Another DMU Diversion (part 2)
With the bodies assembled they were washed and then given a quick coat of primer to see where any joints needed further work before detailing could begin.
The DMBS requires the most work but common to both vehicles I added the door hinges that had been lost in the cut and shut process or the reshaping of the tumblehome (it’s easier to remove the hinges and add them back in later than to try to work around them). Hornby’s moulding of the door lines is far to delicate so these were scribed back in and new roof vents added (from MJT). On the DMBS a hole was cut for the grill on the side and a cut down grill from Hurst models added. The frame is 10×30 thou microstrip glued in place, left to harden and then sanded down to about half its thickness. The surround was then carefully cut to about half its width and the excess removed. The guards doors are the wrong way round for this side only so the details were removed, the window filled in and a new one cut.
The other side is easier with just 2 fillers to add. These were drilled as a 2mm hole and files square. The surrounds are the same as the grill on the other side this time cut down to about 1 third of their width. The DTS is a lot simpler although some (not all) have the same grill as the DMBS in the same place. As always a picture of the actual vehicle you want to do in the time frame you want to do it is essential.
The cabs had a new rainstrip added (the dc kits one is too fine) and destination box fronts from my own etches. The headlights are drilled out as I think this looks better. Trick here is to drill a fine hole first as near as you can to the center then open up with a 2mm drill. No work is needed on the inner end of the DMBS but the DTS needed the (somewhat elaborate) toilet fillers added.
Another DMU Diversion
One of the projects I really enjoyed last year was chopping up a Hornby class 110 body shell to convert it into a class 100 (see here and here). Theres something nice if not a little old-fashioned about taking a razor saw to an old body shell and making something new.
From an RTR point of view Hornby’s 110 was always a bit of an odd choice due to its sphere of operation being so limited. Theres a lot more logic in Bachmanns approach of doing a 108 however to those of us who like fiddling with models the 110 is quite a hidden gem of potential. Due to its profile (which Hornby kind of messed up a bit) and the position of the door windows relative to the main ones its far more versatile than the 108. Some classes of DMU that are possible from the 110 starting point are
- Class 100 (see above)
- Class 103 – ok with a fair bit of work but see here
- Class 104 – the obvious conversion, and the one you tend to see most
- Class 107 – I know this had been done as a limited edition but that was just a reliveried 108, the profile and window positions are wrong so if you want something a bit more accurate, then the 110 is where to start
- Class 114 – For the same reasons as above, stretching a 110 is going to give you a better result than stretching a 108.
Of those it was the 114 that appealed and by good fortune Tysley inherited some in 1987. Thus a 114 is a good candidate for either a Brum-Nottingham or a Brum-Cambridge service.
There are other ways of course, a complete kit from DC kits or a conversion kit for the Lima 117 from Craftsman but I picked up a cheap set of 110 bodies and thought id go this way.
The above image shows the way that the DMBS was cut up to convert it to a 114. The cab and one set of doors are scrap while the new section comes from the TS and the cab is DC kits. The profile of the cab needs adjusting on a bit of sandpaper to match the class 114 profile.
DMBS top and DTC below reassembled. Sections marked as A are new, sections marked as B are original and C are orignal but reversed. Next stage will be to remove the roof vents, fill the joins that need filling and adjust the profile.
The forgotten compromise
When ever we make a model of something we have to compromise. Usually due to materials, time or space but also sometimes due to the laws of physics. Even if we could build an exact copy in every way of a locomotive, using the exact materials, it wouldn’t be the same. It would be so fragile you couldn’t pick it up and even then it wouldn’t be a dead scale weight. Try making a 4mm scale loaded continuous welded rail train, loaded with steel rail and see what happens when you get to a curve!
We accept this, even if some people on forums think they are being clever by repeating it as an excuse to not try their best themselves. New Street is compromised for reasons – the station is scale length but not scale width. There are 2 platforms and a through road missing and the platforms get narrower as they get further away from the viewer. These compromises are considered ones.
However the compromise most people make is very rarely considered at all. In fact it’s seldom even recognised and that compromise comes down to aspiration. How often have you seen people say ‘I cant do that’ or ‘I cant build brass kits’? This applies to layouts too. How often do people set their end point for their layout ambitions on the capabilities they have at the start point? Sure there’s a certain safety in knowing that something is achievable but isn’t that the ultimate compromise? A common one you hear is ‘id love to do p4 but don’t think i could build the track’. Don’t think or do know? It’s a trait of many people that they think they can’t do something because they havent tried it. Surely its better to take the view that there’s no reason you can’t do something unless you have demonstrated to yourself that you can’t? Why just assume you can’t do something you know nothing about? You might have a natural talent at it, something you didn’t know you had, you might even enjoy it!
When I started planning and building New Street I set my target at what I wanted (perhaps with the arrogance and naivety of a 27 year old) not on what I could achieve at the time. I had been working with p4 for 11 years at that point and while I had helped with layouts I had never built one of my own, technically I sill havent! There were things I knew I couldn’t do, things I would have to learn to do along the way and those were just the things i knew about. I didn’t realise at the start I’d be etching my own parts or drawing things for laser cutting. Who knows what else I didn’t, and still don’t, know I have to learn?And that is perhaps the ultimate compromise we make. Not running a 6 coach train instead of a 12 coach one, not using set-track instead of building our own but compromising our ambitions based on where we start from.
Getting started on the shopping centre
As mentioned in the last post, the class 08 springs were a side project, the main reason for my visit to Tim’s was to get started on the shopping center. The ramps at the Wolves end were drawn up as a set of parts in Illustrator and cut put on Tim’s laser cutter. The first of the 2 beams has now been basically assembled and mocked up for a picture.
At the moment the top beam is loosely held on with blue-tac but you get the idea. The Laser cutter has turned what would be a bit of a mission into something that’s been quite a nice project so far and at least assembly wise, pretty easy.
a small side project
The above picture really highlighted just how flat the Bachmann class 08 spring detail is, so I started looking at them with a view to laser cutting an overlay when I next visited Tim’s as a little side project.
Looking at the real thing they are not only flat but bear only a passing resemblance to the real thing with only about half the number of springs represented, the vertical rods could also be improved by shaving them off and replacing with wire.
Above the final result, it needs the weathering to be blended back in but im pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Thoughts on the little people (part 2)
I’ve been looking at little people again. This time a rough mock-up of groups straight from the packet.
The first thing I have found is that I don’t need as many as I think. In the 2 scenes above, with the exception of the front row theres approximately half as many people in the second image and yet the ‘crowd’ looks pretty much the same.
The second thing I have discovered flies against the perceived wisdom of figure painting that has been transferred over from the military modelling field.
I have written before about my dislike of the military style. To me it’s over exaggerated and looks almost cartoon like. In my distant past when I was doing illustration as a job the more real you wanted something to look the more delicate and subtle your technique had to be. In the above image I have simply desaturated the image by 50% and reduced the contrast a bit. To my eye, at least it looks closer to how people should look. I would welcome your thoughts.
Give them what they want.
I had a request for some more pictures of AC loco’s under the roof. Actually under the roof is perhaps the only place I can take a half decent photo of electric locos and units as you can’t see the missing overhead. Previous images have either used the plank, been cropped less than ideally to hide that the overhead isn’t there or have just relied on the viewer to fill it in for me!
New year, same old same old!
I do promise that I will get bored with taking pictures under the roof at some point but a few more that I am quite pleased with.
Using the Brassmasters Bogie with Sprinters
Although I didn’t design my bogie with sprinters in mind they can be made to work with them. It’s simply a case of cutting off the outer end level with the bearing holder and using the inner brake shoes instead of the outer ones to control the bogie.
If I were to design a sprinter specific version I would move the fame down to be hidden by the main bogie frame (and adjust the brakes for the smaller wheels) but a spot of Matt black paint will help hide the frame. Below is the view of the underside.
31st December 2013
Just a short post to thank all those who have followed the site over the last year. While i thought the comment-able workbench would be nice to have I never imagined it would take off the way it did so thanks to everyone who has taken time to read or comment on what I’ve been up to over 2013, its very much appreciated.
For those who like stats you can view the yearly totals by clicking here.
Time for my 2013 year review.
Well 2013 is nearly over and its time to look back on how much of my to do list got done.
To remind you all the to do list was as follows.
- Finish my class 303, 310, 312 and 317 EMUs
- Finish the platforms
- At least get started on the Pallisades
- build the next 2 boards
- Make a start on drawing up my class 116 etches
- Finish a half started rake of BBA and BAA’s
- Start working on rakes of coaches.
- Do more buses!
- Add the wagon section to the site.
Starting from the top, the class 303, 310 and 312 havent been touched but the 317 is done. The platforms still aren’t finished but good progress has been made with board 3 all but done (just smaller details and people to add). While I have nothing to show for my Pallisades building a lot has been done behind the scenes with a collection of parts to be laser cut and window frames to be etched. No progress on baseboard to report but I have been drawing up my replacement sides for class 116 DMU’s. I havent looked at the BBA and BAA’s but I have done some wagons and started the wagon section. No progress on buses to report either but there are a few more lorries and cars complete. I have been busy on coaches and although it’s a small dent in what I will need it is progress. Overall then much better than last year in terms of sticking to the list!
As usual though I have been off topic somewhat with more class 50s, and 86’s rolling off the workbench as well as my class 100/105 hybrid. On the shows front its been quiet but Moor Street has been to a few shows and put on its usual good performance. Calcutta Sidings II debuted at Expo EM north and to be fair for a first show it was really rather good. Yes there were a few niggles but considering the size I think a very positive performance.
So into 2014
More of the same really. I want to get the things on the 2013 list moving along with a firm effort to get the shopping center done (I’m bored of the 3 boards I have been working on to be honest). Also I have an itching to get track building again so here goes…
- Finish my class 303, 310, and 312
- Finish the platforms
- finish the Pallisades
- build the next 2 boards (london end)
- build the 2 none scenic boards that will attach the wolves end to the fiddleyard boards
- Get building on my class 116 fleet
- Finish a half started rake of BBA and BAA’s as well as one of my engineers trains
- Keep working on rakes of coaches.
- Do more buses!
Time will tell!
Looking the other way
So far most of the pictures of the layout look away from the station. Most pictures people take at New Street look inwards. Problem is that while there’s no shopping center in place the common views of the real station don’t really work on the model. Having said that the opportunities are slowly opening up. Below is the latest ‘new’ view of the layout.
It’s not just the camera that is looking towards the building. I plan to use a combination of Laser cutting and etching for the repetitive bits of the main building. Work has started on drawing parts up with a view to creating something solid in the new year. With it comes decisions though.
The above picture (© Andy Thompson and used with his kind permission) shows where I plan to start. Namely with the ramps at the Wolve’s end. The picture also shows the effect that I am still considering with regard to making the layout ‘wet’ (see an earlier post). First decision concerns the sign above the nose of the 87. My era depicts the changeover from the Birmingham Shopping Center to the Pallasades Shopping Center. in this instance that means the above sign or no sign at all.
Before laser cutters the sign would have been quite tricky but now it’s probably the easier option. I’m drawn to the image above though as it appeals to my ‘urban grim’ tastes. I’ll probably go for the none sign version I think!
To see more of Andy’s pictures click here.
15th December 2013
With the completion of the platform canopies for board 3 I can finally start taking pictures that really sum up New Street. I do feel the layout is really ambien starting to get an atmosphere now. For more pictures like the one above go to the class 101, 50, 56 and HST galleries in the stock section.
There goes another angle!
As progress continues on the layout the angles available for photographs get reduced as more stuff gets put in the way. The biggest killer to this will be the overhead line equipment but as all of the track has to be built and fully tested before it can be added that’s an awful long way off yet.
At the Derby end of the station the station approach will cover some of the tracks and these are held up with concrete beams. It’s these concrete beams that are the latest thing to ruin the view.
these are made from wood except for 1 leg on platform 12 which is evergreen square tube. There will be a signal mounted to that beam so the leg needed to be hollow. The basic structures were sprayed with multiple coats of Halfords filler primer to lose the wooden texture. The structure nearest the camera is freelance as the real road is supported by a wall which I have left of the layout to allow people to view the station throat.
Close up of part of the beams on platform 10/11. The camera had picked up the wood grain a bit more than you see in real life but perhaps i should have done more coats of the filler primer. Texture comes from good old Plasticote Suede paint and it is weathered with enamels.
How to model roads
This is an older article that you may have seen on some forums before however its something I am asked about quite often so i thought I’d reproduce it here.
First up the basic structure. I thought long and hard about the camber of the roads but in the end decided to do them flat. The reason is partly ease but also looking at large vehicles they sit level on their suspension and to me a model leaning over doesn’t look right.
The kerbstones are cut individually from 80thou square microstrip, the paving slabs are scribed onto plastic sheet. Don’t forget things like dropped kerbs.
Birmingham had a lot of large kerbstones that were cut from stone, a lot have gone now to be reused in posh buildings. To model them I softened Evergreen strip with liquid poly before attacking it with sandpaper and a hammer. Once I have a suitably distressed strip this was cut into lengths and laid individually.
When ready spray everything with plasticote suede paint. This gives a texture to the surface. When dry spray everything black and then a light dusting of grey primer – you are aiming for a tarmac look to the paint – don’t worry about the pavements for the moment.
Using thinned enamels block in the pavements – you can see how some of the pavement is tarmac.
When dry paint the road with neat thinners and then paint ‘wear’ onto the road. I use browns and blacks for the area where wheels go or not. Pay attention to how dust collects where vehicles don’t go such as arround the pavements, the gravel you get can be represented with pepper at the end. Use the paint neat and using a large flat brush blend it into the wet thinners. You will see I have picked out some paving slabs with a lighter grey – For darker slabs the fastest way is to use grey markers.
Road markings are added using paint markers – I cut templates to help me keep them neat.
These will need a little more weathering to tone them down a little. Once dry spray everything with matt varnish
Its worth considering when your road is set as the time of the year affects the colouring – for example in the winter the roads look much whiter due to salt being spread on the road. In the autumn there are leaves in the guttering etc etc
Due to health and safety people are not asked to lift as large slabs as they were, modern paving slabs are much smaller than they were 20 years ago.
Not all roads are tarmac though, this is how I did concrete
First up paint the area to be concrete with PVA glue – allow it to dry for a bit. When it is dry enough to hold a shape use a nit comb (I had to buy one specially – honest!) to draw lines through the surface.
When set use the plasticote suede paint to give the texture – I needed my concrete browny grey but if you need it grey-grey overspray with primer. Once dry cut in panels with a scalpel and then weather as before. The black tar was added with a fineliner.
Since I wrote this an excellent book, Modelling Grassland and Landscape Detailing by Gordon Gravett has appeared which also deals with roads and especially older worn tarmac. Well worth getting a copy (ISBN 978 1 908763 06 8)
Ready to Plonk
I do understand the simple pleasures of Ready to Plonk stuff (RTP). The idea of opening a box or packet from your model shop and adding to the layout without anything to do. It’s where we all started from I guess. Building New Street RTP had been a rare occurrence on the scenic side and actually comes down to just 2 instances so far where I have used something as supplied without having to modify it or scratchbuild.
On the left the Bachmann traffic bollards and on the right GPO relay boxes from Unit models. In last years new releases from Bachmann I thought there might be another opportunity for some more RTP activities with the announcement of the humble grit box. With no rush on these but knowing I needed some I decided to wait and see but sadly what emerged seems to be a design I havent seen before and certainly not the sort found on the platforms of new Street. (hey there was a chance it might have been, admittedly a slim one!) Bachmann’s commercial skip bins were another potential but the design is too new sadly.
So armed with a few bits of plasticard and some yellow paint and some dimensions from the website of a company that supplies the real thing. I set to work to make my own. The results are below.
Volvo FL6 part 3
Well that’s another lorry all but finished. I was quite pleased with how this turned out considering the castings that greeted me when I opened the box. You sometimes get a better sence of achievement building a poor kit than one that just falls together. Still to add are the windscreen discs, a driver, number plates and the mirrors.
Volvo FL6 part 2
I have to admit I’ve quite enjoyed getting to grips with this. The beauty of a white metal kit is that you can tweak it with low melt solder used as a filler. You don’t have to wait for it to dry and it doesn’t break away when you attack it with files and filler. I decided to do a solid sided box and do away with the windbreak in the end. I also replaced the marker/indicator lights and added the rainstrips from wire. The front panel, below the windscreen was filled with solder, sanded smooth and the panel re-scribed so that it was the same height at both ends! Below is where it is now.
Volvo FL6 from BW models
In the mid 1980’s Volvo developed a new medium sized lorry, the FL6 and a slightly lighter counterpart the FL4. the FL6 cab is quite a familiar shape and many were produced as Fire engines. For a long while I have been aware that BW models do a kit for the FL6 with a curtain side body and on hearing that they are planning to wind down the business in 2014 I ordered one.
Previously white metal road vehicle kits I have built have been very good. With the likes of ABS, Doug Roseman and Langley Models all setting the standard quite high. Sadly the same cannot be said for this kit. 
This is the kit as supplied. The parts all fit reasonably well although there’s a lot of flash to be tidied up and some parts (main floor and roof) need to be bent back to shape. I replaced the front axle with a straight piece of bar as it sat too low as supplied. I soldered the kit together.
Close up of the cab. While the bumper is pretty cleanly cast the cab itself is pretty awful as can be seen. I decided the best approach was to assemble the kit and then set to work on tidying it all up rather than to try and work on separate parts.
The canvas is not much better with a load of imperfections in the kit. To be fair to the manufacturer I did nt contact them with regard to replacing the parts I was not happy with so I don’t know what their customer service would be like in this regard. The side is held in place with blue tag for the picture. Options are to replace it with adapted sides from the Hornby Curtain sided van (which you can tell is how the master was produced) or do a solid sided version.
FAQ Part 1
One of the most common questions I get asked when I tell people I am going to model the shopping centre is ‘What will we actually see?’ So far I have had to try to describe that the intention is to leave off the rear wall of Platform 12 to give the viewer the impression that they are standing on the platform. With work complete on all of the canopies for board three I can now just show you what you will see if you ever come to see New Street at a show somewhere.
This is the view from just under the roof at the Wolverhampton end, looking into the station.
The view from the middle of the platforms looking towards the Wolverhampton end
A few signs of life!
Hopefully these views demonstrate why I felt I have to have the roof on as it just wouldn’t be New Street without it.
At last, the sixties.
The title for this entry comes from a late 80s advert for the humble Mini. Perhaps “a mini adventure’ would get the point across easier to the current generation and might be a bit more apt given that’s kind of what its been!
At the start of the process there were several routes to a model mini, the Springside kit, a HO version (under size), the Cararama version (over sized) or the Corgi one. Since then the Corgi one seems to have disappeared and there’s a version from Oxford Diecast. Sadly both Oxford and Corgi chose to do the earlier version which surprised me a bit. I feel Oxford missed a trick not doing a later one. I’m not talking about the BMC verses BMW type here either.
I chose the Corgi ones and first step is to strip the caked on pain off. For such a small model the paint all but destroys what is some quite nice detail underneath. It also suffers from the same problem as a lot of 4mm scale cars – oversized wheels.
Sticking with one original one this was a simple repaint with replacement wheels from the springside kit (as are all except the orangy one). From left to right numbers 2, 4 and 6 all have new grills again from the springside kit and new rear light clusters (from microstrip) they also have wider back windows and have had the door hinged removed. Number 4 has the original wheels turned down and wider wheel arches added from scrap brass strip added to the inside of the wheel arch and filler.
Number 3 was a bit of a challenge as I was given a springside Mini Clubman kit and try as I might I couldn’t get the kit to look anything like the real vehicle. In the end I just used the front of the nose and grafted it onto a corgi one. The same goes for number 5 (the estate) which started life as a van.
The result is a fleet of minis more suited to a late 80s layout. Still to do are the number plates and tax disks.
This show was rubbish!
Anyone who has ever frequented a forum devoted to playing trains will no doubt have seen comments like the above. Some of us that stand on the less pretty side of layouts at a show may have heard it in person. What seems to be the most common reason for the above? It doesn’t have something of specific interest to the visitor.
Lets think about that for a second, someone spends a day or possibly 2 and some of their hard-earned to go to a show with the expectation that they want to see something they are interested in. If they are truly interested in it they probably have something very similar to what they want to see at home. Why go to such effort to see what you already have. Another one is leveled at magazines – we want to see views we might get at a show! Why? A show is a show – a magazine is a magazine surely anybody with any degree of creativity (and lets face it if you are into model railways you must have some) would use the different ways of presenting their work to showcase different things. I certainly think that a layout article populated with the same sort of pictures you can take yourself at a show is a complete waste of time. What, as the person behind the layout, am I really offering the readers that justifies why they should by the mag or pay to get into a show?
Sadly this inward looking approach is deep rooted in this hobby of ours, so much so that we prioritise models on our own layouts in order of what we like. We all like loco’s so we put a lot of effort in to those, coaches, well yes we need some and the look a bit odd out of the box so we might want to weather them a bit. Road vehicles? Oh god no, we are RAILWAY modellers not car modellers – anything that just happens to fall out of the box will do!
I was at a show the other week and one layout featured a nicely modelled road with a bus depot but all the vehicles where straight from a box – I even saw another layout while setting up taking them from their boxes and straight onto the layout. Why? Why bother doing a nicely modelled road if you don’t care what you put on it?
But it’s not unique to us – not at all. I was a member of a truck modellers forum and the stuff they churned out was magnificent. One example was a virtually entirely scratchbuilt low loader with a tipped from the box Lima 0 gauge tender dumped on it. It looked awful! The point I am getting at is we all do things differently, Railway, aircraft, vehicle, military modellers we do our thing and rarely look at what our counterparts are up to because it’s not what WE are doing. It pays though to look outside off model railways now and then as it can sometimes redefine your preconceived idea of what good is.
The above model (yeah it IS a model) is by Chuck Doan, features no railways and is in a scale most people would never have heard of (12 inch scale) Chuck mixes traditional materials and good old trial and error with modern approaches like 3D printing etc. He’s probably too modest to admit it but his threads are always well documented (including the failures) and its nice to see a true master at work.
Image © Chuck Doan and used with permission
By contrast the above is by a chap called Ali Alamedy who lives in Iraq and only has access to basic tools and materials.
Image © Ali Alamedy and used with permission.
Images like the above really do have an effect on me, they change my ideas of what is achievable and make me want to do better. However I have no interest in the subjects (other than they are run down prototypes). Because there’s no trains that are in BR Blue should I really just pass stuff like this by without a second glance?
Of course not everything other modellers do is automatically better than what we do. I’m going to pick on certain types of military modellers here in that, possibly due to a similar inward looking approach that we railway types have, they have gone down a route of style over reality. I have never liked the over exaggerated skin tones of their figures and their pre-shading approach to vehicles and buildings just doesn’t look like reality. It’s almost like a cartoon. That’s just a personal opinion and there’s no doubting the work and skill that goes into it but it’s just, stylistically, not for me. They probably think my stuff is bland and lifeless and that’s fine too.
If this has spurred a bit of interest in looking ‘outside of the box’ so to speak then you might want to have a look at the following sites
Chuck Doan’s site, Ali Alamedy’s facebook page, Randy Hague’s Flickr page, Anders Malberg’s site, Emmanuel Nouaillier, Stefano Marchetti’s Facebook page, and finally Marc Reusser, modelling with paper
Sounds like history repeating
This is 00 track. It’s what 4mm scale RTR is designed to run on and its never going to go away. It’s a shame as most people will know its wrong but many wont see it as a problem (thats fine as it’s all toy trains anyway). While the subject of ‘better 00’ crops up on an almost monthly basis on forums I strongly doubt it’s ever going to lead to anything. I am all for better 00, not that I would ever be tempted to use it, as anything that gets modellers thinking about and looking at track is a good thing to my mind. Despite standards for better 00 being laid down years ago no one seems able to agree on what they want better 00 to be. Ultimately it’s not going to be any ‘better’ anyway – just wrong in a different way but RTR P4 as a system you can walk into a model shop and buy is just never going to happen. The problem is that 00 has legacy, it’s a standard and things have to be backwards compatible. This is an insurmountable problem and the only way its ever going to happen is for someone to invent a time machine, go back to the early days and change it then, before it got its foothold.
Thing is history is actually repeating itself right now. We are in this golden moment where we can change the future and not end up being discussed on whatever replaces forums 50 years from now as to why did we ever do it like that? It’s not track this time, its sound!
Dont get me wrong, sound got me too – back in the early days when South West Digital and figuring out how to fit it was your only option I was hooked. We were one of the early exhibitors of DCC sound with Amlwch and I wrote about the subject for MRJ. It was great – it was just like the real thing. It slowed shunting down to something closer to reality and the play value was immense. Then after a year or 2 and 6 loco’s the bubble burst. It wasnt enough, something was missing. The problem, it’s too loco centric. Yes locomotives make noise but so does everything else, sound kind of drew my attention to this and the reality was completely shattered. The investment in DCC sound has become my only real regret of my time in the hobby.
Imagine the scenario, you turn up to a show and I am there exhibiting New Street. I am running all of the right services as per the timetable, I am doing all the right loco moves such as loco changes and reversals as per the station working book instructions. Everything is completely as it should be except there’s no stock. EMU’s only have the power cars running, passenger trains have no coaches, freight trains have no wagons. It would be completely unacceptable from a visual point of view to do this but from and acoustic point of view that is exactly what we do with DCC sound. On top of that fans of DCC sound will argue that a model is better for doing it. They argue that as time goes on things will only get better.
Imagine another scenario – the evening parcels train arrives from Derby – It has a 47 on the front and is made up of 10 coaches. I would want the sound for the whole train to be accurate. The loco uncouples and shuffles of to Saltley, I would want the sound to be accurate for a light loco. An 08 starts up from a dock and attaches itself to the rear of the train. I need the sound of an 08 running light. It removes 1 van and parks it in the dock. I need the sound of an 08 and 1 van. A class 31 arrives from Saltley – Light loco sound required, It attaches to the train and departs so I need the sound of th same train with a different loco and one less van than I started with. The 31 is having to be worked harder now too. Taken further the curves from New Streets Eastern end are tight – you get wheel squeal. The train sounds different in the tunnels and going over the bridges.
When you think about something like the above a sound decoder in a loco which responds to movement and some additional functions is never going to be able to get anywhere near what I want. It’s an evolutionary dead end. But as sound takes hold and takes us in the direction it chooses right now we are repeating exactly what happened with 00 track. There will become a point when DCC sound has legacy and it will become impossible to change. We are not there yet!
New book on New Street
Recently released is this neat little book on the History of Birmingham New Street by Mark Norton and published through Amberly Publishing. Its 96 pages of a bit over a5 size and it pretty much all photographs. The book follows New Street’s evolution in chronological order ending with a short piece on what the current rebuild promises. Much of the content from the late 40’s until the mid 60’s was taken by the authors late Father and this is perhaps the most interesting part of the book. The periods either side having a very slight feeling of padding but to be fair, and certainly with regards to the 70’s onwards, this timeframe is my interest so the book provides little in the way of new material of info. (im sure im probably unique in finding it that way). Well worth the £14.99 asking price in my opinion.
ISBN 978-1-4456-1095-5
What is down those ramps?
On the surface the ramps towards the western end of New Street were used for transporting mail and other services between platforms. If you ever visited the station when BRUTE trolley’s were in use you could often see trains of them appearing from the gloom. Its one of the reasons that the more common 3 wheeled Lansing Bagnall TOER platform tugs lost out to the more heavy duty Reliance Mercury types as depicted above. However the story goes a bit further than that in that there was (is) quite a subterranean underground system under the city centre. From the platforms of New Street mail could get directly to the mailbox without ever seeing daylight via quite a substantial tunnel. Occasionally this is opened to the public and more can be seen here
What is Anchor?
As kids we all thought the ramps led to a top secret nuclear bunker and that’s not actually all that far from the truth as there is indeed a hardened facility under Birmingham, built in the event of an atomic attack. Its one of 3 during the 1950’s, designed to house and shield communication systems from a Hiroshima sized atomic weapon exploding nearby (although it would never have survived a direct hit). It was called Anchor after the hallmark of Birmingham’s Assay Office. The other bunkers were Guardian in Manchester and Kingsway in London. Anchor is the largest of the 3. There is a rumour of a 4th facility under Glasgow but no evidence that it ever existed has ever come to light.
It was built under the cover story of Birmingham’s underground railway system and cost £4 million pounds. The public were later told that the underground system was not viable and had been abandoned but Anchor was completed in September 1957 and was soon automatically handling 250,000 calls a day. The main site is located underneath the BT tower on Newall Street. The construction site entrance for Anchor was located opposite Moor Street station and later became public underpass.
The main tunnel at Anchor was roughly the same size and shape as those used on the London underground and went out to Hill Street and then to Essex Street passing under New Street station. It is not clear if the anchor tunnels and the Post office tunnels are actually linked together but some ex postal workers have stated that they could get from New Street to the other post office at the top of hill street via the tunnels. It is also claimed that the mysterious heavy duty and strangely small, door that was part of the LNWR stables building at the end of platform 1 was also linked to a tunnel that took you to Hill Street. 
Anchor had its own water supply in the form of a 300 ft deep well under the site as well as the obvious air filtration systems but it was only ever designed to keep communications running and not as the site of the salvation of the Brummy masses, the idea of some huge facility that can house the population at the end of the world, anywhere in the world is probably nothing more than Hollywood myth and wishfull thinking. Indeed the air systems were as much to keep the air cooled machines running as anything else. The main entrance was via a lift at the back of Telephone house (between Fleet street and Lionel Street) and the entrance was protected with blast doors.
Anchor was only ever put on full alert during the Cuban missile crisis and was officially declassified in the late 1960’s with various members of the press being allowed to visit the site.
Such was the pace of Nuclear weapon development that all 3 exchanges were obsolete before they were even completed but Anchor continued to remain operational until the late 1980’s. Its is now, reportedly, abandoned and suffers regular flooding from Birmingham’s rising water table (the result of the decline of heavy industry in the area)
So whats left?
The main site is still there unless the recent closing of the underpasses was a cover for somehow removing it or filling it in, unlikely givent the timescales. There is still some evidence of its existence above ground. 
On the left one of the ventilation shafts which can be seen from the A38. On the right a mysterious but very secure looking BT doorway virtually opposite the entrance to Snow Hill station which is sometimes said to be an entrance. I have to admit, that while i know no better the concrete looks far too new for something supposedly built so long ago. There is also a goods lift still visible on Lionel Street.