Today is the second day of the 2024 Great British Train Show at the Jim Archdekin Community Centre in Brampton. It’s supposed to rain and be hot today, so what better way to spend the day than at a train show! I’ll be there, mostly hanging around Brian Dickey’s 7mm Roweham layout trying to not embarrass myself using the 3 Link couplers!
Scenes from day 1 of the 2024 Great British Train Show and Brian Dickey’s Roweham layout. We also have our out of Towner Mr. Marshall, formerly of Toronto, currently of Saskatoon with us.
I’ll do a more fulsome show report later in the week, but for now if you’re in the GTA, doors are open 10-3 today. Lots of layouts and vendors to see!
If you are looking for something to do next Saturday, April 16th, I will be giving a clinic on modelling a pair of TTX Heavy Load Flat Cars and a British Railways A4 Pacific steam locomotive load. There are some truly outstanding modellers presenting on a variety of topics at the Virtual Railway Prototype Modellers Meet (RPM), and I am honoured to be among them.
If you are interested, it is free, and registration is through the Speedwich Media site. The flyer with all the presenters and the schedule is below.
ED: UPDATED JAN 30 TO ADD DETAIL PART LISTINGS AT BOTTOM
ED2: UPDATED JAN 31 TO REMOVE SOLD ITEMS
ED3: UPDATED FEB 8 TO REMOVE SOLD ITEMS
So, in the absence of Train Shows (and frankly, I don’t have enough surplus stuff to justify a table at the moment if there were shows), These are all items I’ve bought over the years, I’m the original owner for them all. They were bought/built either before I had a layout, or for my old layout in my parents basement. I have resisted trying to sell things online, but, I would like to both free up some storage space, and find a home for these items that aren’t needed for me and which have lots of life left in them, so here goes nothing!
I am going to try this here. I am also listing these items on the Groups.io HOSwap list over the weekend, same prices and terms in both places. This is an early offer for anyone who reads the blog just in case before I post them on an open forum. Because the forum has some specific rules, they apply here too. Sales are first come first serve. Email me at sjgardiner [at] hotmail [dot] com if you are interested. I am in Toronto Canada, ordinarily, if you were local I would say we could meet in person, with Covid, that is tougher, but we can maybe work something out. For anyone in the US, I’d ordinarily have offered to drive to Buffalo if you were willing to wait a couple of weeks to save on shipping with USPS, but hey, we are where we are. I don’t really want to deal with overseas between shipping cost and current mail uncertainties, but if you really want something, we will see what we can do.
Payment from Canada is email transfer or PayPal. Payment from USA is PayPal only.
Shipping is with Canada Post ONLY. Rates based on estimates from measuring/weighing boxes are below:
For items to addresses in Canada, it is $20 for non-locomotives, and $27 for locomotives, shipped by Expresspost.
For items to addresses in the USA, it is $20USD for non-locomotives, and $25USD for Expedited Parcel (6-9 Days).
The Detail Part/Lights should fit in an envelope. Based on that, it would be $15US/$15CDN for shipping and a padded envelope for them.
If you want multiple items, I will combine shipping, it should be cheaper to send multiple items.
So with that, the listings, Prices provided in US and Canadian dollars for everything:
Life-Like Proto 1000 RDC (DC) Canadian National D-250 Item LL239715- $50US/$65CDN
Life-Like Proto 1000 RDC. Has had safety chains added across end doors, and CNR Style Triangular number board on one end as per prototype. DC. Runs well. All original packaging, instructions and manuals in box.
Detail Parts/Odds/Ends Batch(s)
Various Diesel and Passenger Detail Parts – $20US/$25CDN
This is an odds and ends dump. The following items are in the picture and included:
Keystone Locomotive Works F Unit Cab Interior. Item HO3301
Prototype Model Industries, VIA Rail Operation Lifesaver Decal Set
Etched Grills for AMD103
Cal-Scale 626 – Nathan K6LA Horn with Shields
Incomplete Details West Part 271, Athearn AMD103 Detail Kit
2x Details West AF-308 Air Dryer Filter Box for GE/GM Locomotives
Details West PL-378 Amtrak P40/42 Plow
Details West BE-127 Frame Mount Bell
Details West RA-274 Sinclair Antenna Long
Tomar H-161 Heavyweight Tailsign (“CP”)
American Limited Models 9150 – Athearn/MDC Diaphram Kit
Miscellaneous Trees (Woodland Scenics Armatures) – $20US/$25CDN
A variety of Woodland Scenics Trees salvaged from my old layout. Mostly deciduous, there are a few small pines mixed in.
So, two of my friends and fellow modellers are amongst the co organizers of a series of Virtual RPM (Railway Prototype Modeller) meets. They convinced me for their upcoming 5th event on December 5th, to give a presentation on my layout and the prototype I am modelling. So, with that in mind, I am making sure any readers who might be interested in listening to me ramble for half an hour on their Saturday afternoon, instead of reading the blog can do so!
There are also, lots of other interesting clinicians, that may even interest you more than hearing me ramble for half an hour! They have been enjoyable, and they can be on in the background while you work on models at your workbench! The Virtual RPM keeps the learning going, even if some of the social aspects of a gathering of model railroaders aren’t there in 2020!
Free Registration is through the Speedwitch Media website linked here. The presentations are not recorded, so this is kinda a one and done deal if you are interested. All times in the flyer above are eastern timezone. Again, it is a free event, so its a great way to learn from other amazing model railroaders.
So, in a world where we do almost everything online now thanks to Covid-19 and various levels of lockdowns and isolating we are doing, three modellers decided to organize a virtual Railway Prototype Modellers (RPM) meet to bring modellers together/apart. Ted Culotta (Speedwich Media), Ryan Mendell (National Scale Car) and Hunter Hughson (The Niagara Branch) organized and hosted the event called “Hindsight 20/20” today via Zoom. I have had a weekly zoom call with fellow modellers in the Toronto area where we basically hang out at our workbenches, have a virtual drink, work on projects and chat. A virtual RPM is a totally different beast, this was an organized and structured event, with modellers from across North America (and I thought I heard at least one person say they were from the UK), presenting on prototype history/research, modelling techniques, and all kinds of things related to being better prototype modellers. With lockdowns and travel restrictions, in person RPM’s across North America have been cancelled, so this is a great way for modellers to still get together and learn from each other while we sadly stay safely apart.
Scenes from a Virtual RPM. The attendees panel and chat between presentations, and shots from a couple of the presentations.
The event had nine half hour long presentations between 12:00pm and 8:00pm, with 15 minute breaks in between presentations and a 45 minute dinner break. I noticed a high of 178 people showing as being connected, which for a first effort at a free event was incredible. Hopefully everyone else got as much out of it as I did. It sounds like they will run more events, there is a Groups.io site for the event, where they have posted information on the presentations from today, and where they will post information about future events when they are planned. It was a great opportunity, and I certainly learned a few things that will definitely help in my work in building the freight car fleet for my layout.
Another experiment in Social Distancing this weekend from the United Kingdom, after the London Festival of Model Engineering was cancelled, one of the organizers came up with the idea for a Model Train Show on Twitter, this would let people around the world share projects and ideas. Follow the link to the hashtag #TwitterModelTrainShow if you want to go down the rabbit hole, otherwise, my Tweets are linked here for anyone interested.
Since the London Festival of Railway Modelling isn’t happening, The #TwitterModelTrainShow is, so the next few tweets are a tour around my collection and layout room. Starting off, the shelf queens in the display cases! A variety of British and Canadian models of locos I love. pic.twitter.com/zcsfjyGNz0
I saw a lot of great modelling, and a lot of people who love trains participating in this, and that’s a great thing that hopefully lifts up peoples spirits. The Toronto Railway Museum is doing its own Virtual Model Train Show next Saturday, on March 28, 2020, if you’re on Twitter and feel like taking part, I can assure you it will be appreciated.
Musings on my Model Railroading Addiction 