During the recent TV series LITTLE TRAINS WITH BIG NAMES WITH PETE WATERMAN, one thread ran through all four programmes … that railway modellers often build layouts that in someway reflects an aspect of the builder’s life. Jools Holland’s layout includes many buildings that can be found in Southeast London and Eddie Izzard’s are models of Bexhill-by-Sea. In both cases, these are the areas where they grew up. All of Pete Waterman’s model railways seem to be set in the Midlands (he was born in Coventry, Warwickshire) and Francis Rossi is starting his first layout based around the railway he used to use to get to school in South London.
Following on from this lead I looked at the railways that had featured in my life as I was growing up. These include the Metropolitan Underground line, the District Underground line, the Upminster to Fenchurch Street mainline, and the single-line Upminster to Grays branch line. Only the latter was really suitable for my first railway layout … but the original was a standard-gauge railway and not a narrow-gauge one.
After giving the matter some thought, I came up with an imaginary narrow-gauge light railway that was located in the marshy area on the Essex side of the River Thames estuary. It was an area that I visited several times during my secondary school education, and the names of two places in particular had stuck in my mind, the Mucking Flats and Fobbing Marsh … and as a result, the Mucking Flats and Fobbing Marsh Light Railway (MF&FM Light Railway) was born!
What made the prospect of building a light railway in that area more interesting is the paucity of roads and the presence of a coastal defence fort (Coalhouse Fort) at the western end of the Mucking Flats.
A map showing the location of Coalhouse Fort and its relevant position to Cliffe Fort (on the Kent side of the River Thames) and the Coalhouse Battery. The Mucking Flats are just to the north of Coalhouse Fort.
Coalhouse Fort, as seen from the riverside.
Having decided on a location and a name, all I need to do now is to get myself a baseboard and I can start!
An aside ... When I used to travel on the Upminster to Fenchurch Street mainline back in the late 1960s, it was notorious for both the poor timekeeping of its trains and the quality of its old 'slam door' rollingstock. This was still the era of individual compartments seating about a dozen passengers (plus more standing) and the line was given the nickname of 'The Misery Line'. It is now run by C2C franchise, but I've still heard that some people refer to it by its old nickname.
Bearing this in mind, I decided that my model railway needed a nickname. So far, I've come up with 'The Birdwatcher Line' (it's a well-known birdwatching area) and the 'Palindrome Line' (due to its initials being the same both ways).
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Bob -
ReplyDeleteLooking at that map, I can see potential for some inshore combined operations...
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteOooh! That’s not something I’d considered … but it a great idea!
All the best,
Bob
Bob, will you model of the MF&FM depict it as when originally operated or as a restored/preserved line run by volunteers today?
ReplyDeleteOut of idle curiosity, last night I looked on ebay uk for 009 locomotives and was shocked to see how expensive good ones - or even a 3d printed body kit and motorised chassis - were, when compared to thirty 10mm Pendraken infantry.
Much as I like narrow gauge steam locomotives, I'll stick with my toy soldiers! But I shall follow your project with great interest.
Best wishes, Arthur
Arthur1815 (Arthur),
DeleteAs the area hasn’t changed very much in the last sixty years - and didn’t change much before then - I could depict it both as it might have operated in the 1900s and the 2000s.
Like everything else in life, narrow-gauge trains etc., have gone up in price a lot. I’ve tended to buy a very few good runners plus a lot of what are termed non-runners or ‘for spares’. By doing a bit of cannibalisation, I’ve managed to get one non-runner working quite well again by switching bits with a similar locomotive. It’s one way to keep the costs down!
All the best,
Bob
A grand start Bob, your plans are taking shape very nicely. Must admit the name of your railway line is a cracker too!
ReplyDeleteDonnie McGibbon,
DeleteI’m glad that you like the name! It came to me as I was falling asleep last night.
All the best,
Bob
That's a wonderful name! Baseboards - a solid foundation which won't warp or twist is essential for good running. You'd be better off with a folding pasting table (the type with a hardboard surface) than a noticeboard. Doubtless bit more expensive but there's a lot of companies who lasercut the components and you can assemble in an hour as the parts locate into each other. Have a look for firms such as Tim Horn and Whiterose. If you haven't already done so it would be worth joining the OO9 society. They publish a very helpful manual full of advice and sources. Welcome to the wonderful world of railway modelling!
ReplyDeleteBrian Cameron,
DeleteI’m glad that you like the name, especially as it harks back to my childhood. (My Geography teacher was very insistent that we learned to say Mucking Flats and NOT to Spoonerise it!)
Thanks for the suggestions, especially about the baseboard and the 009 Society. It will be following up on both of them later today.
All the best,
Bob
Bob, I can see that name getting mangled if you say it quickly! ☺
ReplyDeleteNeil
Neil Patterson (Neil),
DeleteYou’re right … the Mucking Marsh & Fobbing Flats just wouldn’t sound right.
All the best,
Bob
Great ideas you have there Bob and as mentioned above by Ion, plenty of opportunities for some combined ops:).
ReplyDeleteSteve J.,
DeleteCheers! I’m hoping to get started on the layout over the weekend. As for the possibility of some combined operations … well, that certainly appeals to the wargamer in me.
All the best,
Bob
Yeah, as soon as I saw the thread title the dangers of Spoonerism were evident. ha ha
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Eddie Izzard was a model train person. That's cool. I always like to see well-known people who have hobbies. So often it seems like we don't hear much about that side of them.
I hope you get lots of enjoyment out of the wee trains.
I've picked up a new hobby myself in the last few years - Lego. A return to childhood in a way. :D
Fitz-Badger,
DeleteOne has to be careful saying the name, otherwise one can end up with a rather unfortunate situation on one’s hands!
Eddie Izzard picked up his interest in model railways from his father, and he donated his father’s stuff to the Bexhill-on-Sea museum, who turned it into a layout. This led to the construction of a ‘Bexhill-on-Sea during the Winter of 1940’ layout, which depicts the town during the first, snowy Winter of the Second World War.
I have a friend who revived his interest in Lego during the COVID lockdown. He has now built a functioning mini-piano, a model of a Saturn V rocket, and is currently working on a model of ‘Titanic’. Lego might have originally been intended to be a children’s toy … but nowadays it’s a full-blown adult hobby as well.
All the best,
Bob
Hello there Bob,
ReplyDeleteThis is all taking shape very nicely and with some great crossover potential for gaming with as well. Not that it is something I would do myself but using the ‘locations of of personal historical interest’ approach would certainly work for a ex native of the Isle of Sheppey (which I am!) as there was a light railway on the island - along with the naval dockyard and numerous fortifications.
I am looking forward to seeing how you develop this - and how you will game with it!
All the best,
DC
David,
DeleteI bought a pasting table today to use as a baseboard for my model railway … and was immediately struck by the fact that it had loads of potential to become a ShamBattle/PW terrain board. If I do go down that route, there certainly will a lot of crossover between the two hobbies.
A light railway on the Isle of Sheppy would be an interesting project. I did consider basing mine around the railway that was inside the Woolwich Arsenal, but that was mixed gauge and that rather put me off.
All the best,
Bob
Sounds good to me Bob, I look forward to seeing it develop. Great hobby, I once built a OO branch line terminus with tank engines and carriages/wagons etc all built from kits and thoroughly enjoyed it, I enjoyed all of the different challenges it presented, modelling, electronics, landscaping etc. Wish I still had it!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Lee.
BTW, how are you feeling now after that extensive radiotherapy?
‘Lee,
DeleteHaving seen the results of your painting and modelling skills, that must have been some model! It’s a pity that you don’t still have it as I would have loved to have seen it.
I’m still suffering some side effects from the radiotherapy, but they are diminishing slowly. My digestion is a bit up and down at times, and I still get tired after being awake for six or seven hours and need a short sleep to recover. I’m sleeping slightly better at night, mainly thanks to my new C-PAP mask.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteFor many years we have had imagi-nations wargaming and now - imagi-railways!! Fantastic!! Visions of a book in the future on this new topic.....
All the very best
Steve
Steve,
DeleteNow there’s an idea! A book about imagi-railways for imagi-nations!
All the best,
Bob
It's a lovely idea, Bob. Having grown up on the Kent side of the estuary ( around the Swale ), I am familiar with similar marshy scenery, and similar names - we had Hucking, and Bobbing, for example! It's an interesting, sometimes eerie landscape where all sorts of raiding and skirmishes could go on... Coalhouse Fort would be great feature too.
ReplyDeleteDavid in Suffolk,
DeleteThere’s something about the Thames marshes in Essex and Kent that I find very appealing. As a youngster, I spent quite a few weekends staying with some school friends in a caravan at Hullbridge and sailing in and around Mersea Island and on the Rivers Crouch and Blackwater.
My ethnic DNA test indicated that my forebears came from the Frisian coast that runs from southwest Denmark to northern Netherlands … which is also a very flat and marshy area, so a love of that sort of terrain obviously runs in the blood!
All the best,
Bob