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8/6/2019 Drink Tank Model Trains
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/drink-tank-model-trains 1/7James Bacon Editors Chris Garcia [email protected]
8/6/2019 Drink Tank Model Trains
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/drink-tank-model-trains 2/7
The Drink Tank Issue 283 - May 2011 James Bacon & Chris Garcia - Editors
Page 1 - Table of Contents
Art by
Page 2 - Editorial by Christopher J GarciaArt by
Page 3 -
Art by
Page 4 -
Art by
Page 10 -
Art by
8/6/2019 Drink Tank Model Trains
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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...
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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.
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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-
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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.
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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-