"A Guide to Trolley Model Building" offers an introduction to an interesting phase of model building for all gauges. Prepared by the Model Traction Guild.

Most modellers, regardless of what scale they work in, rely heavily on the humble plastic or metal kit, and this book will help both novice and more experienced modellers to achieve the very best results. George Dent presents here a clearly written foundation course in constructing rolling stock from kits.

Many railway modellers include an engine shed somewhere on their layout. However, all too often the shed is squeezed into a quite improbable location and is little more than a place to 'park' engines when they are not in use. This well-illustrated and comprehensive book, written by an experienced railway modeller, helps even the beginner to develop a far more realistic approach and to capture the unforgettable grimy but exciting atmosphere of the locomotive shed in the steam era.

Railway layouts often depict a branch line in a rural or urban setting, with the majority of locomotive models available representing passenger trains. However, increasingly, ready-to-run models of industrial locomotives are becoming available, providing the unique opportunity to place them into an industrial context. This highly illustrated book provides all the guidance and inspiration needed to begin placing these models in their natural, industrial environment.

Written by an acknowledged expert, this practical book is essential reading for all those railway modellers who wish to build a bridge or a viaduct for their layout. This new book contains in-depth descriptions and photographs of real-life bridges located around Britain (and one in New Zealand), ranging from the small to the monumental, from which the modeller can gain ideas and draw inspiration. As an essential aid to modelling, the constituent parts of the bridges are described as well as the engineering principles that make them 'work' and the materials from which they are built. Step-by-step instructions and photographs depict the construction in plasticard of five models: a simple girder bridge; a truss-girder bridge; a masonry arch bridge; a plate-girder bridge; and a viaduct. Covers prototype research, taking measurements, modelling materials and tools.

Do you enjoy running model trains but want to improve your layout? Do you want to gain expertise over a wider range of railway modelling skills and acquire the confidence to tackle modelling tasks that you have previously shied away from? If so, this is the book for you. Brimming with advice and tips, this well-illustrated book covers a wide range of modelling skills, including designing a layout, choosing the right scale, building baseboards, selecting the right track, controlling the trains, building the landscape, making realistic grass and weeds, and adding figures. Particular attention is paid to more modern techniques such as DCC train control, laser cut and downloadable kits, and the use of hard foam in baseboard construction. Step-by-step explanations of many techniques are provided accompanied by over 400 instructional colour photographs. Information is provided about the tools and materials required and the extensive range of commercial railway modelling products that are now available.

This book illustrates a journey through Amberdale, as it might have been in the 1890s. Encompassing a wide variety of scene, Amberdale is nevertheless the smallest of the dales-by far, for Amberdale is a model, dreamt up in the mind of its creator and built over a period of some 60 years. Following the river and the railway through the dale, the pictures bring to life the half forgotten age of the horse and the steam engine, the unspoiled countryside, the quiet charm of the villages, the bustle of a market town and the industrial urgency of late Victorian England. The book describes an extensive and impressive model, yet emphasises that it is not dependant on particular modelling skills or extensive academic research, but on imagination and enthusiasm. It suggests an adventure of any extent open to anyone, and it is hoped that the pictures will entertain and inspire those who build models and. those who do not. The trains wind through the valley, the trams rattle along the streets, the mill wheel turns under the elms.... Welcome to Amberdale.

Once seen as a niche practice, the craft of weathering has now become firmly rooted in the railway modelling mainstream. Not simply a means of rendering models in layers of dirty paint, weathering involves a myriad of techniques aimed at improving realism, including distinctive surface textures, highlights and shading, burnishing and peeling paint finishes. The weathering process beings out the best in a model, making moulded relief or a lustrous livery really stand out. As well as replicating the real world more closely, weathering also helps a model to look at home within a scenic setting. Aimed at modellers of all abilities and eras, this book is an essential guide to creating the most realistic locomotives and rolling stock in any scale.

This book describes how to make two vertical and two horizontal copper boilers with a capacity of less than three-bar litres. All four boilers are heated with liquid petroleum gas (LPG) contained in small refillable or disposable tanks. With over 285 colour photographs and diagrams, it includes the tools and equipment required, together with important safety considerations; how to work the various materials to make the necessary parts; step-by-step instructions on the technique of silver solder; the testing regime; a review of various sizes and shapes of gas burners and how to connect them; instructions for building replacements for the well-known Verto boiler, a vertical boat boiler, a portable-engine boiler and a Cornish boiler with Galloway tubes. Finally, there is guidance on the efficient operation and essential maintenance of steam boilers and safety calculations and a list of useful contacts.

This book demonstrates the many different modelling techniques used in the creation of realistic historical buildings and convincing imaginary or fantasy structures. Aimed at the railway and diorama modeller, it includes photographs of existing structures, detailed illustrations and plans, followed by step-by-step photographs of the various stages in their creation; practical tips and constructive advice are provided alongside. Special emphasis has been placed on the use of scrap and low-cost materials. It gives guidance on modelling imaginary buildings and structures, with an example project presented from start to finish and also a complete fantasy-based model railway diorama, from concept and design through to the completed layout is covered. The author has written this book to inspire the modeller to try something innovative, and to attract new entrants to this creative hobby. Drawing on his own experience, he shares practical guidance to help the reader to produce models they will be proud of.

Modelling the East Coast Main Line in the British Railways Era follows the construction of an East Coast Main Line layout in 00 gauge, based on the Little Bytham prototype. Little Bytham, nestled in rural Lincolnshire, is the station nearest to where the fastest steam exploits in the country were achieved. Nearby, the Flying Scotsman became the first steam locomotive to reach 100 miles per hour, Papyrus broke the world speed record for a non-streamlined locomotive, and Mallard set the current world speed record for a steam locomotive. This practical guide escorts the reader through all aspects of constructing an East Coast Main Line layout and topics include baseboard construction, track laying and ballasting; wiring and making signals; modelling scenery, buildings, locomotives, carriages and wagons and how to plan an operation sequence.

This informative book provides a step-by-step account of the construction, from scratch, of a model railway called Dovedale. The model is operated like a real modern railway and was built entirely by the author within a strict low budget, using, wherever possible, recycled materials. Moreover, Dovedale is based on a specific prototype that exists in Buxton in Derbyshire, where freight trains run into an interchange siding, the locomotive runs round the train and then departs to a different destination. Some model railways are operated somewhat chaotically and are characterized by frequent derailments and locomotives that stop arbitrarily. If you wish to move away from this kind of layout and construct a model railway that operates realistically and reflects more closely the way that railways actually work in the second decade of the 21st century, then this is the book for you. Whilst constantly emphasizing realistic operation, the book covers layout planning and construction, controllers, point motors, power supply, cables and connectors, ways of operating traffic flows, signalling, track droppers, control panels and wiring, control and interlocking, lighting, sequence and block bells, the use of closed circuit television, and much more.

Locomotive kit building remains the best route to achieving a varied range of motive power in most scales but it also retains a mystique, being associated with expert modellers and expensive tools. However, in this invaluable, richly illustrated volume, George Dent demonstrates how anyone can successfully assemble working kits with only a modicum of inexpensive equipment and experience. All aspects of assembly are covered in detail including working in plastics, resin and metal; the very basics of working and joining materials; installing ready-made power units and performing more complex operations, such as assembling etched metal chassis frames and intricate valve gear.

N gauge is the most rapidly expanding of all the model railway formats and if you want to take advantage of its huge potential, then this is the book for you. The author explains exactly what N gauge is, its history, its advantages and some of its possible disadvantages. He begins with a train set and progresses through choosing a prototype and designing a layout, to a practical demonstration of how to build a baseboard, to designs for open-topped baseboards and fiddle yards.

A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE GUARDIAN: 'DEEPLY PLEASURABLE' A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE SPECTATOR: 'WHAT A JOY' 'Magnificent' Guardian 'A towering achivement' Financial Times 'Inventive, bold, unexpected' Sunday Times 'Everything that makes the novel worthwhile and engaging is here: warmth, wit, intelligence, love, death, high seriousness, low comedy, philosophy, subtle personal relationships and the complex interior life of human beings' Guardian 'Not since William Boyd's Any Human Heart has a novel captured the feast and famine nature of a single life with such invention and tenderness' Financial Times 'There is a pleasing sense of having grappled with the real stuff of life: loss, grief, love, desire, pain, uncertainty, confusion, joy, despair - all while having fun' The Sunday Times 'Instantly immersive, playfully inventive, effortlessly wise' Observer 'Masterly: a cabinet of curiosities and delights, packed with small wonders' Ian McEwan 'A real masterpiece. A funny, touching, profound book that made me cry like a little girl on the last page' Leila Slimani 'A remarkable accomplishment, a true gift to the world' Michael Cunningham 'Ardent, gripping, and inventive to the core' Jhumpa Lahiri Marco Carrera is 'the hummingbird,' a man with the almost supernatural ability to stay still as the world around him continues to change. As he navigates the challenges of life - confronting the death of his sister and the absence of his brother; taking care of his parents as they approach the end of their lives; raising his granddaughter when her mother, Marco's own child, can no longer be there for her; coming to terms with his love for the enigmatic Luisa - Marco Carrera comes to represent the quiet heroism that pervades so much of our everyday existence. A thrilling novel about the need to look to the future with hope and live with intensity to the very end. THE NO. 1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER Over 300,000 copies sold Soon to be a major motion picture Winner of the Premio Strega Winner of the Prix du Livre Etranger Book of the Year for the Corriere della Sera

Despite modern appearances, colour light signalling has been around since the 1920s and is just as full of subtle details and variations as 'traditional' semaphore signalling. The inclusion of a working signalling system within a model railway layout is technically challenging but adds realism and 'wow' factor. This new book contains a brief history of the development and deployment of colour light signalling in the UK; a basic explanation of how track design influences signalling design; an overview of the different types of point motor and, finally, descriptions of the different components that make up a signalling system and how these components are used and controlled. It is an extensive guide to developing and adding realistic colour light signalling to a model railway layout.

Comprehensive in its coverage, Modelling the Southern Region - 1948 to the Present presents an historical overview of the post-war Southern Region of British Railways before guiding the reader through a series of detailed modelling projects, illustrating all of the techniques and equipment required, from building freight, locomotives and architecture, to modernization, electrification and the third rail. These projects make use of the best available commercial model-making products and provide an introduction to scratch-building your own lineside items. Each project is supported by a short historical background section and suggestions as to how each project could be further developed. The result will be a set of models that sets the modeller on track for a first-class model of the Southern Region.