Sunday 22 September 2024

A Trading Estate Railway (Hornby; The Collector)


Back to blogging after a break away at the tail end of the summer, and to catch up, here's another one of my (Ben's) regular pieces for the Hornby Collectors Club magazine.


Way back in Lockdown, I did a series of layout-planning articles for "Railway Modeller" magazine, one of which was a line based on a Trading Estate Railway, of the sorts which once existed at Trafford Park in Manchester or Pensnett in Dudley. In order to try and find a real one to photograph, I had to turn again to the Middleton Railway in Leeds.


I did some illustration work for the project, and prepared an article (which they ended up choosing not to use that particular shot).  Needing some pieces for the Hornby Collectors Club, I returned to the idea.


This time it would need to be a 6-page article, and I realised I'd need to build a diorama or two so I had enough pieces to illustrate it.  The idea was a beginner-level model, so not too much modification needed for the buildings or scenery.


Oh for a proper studio... Still, always better to photograph in natural light.


I'd designed the warehouse board with a few specific articles in mind...


...same for the mainline exchange sidings, inspired by Pensnett.


This was never intended to be a permanent model; indeed, within a week of the article being published, I'd rebuilt the boards for the next-but-one layout project for Hornby.


There we go. The next build was also based on a piece I'd written for "Railway Modeller", one which they'd indeed published, based on Damems, on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. And in fact, Damems features in the next blog post too...


 

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