John de Frayssinet - Scenic Modelling: A Guide for Railway Modellers

It wasnt long after the introduction of the steam train that models of these new fire-eating behemoths began to appear. Some of the early models were made as sales tools to attract further investment in railway projects, but very quickly the toy train became the must have accessory for very well-off children . Some were clockwork and a few were actually live steam, but most were just pulled along with a piece of string.

Two centuries later, model railways are still extremely popular despite having to compete with a plethora of other hobbies. The pastime is still quite expensive and very hungry for space, but the creation of a model railway can project the builder into a miniature world where life is a lot less complicated, and in many ways more attractive, than the real world around us. It is probably fair to say that railway modelling is largely the preserve of older men a visit to any model railway exhibition will convince you of that. However, it also appeals to the young and to an increasing number of women. There is a growing interest in railways as they used to be, and it is quite hard to find a place that is not close to what is now described as a preserved railway. The model railway gives us the opportunity to enjoy this interest in our own homes. It is a hobby that demands a very wide variety of skills, from carpentry, electronics and historical research, to metalwork and artistic expression and photography. It is a pastime where individuality still prevails in a world in which conformity is increasingly expected.

This book describes ways to create your own perfect miniature landscape in which to operate your model railway. Everybody develops their own modelling style in the end, but this book is intended to offer thought-provoking methods that will raise the bar for both the beginner and advanced modeller.

It is a frightening thought to me that when I began to build my latest exhibition model railway, County Gate, I had already been making miniature landscapes for myself and for clients for over half a century. My own interest began after inheriting a huge pre-war collection of O scale Hornby and Bassett Lowke, and my real prize, a Bowman 234 express live steam locomotive . Vast railway empires were laid on the floors throughout the house during weekends, only for them to disappear back into the train chest on Sunday night. The Bowman dribbler began many very satisfying minor conflagrations and my powers of imagination were stretched to endless new horizons. Piles of books became the Moffat Tunnel, and a cardboard box, Liverpool Street Station. This was operating a model railway that was three quarters in my head. Upstairs, on the other hand, was my Dads massive Lionel train set. It filled a very large room indeed and entry was by invitation only under supervision.

Joshua Lionel Cowen began his company at the start of the twentieth century. He believed that the Lionel train set should be for both father and son, bonding them together for a better America. This was translated by my father into You can come in and watch but if you touch anything I shall cut your hands off! Cowen also believed that train sets should have every animation possible to prevent children getting bored and setting the curtains alight. There was steam, sound, a working saw mill, animated industrial zone, an amusement park and even a Cold War missile train the list was endless. The layout was assembled on a massive table fifty feet long. The effect was wondrous! For the first time I saw toy trains running in something a bit like a real landscape. Where it fell short in realism, it made up for it with flashing lights, sound and animations!

Early meetings to determine the EEC Common Agricultural Policy were held at our home and if some feel that the result of those meetings was a flawed concept, look no further than that Lionel train set the international delegates spent the whole time in the train room. Some time during the 1950s the Lionel set was swept away and replaced by three-rail Hornby Dublo. The new, smaller, OO scale equated in my Dads mind to many more railway tracks, but Hornby trains did nothing, absolutely nothing except run around in circles. For me and many of my Dads friends, the Lionel was enormously missed. The big table disappeared, giving way to a shelf around the room with a lift-up bridge across the door. Four tracks were laid with the brand-new Wrenn Universal steel track. Dad and his friends took to racing ten coach trains around the room. They would probably have preferred Scalextric slot-racing cars but they had not been invented yet. I suspect that quite large sums of money changed hands at times.

In those far-off days, very few people saw the model railway as anything more than a very expensive animated toy for fathers of boys. The idea that a model railway could be an accurate historical model of bygone eras was only just beginning to form in a few peoples minds. Steam was still king on the nascent British Railways and it was the general opinion that it would be around for a long while to come. For me, sojourns in the United States showed me just how exciting rail travel could really be. Riding the Denver Zephyr or taking the 3ft-gauge Denver and Rio Grande through spectacular Rocky Mountain scenery was enough to fire up even the dullest imagination . My interest was less in the trains, but in the varied and extraordinary scenery that they could pass through. When I told my father this, he simply replied When we get back home, better do something about my railway then.