Magazines - this month's reading

Once again it seems to be a bumper month on the magazine front.

July Continental Modeller with a nice article on a Dutch urban setting (Hoe) which is exactly the sort of thing suited to being modelled in the Garden in G scale.  A (real) Tramway from Switzerland which again matches the LGB small sightseeing cars.   Swiss Z gauge layout (which I feel I've seen) which are always good to see, given how much Rhb stuff LGB make (even if most of it outside my price range).   Interesting articles on (real) Japanese Trams, American inclined railway with a couple of other layouts (French & Sicilian) of interest rounded off by a couple of scenery articles and the usual reviews.  I don't buy Continental Modeller every month as a matter of course (although I have been following the recent series of scenery articles) and July 2013 is to me a bumper issue of things that interest me.  

July Garden Rail.  Headlining the Linz Gstadt Bann in all its Austrian inspired glory - I'm not quite so Austrian themed but a good look at an interesting railway.  The Roundhouse Darjeeling B loco improved - which is a live steam loco that I really like the look of.  Rest of it is the usual fare of reviews, articles etc.  

Real trains.  I bought this for a chum who had been in/out of A&E a bit and wanted to have a quick flick through it before sending it on. Ended up that there was so much I wanted to read - the A4 Pacifics, really nice picture of the Ffestiniog four  George England Locomotives lined up, the Birmingham New Street renovation, Keith and Dufftown railway (aka the Whisky line) and lots more inspiring pictures and articles. 

OK, so this is the quarterly magazine from membership of the society but ... "fame..." I'm in two photos of the show at Stafford on page 25 - third row down. Both scouting out the bring and buy.  The left hand one is my back and rucsac, whilst on the right were looking at things.  Can't remember what Ann seems interested in unless it was the Hartland Mack (which had gone by the time we returned after a complete circuit) or the box in front.  

Finally, Narrow Gauge World no 88 (July- August) is a bumper issue for me personally.  Again, this is an irregular purchase with with a headline article on the Silverton-Durango and other main articles on the Snowdon and the Mariazellerbahn (Austria) then lots for me. 

February Reading

As I decide to blog more regularly then it also strikes me that the little things get blogged as well.

Since becoming a bit of a train junkie then I've been buying more model railway magazines than I used to.  I say more because I always bought the occasional one when there was something really good in a modelling sense that I could port across to my other hobby of model soldiers.  

So, here's what's on the reading table for February and why....

Possibly not one of the best issues for me (looking for G or On30 or scenery) but I'm suckered into this a bit by Part 2 of Build a Quarry Branch having got Part 1 last month.  Next up is a scenery article on building low relief structures - always useful for gaming and the garden layout may feature some as well.  OK, so the techniques from indoor OO to outdoor G of building are going to be very different, but the principles will be the same.  Finally there was the Build a Snowshed article - which scaled up may become a build a leaf shed...  For me personally, given my somewhat special interests then probably a C+ issue. 

This is not a constant purchase although close.  Star item for me was an article on the real life Pingauer Lokalbahn (Austrian Narrow gauge).  The excellent - if possibly too time consuming for me - series of modelling French Inspired Urban scenes continues.  A German N gauge "shed" layout, which provides some inspiration around the edges e.g. the diesel refuelling tanks.  More on an OO French layout building series.  Probably a B-. 

Last is the very occasional purchase being decidedly HO/OO or smaller (e.g. N) and (essentially) British. 

Two items of major interest int his issue.   3D Printing, featuring of all things a Dutch Tram engine!  I've yet to post Hoorn 2012 visit or videos, but last November I got to see a Steam Tram Engine in the flesh.  Second up was an article on real life small trains - tank engines with a carriage or two, box van or mixture.  Local interest here with one at Tiverton Junction.    Third attention grabber was an article on making your own transfers - but really the "wraps" or "skins" that are seen on some modern carriages and buses and overlap the windows: in the article its footballers.  Add in the usual range of articles on line side detailing and buildings and a solid B for me in this issue.  

Today's Railways: Sassnitz (Rugen) Ferries and The Matterhorn Railway

Today's impulse purchase was the February edition of Today's Railways (Europe) from WH Smiths.  I normally have a quick look through and if there is enough that I want to keep or read in depth then I buy it. I think this is the second issue I have bought.

One gems of this issue is the Sassnitz (Rugen) Ferries article which is about the 1520mm and 1435mm gauge ferries that left Sassnitz for Sweden and Russia.  The 750mm Narrow gauge gets a brief mention but an interesting article.  What I hadn't realised was how the Rugen lines were used for transporting Uranium Ore in the days of the DDR and cold war. 

The other is about the Matterhorn Railway - (Brig-Vest-Zermatt-Gornergrat).  Zermatt is a car free town (some electric service vehicles) and I knew trains were used to bring goods and people in and out.     This is the BVZ home of the famous Steam Pub (LGB 31550), which was an early acquisition for the Iscatalbahn when one came up.  This is a stock picture as mine has been fitted out with some people.  The internet has relatively few decent pictures of this actual coach - mostly its an oblique shot with the emphasis on the loco at the front - for example the BVZ site has a picture of the 4/4 red baby croc with this in the background.  

The other BVZ item (although sold as Rhb) is the 2/2 Tractor, and mine is currently away for chipping and having sound fitted.  

What the article does have is a picture of a railcar hauling away container cars of rubbish (cardboard and plastic are clearly visible), whilst another picture appears to have a low gondola with furniture piled up in.  There is mention of how goods (containers, pallets or boxes) get into Zermatt, and that some 2 axle tank wagons (alas no pictures in the article) are used for fuel.  The internet might reveal some pictures of these though.   (Part of the alternative Bodensee envisages that some of the islands have banned cards but have some light railways and electric vehicles, as do some parts of the Rugen Islands).