our own locomotive to go alongside the range of wagons we have commissioned and excitement grows… the energy from anticipation fuels a batch of Peco coaches and a kit bashed station… Steve and I even re-purpose an old layout to build a small part of the L&L… fuel topped up a little, desperately searching for a spark…

Yet despite these lovely models exciting us all and the energy of a joint project I still feel a little lost amongst it. 

Back in the start I didn’t create a Welsh slate railway… I was drawn to the down at heel end of days industrial network shifting ball clay around north of Corfe. Today I wonder if my passion for making could take me outside of the obvious - perhaps to model some narrow gauge in a place I’m unfamiliar with, where Colonial influences led to the cheaper gauge being selected for a railway to nowhere… 

I’m meandering again - like those rails less than three feet apart. I’m unsettled and distracted. In danger of starting another project never to be finished.

For one thing I’ve learnt in all of these years is that I don’t keep many things as they come out of the box! Whatever happens will because of inspiration, a new idea, a spark of excitement, research and books to fan the flame, a model to build the fire - and perhaps a layout to follow… but those meandering rails are a journey, not a destination. I know that as long as I’m enjoying rather than forcing my creativity there are no right and wrong ways here - just my own one.

Until next time, more soon…

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