When toy soldiers go off the rails …
Another bit of Model Railway whimsy and puns from Model Railways June 1974.
In its own way, not dissimilar to the many inventive “Carry on Up The Khyber Pass” style punning suggestions on Henry Hyde’s Wargaming Blog about crowdsourcing fictitious place names (August 2017). These are suggestions for his new Dahlia and Chindrastan campaign map for his forthcoming book Wargaming Campaigns (Pen and Sword, 2018). http://henrys-wargaming.co.uk/?p=2704
Sidetracked again.
Found whilst ploughing through endless old railway modelling magazines that I have been given to pass on to railway modelling family members. Have found a few novel ideas to share over the next few months.
A good 1970 photo by N. V. Salt of one of the locomotives on this famously ambushed railway – see previous blogposts such as
Sidetracked again, another short blogpost by Mark, Man of TIN, 2 September 1917
Having spotted this little catalogue reprint picture in Carbonel’s book, I looked around the Internet for more details of the rare Airfix Railway System Adventure Train Sets.
There is an entire well illustrated Airfix railway fansite: http://www.airfixrailways.co.uk/ARSwildWestAdvSet.htm
“See how Badmen hold up the Western Train to dynamite the side!”
This was a set c. 1975 that I never saw as a child and would have been interested to see how it worked http://www.airfixrailways.co.uk/ARSwildWestAdvSetC.htm
The cartoon style catalogue pictures shown on the excellent Airfix Railways fan website give an idea of the ‘excitement’ involved.
Will they get away? To be fair, with only four fixed action cowboys and two spare cowboys from the Airfix Cowboy set to stop them, they probably would get away. A few more cowboys or other figures would add to what in my family was known as its “play value”. Or was this a bit of a one trick pony, one hit wonder, assuming it worked?
Bits and pieces of the set such as the attractive Western Engine and rolling stock can be found on Ebay and other online auction sites
One of the Airfix forums featured a close up of the full black and white cartoon strip.
So the scenario in text form reads:
The Payroll Train is on its way to Gun City – Loaded with Gold Bullion – But Black Jack’s Outlaw Gang is waiting.
The Payroll Train approaches a deserted mining town. It passes under the gantry and Black Jack drops through a trapdoor in the roof.
He uncouples the baggage car – one of his gang places the dynamite – stand back! BANG – and blows the doors open.
The gang rush out of the old log cabin – open the safe.
Does Black Jack’s ambush succeed?
Can the Sheriff’s Posse catch the gang?
Will Black Jack double-cross the other outlaws?
Will they double-cross him?
It’s Up to You?
Obviously the Posse was other Airfix figures that you had bought, if you could still find Airfix Cowboys in the mid 1970s with its erratic supply chain. http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=27
A great looking set of Airfix cowboys painted up here on the P and P blog http://pampersandp.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/cowboys-and-indians.html
Dr X or No?
As if this wasn’t exciting enough, there was also a very James Bond 007 style Dr. X Adventure Set by Airfix Railways.
See how Dr. X holds the world to ransom with his fiendish plan?
http://www.airfixrailways.co.uk/ARSdr.Xset.htm
(Note: Dr X’s secret pre-coloured cardboard laboratory is conveniently located inside nearby hillside tunnel – pondering that would make most rail journeys more interesting – an action tunnel that contained radar scanner and rocket launcher).
Will He Succeed? Quite likely as the only figures included alongside the highly desirable Dr X figure and a couple of version 2 Airfix commando figures – were they probably his tiny gang or the tiny Rescue Party? Sadly as the Airfix OO/HO SAS figures were never produced …
A fairly full set with its parts is illustrated here: http://www.modelkitcollecting.com/topic910.html
One photo features some of the text from the 1970s boys comic style black and white cartoon:
Dr ‘X’ Adventure Story – a Threat to the World
Somewhere in England, a top security operation is under way. Its object: to transfer a deadly new nuclear missile – to a secret testing ground.
The sinister, international arch-villain, known only as Dr. X. has discovered the plan and he intends to steal the rocket and hold the world to ransom!It looks like an ordinary goods train. But one van conceals a nuclear missile bound for a testing ground …
In his secret tunnel laboratory, Dr.X brings his radar scanner into action. “The train is on its way!”
Some of the Dr. X artwork was later rescued from a skip: http://www.airfixrailways.co.uk/General.htm
Sadly it sounds from the railway forums as if the sets had all the same slightly disappointing, “doesn’t quite work” nature that bedevilled many 70s action toy sets.
The “If Airfix Had …” section
These train sets offer some of the interest of the Airfix Play sets with forts, figures and vehicles http://www.vintage-airfix.com/diorama-and-buildings-c-73.html
I am lucky enough to still have bashed remains of some of my 1970s sets and their 1993-4 reissues, which at the time were one of the few ways of getting new supplies of some of the scarcer Airfix historical figures.
“If Airfix had only…” – I think the cartoon scenario inserts would have been a good addition to the Airfix play sets to create some interesting scenarios. Lego sets do this comic strip scenario thing (and online animations) for modern franchises like Star Wars and Superheroes. The Airfix ones are much in the style of the Battle, Victor and 200 AD comics that I remember from the 1970s (and the tiny A5 War Library picture stories still in print and still in newsagents).
“If Airfix had only” created some very simple, child friendly, Donald Featherstone type wargaming rules, appropriate to the period of the Airfix figures, this would also have been excellent. Couldn’t they have just phoned up Donald Featherstone?
In the absence of these simple rules and scenarios, you just had to use your imagination, raid the local branch library and start tinkering.
Thanks to the Airfix Railways website and other Airfix forums for the source information, enthusiasm and photos. You made a small boy happy many years later.
So there you are, two excellent future scenarios for future Sidetracked games,
1. Bandits holding up the payroll or treasure train (in whichever period from Victorian, Civil War, Wild West through to Nazi Gold trains)
2. Holding up the train, blocking the train track and stealing the poorly guarded or discretely transported top secret weapon of mass destruction (in whichever period you are playing)
How good, numerous or well armed the train guards are or how quickly the posse and rescue party arrives is all part of the scenario.
These were not the 1840s Victorian railway scenario one that I am still working on but that is the name and nature of being Sidetracked!
Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN blog, 27 August 2017
It was good to hear from Kieran Byrne from the Do You Have You A Flag? blogsite.
Kieran is one of the small team of builders of the striking Hallat Ammar 19 September 1917 desert train ambush diorama which is currently in the Lawrence of Arabia: Shifting Sands exhibition at the National Civil War Centre.
“This is a fantastic idea for adapting a scenario. I’m one of the builders of the Hallat Ammar diorama shown on the NQM blog – see also my own, rather inconsistently maintained blog is http://gotflag.blogspot.com.2
“It’s very rewarding to see that the diorama has prompted some gaming of Lawrence scenarios – I was slightly upset to se the glass case go over the display, unfortunately we didn’t get any games in on the board before hand.”
“Keep up the good work, looking forward to reading more.” Kieran
You can see more of the finished diorama in Kieran’s photographs, including a few construction pics. Elsewhere on his occasional blog you can see the locomotive models being made (before he wrecked or blew them up!) and much more besides.
http://gotflag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/28mm-diorama-of-lawrence-of-arabias.html
Kieran had been reading my blogpost “Charlotte Bronte and Lawrence of Arabia blow up trains” about using this diorama to inspire various gaming scenarios:
https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/05/blowing-up-desert-trains/
Do You Have A Flag?
I was quite curious where Kieran’s blog name from. The short embedded clip from Eddie Izzard on Kieran’s Do You Have A Flag? website explains it. Watching it, I can’t help thinking that Eddie Izzard is so much of the same 60s / 70s Airfix generation as myself and many of us, in fact he is probably a glammed up version of Harry Pearson in Achtung Schweinhund.
A few more Lawrence links about the Hallat Ammar train ambush, rapidly approaching its centenary on 19 September 1917 / 2017
Photos of Hallat Ammar http://nabataea.net/halatammar.html
Using Michael Asher’s book & photos http://nemaloknig.info/read-264982/?page=57
A few more interrupted railway ambush gaming scenarios inspired by this real event in the next few months.
Blog posted by Mark, Man of TIN on his occasional Sidetracked blog, 21 August 1917
Postscript:
I like Kieran’s comment about the frustration of not having enough time to get a game in on this superb desert terrain before the glass lid went on. In my Borrowers inspired brain, maybe when the lights go dim at night at the National Civil War Centre, out come the tiny tents, the campfires, the singing on each side, the camels lie down and all is well and calm until they are back in their fighting positions by opening time, just as before. But if you look carefully enough …
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?
It was written by a young person as well, a 15 year old called Julian Chambers.
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.
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
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).
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
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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 2017http://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.
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.
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“Relive the Great Era of Passenger and Goods Rail Conveyance” – tickets to travel to the zoo – and all for well under a tenner!
The way click a track works there are only limited flexible options for the layout.
The manual track point switch is robust and simple.
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?
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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.
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.
Train in a TIN comes with simple building instructions and some handy operating tips.
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).
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:
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Coffee stirrer and matchstick carpentry could be used to make rough waggon sides and floors to fit these waggon bodies.
This train would also go well with Pound Store Plastic Transport –
Lots of interesting cheap plastic inspiration.
So that’s all for now, being
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
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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.
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.
some Astroturf marshy grass strips, brown railway moss and white shell gravel (salvaged from a failed Triops Sea Monkeys set) all added more desertness.
The heliograph message prompted a rescue party of reinforcements, 2d6 dice rolls determining when they would be arriving – Turn 11.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 …
I was quite in interested in the aftermath or what would happen after the last Askaris left the game board.
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
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.
