Model of the Month

By Alan Hodgson. Introduction The Glyn Valley Tramway (GVT) was originally a horse drawn, gravity tramway carrying quarried materials to a canal. When it converted to steam around 1890, the tram style locos had shrouded wheels and valve gear, also long side tank surrounds. After reading Bernard Rockett’s excellent books about them, I tried to design [...]

By Brian Dominic One problem I’d got with my micro-layout, Slug’s Crossing, was that it’s got a site toilet on it. When you disobey the large label that says “Do NOT under ANY circumstances WHATSOEVER push this button”, the door opens, revealing the occupant, before the door slams shut. The only problem was that I’d [...]

By Robert Hannaford I was given two half relief Modeltown warehouses for Christmas by my very astute daughter. Individually I did not think the kits had sufficient 'presence' and I wanted a larger building. This article describes my construction of them as one warehouse. Having a long list of projects, it has taken me 9 [...]

By Simon Fletcher This all started with a visit to Roundhouse’s open day with a couple of mates, two years ago. I saw the kit, thought “ooh, that’s nice” and bought it. The kit lay about for a few months and then I thought I’d better get on and build it. Straightforward enough… until I looked at the lamp casting. [...]

By Andrew Cox Wagons wanted For several years now, I’ve been attempting to recreate some of the flavour of the Welsh Highland Railway in my back garden - the old, struggling, Welsh Highland of the 1920s and 30s. A Roundhouse Russell and Accucraft Baldwin have joined my locomotive fleet, and I’ve built models of the [...]

By Philip Elwin The basis for the model is a comparatively massive 6-wheel standard gauge wagon in the Netherlands Railway Museum at Utrecht. Some English railways would have called the design a ‘road van’ as it provides parcels and guards accommodation, along with a ‘dog box’. The story goes that the passenger department on the [...]

By Mark Hirst You know how it is, you are sat idling away 10 mins, whilst the PVA is drying on your latest model, looking at eBay and suddenly something grabs your attention A few months ago I spotted this little fella – a Big Big Steam Outline O gauge that had been altered into [...]

The first item of rolling stock that I bought for Slug's Crossing was this Phil Sharples Gunpowder van, which comes in a substantial (but rain spattered) cardboard box.

By Paul Humphries As CME of the Mineral Valleys Railway I was dispatched to Peterborough in 2016 to view a second-hand diesel loco. The purchase ultimately fell through when the bank thought I had already spent enough at the AGM, so I returned to the railway empty handed . There was no option but to [...]

By Matt Baker, photos by Scott Manley Since the Great Central Railway (GCR) began holding an annual model railways event a number of GCR volunteers, myself included, have set up a table top 45mm gauge layout, displaying our large fleet of rolling stock. Between us we have successfully created a rake of mineral wagons, a [...]