Hi

I am Cliff Thomas and I edit the NGmodelling section of the magazine.

I have written features and taken photographs for NGW from issue number one – and the very first feature, on the Talyllyn Railway, included modelling content!  This made the point that it was the intention from the very beginning that Narrow Gauge World would encompass modelling as well as coverage of the prototype.

This we did, although gathering the modelling content into a dedicated section of Narrow Gauge World - along with a minor change to the title of the magazine to reflect this - did not occur until NGW31, initially under the guidance of David Gander.  I took over from David in this role from NGW37.

Over time, the modelling section has evolved and developed in company with the principles of the magazine as a whole – a ‘broad church’ policy encompassing the full spectrum of narrow gauge modelling...

My own modelling background is quite lengthy and wide ranging.  My first narrow gauge model locomotive (which I still have – and would not part with despite its fairly dreadful quality by current standards!) was a ‘classic’ effort based on a Triang 0-6-0 ‘Jinty’ with an Airfix ‘Pug’ cab and a taller brass chimney which was supposed to re-scale the loco from its 3mm standard gauge origin to a 4mm scale, 12mm gauge model of a 3ft gauge loco.  This was a pretty standard way to go in the late 1960s when I was at school and 00n3 scale was being ‘born’!  

Although I also dabbled with GEM 5.5mm scale kits (reproducing 2ft scale by running on 12mm gauge track – and some modellers are still working in this scale) as for so many other narrow gauge modellers, the advent of Egger Bahn changed everything and I re-started in 009 using 9mm gauge track.  My first 009 loco, an attempt to model the early George England 0-4-0Ts delivered to the Ffestiniog Railway, was built in the early 1970s – based on a Joueff Decauville loco bought for the princely sum of £2.00!  This was soon joined by whitemetal body kits fitted on standard N scale chassis’ and has not really stopped.

Today, I have a 009 layout named ‘Little Whipsnade’ in the corner of our lounge which is based on The Great Whipsnade Railway, a 2ft 6in gauge line in Bedfordshire’s Whipsnade Wild Animal Park about which I wrote a book (published by Oakwood Press) several years ago.  This is a small layout with a lot of scenery which combines being a model layout on which to indulge in running trains, while also forming a test track and a photographic set – pictures on this website showing a Vale of Rheidol 2-6-2T and a small Shay are my models running on this layout.

I also have a much larger 009 layout based on North Wales under construction, ‘Rheilffordd Bae Gwyrdd’ – basically, Green Bay Railway.  If you know about American football, you know which team I support!  This is a long-term project which slowly progresses – and will eventually house the huge collection of locos and stock (mainly 009 but also 00n3 – there is some 12mm/16.5mm dual gauge trackwork on the layout as well as the main 2ft 3in gauge network!) which I cannot resist building and are presently stored in display cases.

My third ‘layout’ is a 45mm gauge garden railway – the Greensand Ridge Lumber Company which is largely home to American logging-type locos (so-called ‘G’ scale but 15mm scale, 3ft gauge, as far as I am concerned) and which has featured in NGW’s sister title, GardenRail.

As if this were not enough, the indoor display cabinets also contain several trains of Bemo H0m (3.5mm or 1:87 scale) Swiss metre gauge locos and stock, plus a small (but growing!) collection of On30 locomotives and a few 0-16.5 scale items built from kits because I felt like having a go at constructing them.  One day all these might also have tracks to run on.  Like all railway modellers, I probably have more ideas and plans (not to mention kits and other projects awaiting construction) than there will ever be time to bring to fruition!

So, my own models hail from England, Wales, Switzerland and the USA and the approach in the magazine is pretty much the same.  Whether the prototype is British, American, European or from Australia and Japan, you will find it in the pages of NGmodelling.  The same applies to scales and gauges, encompassing the popular 009, 0-16.5 and On30 scales (and G Scale provided it runs indoors, G Scale outside being covered in our sister title, GardenRail) together with the less common scale/gauge combinations.

In pursuit of our broad-brush policy, our contributors also hail not just from Britain but from around the globe, bringing you pictorial reports of major international narrow gauge modelling exhibitions and conventions, layout features – where the emphasis is on photographic content – and practical ‘how to do it’ articles.  All this is supported by reports on new products of interest to narrow gauge modellers and backed by trade advertisers.

Could your model or layout appear in NGmodelling?  Of course it could!  I am always interested to hear from modellers and potential contributors.  Get in touch, no matter what you model or where you live.  If it is narrow gauge, we may well be interested!

Cliff