Inspirational Articles No. 1 WW1 Railway

Amongst the hundreds of old railway magazines I have recently been given to pass on to my railway modelling family members, I wondered if there was a special little article or two that I remember reading in the mid 1970s.

One of them was,  I was sure, a Junior Modeller sort of article about WW1 using Airfix WW1 figures. I checked all the Railway Modellers first. as luck would have it, I eventually found it, after flicking through thousands of pages.

I  remember this April 1976 article very well as a child from the railway magazines that were around in our house. The Junior Modeller pages were about as much as I could understand of these technical grown-up magazines.

What I liked about this article was that the Airfix figures and models were ones that I recognised and owned. I could perhaps do something similar?

 

A little scenario setting by Julian Chambers  and the magical words Airfix WW1

 

It was written by a young person as well, a 15 year old  called Julian Chambers.

 

Some atmospheric black and white photos of Bellona trenches and Airfix troops.

I hope somewhere that a mid 50-something Julian Chambers still has this gem of a 009  little layout tucked away. Interesting to read about a planned possible extension through the quarry tunnel. I wonder if this ever happened.

The text mentions of Bellona houses and Jouef trains didn’t mean much to me at the time – what was 009 anyway? As it was the photographs that I remember best,  I have edited the pages to produce some close ups of the photographs by Roy Chambers.

 

Interesting bucket hoist quarrying set up. Bellona walls?

 

WW1 Horse Artillery  enter left amongst Airfix railway buildings Water Tank and Engine Shed (kits still available from Dapol).

 

Interesting little staff car … Bellona house

 

Sentries patrol the heights with Airfix railway buildings at the rear.

 

Airfix WW1 Royal Horse Artillery (left) French infantry rear centre and British Infantry Medical officer and casualty  (right)

 

Airfix WW1 French fighter kit in frozen flames forever…

 

The good old  Airfix British tank kit ….

 

An impressive little Bellona  trench system …

The difference between a model railway or diorama piece like this and the wargamer’s approach is that these Airfix figures and tank are fixed or “pinned down” (in the old, entomological rather than gaming sense).

Without figures fixed down and based, you could fight this scenario over and over again, bringing in reinforcements by train. The closest to Bellona trenches and these troops you will get now is the small offerings in the Airfix Somme Centenary set – now sold out on Airfix.com – so get it while you can. https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/battle-of-the-somme-centenary-gift-set-1-72.html

 

Final perspective shot of the WW1 Airfix Germans

I clearly recall these many of these  photographs 30 to 40 years later, so often did I pore over them. (Star Wars still hadn’t happened by then).

 

The plan of the compact layout by Julian Chambers

I even wonder if the way I sketch out scenario  maps for gaming is influenced by this terrific little map that I looked at so often. It linked so well with the photos.

Julian Chambers mentioned an interesting little colour illustrated Blandford style book Railways and War before 1918 by Denis Bishop and  W.J.K. Davies, 1972. Not sure if I ever found this amongst the Blandford Uniform hardback colour books in the local library  but I now have this on order (lots of them still out there affordable second hand) along with the sequel Railways and War Since 1917: featuring World War II (in Colour) by Denis Bishop and  W.J.K. Davies, 1975.  

So thanks Julian Chambers  for the inspiration still many years later, Roy Chambers for those photos  and Railway Modeller with its Junior Modeller page (does it still have this?). You made a small boy  happy and a grown-up small boy even happier still to rediscover that this was just as good as he remembered!

Blogposted by Mark Man of TIN, Sidetracked blog, 15 August 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deconstructing Trains – Train in a TIN vs. Train in a BOX

 

This is what you get in your Train in a TIN; this is after my Paint It Black phase, with the sticky labels removed.

It still all snugly packs away in the tin.

 

Colourful train before I painted it black …

What the Train in a TIN once looked like … my caboose should be red like this. mine was light blue before black paint

..

Apples to Pears look like a fun company for unusual postable gifts in a tin. I was lucky enough to find my Train in a TIN in a charity shop (thrift or op shop) for about £4 , an unwanted gift but in full working order, even the AA battery still charged.

“We know you love gifts that move and catch attention which is why our original Train Set in a Tin continues to be a firm favourite.
This autumn sees the launch of a new design called “The Great Railway Express”. Presented in the new “big” Gift in a Tin size, the product is packed with a classic green train, carriages, plus extra track and accessories  …” Available end of August 2017, Apples to Pears trade website 2017

http://www.applestopears.com/products/product/425-great-railway-express-available-end-august

Train in a TIN usually sells for about £10 to £12 and is not to be confused with other “Gifts in A Tin” companies like the variations on the  “Tank in a TIN and not enough toy soldiers” set http://www.theoriginalgift.co.uk/ogc/tank-in-a-tin and other suppliers, the battery powered tank being  “a tiny replica of the American M41 Walker Bulldog light tank, in operation from 1953 to the present day”.

And now Train in a BOX … 

Slightly cheaper without the TIN at around £7, the Click-a- Track Miniature Train Set from dotcomgiftshop / Rex international has more track and a switching point. They have a ‘dotcomgiftshop’ seller site  on Ebay and their own website at https://www.dotcomgiftshop.com/traditional-miniature-battery-operated-train-set

I bought this one from hobby craft and modelling mail order store Fred Aldous.

Atmospheric and attractive ‘train in a box’ packaging. Train artwork By B. Rowney.

 

I like the vintage or retro look of the packaging, the railwayana look of the station board titles and vintage looking font. This is continued in the small details such as the railway tickets.

.

“Relive the Great Era of Passenger and Goods Rail Conveyance” – tickets to travel to the zoo – and all for well under a tenner!

The box unpacked – first view of the colourful contents. .

More British themed wagons in this set from British Town and Country Railways (BT&CR)  to a milk caboose for Wardle and Browns Dairy Farm Co. A handy sign elsewhere on a building or hoarding  if repainting this caboose.

 

A suggested track layout on the box back – and no free AA battery included.

The way click a track works there are only limited flexible options for the layout.

 

 

A different layout from the box back.

The manual track point switch is robust and simple.

 

The suggested track layout on the box

Two of the larger ‘train in a box’ sets would give you point circles at either end, three a point midway along etc.

What happens if you combine tracks from the tin and the box sets?

.

Comparing track packs between Train in a TIN and Train in a BOX

Deconstructing Trains

The battery train and rolling stock have  an engaging waddle and easy coupling. Fresh batteries make the engine rather too enthusiastic and coltish at times.

I unscrewed and added a small stone to inside the caboose (painted black, not red) to add some weight at the back. The coal tender in the Train in a Box set has already a chunky  addition of bolt or washer inside to add weight and stability.

Whilst unscrewing the rest of the rolling stock out of curiousity to see where a liitle weight could be added, I noticed some interesting tinkering possibilities.

Deconstructing trains … to make different wagons or put  some weight inside.

Taking the engines apart suggests that you could adapt the engine to something more British or European. With its body off, the engine looks very functional and narrow gauge.

 

A different sort of simple WW1 light military railway type  locomotive could be made with a scratch-built battery cover.

 

Train in a TIN comes with simple building instructions and some handy operating tips.

Helpful tips from applestopears – not suitable for unders 3s.

More deconstructed trains

The narrow gauge look to the deconstructed wagons reminded me of another cheap plastic toy, an old Greendale Rocket loco, spotted as the cover toy on the front of a Children’s BBC Postman Pat comic. It is a child’s wheeled push-along toy train that fortuitously fits the track (albeit with wheels astride or outside the track).

 

Those versatile PPP Peco tunnel ends and a cheap plastic magazine cover toy train  that looks a little  like the Greendale Rocket steam train that it is supposed to be out of Postman Pat (Magazine c.2009) 

 

http://postmanpat.wikia.com/wiki/The_Greendale_Rocket

The whole delightful Greendale Rocket vintage episode – a mini Titfield Thunderbolt for the tinies – can be found on Postman Pat Official channel on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or1g6RBJc38

Playing with a mix of trucks and cheap plastics,  here goes nothing:

A narrow gauge feel to this set up.

Blacked up tender feels even more narrow gauge with 30mm-ish pound store figures.

..

No buffers at the back, just a sticker. This lovely little loco needs some suitable paint  and one of the Train in a Tin spare couplings added.

 

Light railway cargo on my deconstructed train in a TIN carriage bodies.

 

Coffee stirrer and matchstick carpentry could be used to make rough waggon sides and floors  to fit these waggon bodies.

The neutral white felt background gives this a winter in the trenches feel. Barbed wire from pound store set. Figures are 30mm-ish pound store plastics from Poundland  https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/28/more-pound-store-warriors/

This train would also go well with Pound Store Plastic Transport –

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/pound-shop-transport-for-pound-store-figures/

Lots of interesting cheap plastic inspiration.

 

 

So that’s all for now, being

1. Two ‘train in a TIN’ and ‘train in a box’ sets compared
2. Track layouts played around with.
3. Rolling stock deconstructed leading to
4. a complete sidetracked  tangent to Postman Pat and Pound Store Plastics.

 

What next?

I am busy  working on an unusual new history inspired,  railway linked Man of TIN / Sidetracked gaming scenario c. 1840s over the next week or two. All requiring a bit of research, some scrounging around for suitable figures, some quick painting and  a simple new terrain  on the 192 Hexes of Joy game board.

Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN, 10 August 2017

.

.

 

 

.

.

.

 

.

 

 

 

 

Blowing Up Trains Part 2

Original desert hexscape before I added more desert  hexes and features

Following on from setting up the game in the previous post

https://sidetracked2017blog.wordpress.com/2017/08/03/blowing-up-desert-trains-part-1/

This was my second chance to use my large new 192 Hexes of Joy board, set out as a railway crossing of swampy stream running through an arid desert region.

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/01/192-hexes-of-joy-a-larger-hex-game-board/

I wanted to create a quick, not very realistic  Lawrence of Arabia style scenario using a train, a desert and a bridge crossing.

https://sidetracked2017blog.wordpress.com/2017/07/31/charlotte-bronte-and-lawrence-of-arabia-blow-up-trains/

More Desert Needed

I ran out of Heroscape desert hexes, and the rest of my household judged the board not quite deserty enough and a little too much green showing.

The sand pit source of sand was flooded – too long to dry, a trial Woodland Scenics bag of desert grit was nowhere to be found.  Instead a quick trial repaint of some green and grey hexes with a desert colour sort of worked.

I had no desert sand Revell Aquacolor Acyrlic to hand,  so mixed their Matt Flesh with a little Matt Mud Brown and Gloss White to produce a pinky desert hue. Lots of deserts have a rusty  orange to pink  palette, as do desert animals like lizards and even the famous “Pinkies” or SAS “Pink Panther” desert camouflaged armed Land Rovers. http://www.eliteukforces.info/special-air-service/mobility-troop/sas-land-rover/

A quick PVA glue sand mix on a trial desert pinkie hex did not work well,  so I quickly wiped  this off.

 

15mm Peter Laing Turkish and German troops on the marshy edges of the desert stream around  the railway  bridge.

some Astroturf marshy grass strips, brown railway moss and white shell gravel (salvaged from a failed Triops Sea Monkeys set) all added more desertness.

 

View over the Turkish lines with some of the “desert pinkies” hexes mixed in with Heroscape sand hexes. 

Indian troops detrain and deploy. More pinky hexes can be seen in the background.

 

The brave Heliograph operator flashes back a signal “Track Blocked Ambush” from the highest point around, but also most exposed to rifle fire.

French Foreign Legionaries and British troops in desert pith helmets detrain on the left, Indian troops on the right approach the river crossing. On the skyline, lurking horsemen beside the railway hut.  

The heliograph message prompted a rescue party of reinforcements, 2d6 dice rolls determining when they would be arriving – Turn 11.

A closer foreground view of the pinky hexes, some still a little sand smeared.  

Askari and Turkish troops line the marshy stream bank undercover to pour rifle fire onto approaching enemy troops.

After the first few volleys of ineffective rifle fire on both sides, British and Indian troops crossed the bridge to pitch in with bayonets in  melee around the log blocked track.

Lurking German horsemen, military advisors to the Turkish troops  join the melee at the bridge.

The presence of the German horsemen, along the few supplies and barrels scattered around the hut  and amongst their hidden tent created the possibility (overlooked during the rapid set up of this scenario) that they could be engineers, ready to blow the bridge and derail the train. They were probably responsible for the blocking of the line with any available logs or rubble in order to halt and capture the train.

At them with the bayonet! Indian, Turkish and German desert troops fight in melee  across the railway tracks.

Very rapidly, Allied rifle fire and repeated melee across the railroad tracks cleared the remaining German and Turkish troops.

The last two Askaris rolled d6 for their next action and wisely retreated along the stream bank off the board to safety.

Askaris leave the game board out of rifle fire range. An Allied victory in this small desert skirmish. You can also see how the gap along the board edge is good for neatly storing casualties off the board out of sight. Melee point shield markers from the Heroscape set.

I also discovered during the game a novel use for the 2cm  gap along the board edge.  This little Valhalla strip is good for neatly storing casualties off the board, out of sight and out of the way.

The final move … Askaris leave (F631?)

For those expecting reinforcements, it was sadly not Rolls Royce armoured cars racing across the desert or down the railroad tracks to the rescue.  I never bought the lovely A715 15mm ones made by Peter Laing, shown on the Tim’s Tanks website. http://timstanks.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/peter-laing-15mm-miniatures.html

Instead reinforcements arrive on horseback, the desert outback cowboys of the Australian Light Horse …

The reinforcements if we had reached Turn 11,  a scruffy bunch of outbackers of the  ‘Australian Light Horse’ ready to dismount. (Peter Laing 15mm Mounted Boer M603 and leading pony M604)

I was quite in interested in the aftermath or what would happen after the last Askaris left the game board.

Game aftermath – Australian Light Horse arrive to reinforce the troops protecting the Iron Horse, as legionnaires attempt to clear the blocked track.  

Indian and French troops surround the hut and concealed  tent, searching for hidden dangers.  The tent is from the old Atlantic HO/OO Wild West range.

This aftermath would make for a sequel game if required, a Turkish counterattack.

Checking out the hut and tent for hidden enemy soldiers or engineers would also be an interesting tiny scenario.

Overall I was happy with the look of the game, including the improvised extra  pinky desert.

It was a good fast game lasting only 7 moves, having started the game with troops already in place or detrained.

I also enjoyed the restrictions or challenges put on the game of troops being exposed having to cross the bridge and railway line due to the stream and marsh being impassable.

Peter Laing 15mm Figure ID – WW1 series 700 / Colonial figures series 600

• M605 – Imperial  Yeomanry figures as mounted Germans in slouch hats
• F650 – Indian Army Sepoy advancing
• F743 – German Infantry advancing , SH Steel Helmet – desert sand colour
• F754 – Turkish Infantry advancing
• F632 – Egyptian Sudanese Infantry firing – as Askaris
• F603 British Infantry advancing
• M602 British Cavalry, horse walking
• A605 British Heliographer
• F651 French Foreign legion advancing  – not too sure of the French Officer F8004?

The Peter Laing troop types used are approximate to the WW1 era and of the right feel, rather than a game for uniform purists.

Ironic that the morning after the evening game I found the bag of Woodland Scenics buff desert coloured ballast  that I had been looking for to make some more trial desert hexes.

 

Blog posted by Mark, Man of TIN 5th August 2017.

 

Blowing up desert trains Part 1

WW1 15mm Peter Laing Turkish and German Infantry with Askaris and German mounted troops defend or assault  the railway halt and blocked bridge.

The Allied troop train column – Indian, French and British infantry – all Peter Laing  15mm figures – detrained and deploying onto the river bank. The heliograph operator sets up his equipement and later climbs to the top of the caboose for some height to flash back a request for help – ‘track blocked ambush’ – at great personal risk of enemy snipers.

The railway crosses desert sands, rock and marshy swampy rivers. The small railway halt is defended by Turkish troops and some German ‘advisors’.

Are they trying to steal the train or destroy both locomotive and track?

How will the scenario on my lovely new 192 Hexes of Joy game board end?

Ran out of sand hexes so not quite deserty enough …

Find out more  in my next blog post or part 2 (below), featuring a now even more deserty desert than shown here, as my family thought this initial game board not quite deserty enough.

https://sidetracked2017blog.wordpress.com/2017/08/05/blowing-up-trains-part-2/

 

Posted on Sidetracked by Mark, Man of TIN, 3rd August 2017.

Charlotte Bronte and Lawrence of Arabia blow up trains

Peter Laing 15mm WW1 Turkish infantry alongside the blocked desert train in a current Heroscape Hexes game scenario.  Crossing that marshy bridge could be risky. Will  it be BOOM time for my Train In a TIN? 

Seasoned railway modellers might not be inspired by seeing trains blown up or derailed.

However I spotted an interesting photo on the Not Quite Mechanised website by Chris Kemp of a detailed desert train in a diorama model at the ‘Shifting Sands:  Lawrence of Arabia’ exhibition at Newark’s National Civil War Centre.

https://notquitemechanised.wordpress.com/2017/07/30/a-civil-day-out/

My hexed up desert and vintage Airfix desert warriors …. all I need add is train and track. Photo from my Man of TIN blog.

With my Train In a Tin, a bit of sand, some Tiger.com cocktail stick palm trees,  a scattering of  desert hexes on my Heroscape hex board and the old OO / HO  Airfix Bedouin Warriors and / or French Foreign Legion, this could be an interesting desert scenario variation of my recent ACW Battle of Pine Ridge River.

My desertified portable hex games board September 2016. Photo from my Man of TIN blog.

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/28/my-portable-hex-games-board/

My ACW Battle of Pine Ridge Valley game with Train In a TIN (Man of TIN blog)

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/25/acw-battle-of-pine-ridge-vintage-airfix-full-game-write-up/

Hmm, ideas, ideas!

A different desert focus for a desert railway scenario – my Peter Laing 15mm  French Foreign Legion figures and desert hexes. Photo from my Man of TIN blog.

Interesting. Thanks Chris Kemp on the NQM Not Quite Mechanised website for another interesting blogpost that sparks some more gaming scenario ideas

Compulsory  research

Adding to the Wild West movie inspired  T.E. Lawrence myth, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia 1962 film features an exploding desert train on the Hejaz Railway. (Clips available on YouTube). 1962 – there was a year, Lawrence of Arabia in the cinema, Donald Featherstone’s War Games published …

Skim reading this Great Arab Revolt Project GARP website

http://www.jordan1914-18archaeology.org

http://www.jordan1914-18archaeology.org/NDpages/Hejaz/GARP%20HEJAZ%20RAILWAY.doc

This article  features the following interesting perspective:

“To understand why the rail line was never permanently closed by military action we need to know something of railway features. Once built they are: easy to maintain, environmentally friendly, difficult to destroy, easily repaired, seldom interrupted through accident, produce very little “road-kill”, require small manpower to operate, are inexpensive to maintain after the original capital expenditure and, rolling stock (the engines and carriages) is generally plentiful.

Railways can move large tonnages and civil or military passenger numbers over vast distances relatively quickly, including the return of casualties to hospital facilities. Although used with success earlier, the American Civil War 1861-65 proved the strategic and tactical use of railways.

Note, damaging or destroying one train has not destroyed a rail network.”

From  The Hejaz Railway, GARP website article by Neil Dearberg, 2010

Running steam locomotives with their need for watering points through a desert is a considerable challenge, one that would have affected building parts of the Wild West railways too.

The GARP gallery also features ruined and intact station buildings.

More photographs of wrecked trains at:

http://www.withnailbooks.com/2015/05/blowing-up-trains-lawrence-of-arabia.html

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/1.713171

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2587193/Secret-desert-camp-used-First-World-War-hero-Lawrence-Arabia-discovered-intact-rum-jars-campfire.html

http://www.nonesuchexpeditions.com/nonesuch-features/hijaz-lawrence/hijaz-railway.htm

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hejaz_Railway

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/rail-journeys/T-E-Lawrence-and-the-Hejaz-railway/

A Bit of Imagi-Native Distance: The Brontes do Lawrence of Arabia!

Without wishing to trivialise real past events and politics  in the Middle East over recent years and the past century, this is all fascinating stuff for the desert Imagi-Nation games scenario from the Brontes onwards to a steampunked early train Stevenson’s Rocket kit from Dapol /  Airfix. Hmm ..

The Brontes travelled on trains and featured Byronic Victorian desert nations loosely based on those Africa and Arabia. I’m sure that the Bronte sisters and brother Branwell would have found Lawrence of Arabia a fascinating and emotionally complex heroic figure for their novels.

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2017/03/30/charlotte-bronte-as-gamer-1/

“From June 1836 to September / autumn 1836, Northangerland was in control of the new French style Provisional Government of the Grand Republican Union (formerly the Verdopolitan Union). He has direct control over Angria where his allies (Ashantees,French and Bedouin forces) wreak a reign of terror. The Arab troops are led by Lord Jordon, in Byronic ‘Turkish’ dress and known as Sheik Medina.” (From my Charlotte Bronte as Gamer post Man of TIN blog)

Zamorna’s European enemy Lord Jordan (in his Arabian guise of Sheik Medina) is the Byronic  head of an Arabian army invading, with a combined African, French and Scottish force,  the Bronte Imagi-Nation of Angria. He is defeated and killed at the ‘Battle Of Leyden’ in Angria in the Bronte Year of 1837.

Definitely  a possibility of being Sidetracked by that one …

Blog posted by Mark, Man of TIN, 31 July 2017.

Tunnel Bookends

I forget which model railway magazine this was in, October 1960, article by Norman Stone.

An unusual way to use those plastic tunnel ends and a great visual joke.

I wonder what the equivalent gaming or wargaming version of these bookends would be?

One regiment marching in and another era regiment marching out?

Insert titles of your own favourite gaming books as desired.

Wonky tunnel end in my Battle of Pine Ridge Valley game. 

Vanishing point (trompe l’oeil) and one of those plastic tunnels on my Pine Ridge Valley game. 

Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN, 29 July 2017.

Avoiding the Railway Madness?

Recently I have built a small railway line onto my games board, shown on my Man of TIN blog, to add another level of interest to gaming scenarios.

Berdan’s Sharpshooters defend the railway halt of AT & PR Railroad  (as shown on my Man of TIN blog) during the American Civil War. Battery “Train in a TIN” set painted black modified. Railway hut kit and resin fences. PECO railway scenery backdrop.

I come from a family of ‘off and on’ railway modellers who remember the last days of steam and whose projects are fortunately often never quite completed before another layout idea, period or scale takes over.

As I grew up on a pocket money and paper round budget, this was an excellent source for scrounging materials from flock and paint to ballast and trees etc from discarded layouts or projects, all to the benefit of my Airfix and Peter Laing figures.

Airfix and other manufacturers civilian figures. Trackside accessories. Train in a TIN. Heroscape hexes.

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/25/acw-battle-of-pine-ridge-vintage-airfix-full-game-write-up/

I admire their technical skill with wiring and signalling, scenery making and building construction but found the static nature of the scenes a little off putting.

Why were the railway people figures all stuck down? How did they move? How did they tactically manoeuvre and fight each other? The static nature of the storylines did not appeal to me, unlike the joy of discovering Donald Featherstone’s 1962 book War Games in my 1970s public library. This was to be my thing in the family, my ongoing interest and “go to” or “go back to” thing.

Donald Featherstone’s American Civil War game with railroad track and Triang  rubber railway buildings. Photo taken from Tackle Model Soldiers This Way by Featherstone.

Although I do not talk about my hobby of  “the tiny men” at work, as it is nice to have a separate life and mental bolthole,  the only other modellers I currently know socially or through work are model railway enthusiasts. We occasionally chat, in the bemused presence of other ‘more normal’ people, about the models they are making.

These railway modellers too seem to shift from scale to scale, from period and country, much  in the same way that I flit across scales and periods from 15mm Peter Laings to repairing bashed 54mm lead soldiers  to home casting, pound store plastics, garden games and Imagi-Nations.

These modelling friends know that I come from a railway modelling family, had the same Airfix upbringing as many of my late 1960s / 1970s generation and have an interest in many aspects of history and vintage toys including toy soldiers.

This puts me on their wavelength and someone who gets what they are on about. One day I’m sure they hope that I will finally be converted to the pure hobby, the true faith and the one true scale … if I knew what that scale was.

To my precision craftsman model railway colleagues I am a bit fuzzy about matching scale and gauge, they often have to patiently explain the differences and conversions over and over again. What, I ask,  is the equivalent railway  gauge for Airfix 1:32 or 54mm figures? What is the nearest gauge for 15mm figures? Tell me again, What is the difference between HO and OO?

For instance, I have shown some of my homecast Prince August figures in local arts and craft events, mainly (or manly?)   so that there was an element of ‘man craft’ or ‘boy craft’ at these largely female events. The next step of admitting to “playing with toy soldiers” just hasn’t come out in conversation yet.

Hidden amongst wide-ranging history conversations, we also chat about improvising board games and scrapmodelling or hobby crafting with family members to while away a rainy day. My work colleagues are well used to our scrap modeller’s scrounging approach to any waste materials left lying around ready for the skip or bin. “Does anybody want this anymore?” is a frequent question, before we upcycle or recycle scrap, having asked this sort of collective permission of course.

There seems to be quite an interesting overlap between the two areas of tabletop figure gaming in its broadest sense and model railroads or railway modelling as it is variously called.

PECO backdrop behind these Pound Store Plastic Warriors and vehicles https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/pound-shop-transport-for-pound-store-figures/

Quite frequently PECO model railway backdrops are useful atmospheric backgrounds for photographing figures up close or when screening off the house when photographing a game in progress.  http://www.peco-uk.com

PECO mountain backdrop to my country duel https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/bartitsu-and-bayonet-duelling/

Model railroad buildings and terrain features like trees are a good source of gaming materials. Occasionally railroad figures make excellent period civilians, something quite scarce amongst many games manufacturers. Thankfully old series like the Airfix railway figures, accessories and buildings are still available through Dapol.

https://www.dapol.co.uk/shop/model-accessories/self-assembly-oo-kits

Atmospheric Airfix advert from Model Railway News, October 1964.

Sources of ideas

One of my railway modelling colleagues, who is downsizing his collection, has recently passed me box-loads of railway modelling magazines from the 1960s onwards to  pass on to my railway modelling enthusiast family members.

Before I parcel these up and post them on, I have been flicking through looking for anything that is of interest to wargames or tabletop gaming.

Mostly I was looking for one or two ‘Junior Modeller’ type pages that I remember reading in the 1970s, which I have now found. I will blog post these in due course.

Photo of the fantastical 4mm Pendonkin and Tuppensoff Railway by David Carter and Colin Bean, Model Railway Constructor,  December 1974 (original photograph by Bryan Monaghan). Fascinating to a young child …

Other interesting modelling tips, scenarios or snippets of history that may be of interest to future games will also be posted here to share.

Blog Work in progress , Mark, Man of TIN, 28 July 2017