Drink Tank Model Trains

8/6/2019 Drink Tank Model Trains

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The Drink Tank Issue 283 - May 2011 James Bacon & Chris Garcia - Editors

Page 1 - Table of Contents

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- Editorial by Christopher J GarciaArt by

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I had a train set when I was a kid. 1860 Briar-

wood Dr.’s garage was famous in the neighborhood for

the train set. It was a piece of plywood on top of two

saw-horses. Dad made it himself. I should have known

that something was up when four year old Chris wasn’t

allowed in the garage for a month. The garage was my

favorite place other than the toybox where I’d throw

out all my toys and climb in with all my blankets. The ga-

rage was transformed, a car never again parking inside.The reason it was famous? It was almost all pa-

per.

Dad, ever a DIY man, made the buildings from

heavy, folded paper. He’d take them from work and

come home and do his version of origami. It was the

kind of origami done with scissors and tape. He’d draw

out buildings and then cut them up, fold them into

shape, install them This allowed him to make hundreds

of different buildings. Sometimes, he’d improvise, like

taking the Quaker Oats tube and turning it into a grainsilo, or the time he turned a mini cereal box into a sort

of Arc de Triumph for the layout. In the three years that

I was interested in it, there were hundreds of different

buildings, that we’d cycle in and out. Dad even made a

three story firehouse that was a near-exact duplicate

of the one that he worked at!

Of course, the trains were the cheapest ones

ever made.

I swear they were made from former plastic

milkjugs. They were cheap, something like 3 dollars a

car, and they were all-plastic. You could only run the

engine for a few minutes before you had to stop and

let it cool or little whisps of acrid black smoke would

come off of it. It was a piece of crap, but it was mine.

Well, it was actually Dad’s, but I got to play withit.

I lost interest when I got into baseball and roll-

er skates and books and my Fisher-Price tape recorder

I would go in and play with the set-up once in a while

but it never held the sway again. We moved from 1860

Briarwood in 1987, a full 9 years after Dad made it, and

we never took it down. It wasn’t until we moved to a

smaller apartment that the set-up was tossed, the cars

and engine along with it, the paper buildings crumbled

up and binned.This issue is about model trains, one of those

things that a lot of us have in common. We loved them

once, some of us forever, and we all have stories about

them.

And these are ours...



It’s a wet and dreary Sunday morning, I feel a

mild fug upon myself as I awaken, I throw down two

paracetamol and following a shower and Coffee I am

alive.

is their overstock storage space and its pretty awe-

some, and brilliant, that well, people like me, twice a

year get to look into the store room, and see all the

cool things.

The Day At The Depot

by James Bacon

Strangely I

question whether I

am mad or just mad.

I am up a little ear-

lier than expected,

I have had a good

eight hours sleep, but

I fell into bed at 2am

following a long but

not arduous shift. In-

stead of lounging or

relaxing I am prompt

about my move-

ments. I start work

today at 4pm. 16 oh

something to be ex-act, but shift working

As I walked

up the sloped road

to the Depot, an old

Routemaster bus

which was running

a shuttle drive past

and made for the de-

pot itself. The smell of

smoke was in the air

and the Acton Min-

iature railway had a

4-4-0 London Under-

ground Metropoli-

tan Steam train, on

a 71⁄4” gauge track

drawing two carriag-es with children atop

is odd like this, so although I don’t have an evening like

a nine to fiver this morning I have a few hours, and my

intent is clear.

It is a very short drive from Uxbridge where

I am currently staying to Acton. Acton is one of those

west London boroughs that has a lot of railway stations

- tube stations - and a pretty serous depot I supposed

the land was available.

East Acton north Acton and West Acton are all

on the central line - East acton is a eight minute walk tomy work at old oak common, Acton central and Acton

south are on the London overground. Acton Town is

on the Piccadilly and district line, while Acton Mainline

is on the Great Western Mainline and I pass through it

when I drive my train.

I drove down to Acton Town, where there are

a number of major train depots, one of which is a de-

pot especially for the London Transport Museum. This

it, puffing away from a covered space, which was the

station in this narrow gauge world. It is a beautiful en-

gine, visiting the AMR which has a permanent line laid

out in the grounds of the Museum.

The metropolitan railway are one of the most

interesting metro railways, having a freight operation

at one stage as well as going some distance out of the

city.

This year, I was focussed on the model rail-

ways which use London Underground as their focusAlthough there was once a London Underground train

set from Ever Ready, it seems to be a railway that has

not had much popularity, as some companies, in the

modelling world. Perhaps its the unusual setting or the

difficult in modelling it, but this means that there are a

more select bunch who go out and model these trains

and also the art of necessity bringing on invention is

quite fervent.



ally a manufacturer of model trains. I got chatting with

one of the men, he explained that they design and

manufacture ready to run ‘00’ scale etched brass mod-

els of tube trains as well as stocking the EFE tube which

can be purchased as static displays or with motors fit-

ted.

The owner John Polley faced many difficulties

building and running his first model, and from this his

company was born and now today they have a factoryworkshop operation in Sri Lanka.

The variety of trains that this model had, the

modern and old Tube and Sub-surface stock, the per-

manent way machines, the Isle of Wight liveried stock

it’s wonderful, and the greatest advertisement for not

only having a model, which is fairly unique, but also for

the will power of people who enjoy the hobby.

On then to London Rd., another timeless set-

ting to allow a number of workings to pass through

This model is some 30 years old, but like many thingshas been renewed, with points and signalling being up-

graded. I especially like the North London line workings

Again a whole fleet of different trains are on hand.

I walk around the museum, which I love, mostly

for its rawness and the fact that it’s a working museum

where not only can you get close to things but get in

and look around. And then I see that as if in some sort

of crazy synchronicity, the greatest London Transport

‘what if’ is sitting there with a south Croydon destina-

tion blind on it. The rear engine Routemaster. It may

look like similar buses of the rear engine period, butthis one is fairly special, it was the failed attempt at

common sense. Routemasters, out lived many hundreds

of the initial rear engine successors, and the work load

and time associated with the rear engine buses took

the bus industry London Transport by surprise. Cost-

ing a whole lot more than expected. Here Robert Cog-

ger explains;

‘The only thing I would say is that it wasn’t re-

ally ‘the industry’ that was surprised. It was just London

Transport, where the standard rear engined models did

not easily fit with its overhaul/refurbishment practise

of literally pulling buses apart and putting them back

together again. The rest of the industry got on with

them just fine. Which is why they were very keen to

buy them all up when London Transport started sell-

ing the earlier models off at a ridiculously early age. It

was basically the inflexibility of London Transport to

adapt quickly that was the problem, and why, ultimately

Routemasters lasted so long.’

‘The way Routemasters (and RTs etc.) were

ERTL make diescast model Underground trains

as static displays, and these form the basis of many a

model, as they are relatively easy to modify to run on

regular HO track.

It also has created what could be considered a

Cottage Industry, Metro Models which have the won-

der ‘Abbey Rd’ model, which brilliantly demonstrates

the different type of stock on the Underground as well

as featuring part of the station – sub-surface- are actu-



overhauled was fascinating. As

a bus drove in one end of the

works the registration plates

and tax disc would be taken

off and put straight on another

completely different bus that

was coming off the other end

of the overhaul line. How they

got away with it for so longI’m not quite sure as it should

really have been quite illegal!

When being overhauled the

body and the running units

would be split up and then

at the end of the process put

back together again, but only

very rarely did the body end

up on the same chassis. The

completed bus would then just be given the number of

the next one entering the

works and the paperwork

swapped as described. That’s

why if you look at Routemas-

ters at rallies they often have a

detailed list showing what dif-

ferent fleet numbers the body

has been associated with over

the years!’

Not exactly what onewould expect when it comes

to maintenance, but sure

there you go!

I then came across

David Tabners London Un-

derground model, made out

of Lego. This is some con-

struction and grows in size

with each viewing, this time it

seems to have gotten higher

as some of the buildings in-

crease in stature, while he has

added new trains, both new

for Vendetta Tube for an Easter

con item, and I hold him in the

highest regard, a very gentle and

courteous man, with an obvious

eye for civil engineering.

There were a number o

people selling wares, a man build-

ing tube stock and a few selling

tube stock, Radley models beinganother notable enterprise that

caught my eye.

I then went to one of the

talks, that was planned for the

day, Christian Wolmar, a journal-

ist and author was on hand to

talk about his latest book En-

gines of War How wars were

won and lost on the railways. He

was later giving another talk, butI had to go to work, so I decided

that this was the one for me, and

it was a brilliant talk, essentially

giving the crowded room a his-

torical overview of the impor-

tance and indeed brutality that

connects the railways with war-

fare in the 19th and 20th cen-

tury.

It is an interesting sub-

ject, crashing two of my personal favourites together, and al-

though I admit I am researching

armoured trains, in various guis-

es in Ireland during the Civil war

it is something that needs more

writing about. Christian seems

to have that open eye awareness

that he brings to a subject that

a journalist can capture where-

as an expert may lose track of

the importance of history being

somewhat entertaining as wel

as enlightening.

to the service and also old trains that are new to the

model. This is always hugely interesting to children, not

that all models are not, but because they all have Lego,

and it’s a realisation of what is possible, anyone can

build Lego...

The trains run around this layout really smartly,

and David is on hand, and I great him, he built us a V

I of course was sold and bought the book.

As time marched on, I watched the model tram

carrying people, with a real electric five foot overhead

line equipment, and departed for my own machinery

less delightful but equally as enjoyable for me at least.



I’ve always liked trains, and I’ve always been

aware that railways have a history. I was born in Barry,

home to the famous Woodham’s scrapyard, where hun-

dreds of redundant steam locomotives were gathered

to be cut up. My family also had modest railway con-

nections – my father was a civil engineer, and in the

sixties worked on the demolition of Crumlin viaduct

in South Wales. My great grandfather was a porter on

the Somerset and Dorset railway, which closed six days

before I was born.

Railway Connections

by Alastair Reynolds

to another country, got a job, and was happily settled

down with my wife to be. Before very long, I was hatch-

ing tentative plans to bring my old trainset out of stor-

age and resurrect it in Holland. I was allocated a spare

bedroom and told to get on with it. I started off by

swearing I’d work to a strict budget, only using second-

hand items wherever possible, and that I’d confine my

activities to a couple of hours each weekend. It didn’t

quite work out that way, though.

Most modellers have what I’d call a core interest

with a few branches. My first love is the Great WesternRailway. While you can get some fantastic models off

the shelf, I really enjoy building and painting things my-

self, and luckily there is a vast range of resin, plastic and

metal kits available. Here’s a picture of City of Truro

(fig 1), which I built a few years ago. It’s a mix of meta

and plastic parts, actually based around an old static kit

which was once part of the Airfix range. The model has

a working chassis and some fine details provided by

etched brass and cast parts. I’ve a particular affinity for

this loco since I used to live in Truro.

“You know, if they didn’t have themodel train, they wouldn’t havegotten the idea for the big trains.”

From Christopher Guest’s A Might Wind

My father also had a small trainset. It con-

sisted of an oval of grey track, a temperamental black

Tri-ang “Princess Elizabeth” locomotive, and a few red

and cream coaches. I remember sitting in a high chair,watching the engine whizz around its loop. Later, my

father laid some track onto a permanent board, and I

had my first model railway. It was a pair of circuits on

an 8’ x 4’ board, on which we operated a variety of

elderly and second-hand models. I used to enjoy po-

sitioning the cardboard buildings made by my mother,

making up little villages and arranging the plastic trees

and bushes into a semblance of woods and hedgerows.

I kept this layout right into my early teens, and it gave

me tremendous enjoyment. In 1980 we dismantled it

and built a slightly larger and more realistic effort in a 6’x 8’ garden shed. I was able to pop up into the middle

like a meerkat. My father and I developed it to a rea-

sonable degree before it had to be dismantled and put

into storage. I wasn’t too downhearted, since by then

I was more interested in spending my pocket money

on more mainstream activities such as prog rock and

Larry Niven. That was pretty much it for me and trains

for the next fifteen years.

By the mid nineties I’d got an education, moved

I also like making buildings, and where possible

try to make them completely from scratch, using cardplastic and a variety of embossed sheets to represent

bricks, slates and so on. It’s therapeutic to start with

an expanse of flat cardboard (I use old office calendars

printed onto thick stock) and after a few hours end

up with something that looks vaguely like a building

Sometimes I follow a scale plan, at other times I let my

imagination rip. This model (fig 2) is one I’m working

on, and is almost entirely plastic; it’s intended to be a

Welsh nonconformist chapel. There’s been some de-

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