Peter Ball

What do Rod Stewart, Elton John, Phil Collins, Jools Holland and Pete Waterman have in common? Before stating the obvious, just try and think of what shared interest other than music they could possibly have. Well it may be hard to believe but the fact remains they all share a love for model railways and have their own layouts.

Railway modelling or in American parlance model railroading, is a hobby that has had an enduring appeal for over 130 years and to define it one could say it is “the art of creating in miniature a replica of a full-size railway”. The term “Toy Train” to describe a model railway is demeaning as it does not do justice to the hobby, as the railway modeller is not only concerned with the engine and carriages (the train) but also with the other aspects of railway operation such as trackwork, signalling, stations, lineside structures and civil engineering works, all of course in miniature.

The first introduction to the hobby is usually when a child reaches the age of six and it is when he or she receives the “Big” present from “Father Christmas” – the “Train Set”, this being a boxed starter set containing all that is needed to run a train on an oval track, which after opening is laid out on the floor or on a table top. Dad is usually the more enthusiastic one and takes charge of the power controller, leaving the child wondering who the present was really meant...

“Greetings Pop Pickers”: those words were the weekly introduction to Pick of the Pops as spoken by the legendary Disc Jockey (DJ), Alan “Fluff” Freeman, over the airwaves of BBC Radio’s Light Programme, throughout the 1960’s. On Sunday afternoons, between 4 & 5pm, he would give a weekly update of the British Hit Parade, with chart movements, new entries into the Top Twenty, new releases and as a “finale” he would play each of the Top Ten Singles in ascending order. He was therefore an eye witness to the biggest revolution in the history of popular music and culture – The Beatles.

The British Hit Parade, in the years either side of 1960, was dominated by American recording artists and the British singers who did make the “Top Ten” would have mainly covered American songs, which is evident when paging through 40 years of NME Charts (from 1952 to 1992). The song “Tower of Strength” sung by Frankie Vaughan, which reached No. 1 in November 1961, was a cover of Gene McDaniels’ original recording which reached No. 5 on the American charts.

Britain in the 1950’s was still recovering from the damaging effects of the Second World War (1939 to 1945) and although the British had been on the winning side, it certainly did not feel like it as austerity and food rationing were the order of the day. Economic improvement had been slow to begin with but was starting to pick up when the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan made...

It was as recently as 140 years ago that our forebears’ lives were scarcely touched by electricity, bar the occasional lightning strike in a summer thunderstorm. Back then lighting, heating and cooking all entailed a naked flame, whether it emanated from a source fuelled by wood, coal, oil or gas and refrigeration for the lucky few was by ice in the “Ice Box”. Nineteenth century scientists would unlock the secrets of electricity and magnetism, which would lead the way for electricity to be harnessed for the benefit of Mankind; if you like the Second Industrial Revolution.

Electricity has created our modern world and the first fruit of its use was the electric telegraph, the precursor of the telephone and the internet, which from the 1840’s would enable a message, in Morse code, to be sent along a wire; hence the saying “to send a wire”. Lighting by electricity would be the next goal and by the 1870’s the race was on to perfect the incandescent light bulb. It was Thomas Edison who would take the plaudits but it was in fact Joseph Swan who would beat him to it and they would later come to an agreement to form a company, in 1883, with “Ediswan” as its trade mark.

Power generation, whereby a power station could supply electricity to a neighbourhood, was Edison’s aim and he heavily invested his time and money in developing Direct Current (DC) technology, however he would have a keen competitor in George Westinghouse who championed Alternating...

South Africa was one of the last bastions for steam locomotives and they attracted many tourists from across the globe to travel on our trains or watch them go by, camera at the ready. Steam engines have an enduring appeal to railway enthusiasts (buffs & gricers will also do) as they seem to live and breathe just like a wild animal. In fact it was seriously considered to make a “Reserve” for steam engines along the Garden Route, in the province of the Western Cape, centred on the city of George, where a Steam Museum resides. Alas Mother Nature intervened, when a land slip, after torrential rain between the 1st & 3rd August 2006 (300mm), closed indefinitely the 42 mile (67km) long branch line from George to Knysna, on which the  steam hauled “Outeniqua Choo Tjoe” ran. The branch was the showpiece for the Transnet Heritage Foundation and it was run on similar lines to a “Preservation Line” in the UK and it was often referred to as “the world in one branch line”. Its closure was a great set back, let us hope that one day it will re-open again.

Outeniqua Choo Tjoe crossing the Kaaiman’s River bridge (Peter Ball)

The reason for the longevity of the steam engine in South Africa is due to politics and economics. South Africa was blessed...

Word association is where you give me a word and I respond with the first thought that comes to mind; for instance you say “London Bridge” and I would reply “Station” (although most would say “is falling down”). Again you would say “Paddington” and my reply would be “Station” (although “Bear” is the usual response). Likewise “Waterloo” would elicit the same response from me, “Station”, thus the psychoanalyst would say that I have a one track mind, not that I need therapy as I am well aware of my condition which I have controlled since childhood. What I have is a large dose of Railway Enthusiasm (RE), a well known disease, rarely fatal, that has no known cure. I have learnt to live with it but now and again I get an uncontrollable urge to write on one of the many different strains of RE.

St Pancras, run down and underutilised in 1965 (London & Its Railways)

The late Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984) was a famous British poet, writer and broadcaster and for the last 12 years of his life was the Poet Laureate. He was also an unabashed Railway Enthusiast and preferred train travel above all else. He is best remembered for his saving of St...

The iconic bright red double-decker bus is part of London’s “persona”, an instantly recognisable part of London life, however it would come as a surprise to many to know that on the outskirts of the capital, buses were once painted Lincoln Green. The reason for this goes back to before the Second World War, when the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) was formed on the 1st July 1933.

Before getting into the nub of the piece - London buses, a little explanation of London’s prominence as a city is called for. London had been growing in size ever since the Great Fire of 1666, but unfortunately in the fire’s aftermath the city was rebuilt on the same plan it had before, due to property rights issues, thus the opportunity to town plan on a grid system (a la Paris) was missed for all time. This very fact would cause traffic congestion in the long term.

Posters showing the growth of London between 1800 and 1936 (London Transport Museum Guide 2002)

In Tudor times, the River Thames had become the main artery for journeys around the city. Watermen would row small boats (called “wherries”) and they acted as ferrymen, either on fixed crossings...

I recently watched a documentary, originally screened on the BBC in 2007, entitled “Ian Hislop Goes Off the Rails” presented by Ian Hislop, the editor of “Private Eye” and also a resident panellist on the long running TV show “Have I Got News for You”. It was Mr Hislop’s very informative “Take” on the controversial findings of Dr. Richard Beeching’s  report on “The Reshaping of British Railways” and in his commentary he said “I’m asking whether Beeching’s actions were a necessary evil or one of the great acts of vandalism of the 20th century?

It was on the 27th March 1963, that Dr. Beeching, the then Chairman of the British Railways Board (BRB), published his long awaited report on the state of British Railways (Nationalised since 1948), entitled “The Reshaping of British Railways”, to be better known thereafter as “The Beeching Report”. It was a “Bombshell” as the damage done to the rail network would be greater than that inflicted by the Luftwaffe during the Blitz! Branch lines and their stations were to be closed and the railway map after 1966 would resemble that of 1855; in effect it was the Railway Mania of the mid 19th century in reverse. Wales, Scotland and the west of England would be the worst affected by the rail closures that tookpace between 1963 and 1969.

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Now I have to say from the very outset that I am “old school” and therefore know relatively little of the workings of Building Information Modelling (BIM), but being a keen observer of the built environment I am aware of the benefits that its methodology can bring to a building project with the aid of sophisticated computer software, which is now at the fingertips of the Architect, Engineer and Contractor, whether the project be “Greenfield” (new) or “Brownfield” (existing).

Now what is BIM?  As defined by The Institute of Structural Engineers, London “It is an approach centred on using digital tools to efficiently produce information to allow assets to be built, operated and maintained. It relies on all those involved in the project fully populating a central data base” (i.e. a three dimensional computer model). This brief definition does not fully convey the power of BIM and so in order to give more weight to the topic I refer the reader to the web site of the “BIM Institute” (www.biminstute.org.za), where he/she can be the judge of the usefulness of BIM in their own field.

The saying goes that “the only constant is change” and that is certainly true with regard to the building industry, where the competitive edge is of great importance in winning contracts. In the last 50 years there have been great strides  made in the way a building project is brought to completion and in my own experience I could never have anticipated the developments that...

For anyone who has read the epic fantasy novels in the “A Song of Fire and Ice” series  by George R.R. Martin or watched the TV series “Game of Thrones” (based on his books), they will surely know that nothing cuts like Valyrian Steel. Swords made from Valarian Steel never dulled and their edges remained as sharp as the day they were forged, unfortunately the knowledge to make the steel was lost and the swords that were made from the metal became the prized possessions of the noble families of Westeros and were passed down from father to son.

Of course the above is pure fiction but it has its basis in fact. Swords of high quality steel were much prized by the Knights of Old during the Crusades to the Holy Land (11th to 15th centuries CE). The Crusaders were introduced to this steel in battle when their own swords were sliced in half by those wielded by the Muslims. The superiority of their weaponry was only one aspect of Islam’s Golden Age, during which advances were made in astronomy, medicine and mathematics. To say that the Christians were playing catch up on the battle field is correct but catch up they did as they discovered where to lay there hands on this sword breaking steel and that was in the city of Damascus, a thriving trading centre of the day where armourers were supplying swords, daggers and body armour, at a price. Thus this strong (hard but flexible) steel...

Should you search on the internet for Shildon, a small town in County Durham in the North East corner of England, you will find out that it has house prices one-tenth of those in London, but that is not the town’s major claim to fame. Shildon is world famous for being the cradle of the Railways (a.k.a. Rail Roads), which were launched in the first quarter of the 19th century. Its location on the eastern edge of the Auckland (south-west Durham) coalfield, made its proximity to the coal mines an ideal spot for a rail head for a proposed railway line from Stockton-on-Tees via Darlington; the celebrated Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR).

Front cover of the 1975 Souvenir Guide

Map of the route over time - click here to view a larger version (The Railway Magazine)

The S&DR opened on the 27th September 1825 after what was a long period of gestation, as the need for better transportation of coal from pit to port was first realised in the mid 18th century. There was a talk of a canal and then a tramway but...