New YouTube video: Running trains on my Mucking Flats & Fobbing Marsh Light Railway layout

Back in late June, I wrote a blog post about the generous gift of 009/HO9 locomotives and rolling stock I was given by Richard Watson.

Once I was able to use my toy/wargame room again, I decided that as soon as an opportunity arose, I would set up my Mucking Flats & Fobbing Marsh Light Railway layout and run as many of the locomotives and rolling stock as I could. The results can be seen on the following YouTube video.

One of the locos proved a little recalcitrant and needed a prod to get it going (hence the appearance of the Hand of Bob at one point!), but once it was properly run-in, it flew around the track. Some of the longer rolling stock – particularly those that did not have twin bogies – had problems with the tight curves on the layout and proved impossible to run. I will have to leave these until I build a bigger layout.

My favourite locomotive and rolling stock is the Minitrains 0-4-0 Fiddletown & Copperopolis tender locomotive and carriages ... and although they are a bit large for the layout, I hope to run them regularly on it until I can build a suitably larger one.

The video lasts approximately five and a half minutes and can be found here on the Wargaming Miscellany YouTube channel

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Model railways, mini-campaigns ... and another ghost of an idea

After I wrote my recent blog post entitled MODEL RAILWAYS, MINI-CAMPAIGNS ... AND THE GHOST OF AN IDEA I remembered the plot of Antoine Vanner's most recent book in the DAWLISH CHRONICLE, BRITANNIA'S BLUFF.

The plot of the book revolves around an attempt to draw Turkish attention away from Gallipoli in the run up to the Allied evacuation and involves a landing and temporary occupation of part of the Turkish coast in the Gulf of Alexandretta.

The main means of communication in the area is a railway line, and it plays an important role in the defence of the landing area.

Now, this would make another excellent railway-based mini-campaign, as the maps from the book show.

© Antoine Vanner

© Antoine Vanner

Notes

In the book, the two redoubts (Wellington and Marlborough) were constructed by the landing force and were served and supported by the railway. They were intended to be the outer defences for the landing area at Alexandretta.

The defensive Clapham Perimeter around Toprakkale Junction was constructed by the landing force to protect its improvised airfield and the local railway depot. It was also the base for an extemporised railway gun.

The Turkish force that was sent to attack the landing area comes from the direction of Ceyhan.

So, this is yet another ghost of an idea that may never come to fruition ... but it certainly has the sort of potential that makes it worth investigating further!

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BRITANNIA’S BLUFF: THE DAWLISH CHRONICLES: NOVEMBER 1915 – JANUARY 1916 was written by Antoine Vanner and published in 2025 by Old Salt Press (ISBN 9781 943 40470 4) and can be purchased via Amazon in paperback or Kindle editions.

Model railways, mini-campaigns ... and the ghost of an idea

Looking at the map of the Fiddletown & Copperopolis Railway ...

... I was struck by the similarity to the sort of maps found in Donald Featherstone's book, WAR GAME CAMPAIGNS. This set me thinking ... and I remembered the 'Long Live The Revolution!' mini-campaign that I included in my book, DEVELOPING THE PORTABLE WARGAME.

The campaign was a linear one and players moved backwards and forwards from one map to another, thus:

Regional Capital

Provincial Capital

Railway Station

Capital City

Now, the last two maps had railways of them, and it would not be that difficult to add some railway track to the others. I could easily build four small, self-contained baseboards (in the style of those featured in the Budget Model Railway Challenge) that I could then use to fight a mini-campaign on, based on the 'Long Live The Revolution!' one ... and I could also connect all four together to create a small model railway.

I don't know if anything will come of this idea ... but it is certainly an interesting mini-campaign to think about!

The Fiddletown and Copperopolis Railway: Some more information

The Fiddletown & Copperopolis Railway was 'invented' by Carl Fallberg, a life-long lover of American narrow-gauge railways, especially those in the western states. His cartoons told the (exaggerated and humorous) story of such a railway.

The Fiddletown ^ Copperopolis Railway's coat-of-arms.

The Fiddletown & Copperopolis Railway was a mainly freight-carrying railway located in the foothills of California and run by (the mythical) George W Luce. He was known for his unconventional approach to the transportation demands of the area, which – until the building of the railway – relied upon the use of mules, wagons, and even rafts to move goods between the mining towns of Fiddletown and Copperopolis. The area featured treacherous terrain, bandits, and very unpredictable weather, as can be seen in the following map:

A map of part of the Fiddletown & Copperopolis Railway. I particularly like the choice of some of the place names, including Nothing Flat, Cinder (formerly Tinder) City, Saggy Springs, Goshawful Gulch, Bicarbonate of Soda Springs, and Fort Grisley P Boondock, the base of the 198th Cavalry!

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Carl Robert Fallberg was born on 11th September 1915 in Cleveland, Tennessee and died on 9th May 9, 1996 in Glendale, California. He was by profession an extremely prolific writer and cartoonist, and is best known for his work on animated feature films, TV cartoons, and comic books for:

• Disney Studios: He began working for Disney in 1935. His work included being assistant director and storyman for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, and Bambi. He also worked on many of Disney's comic books, often in collaboration with Paul Murray.
• Hanna-Barbera: Between 1972 and 1981, he was the storyman and story editor for numerous TV cartoons – including Scooby-Doo – as well as being a writer for The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and The Jetsons comic books.
• Warner Brothers: From 1953 until the early 1970s, he wrote stories and acted a story director for many Warner Brothers cartoons, including of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Speedy Gonzales.
• MGM: He wrote comic books that featured The Addams Family, Tom & Jerry, and Droopy.

He also authored comic books for United Productions of America, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, Walter Lantz Productions, Dell Comics, Western Publishing, and Gold Key Comics.

A glorious gift!

One of the people I met as a result of joining the Dice on the Hill games group at Shrewsbury House Community Centre was Richard Watson. He has been one of the duty managers of the community centre for some years and is both a wargamer and a model railway enthusiast. We have chatted about both hobbies and last year we managed to fight three wargames:

• Spartans vs. Athenians (March 2025)
• The Battle of the Falkland Islands (November 2025)
• The Battle of Scrobbesburh (December 2025)

Richard knows that I am particularly interested in 009/HO9 model railways and that I have a small layout ... the Mucking Flats & Fobbing Marsh Light Railway (MF&FMLR).

My Mucking Flats & Fobbing Marsh Light Railway (MF&FMLR) model railway layout.

Richard has been unwell for some time, and it was a great pleasure to see him at Shrewsbury House last week ... and not just because he had a bag full of bits and pieces for me!

Whilst he was off work, he had been having a bit of a clear out, and had selected some of his surplus 009/HO9 model railway locomotives and rolling stock that he thought that I would find useful. He was right ... and I am now the proud possessor of the following:

Two Liliput/Bachmann Fasslwagen Zillertalbahn (Barrel wagon, Zillertal Railway)

A Liliput/Bachmann Aussichtswagen Museumwagen (Observation carriage/museum carriage)

A Liliput/Bachmann Personnelwagen 2.Klasse (Second-class passenger carriage)

Two Playcraft open-sided passenger carriages (that were known as 'toast racks')

Four Minitrains dumper wagons

A Minitrains Diesel 0-4-0 Locomotive

A Liliput 0-4-0 Diesellokomotive Zillertalbahn (Diesel locomotive, Zillertal Railway)

A Minitrains 0-4-0 Fiddletown & Copperopolis tender locomotive with four different carriages plus

A Minitrains Fiddletown & Copperopolis baggage wagon

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The Fiddletown & Copperopolis railway was the fictional creation of cartoonist Carl Falberg. A compilation of his Fiddletown & Copperopolis cartoons was published as Fiddletown and Copperopolis - The life and times of an uncommon carrier in 1960, the cartoons having orignially appeared in issues of the RAILROAD magazine. The book was republished in 1985, 1998, 2003, and 2012.

Erith Model Railway Society Exhibition 2026

Yesterday, Sue and I attended the first day of the two-day Erith Model Railway Society’s annual exhibition. It was held at the Harris Garrard Academy in Thamesmead, Bexley, and ran from 10.00am to 5.00pm.

The Erith Model Railway Society's logo. It depicts Invicta, the twentieth steam locomotive built by Robert Stephenson and Company in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She was built in 1829 and hauled the first passenger-carrying train on the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway on 30th May 1830. She was withdrawn from service in 1839, and eventually placed in storage at the Ashford Works of the South Eastern Railway... and thus became the first preserved locomotive in the world. She was restored in 1892, and from 1906 until 1977 she was on display in Canterbury. Invicta was cosmetically restored for a second time in 1977 and now resides in a specially-built museum in Whitstable, Kent.

Compared to most local wargame shows, I felt that it was about the same size as – for example – Cavalier at The Angel Centre, Tonbridge but that the attendance was greater. The site used is a secondary school, and there was plenty of on-site parking. The various exhibits and trade stands were spread over the school’s central atrium area and the surrounding classrooms, and the school’s cafeteria was open and provide somewhere to buy refreshments and somewhere to sit.

There were eighty-nine exhibitors and traders, with most of the former being club layouts ranging in scale from O-gauge to OO9-gauge. Many of the traders were selling various ranges of new and second-hand model locomotives, rolling stock, and accessories, and I resisted the temptation to buy several cheap bits that I saw on sale and restricted my purchases to some laser-cut OO-scale garden shed kits (I got four for £6.00) and some precision glue dispensing bottles.

The entrance fee was £10.00 each and I felt that it was well worth it. I will certainly consider going next year if I can … and I picked up flyers for three future model railway exhibition that will be held in Kent later this year.

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Some of my regular blog readers might be asking themselves why I didn’t take any photographs at the exhibition. The answer is very simple: it was just too crowded to be able to do so. Some of the exhibits and trade stands had two or three ranks of people trying to see what was on offer, and an elderly man with mobility issues (me, in other words!) needs space to stand and – if possible – brace themselves so that they can use their camera. As it was, I was almost knocked over a couple of times by people who were not looking where they were going and had one of my walking sticks knocked out of my hand by an enthusiastic small child who was running from one exhibit to another.

The Imperial Japanese Navy … in 1/1200th-scale: Yet more additions … plus some other items of interest

Thanks to seller on eBay, I have managed to acquire a second model of a Kongo-class fast battleship to add to my collection of 1:1200th-scale Imperial Japanese Navy warships, ...

(36,601 tons; 30 knots; 8 x 14-inch guns; 14 x 6-inch guns; 8 x 5-inch AA guns; 8 x 25mm AA guns)

… as well as the aircraft carrier, IJNS Kaga.

(38,200 tons; 28 knots; 10 x 7.9-inch guns; 16 x 5-inch AA guns; 22 x 25mm AA guns; 90 aircraft)

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At the same time, I acquired a model of Argentinian Navy coastal defence battleship, ANA Libertad

(2,336 tons; 11 knots; 2 x 9-inch guns; 2 x 4.7-inch guns, 4 x 47mm QF guns; 4 x 18-inch torpedo tubes)

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Finally, I bought one of KATO's Pocket Line N-gauge locomotives and carriages.

The locomotive isn't powered ... but one of the carriages is!

I hope to give it a test run on my layout later this week.

They’re in the post …

I have been continuing to buy stuff on eBay.

Firstly, I ‘won’ an auction that will enable me to add a further Kongo-class battleship and a Kaga-class aircraft carrier to my collection of Imperial Japanese Navy warships plus a model of the Libertad, an Argentinian coastal defence battleship.

Secondly, I also ‘won’ an auction for a Faller kit of a ruined castle that I hope to use with my Belle Époque collection.

Finally, I ‘won’ the auction for a KATO Pocket Line N-gauge steam loco and two carriages to add to my model railway collection.

I’m waiting for these items to be delivered, hence the title of this blog post. In the meantime, I’m continuing to work on the next edition of the Compendium.

The Budget Model Railways Challenge floating shelf layout: A problem has made me rethink my layout

My attempts to make progress on my Budget Model Railways Challenge floating shelf layout have been thwarted by a recurring problem ... nothing seemed to stick to my shelf!

I had painted the top surface of the shelf with two coats of yellow ochre acrylic craft paint before fixing the track in place and had also painted the edges with three coats of black acrylic craft paint and three coats of gloss polyurethane varnish. I then tried to use some masking tape on the top of the shelf so that I could paint a road on the shelf ... but when I removed the tape, it took off the paint underneath it!

For some reason the paint had not adhered to the surface of the shelf. I therefore put a length of masking tape on one edge of the shelf and removed it ... and the paint came off there as well!

I took a look at one of the other floating shelves I had bought, and realised that the surface was actually a thin layer of Fablon-like material and that was why the paint was not adhering to the surface of the shelf. I therefore used the tip of a sharp craft knife to lift the edge of the surface covering which – with a bit of effort on my part – peeled off, leaving me with an MDF surface that the paint will adhere to.

I am therefore going to restart my layout from the beginning ... and I am going to take my inspiration from P D Hancock's CRAIG & MERTONFORD RAILWAY. This layout featured Craig Harbour, and I may well include a small harbour on my layout.

A map of the final version of P D Hancock's Craig & Mertonford layout. The harbour is located on the left-hand side of the layout. (© P D Hancock)

Whatever happened to the Budget Model Railway Challenge floating shelf layout?

The simple answer is ... not a lot recently.

The reasons are simple to explain, namely a two-week cruise from 22nd June until 6th July (and all the subsequent post-cruise sorting out), followed by an important Masonic meeting on 9th July in St Albans, and COW2025 from 11th to 13th July. As a result, I don't seem to have had much time to do anything to the layout.

I did get the layout onto my work table on earlier this week ... only to discover that during our cruise our cat had 'investigated' it, and whilst doing so, it had damaged to painted surface. I have now repaired the damage and hope to begin work on the layout in the near future.

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I still intend to add my border fortress to the layout, but not until I have repainted it a lighter colour. When I came back from our cruise, I realised that it was far too dark and looked very gloomy.

An eBay bargain

I recently won an auction on eBay and bought six ready-painted 15mm resin buildings. They cost me just under £25.00, including postage and packing.

I bought them with the intention of using them on my floating shelf model railway layout ... and I think that they will fit in rather nicely on it.

The Budget Model Railways Challenge ... now has a backscene!

I managed to cut a piece of 3mm plywood to the size I wanted for my floating shelf model railway's backscene (60mm x 20mm). I then cut down part of the backscene I had recently purchased from THE MODEL SHOP in Faversham to the same size as the piece of plywood.

Once that was task was completed, I affixed the self-adhesive backscene to the plywood, which I then propped up behind my layout to see what it might look like when it is finished. I also placed a few of the trees I had also bought from THE MODEL SHOP and my border fortress on the layout, and the result looked like this:

I am having second thoughts about whether or not to use the border fortress on the layout. It looks a bit bigger on the layout than I expected and I do have some other buildings that might be more suitable.

The Budget Model Railways Challenge: My border fortress is finished

Before painting my border fortress I gave it two coats of PVA to seal the wood. Once that was done (and the PVA had dried), I undercoated the model using two thin coats of matt Black acrylic craft paint (made by Crelando).

I then dry-brushed the planked area with matt Burnt Sienna acrylic craft paint (made by Crawford & Black).

Once the brown paint had dried, I gave the rest of the model two thin coats of matt Medium Grey acrylic craft paint (made by Reeves).

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I tend use cheap acrylic craft paint from a variety of different suppliers, including THE WORKS and LIDL for projects like this. I see no point in using expensive acrylic paints unless there is a particular colour that I want to use that isn’t easily reproduced by mixing my cheaper paints.

The Budget Model Railway Challenge: Some trees and a backscene

On Saturday, Sue and I went to Faversham in Kent, and whilst I was there, I visited THE MODEL SHOP in Preston Steer, Faversham.

I was able to buy two items that I need for my floating shelf model railway, a bag of Busch pine trees …

… and a rural back scene.

The former will get some additional foliage, and the latter will be fitted to a 3mm plywood board.

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I have since bought two more bags of Hornby trees via Amazon and now have more than enough trees for my current floating shelf model railway project … and several more!

The Budget Model Railways Challenge: My border fortress

I have managed to convert my toy wooden castle into a border fortress for my floating shelf model railway layout ... and it looks like this:

The as-yet-unpainted border fortress with a garrison of 15mm Essex Miniatures Colonial figures from my Belle Époque collection.

I still have quite a few bits of the original wooden castle left ...

... and I intend to use them as the basis of other buildings for my layout.

The Budget Model Railways Challenge: Inspiration for my choice of layout

As regular blog readers will know, I've always hankered after having some sort of indoor equivalent of John Ruddle's garden wargames setup.

John's setup included a garden railway, and it was looking at several of the photographs that included railway track that inspired me to think about modelling a border fortress that is served by a spur from a major railway line.

The only problem was that I didn't have a model fortress to use on my layout ... and then I remembered that back in 2023 I bought a plywood model castle from the English heritage shop at Deal Castle. Luckily, I had not put it into storage and after a quick search of my toy/wargame room, I found it.

The pieces just push together, and when fully assembled, it looks like this:

I assembled mine ... and realised that it was far too large for the layout BUT that its parts could be adapted so that I could build a small fortress and have plenty of parts over that I could use to build other buildings. For example, the two towers could be used as the basis of a church or cathedral.

My next task is to build my small border fortress ... and I hope to do that over the next week.