The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway is Kent's mainline in miniature. First opened to traffic in July 1927 as the 'World's Smallest Public Railway' and now covering a distance of 13.5 miles from the picturesque Cinque Portof Hythe, near the channel tunnel, to the fisherman's cottages and lighthouses at Dungeness.

This excellent clip by Terry Fullwood, brilliantly narrated by Paul Clarke, captures the history and the charm of Captain Howey's Toy Train.

When will people learn NOT to cross tracks!
(WARNING: Video contains swears)


[via boingboing]

I have been making cardstock structures for many years now and still learning new and time-saving techniques. I always wanted to try a wood kit to see what was good or different about it. These are my experiences about both the mediums.

Good things about CardStock

• These are cheaper to build. For $10 you can get material that will last for 20-25 structures.
• You can get by without painting. Just print the models or textures off the Internet on a good printer.

Some CardStock disadvantages

• Cutting perfect rectangles for window and doors openings are time consuming.
• Cutting small strips for framing to layer your model, are time consuming.
• Quality depends on your printout resolution. Also, you will have to prep by applying a fixative like Krylon Matte Overspray to prevent fading.

Good things about Wood Kits

• Everything fits. Windows, doors etc. Just snap off, trim the parts and glue them.
• All parts and a few extras are included.
• More sturdy when finished.
• Looks real when done.

Wood Kit disadvantages

• Simple structures are priced reasonably but anything more detailed will be realistic but costly.
• Slightly complicated to assemble. You have to read and re-read the instructions.
• Depending on your skills, (mine is bad) painting could be a hassle or easy.

I think the better way would be to have a mix of the two mediums. Closer to your viewing area, you could have some wood kits and then in the background, cardstock buildings.

For a better compromise, you could build your structure using cardstock and then glue stripwood for to get that perfect made-of-wood look. I am intrigued by this method and might give it a try sometime.

Let me know what you prefer, cardstock or wood?

Model Railway Trains has a list of the top 5 Greatest Model Railways. A brief description, pictures and links to the model railway sites are provided.
Northlandz that is closest to me, would be worth a visit to see its 8 miles of track and over 4,000 buildings and 1/2 million trees!

The Shipping and Storage kit from Bar Mills was completed this weekend. I did decide to paint over the weathered walls but then dry-brushed black streaks downwards in random parts of the walls. I applied some india-ink wsh to the signs and doors. Not too happy with the door's look, as you can see in the photos.

I did love making this wood kit. Since i am very comfortable with cardstock, I plan to do a compare and contrast with it in a later post. Meanwhile here are the pictures...

Good photos with good stories, goes together much better if its about railroads. The Photographers' Railroad Page contains some stunning works and stories ranging from sunsets to night shots, from transition era to historical moments.

Craftsman wood kits are known for quality and details. All kits come pre-cut with all the accessories included. I decided to try out the Shipping and Storage kit from Bar Mills. The kits from Bar Mills range from the basics to the complex. The basic kits are great if you are starting on your first wood kit and the price is reasonable. My kit cost $22.95 with a $5 for shipping. Bar Mills sent out the kit very quickly and it was packaged very safely in a bigger box cushioned with a lot of peanuts.

all the parts

The kit contained instructions and modelling tips where they explain what tools and glue to use. (bottom of their homepage has some videos on glue etc.) I found the instructions somewhat lacking. I know....I know.. Its a simple structure and doesn't require a lot but for a wood structure newbie, i would like to see detailed pictures of each step but then that might increase the costs.

I used a hobby knife no.11 to trim the parts out and wood glue only to assemble the walls. This is what i like about wood kits...no cutting required and everything fits perfectly!

Walls with bracing/posts added

To weather, I dunked all the wood parts in alcohol-india ink wash that i learned from the Easy Weathering DVD. It's basically a pint of 70% isoprophyl alcohol and 1 teaspoon india ink.

After being dunked in the wash

The wash does age the wood. I have not decided yet whether to paint it on not.

Closeup of weathered wall

Each wall was finally assembled. I plan to finish this model in the next few days. Roofing, windows and painting are left.

Walls assembled

So if you are debating whether to start on an wood kit, give Bar Mills a try. They make good and reasonable kits. Their kits are perfect for getting your toes wet.

Model Trains Weathered is a forum created by Rich Divizio that discusses all aspects of weathering (trains, tracks and structures) and it also contains prototypical reference photos.

Be inspired by the photos in the gallery and then head over to the forum to check out the wealth of information in it. NOTE: You will have to register to participate in the forum, but Rich has setup up a view-only userid/password that you can use to browse.

This site is definitely bookmark-worthy if you are into weathering.

I decided to add gutters and downspouts to one of my previous build. Adding gutters give a sense of realism and after trying out many different ways, i settled on the plastic-coated stem wire method. This is not the perfect method but it gives you more options than some of the commercial products that are available.

I used plastic-coated stem wire that i got from the fake flower section at Michael's (or any other craft store). It seems to be slightly thicker than a commercial downspout but it does the work.

Plastic-coated stem wire

I used black construction paper as the gutter. I folded the card and cut a small strip along the fold, like a V channel. I just eye-balled the width but it came to 6" real scale.

construction paper foled and...

cut into a V channel...

I applied glue on the inside of the roof edge and then stuck the gutter on one side of its V.

glued along the roof edge

I then cut the plastic stem wire and glued it onto two small rectangles of construction paper and also glued the top, where the gutter meets the downspout. The two small rectangles gives the impression that brackets are holding the downspout.

finished

another view

This is a quick and simple method to add some detail to an otherwise "flat"
structure. The only disadvantage of this wire method is that its tough to get the wire to be a perfect straight line. I could get mine to be almost straight but not quite, however a little imperfection gives it that real-life feel!

London’s most unique café opens in a converted train carriage. It is in the old railway yard of Deptford station – London’s first suburban railway station, built in 1836.

This is part of the project to completely regenerate the area around Deptford Train Station and the old Victorian carriage ramp.

Photo taken by Akshathkumar Shetty, while servicing the Nilgiri Mountain Railway’s steam engine.

Just was cleaning/organizing my bookmarks when i found Mike's Model Railroad Humor. From the site...

You might be a model railroader if:

• You've ever plunked down half your paycheck for equipment in your favorite scale, and then wondered what it would be like to model in a different scale.
• Your wife buys you a bag of ground foam and a box of Hydrocal for your birthday, and you're speechless with joy.

Even though train travel is "greener", companies are still looking ways to cut energy costs further.

The Green Train, or Gröna Tåget, will cut energy use on rail lines by 30 percent through lowered operational costs and journey times. Top speeds reached 183 MPH on a test run.

Developed by Bombardier,it is currently getting a trial in Sweden. Energy saving measures on the train include a permanent magnet motor that delivers increased propulsion chain efficiency and a "driver assistance system."

My latest project was The Mercantile building from Clever Models. Clever Models is like the craftsman kits for paper models. The building drawing/parts came printed on photo paper and the print resolution was exceptional.
You only needed a craft knife to cut/score the paper and glue them together.

Clever Model printout

I wanted to add some stiffness to the structure, so for the main building i glued the building plan to cardstock (like my previous models).

Glued onto cardstock

I also did not want the flat printed windows and so used my previous mentioned technique to make windows. Clever Models allow you to do this by including extra windows and frames in the printout. In fact, there were 3 copies of the doors and windows, so you could layer them and have some 3D effects going on instead of all being flat.

Main building standing

Since i used cardstock that increased the overall dimensions, the roof that was included fell short so i had to improvise. I used black construction paper as the roof. Then i cut small strips of drafting tape and applied them on the roof, which i then painted black to signify tarpapaer.

Roof details, tarpaper

For the covered staircase, i did not use cardstock. I cut/scored the photo paper and then assembled it.

Covered staircase

The ramp was the most difficult portion of this building because of the small posts that you had to cut, score and bend. I skipped a few posts as my big hands, bad eyes was making it cumbersome.

Ramp

Finished building

So in summary, the things i liked about Clever Models was their high resolution card models. They included extra parts if you want to layer up the structure. Pricing is also good with most models being 10$ to 25$

The things i did not like was the instructions. The procedure was not broken up in steps. After doing it, i now know how things go together, but for a absolute beginner, it could be daunting, especially building the ramp. They had a 3D blown-up drawing but it was had to figure out. (see the first picture in this post) I had to look at the pictures on their website to see what went where.

Anyway, i really liked their models. The resolution of Clever Models structures is the best and if strategically placed on your layout, no one will know the difference between your Clever Models and the expensive wood kits.


Just a note: I am not paid by manufacturers that i mention in this blog. I try out the kits on my own and pass on my experiences.

Head over to Hulu to watch legal and free (ad supported) high quality movies.

Click on the movie title or the movie to go directly to Hulu where you can watch 480p, full screen versions of these train movies.

Enjoy the Show!

The Great Train Robbery


Von Ryan's Express

I had mentioned about this informative podcast before. Tim Fischer continues this series now every other week. You can listen to it via iTunes or on their website. Though it based in Australia, Tim brings us railroad news from all over the world. He currently visited USA and in Episode 22, interviews the chief conductor on the Coast Starlight Express.

In subsequent episodes he will be talking more about his US trip. Head over to the photo section and catch a montage of audio clips and picture from the first series.

The first steam locomotive to be built from scratch in Britain in almost half a century made its maiden journey last week at a Darlington railway yard. This engine was built from scratch and the project received almost no public money, instead being funded mostly from 'people's pocket money' and sponsorship.

It is due to begin chartered tours on Network Rail this autumn and will be the star attraction for the thousands who book excursions on weekend specials.

A proud day for steam enthusiasts!

Roof shingles were created in Modelbuilder and printed on matte photo paper. I then cut strips of two rows of shingles. I used black construction paper as the roof base which i glued to the structure first. Starting with the bottom strip, i then applied the shingles going up to the roof ridge. Each new row was placed overlapping the earlier row.

Roof strips applied in layers

Detailed view of the roof shingles

I used a different color shingle to make the roof ridge. You can use the same shingle but using a different shade or color gives it character.

Detailed view of the roof ridge

Chimney:
For the chimney, i used a bamboo skewer that was cut to about 2 inches. The chimney cap was made by cutting a small circle in plain paper, and then using tweezers, folding it back onto itself to form a cone. For the tar around the base of the chimney, i used lot of white glue that i applied using a toothpick. Before, it was completely dry, i dabbed some black acrylic paint.
To weather, I dry brushed black paint to give the effect of stain.

NOTE: White glue shrinks after its dry, so i had to apply this method a couple of time to get some thickness.

Chimney details

Other Details:
Eaves were cut, painted and added. I also added some decking, like the original, to the structure using card stock and decking texture. I added trash bin from a plastic kit. Signs and vintage advertisements were cropped in a photo editor and printed on ordinary paper.


Finished Pictures:

Structure ready for a model railroad

I know! The name's corny...

Hope you enjoyed following my structure build. I made a couple of PDF's for the roof and siding textures (HO scale) that i used in this project. You could print them out and use in your projects.

From the Photo Journal of the Mount Washington Observatory


Taking the Cog down
Photo by Jim Salge
July 6th 2006

Here we go again! The next version of Trainz 2009 has new screenshots showing the comparison between the tracks in the various versions. The feature comparison also gives us a better idea of what being planned.

I own all versions from the UTC to TC1 and 2. Skipped on TC3 because of compatibility issues with older versions. We always heard that the next version will be the "best ever" so i am a bit jaded. The tracks looks good and the smallest texture brush will help us in route detailing. But, they should fix the Content Management System for us to download stuff. I know, TRS 2009 has "Improved CMP to quickly and simply manage all your assets" as a feature but like i said, let's wait and see first.

Vimeo, is like youtube but offers HD quality video hosting. I found a channel for HD train videos. There are many train videos. Try the search for more train vids. Its best viewed in full screen. Can't believe the clarity when compared to youtube!

This is a teaser and my current favourite:
Janmabhoomi Express by Jay B