Happy 150th Birthday to Colonel Holman Fred Stephens. (31 October 1868) For those who do not know the life of Col. Stephens (SHAME ON YOU !), here is a brief summary from Wikipedia . There is also a society dedicated to the Colonel, check it out.
My fictional O scale model railway is of course inspired by the many light railways that the Colonel either built, or saved from total abandonment, and operated on a shoe string budget to keep them going. For more info on his railways and some great photographs, I highly recommend the book "The Colonel Stephens' Railways - View From The Past" by John Scott Morgan.
A brief note about the figure in the photos. It's a really nice casting from Andrew Stadden, very nicely detailed and fun to paint. It's my first attempt at painting a proper 7mm figure. They have other famous railway personalities too.
For his Birthday, the Colonel decided to inspect his latest project, the construction of the Boxer Bay Railway. So far so good, he's contented with the progress.
May his life story continue to inspire many model railways into the future !
Here he is inspecting the loco shed at Windrush Junction. (click on photos to enlarge)
Beginning the new year, I was pondering my "model railway career" through the years that has led me to O scale. I've tried many different scales, gauges, and prototypes. However the turning point was when I purchased a vintage magazine, Model Railway News March 1960.
Inside that issue was a superb railway built by S.J. Dickson, O Gauge in a Small Space. I had attempted to build an O scale layout once before, a huge layout some 36' x 14', way to much for me and I gave up, ripped it all up and went HO. This article showed that a very nice O railway could be built in just a small space, 14' x 10' (which now happens to be the size of Boxer Bay)
There is one particular quote from the article that stuck with me and heavily influenced my decision to stick with O, "I think there is a minimum satisfying size for a model and to me that is 7mm scale." After all these years I agree 100%, you just don't get the same feeling with a model of anything in the smaller sizes, be it a car, building, or even figure. I know I'm in O scale for life.
There is no other size as Satisfying !
So, here is a little summary of the idea behind this model railway. Not being a native of England, I have no special connection with any area or railway company. I do find the time period of about 1900 to 1930 particularly fascinating, and have a great love of the Victorian era Steam locomotive. I really like the elements of many different railway companies, including the Col. Stephens light railways, so I've decided to model a fictional line, allowing me to model exactly what I like !
Location : Somewhere along the coast in Somerset !
Time Period : 1920 - 1935
Railway : Boxer Bay Railway (B.B.R.)
Length of Line : Approx. 25 Miles
Type of Line : Coast Harbour to inland connections with GWR & S&DJR
Traffic : Coal / Peat Moss / Hancock's Beverage Co. (Ale) / Fish / Farming Equipment / Fruit & Dairy
Locomotives : A1 Terrier 0-6-0T / '02' 0-4-4T / 1F 0-6-0T / Peckett 0-4-0T + Anyothers I can get :)
What's in a name ? Don't go looking for the seaside town of Boxer Bay, it doesn't exist. The name comes from my fondness of the Boxer breed of canine, of which I've had 4 in my life so far, and my interest of the seaside and all things maritime. The town is supposedly based in Somerset along the coast of the Bristol Channel, somewhere South of Highbridge, where it connects with the Somerset & Dorset Railway, and Great Western Railway. I wanted this connection to the "rest of the world" as I'm also an S&D enthusiast, in fact I owe my interest in railways in large part to Ivo Peters and his photography.
