Page 31 - January February 2012
P. 31

Why North American? – Episode 6 from Bob Skinner
It probably started with an OO Triang diesel given to my younger brother one Christmas whilst I had a GWR Prairie tank engine. If memory serves me right after more than half a century, it was actually one of those strange double cab EMD units more normally found on Swedish railways but it was painted in ATSF blue/yellow freight colours.
That was that until the mid-’80s when, awaiting the arrival of my first son (actually “he” turned out to be a daughter), I thought it might be good to start getting one or two items together for “his” first railway. That wasn’t the only slip-up; I managed to get seduced by the DB and SBB, well Fleischmann and Arnold made some real little gems (and still do). However, in my hunt for reasonably priced models I discovered Victor’s in Pentonville Road, a few steps from Kings Cross – I see from the April Roundhouse that this was a path trod by many on the way to North America.
Armed with that month’s “Model Railroader”, an N-gauge Spectrum UP Dash-8 and a couple of covered hoppers, the disease took hold. A demanding job, growing family and frequent moves of home put paid to any prospect of a permanent layout; however, odd switching yards on a piece of 2' × 4' plywood plus building a variety of structures kept the juices running until retirement. And of course there were the inevitable “shopping trips” for rolling stock etc. My initial romance with UP waned and I was drawn back to ATSF with a side dish of EssPee.
Since retiring I had an opportunity to start on “THE” layout, which is a shelf 2' × 20', with reversing loops, along one side and end of the garage. The baseboard
is in place with the track and wiring in place, now comes the ballasting and filling out of the basic landforms (the rough outline having been constructed from expanded polystyrene insulation sheets). Many of my earlier constructions are being replaced by what I hope are improved second efforts – because of width considerations these have mainly been reduced to low-relief or flat structures. I wanted to make the best use of the models that I had acquired over the years (now including many BN), but really couldn’t visualise main line operations in the available space.
The solution was provided by the appearance of the Atlas Alco C420 in Arkansas & Missouri livery – what better than a short-line with connections to UP and BN, and a quick repaint will turn SP locomotives into lease equipment. Ok, so 20' doesn’t give me the whole deal, but I have representations of Monett and Van Buren, plenty of switching and more challenges than can be fitted into a single lifetime – what a great hobby!
As a postscript – my wife and I have had some great holidays chasing trains and getting those detailed photos of the next modelling challenge (fortunately she thinks it’s pure accident that finds those railroad tracks!). Recently we visited India – wow! Fortunately I don’t know of any models of Indian prototypes, particularly the rack railways in the Western Ghats, the mountains just wouldn’t fit in the garage. I guess I’ll stick with North American, but it was a thought!
REGISTRAR NEWS FEBRuARY 2012
 NamE
Richard Spencer adrian Stretton Rod furr
ashley pollard Don payne George p. Neyman
aDDRESS Eastbourne bristol Garmouth Shepherds bush poole
TElEpHONE 01323 520578 n/a 01343 870429 07534 605365 01202 2566887 01204 594827
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RaIlROaD(S) y/N* n/a n/a
Up-CNW, bN y Various y p&SR-CNS&m-Ca&ESp-NyC y Various y pRR y
bolton
David Swash has moved to New milton, 01425 615411
CHaNGES Of aDDRESS
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