NEWSLETTER MAY 2020 In this issue: p1 - PEMRC Calendar p2 - Crossword; SteamPunk p4 - Online Course p7 - Layout Construction p8 - Famous Railways p14 - Travel ideas p15 - Kathy Millatt interview p18 - Famous Locomotive p19 - Gallery p20 - Committee; p21 - Track Plans p22 - NHS Competition p24 - Tailpiece
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PEMRC NEWSLETTER
MAY 2020 # 5.1/2020
PEMRC CALENDAR: COVID-19 Lockdown has curtailed our activities for most of March and April, but this is what is planned provided there is no extension: Sat 25
April 2020
Tue 28
April 2020
Workshop
Sun 3
May 2020
Public running day
Tue 12
May 2020
Workshop
Sat 23
May 2020
Layout visit at: Charl du Plessis
Tue 26
May 2020
Workshop
Sun 7
June 2020
Public running day
Tue 9
June 2020
Workshop
Sat 20
June 2020
Layout visit at: Roy Grobler
Tue 23
June 2020
Workshop
Wed 2
Dec 2020
1421
Aug 2022
Demonstration
4th Saturday morning
Mike Parson’s 10:00 Postponed to Covid-19 18 Mowbray Stdue Newton Park
lock-down
6 Corrice Road Charlo juanpierrekruger@gmail.com
19:30
J-P Kruger 082 321 2233
Port Elizabeth Model To be confirmed Locomotive Society Londt Park, Sunridge Park
10:00 to 13:00
1st Sunday monthly
6 Corrice Road Charlo juanpierrekruger@gmail.com
19:30
J-P Kruger 082 321 2233
26 Richardson St Summerstrand charl40winks@gmail.com
14:30
Charl 082 450 7052
6 Corrice Road Charlo juanpierrekruger@gmail.com
19:30
J-P Kruger 082 321 2233
Port Elizabeth Model Locomotive Society Londt Park, Sunridge Park
10:00 to 13:00
1st Sunday monthly
6 Corrice Road Charlo juanpierrekruger@gmail.com
19:30
J-P Kruger 082 321 2233
9 Temlett Street Grahamstown
14:30
Roy 072 249 0737
6 Corrice Road Charlo juanpierrekruger@gmail.com
19:30
J-P Kruger 082 321 2233
International Day of the Model Railway PEMRC event on Saturday 5 Dec. 2020 tbc
NMRA National Convention Birmingham, UK
Please support these events 1
Crossword Puzzle courtesy of Great Rail Journeys
BASSETT-LOWKE SteamPunk So this is the new world; a world of mad science, Eco warriors beneath the waves and empiric wars. The three mast clippers are now too slow to get their precious cargo past the devastating submersibles of those that despise empires, whilst the horse and cart falls constant prey to the hungry lizards that slip through the streams. The tea must get through though, the world demands it. Wenman Joseph Bassett Lowke is one of those concerned; a seasoned maker of steam boilers, industrial brewing equipment and proud owner of some of the finest aromatic tea plantations across the world. That precious crop had to be delivered; he needed a fast, reliable solution and when you know a thing or two about steam power you know just the mavericks for the job. 2
Foreman, Cornelius Chuddery, rounds up his team of skilled train jockeys - they have the nerve and they have the engines. With lucrative bounties on the line for getting the goods in first, the task of getting the tea across the new world is back on. The clippers had been good for their time but now the world needs trains and fast ones!
Boston Grey is the sort of man who knows how to inspire the lords and ladies; with a rakish smile and top hat to match, he and his bright young things would make a party of getting the tea through. Fuelled with lashing of aristocratic madness their tea party could win every race and have fun being bounders as they sabotage the efforts of their rivals. They call themselves ‘The Hatters’. Rosie Rivette is a wartime factory foreman, stood proudly alongside her sisterhood; they are embracing change and are damsels in distress no more. By repurposing the great diesel machines they had silently built, run and maintained (as the men folk fought in the many wars) they will prove the not so fairer sex were the gals for the job. Emblazoning their engines with the art of empowered women they took to the rails as the ‘Diesel Dames’. Adder Stone has a keen sense of adventure and he knows across the back yards of the empire the true heroes labour in their outbuildings. The real inventors, with a make do and mend attitude, if anyone deserves the rich bounties for getting the tea through, it is the unsung back yard grafters. Salvaging all they can from wherever they can; they built engines from their hoards of scrap and stitched them together with blood and spit to become the ‘Coop Commandoes’. Build an imaginative world of innovative trains as they race the precious cargoes of Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke across a perilous SteamPunk landscape. View collection: 3
WORKING LIVES on BRITAIN'S RAILWAYS: RAILWAY HISTORY and HERITAGE Free on-line Course by The University of Strathclyde, an international technological university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Discover Britain's industrial heritage and learn about the lives of British railway workers from 1840-1914. Join course for free and you will get: access to this course for 6 weeks https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/working-lives-on-the-railway On this course, you will investigate the professional lives of the men and women working on the British railways from the 1840s until the First World War. Using archival materials from the National Railway Museum, you will learn about the mental and physical hardship endured by railway workers, as well as the risks and pleasures that came with working in this new industry. From Irish Catholic navvies to female office clerks based in industrial cities, you will discover the surprising diversity and complexity of the railway workforce. You will learn about four categories of railway worker: Engine-drivers Signallers Navvies Clerks Most FutureLearn courses run multiple times. Every run of a course has a set start date but you can join it and work through it after it starts. By the end of the course, you'll be able to: Discuss the range of activities involved in working on the railways in the long nineteenth century, and how these changed during the period covered by the course. Assess representations of working lives on the railways and railway artefacts and discuss how they relate to wider questions of class, gender, and professional identity. Explore written and oral material on workers’ lives within the appropriate historical and material contexts. Perform searches in the online resources of the National Railway Museum and other archives for material relevant to railway history and workers’ lives. This course is designed for anyone with an interest in railway history and heritage, workingclass history and culture, industrial heritage, the Victorian period, or museums and their holdings. The course has been developed and is presented by The University of Strathclyde, an international technological university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Kirstie Blair is the Chair in English Studies at the University of Strathclyde and currently leads the research project 'Piston, Pen & Press: Literary Cultures in the Industrial Workplace. Dr. Oliver Betts is the National Railway Museum's Research Lead. He oversees the academic and research profile of the museum and has a deep love of all things Victorian and Railways! Karen Baker is the Railway Museum's Librarian and my role is to help orientate all levels of researcher to find the answers to their railway-related questions. 4
LAYOUT CONSTRUCTION We all have learned the expensive way through hindsight that planning is everything. But most often the excitement overtakes us and we start construction ‘prematurely’. Not that anything was viewed prematurely when we went ahead, but it is only with the virtue of hindsight that we have difficulty admitting that we were too hasty to get going. Then of course, is any planned layout ever complete, not to be added, amended, reconstructed at some point anyway? My layout started with a base board instead of the open girder design which would have avoided many of the later shortcomings which is the topic of this article. I always wanted variety in movement incl. shunting yards, mainline, branch line, zig-zag line; more than one level with mountain, spiral tunnel, river, harbour, if possible, and add some mystery with the use of loops and tunnels. Those of you who have visited my evolving layout will recall that Murphy is always around ensuring that derailments will occur in inaccessible places.... Seeing what the professionals do at Miwula, made me realise that there is a way to get light in the tunnel. Most of their scenery is built as modules which can also be swapped out when required. Therefore, my involuntary creating of access holes or hatches can become a disguised scenic item. The backside of the mountains only need a few screws to be removed to get access but even that is sometimes not enough. My first planned hatch as a disguised scenic item was the vineyard next to the river; vineyards from Model Scenic Products. The screws were later replaced with fridge magnet strips (Thank you Dirk for that tip!).
Later the farmhouse scene was built on polystyrene to give a second wider hatch on the same line. 5
A hatch with magnets that still needs to be completed with scenery (probably will become a cattle loading dock). This is the same loop line which runs underneath the vineyard.
I never thought that a “short” tunnel would require a hatch, but various issues made it a necessity. This was the first area to experiment with some trees. The hatch was later enlarged and now has a small forest and forester’s house.
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The expansion of the layout with the acquisition from Olaf Schiffl, brought its own challenges of how to integrate the two layouts whilst retaining the optimum features of each. I liked the way he brought in mystery by linking the two legs of his U-shaped layout by going “underground”. It also allowed me to expand the oil depot and this became a movable item from the start since it is located directly at the start of the “underground route”. But that was not sufficient as the pictures will show.
As you can see, the city is far from completion. Please learn from my experience and don’t repeat these ‘mistakes’ if you can avoid them... Roel 7
FAMOUS RAILWAYS: RHAETIAN RAILWAY, Switzerland
Bernina express The Bernina railway is a single-track 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge railway line forming part of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB). It links the spa resort of St. Moritz, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, with the town of Tirano, in the Province of Sondrio, Italy, via the Bernina Pass. Reaching a height of 2,253 metres (7,392 ft) above sea level, it is the highest railway crossing in Europe and the third highest railway in Switzerland. It also ranks as the highest adhesion railway of the continent, and – with inclines of up to 7% – as one of the steepest adhesion railways in the world. The height difference on the section between the Bernina Pass and Tirano is 1,824 m (5,984 ft), allowing passengers to see glaciers and palm trees on the same line. On 7 July 2008, the Bernina Railway and the Albula Railway, which also forms part of the RhB, were recorded in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, under the name Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes. The whole site is regarded as a cross-border joint Swiss-Italian heritage area. The Rhaetian Railway company operates the Bernina Express connecting Chur (or Davos) in Switzerland to Poschiavo in Switzerland and Tirano in Italy by crossing the Swiss Engadin Alps. The train is operated for the purpose of sightseeing. It takes the form of an enhanced regional service between Tirano and Chur or Davos: panoramic coaches with enlarged windows and multi-lingual (English, Italian and German) audio guide on board. It is not an express in the sense of being a highspeed train; passengers must make a seat reservation either directly when they purchase Bernina Express tickets, or pay a small supplement on top of their regional train tickets. The Bernina Express is popular with tourists and connects in Tirano with the Post Bus service via Lake Como in Italy to Lugano in Switzerland. 8
The famous 65m high and 136m long Landwasser viaduct (1048m a.s.l.) The Albula line and the Bernina line on the Bernina Express's route were jointly declared a World Heritage Site in 2008. The trip on the Bernina Express through this World Heritage Site is a four-hour railway journey across 196 bridges, through 55 tunnels and across the Bernina Pass at 2,253 metres above sea. The entire line is 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3â „8 in) (metre gauge) and electrified. The Albula line was constructed between 1898 and 1904; it has been operated by the Rhaetian Railway since its inauguration. The Bernina line was built between 1908 and 1910 and operated independently until the 1940s, when it was acquired by the Rhaetian Railway. The Bernina Express uses gradients of 7% to negotiate the difference in height of about 1800 meters from the summit at Ospizio Bernina to Tirano. 9
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The Brusio spiral viaduct on the Bernina Railway section between Brusio and Campascio.
The viaduct was opened on 1 July 1908, upon the opening of the Tirano–Poschiavo section of the Bernina Railway. A spiral viaduct was required immediately south of Brusio to limit the railway's grade to the required maximum of 7%, so the train would not slip on the way up, or be uncontrollable on the way down. Geological factors prevented the boring of the spiral tunnel that had originally been planned. Engineers therefore decided to construct on the valley floor a 360 degree curve with a 50 to 70 m (160 to 230 ft) radius, and the viaduct forms part of that curve. 21 Jan 2019, shortly after 19:30, southbound Rhaetian Railway Allegra ABe 8/12 # 4657 just over the Bernina pass, draws a curved light track along the frozen and mostly snow-covered Lago Bianco (White Lake).
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Glacier Express - the slowest express train in the world! From Zermatt and the Matterhorn, the panoramic trip leads over 291 bridges and through 91 tunnels over the Swiss Alps to St. Moritz. The Glacier Express winds its way through remote valleys past sheer rock faces, idyllic mountain villages, over the Landwasser viaduct and through the Rhine Gorge, the ‘Grand Canyon’ of Switzerland. It scales the highest point of its journey at the Oberalp Pass with ease at 2033 metres above sea level.
Thanks to the large panoramic windows, a clear view of numerous summits, deep gorges and the UNESCO World Heritage sites, “Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch” and “Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscape” is guaranteed.
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Glacier Express at NeubrĂźck. Stefan Wohlfahrt 13
Time to save up for.....? TRAVEL PLANS: Once things are back to a new normal and you have the means for international travel, here are some ideas to add to your itinerary
EUROSPOOR 2020 If you have an affinity for trains you mustn't miss Eurospoor! Model railway buffs should be getting ready for Europe's largest model railway event, EUROSPOOR, which takes place this year in the Jaarbeurs (trade fair centre) in Utrecht, the Netherlands from Friday 30 October to Sunday 1 November 2020. A surface area of 20,000 square meters will offer visitors the chance to view over 60 model railways belonging to clubs from the Netherlands as well as other countries, extensive model train collections, model-making demonstrations, stands of representatives and retailers, a model railway market of 1000 meter length where train-lovers offer their used trains, accessories and collectors' items for sale or exchange. Now for the 25th consecutive year Most beautiful layouts Buying at low prices Only 7 minutes walking time from the station Parking for 6000 vehicles http://www.eurospoor.nl/en/
EUROPE’S MOST SCENIC RAIL JOURNEYS
Flåm Railway, Norway from Myrdal to Flåm is only 20km but is one of the world’s steepest standard gauge railway lines descending 866m on a gradient of 5.5% that is close to the limit of adhesion of steel wheels on steel rails. Built in 1940 to serve the villages along the 180km Sognefjord, it provides travellers glimpses of the fjord, mountains, Lake Reinunga and a myriad of waterfalls, most notably the 93m Kjosfossen where the train makes a special tourist stop. You could take the Bergen Express from Oslo-Bergen up to Myrdal, board the Flåm Railway and then take ferry or cruise ship from Flåm to Bergen, or... 14
Sunday 14 August to Sunday 21 August 2022 National Model railroad Association, Birmingham, UK “The NMRA National Convention is an opportunity to see the best in modelling from across the United Kingdom and further afield. There will be a full week of train and model related activities, time to be a tourist and all finished off with a large model railway exhibition or train show. If you have never been to a model railway convention before then you are in for a treat. You can choose to come for the whole week to get the full effect or choose to dip in or out for a few days. You will want to see the Train Show. The week starts on Sunday 14th August 2022 with welcome activities and the next 5 days are jam-packed full of clinics, layout tours, prototype tours, general interest and tourist tours, special presentations and displays. Whatever your interest, whether UK railways, US or wider afield, there will be something of interest to you. The convention will be attended by NMRA members and model railroaders/railway modellers at large from across the world. Not only do you have the chance to see layouts and railways you’ve never seen before, we’ll also arrange social events so you can meet up and make new friends.” http://www.nmra2022uk.org/ Check out the relevant pages for more details on clinics, tours, hotels, train show and check our FAQ. This is a first for the UK. They do exhibitions but as yet not a convention with clinics (workshops). Kathy Millatt has been to the USA recently and is also involved in hosting clinics at NMRA 2022.
Kathy Millatt interview Model Railroading - The Ultimate Guide 2019-03 Get to know the U.K. modeller and host of MRVP’s ‘Let’s Make a Scene’ By Jenny Freeland. If you’re looking for a model railroad scenery guru, Kathy Millatt may be your answer. She’s known for her YouTube tutorials on model railroad scenery and as the host of Let’s Make a Scene on MRVP, where she demonstrates various scenery projects on her HO scale New Haven layout. In this exclusive interview, Kathy talks about her introduction to model railroading, her current project, and her experience as a judge on the television series, The Great Model Railway Challenge. Jenny - Model Railroading: How did you get started in the hobby? 15
Kathy: I started, as I suspect most model railroaders do, as a child with my Dad. I had his Hornby Dublo three-rail on a 4 x 8 board. I soon moved on to other things as I grew up, but many years later I visited a permanent model railway exhibition and I remembered how much I had enjoyed the hobby. I started modelling again and haven’t looked back! As a result, I would always encourage people to get their children and grandchildren involved. They may not model for long, but they will remember the fun later in life. J: What about the hobby piqued your interest? K: I really enjoy creating a whole world in miniature, but I also love trying out new techniques, learning new skills, and improving with each project. Model railroads include such diversity from woodwork to electrics, from track laying to scenery, and from building to operating. It means that you never get bored! J: In your Let’s Make a Scene series on MRVP, you demonstrate scenery projects on your HO scale layout. Why did you choose to model the New Haven? K: I wanted to model something that was similar to the U.K. in scenery so I didn’t get it too wrong. I wasn’t sure what to model until a fellow modeller spent an hour telling me not to model the New Haven for a vast multitude of reasons. I’m afraid he didn’t understand women much, because by the end, it was the only railroad I was going to model! J: Have you built other model railroad layouts? K: I like small projects that you can finish. If I was starting in the hobby now, I wouldn’t build a large layout like I have. This is my third large layout, and I find it too daunting at times. I would rather do smaller projects that I can finish. Doing this has enabled me to model everything from workshops and woods in On30 through to my latest OO/OO9 port layout. I’ve also built numerous dioramas to try out different scenery techniques, plus some sci-fi ones which allow more variety. J: Can you tell us a little bit about your latest port project? K: My latest project is a micro layout. 1.1 meters long based on Port Dinorwic, a Welsh port serving the Dinorwic Slate Quarry. It will be based in 1961 when the last mainline train ran there. The port had narrow gauge track running waggons of slate from the quarry via a transporter railway and then down an incline into the port trackage. It was also served by a siding off the mainline from Bangor to Caernarfon. I’m using it as an opportunity to try out new techniques, use my new 3-D printers and experiment with Arduinos. It’s fun, but it takes a while, as everything, including the track, is being scratch built. J: You mentioned that your Port Dinorwic layout is OO/OO9 scale. Can you explain what that means? K: OO is the most common scale in the U.K. and is 1:76, or 4mm to the foot, running on the same track as you use for HO. OO9 is OO scale running on 9mm N scale track. It’s easy to find N scale mechanisms to scratch build with and you can get a lot in a small footprint whilst still at a larger scale. J: What inspired you to start your YouTube channel tutorials? Did you ever imagine you would have such a large following? (23,000 subscribers, wow!) K: I started my YouTube channel because I wanted to be able to show other people how to do simple scenery. I often heard people saying that water was hard, so I started off with a 16
series on water. It’s not as hard as people think, and I hope that I’ve encouraged modellers to have a go. I prefer to learn new techniques by watching someone else do them. I’ve learned Photoshop, Inkscape, and Fusion 360 from YouTube, as well as a host of modelling techniques from moulding and casting to 3-D printing. There are some brilliant terrain channels out there that are not just for model railroads. As I like to learn this way, it was only natural that I would gravitate toward starting a YouTube channel rather than any other type of teaching medium. I already had a website and blog, and this was something new to try. J: What’s your favourite part of model railroading? What’s your least favourite? K: I like scenery best, as it really brings a scene to life. I don’t dislike any particular areas, but bench work is probably my most challenging. J: What are some of your other hobbies? K: I go to the cinema every week and love action, sci-fi, and fantasy movies. The Marvel series are at the top of my list at the moment. I also love playing video games such as Tomb Raider or Halo. There’s something very immersive about being in another world, much like modelling. J: You were recently a judge on the U.K. TV show The Great Model Railway Challenge. Tell us about your experience. K: I had a brilliant experience as a judge on the Great Model Railway Challenge. The actual filming took place over the summer, and I learned so much from the different teams. It was a truly amazing, fun experience. I met up with a lot of the teams recently at the largest U.K. show, Warley. We all agreed on how much we enjoyed taking part, although I think being a judge is much easier than building a layout in 24 hours! There is going to be a second series, and I’m hoping to reprise my role. I have seen so many positive benefits with attendance up at model railway exhibitions across the country, people modelling again or for the first time as families, and hobby shops and clubs seeing new people coming through their doors. In the U.K., model railways have generally been the butt of jokes, and the BBC even made fun of Rod Stewart over the hobby. Starting with Paddington 2 and numerous railway related TV shows, railways and model railways have started to become a more acceptable and thus popular hobby again. That can only be good for the hobby and for its future. J: What advice do you have for women who are interested in starting model railroading? K: My advice to women starting in the hobby is to find a good group who can help them, whether that be online or through a club. I learned so much from other modellers when I started out, and it made all the difference. It’s also inspirational to see others’ modelling, and it can encourage you further in your own efforts. Don’t be afraid to show your work to others and ask for constructive help. Other great avenues for learning are magazines, online forums, videos such as YouTube and MRVP, and exhibitions. You’ll always find people happy to answer your questions. Kathy’s YouTube channel: 17
FAMOUS LOCOMOTIVE:
DMU – Diesel Multiple Unit
Considerable less glamorous than locomotives, the often overlooked diesel multiple unit (DMU) has been an instrumental part of the railway scene for more than 60 years. The Derby Lightweights were the first batch ordered by British Rail.
A pair of two-car Derby Lightweights arrive at Birmingham station in April 1955 Cutting costs was the goal in the 1950’s and steam locomotives were perceived to be expensive to run, required considerable manpower and dirty In Europe and elsewhere there had been remarkable progress with diesel trains. Eventually, it was concluded that significant savings could be made by opting for two-car diesel trains which could be driven by one person in the cab. One of the biggest problems faced by the designers was how to achieve a satisfactory power to weight ratio, given the limited power of the horizontal diesel engines at the time, best of which could only achieve around 125hp. This was solved when it was decided to build the new units using aluminium saving about 5 ton per unit. With two of the 125hp engines under each car, satisfactory performance could be achieved. The Derby Lightweights were the first of more than 4500 DMUs that formed the backbone of the BR modernisation plan. They also paved the way for the largely multiple unit railway we have today.
Two Derby Lightweight two-cars call at Four Oaks, 11 March 1956 18
MODEL RAILROADER GALLERY:
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COMMITTEE 2020: Chairman:
Roel van Oudheusden
roelvanoza@gmail.com
Treasurer:
Attie Terblanche
terblalc@telkomsa.net
Clubhouse: Mike Smout
ma.smout@mweb.co.za
Layouts:
JP Kruger
juanpierrekruger@gmail.com
Librarian:
Carel van Loggerenberg
annie3@telkomsa.net
Editor:
Roel van Oudheusden
pemrailroadclub@gmail.com
Workshops: Graham Chapman
‘Shop’:
chapman22@telkomsa.net
Mike van Zyl
carpencab@gmail.com
Mike Smith
mwsmi5@iafrica.com WhatsApp: 078 069 7699
Subscriptions for 2020 are R300 for the year. EFT is preferred, but the Treasurer may be persuaded to accept cash. Bank account:
Port Elizabeth Model Railroad Club
FNB Walmer Park, branch code 211417, Account no. 623 861 2205 7
Answer to Crossword puzzle on page
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TRACK PLANS
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NHS Livery Competition T&C's 1. To enter post your design livery to the Hornby Facebook and Twitter NHS Competition posts or email your submission to marketing@hornby.com 2. Deadline for livery submission is 23.59 SBT on 21st May 2020. Winner will be announced on 22nd May 2020. 3. Deadline for donations to win the exclusive model is 23.59 SBT on 4th June 2020. 4. The competition is not open to Hornby employees. 5. Maximum of five livery submissions per person. 6. There are no age restrictions. 7. Competition is open to everyone, Worldwide. No country restrictions. 8. Prize for the winning submission is an exclusive Hitachi IEP Class 800 Power Car featuring the winning livery. 9. To win the second exclusive model featuring the winning livery you have to donate ÂŁ5 via our donation link by 23.59 SBT on 4th June 2020. 10. To win the second exclusive model one person will be picked at random from those who have donated. When donating please ensure to share your information with us so that we can contact you should you win. 11. The winners must respond within a week of being contacted. If no response is received by then a different livery design will be chosen and another donor will be chosen. 12. The winners will be contacted using the contact details they submit. 13. Personal information will not be passed to any third parties. 14. No cash equivalent.
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Go and explore the many fun activities and other challenges for young and old here: https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/hornby-kids-zone
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TAILPIECE:
The Railway Magazine 2020-03
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