Page 10 - NMRA Roundhouse September October 2020

O nce upon a time (not many years ago)
there was a model
railway journal enti- tled “AW’NUTS!“ (an acronym from
“Always Whimsical, Not Usually To Scale”.) It was an antidote to the super-serious pursuit of authenticity (known in its extreme form as “rivet counting.”).The aim was to liberate the imagination and have some fun. The inspiration for this AW’NUTS layout came from Rowland Emett.
Roland Emett (1906-90)
~ was a cartoonist in the Heath Rob- inson tradition but, unlike Robinson, he actually built zany machines. In 1968 he constructed all the inventions (including the flying car) for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But my interest goes back long before that.
During the 1940s nearly every edition
of Punch carried a cartoon by Emett. In 1944 he introduced Nellie ~ a whimsical locomotive inspired by a visit to Col Ste- phens’ decrepit Selsey Tramway.This was followed by other equally strange locos, pulling an increasingly improbable collec- tion of rolling stock, running through a bucolic parody of rural England.
In 1951 someone had the bright idea of asking Emett to realise his fantasies by designing a ride-on train to run in the Battersea Pleasure Gardens (one of the
two Festival of Britain sites.) The Far Tottering & Oyster Creek Railway was probably the most successful railway venture ever. It was so popular that tick- et sales paid off the capital investment in six weeks!
The 1953 Coronation Edition of Punch had to have a contribution from Emett and he obliged with drawings of the High Dudgeon to Pelting St Peter section
of the Suffix & Wiltshire Railway. Sub- sequently he built a giant clock mobile called the Cloud Cuckoo Valley Railway.
I’ve modelled a through station. Fairy Toot is somewhere off-stage right, whilst off-stage left is Awkward Hill and Plaster- er’s Green yes, they are also place-names in this parish. Plasterer’s Green calls for a micro-brewery with the advertising slogan of “Get Plastered” and Fairy Toot has a bulk custard factory.
Liveries
The painting schemes of the NT&FT rolling stock require an explanation. From the outset the Company decided to take professional advice about the best paints to use. Mr William Stroud- ley of the LBSC Rly was most obliging and sold us a large selection of suita-
ble paints. Startled by the results, our chairman paid Mr Stroudley a visit.As the latter waxed eloquent about his new
Far Tottering & Oyster Creek Railway, England: Valentines & Sons, 1951, chromolithograph. With kind permission to use from Yale Center for British Art, Friends of British Art Fund New Haven CT
“improved engine green” he realised that Mr Stroudley was colour-blind and that the labels on our paint tins bear no relationship to their contents. Having
a substantial store of these “mystery” paints, we recognise that this is just one of those problems that one must learn to live with.
ROUNDHOUSE - September/October 2020 - 75th Anniversary Issue
MODELLING ARTICLE
The Nempnett Thrubwell
& Fairy Toot Light Railway
Bob Machin
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