Well hello again my friends, the Corkmeister has returned with the first all new posting on the Corkscrew-Lines Blogsite...how exciting eh?...Hellfire! As you know, up to this point I have been re-publishing the email updates that I sent out to my friends and family during the early stages of the construction of the Corkscrew-Lines. However, from this point on all content will be new and current and available to the whole world...Hellfire!
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| Who are you looking at! |
Well, who'd have thought it!...It's happened again!
Roughly a week ago I found myself wandering into the Alton Model Centre (for the
benefit of Mrs Corky I can confirm this is something that happens very
rarely, if ever....honestly) and there I spied the latest copy of the
always magnificent Hornby Magazine. I purchased a copy without checking
the contents only to find upon later looking at
the contents page that there was a picture of yours truly staring back
at me!...Oh My Lords!
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| Absolutely fascinating - and the author's so good looking too! |
Yes my Corkette chums, the 2nd article on the Corkscrew-Lines...."Constructing a helix for the Corkscrew-Lines" has been printed over pages 46-51 of the August issue with 20 of my
photos to accompany my text and I'm rather proud of it. As the
Corkscrew-Lines will no doubt now gain a cult worldwide
following with it's new web presence, you may want to rush out and buy a
few copies as they will almost certainly become quite collectable in
the future. You can tell your grandchildren you were there with Corky
right at the beginning! I'd better calm down and take some more of my
medication!
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| I could read this article again and again...it's just so good! |
Buy them while you can...Oh My Lords!
Baseboards for The "Rooster"
As I told you all in an earlier update, my mate Rooster has bought himself a shed. Now as any true railway modeller will confirm, it is impossible to step into a shed and not immediately start having ideas about filling the interior with baseboards and model railways. This is a perfectly normal reaction. And so it is with the Rooster! To give him a good head start I agreed to help construct a couple of baseboards for him here at Jones Towers and as you can see from the accompanying shots, we managed to finish a couple of 4ft x 1ft boards complete with adjustable legs just as he wanted them.
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| Improvised workbench! |
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| Rooster hard at it! |
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| Rooster & Corky take a tea break |
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| Legs fitted and all ready to go. |
What happened next I really wasn't expecting! Rooster produced some of his N-gauge stock and placed it onto the baseboards. While he was taking a few photos of the scene on his phone, I was looking at the Dapol locomotives and wagons and was really rather impressed by how far N-gauge had come since I modelled with it as a teenager. What struck me even more was just how much train you could accommodate in such a small space. Now as all you lovely Corkettes know, it is looking increasingly likely, to the point where it is almost inevitable, that Mrs Corky and I will need to sell our current home and head back to the Sussex/Surrey area again within the next year or so. It would be great to think we could find a property with a similar sized space to the double garage we currently have but unless we want to take on a huge mortgage...which we don't, we'll need to downscale. Now in principle neither of us has any objection to this but I naturally worry about the Corkscrew-Lines not having a new home.
All the fun, half the size!
So what if I constructed a new Corkscrew-Lines with the same multi-level concept incorporating a helix linking 4 decks and open sweeping mainlines and numerous industries and stations...but in a smaller scale, namely N-gauge? I have learnt so much from the construction of the current layout and overcome so many obstacles that I have no fears in doing it all again. In fact, I would improve certain aspects and incorporate new elements which would make the whole project even better and stick to the modular baseboard approach I currently use. Now don't be alarmed...this is not a done deal. I am simply sharing with you all a possible solution to the smaller house dilemma which could actually provide a much larger future layout but in a smaller scale. N gauge does have some significant advantages over OO when it comes to creating a train in the landscape feel and more generous curves and longer length trains can be run in very short distances. As an example, my benchmark loco and 8 coach train only takes up about 4ft in N-gauge.
I decided to sleep on the idea and just mull it all over for a while. Then something else happened which made me sit up and take notice. Dapol announced their programme of new releases in N-gauge for this year and 2013. Now as you all know, I model the ex SR and ex GWR lines in the Wessex/Devon area in the 1960s and I have been collecting a roster of locomotives in OO which covers all the essentials. Well Dapol have basically just announced every loco I need to have but in N-gauge and with a bang up to date modern spec' that on some locos even includes fitted DCC chips. Some of the highlights are as follows;
Class 33, Class 22, Class 52, West Country Pacific, Battle of Britain pacific, Schools Class, Q1 Class, Britannia Class, Class 35, Maunsell coaches.
Bachmann (Graham Farish) have already produced Warships, Class 47, Class 14, Class 45 and announced Class 5MT, WD Class, Upgraded Mk1 coaches, Bullied coaches and Merchant Navy pacifics. In fact, everything I will need!
So, I have decided to investigate further and have a little dabble in the murky waters of N-gauge. Just to see if I can adapt to the scale and to see if I can get the same degree of reliability of running and basically to see if I can be happy to possibly make the change I have already purchased some models. I have a Dapol Hymek ordered and have already received a rake of Graham Farish coaches. I'll do some more thinking, have a play with the new models and let you know if I'm making the change. As I've said, it's not a done deal!
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| N-gauge dabblings! |
I will almost certainly disappoint some of you if I do make the change and I accept I'll get some stick from those of you who I've ribbed without mercy for years for being unable to commit to a particular gauge. This is all about how I want to do my modelling. I want an ambitious multi-level layout with the focus on operations and I want it to include a helix. If I cannot have this in OO scale then I will have to consider doing it all in N-gauge - it's all about being pragmatic.
Nameboards, Nameplates & Crests
As I don't have any shots of Corkscrew-Lines progress to share this time (too busy learning my new trade in Surrey & Hampshire) I thought you may enjoy some shots with a link to the era and area I model...enjoy...Dreadful!
So that's all for now my friends. I'll let you know what my initial impressions are once I get my hands on an N gauge loco and I can see what it can do. So until next time, enjoy!
Corky!
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