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Talking Shop Now that the website is more database driven, it occurs to me that I ought to add a more "personal" page where I can talk about books, the bookshop, life, model trains, etc in a more "free range" way than the new efficient web site allows within its sleek and razor sharp structure. I should say that it is only because of the integration of shop and website through the fantastic efforts of my friend George Mumford that I am really able to consider doing this, as even allowing for my inefficiency and ability to be diatracted I ought to be able to keep this current and changing..... So, to start: Friday 27th January 2012 Today I attended the funeral of Glenys Frow, wife of Derek and supplier of friendly hospitality par excellence to a regular meeting of North American modellers at their house in Combe Down. Those of you who have visited Derek's layout or knew Glenys will know what I am talking about - these regular monthly "open houses" were running for over thirty years and must represent an unprecedented generosity. On a brighter note my friend Robin Swan (current president of the NMRA) travelled up from London for the event and we attended together to show our respects and appreciation of Glenys. Unsurprisingly there was standing room only in the chapel and it was very nice to see so many familiar faces even though the occasion was a sad one. Books Michael Portillo's rather good television programme has caused tremendous interest in the old "Bradshaw's Guide" and related publications, a number of which have been re-published by several enterprising publishers. Best value has to be Old House's "Bradshaw's Handbook 1866", a great companion to the TV programme, a fascinating glimpse into the past and incredibly good value at £9.99. Such has been its popularity that it has immediately gone to a reprint and fresh stocks were apparently on their way to me yesterday..... Railway book wise, my current top seller is "Western Branch Lines" by David Soggee and Michael Welch, a beautifully produced all colour hardback of superlatively good scenes as per the title. David started with colour relatively early and appears to have set out to record stations and scenes as much as the trains themselves, the resulting book is a joy and frankly cheap at £16.95. Don't forget that the "Whats New" page now includes all new titles that come into the shop, so take a look there for details of these books and the many other new titles that keep arriving. Models I am just revisiting my "plastic fantastic" model of S&DJR 28A, built six odd years ago around a Bachmann "Big Hauler" for use on other folks G1 garden lines. With an invite to Railwells this year for my mini layout "Pomparles Siding", I had decided that I must tackle the construction of a proper scale chassis utilising the superb ScaleOne32 wheels cast and turned for me by Mark Wood. In measuring the model's body to determine the size of the new mainframes I finally realised why I had never really been convinced by the model (leaving aside the wrong shade of blue and meat grinding noises from the mechanism) - I had built the cab to the scale drawing I had and looking at photographs it was far too low. Here's a picture of the original model next to thereal thing, can you spot the difference? See you in the shop! Simon Castens |
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