SIR ROD STEWART'S RAIL MODEL BOOST

IT WASN'T A TOP SECRET but the fact that old-style rocker, Rod Stewart, was also a model railway enthusiast was probably not that well known, to many of his music fans, at least. But in the scale model world, Rod (‘Sir’ Rod since he was knighted in 2016) is yet another famous face who is a keen rail modeller.

MODEL RAIL NOSTALGIA-FEST AND CITY OF THE FUTURE

HERE'S A ROSE-TINTED LOOK at a rail layout of times past. There's also a vision of yesteryear's ideas about the world of the future.

AMAZING AND EXTRAORDINARY - TINIEST MODEL TRAIN EVER MADE?

SMN is awestruck:

This video shows an amazingly small oval-track rail layout - built in ultra-tiny microscale to fit inside a Z-gauge model shop window... Watch and enjoy.

Plus, the daily SMN Festive Slideshow. We have 20 items of scale gorgeousness on show today, though object number one, a cyber-pup, is more art than scale model. It's a steampunk creation, made up of various scrap components including a 1950s-era retro toaster. We like Fido's smile, though trust he doesn't bite, as metal teeth are liable to be sharp...  

MODEL RAIL NOSTALGIA FEST

The SMN crew chanced on a collector fair a couple of days ago, at Kidlington, near Oxford, UK. There was a strong emphasis on model trains, mostly the 00 gauge preferred by UK enthusiasts (how we wish the UK was in line with the rest of the H0 world!) but there was plenty of variety there - diecasts old and new, and even a sprinkling of one of our personal faves, collectible robots and spacecraft from TV science fiction series.

But star of the show just had to be the splendid O gauge three-rail electric layout. Of course, items like this are hardly ‘true scale’ - they are (or were) a half-way point between a non-scale ‘toy’ and a true-scale ‘model’, and once you get over being upset that creations like these are not in the same accuracy league as a modern 1:43 diecast vehicle or a 1:48 aircraft kit, then you can enjoy them for what they are - immensely pleasurable objects, which also have the benefit of action, controllability, and the roar of metal wheels on metal rails.

Much the same goes for the trackside accessories - here for example, the buildings were mostly re-used decorative biscuit boxes, and very fine they looked too. The station is an original piece of tinplate railwayana though, and looks terrific, as does the tin platform, here sleek and shiny, unlike the real thing. The miniature scenes beloved of rail fans were present too - here a busy caravan rally, there a sheepdog trial.

All in all, the layout was a real blast from the past, and one that could encourage any nostalgia buff to invest in the past - with an eye on the future, in the form of steadily increasing values.