Going retro

I spent several days scratchbuilding the Railway Arms pub and realized that I could not hope to make all the large buildings that the layout needed. I needed a shortcut.

In my stash, I found several Bilteezi sheets. These are 4mm:1ft scale building kits printed on thin card. Intended for mounting on a card base, they were unique to Hambling’s model shop in London and they are probably at least 60 years old. I love the artwork on these, by Vacy-ash Ltd but they are very ‘flat’ by modern standards.

An internet search showed that Antics Online (www.anticsonline.co.uk) offers a limited supply so, as I could not be certain of a source of supply and wanted to preserve the integrity of my original sheets, I scanned them and used copies printed on A4 paper for the models illustrated.

Bilteezi sheets would give the layout a 1960s look and so I decided to ‘go retro’. I dug out some 1:76 scale Dublo Dinky vehicles that had survived from my childhood train set and added one of Hornby’s current centenary versions. I even found a couple of Matchbox cars to enhance the retro look.

The Dublo Dinky vehicles are either play-worn or, in one case, have been restored but using matt paint rather than gloss. If you don’t have any of your old toys lying around there are plenty on ebay and can be found for only a few pounds.

With the rolling stock, I found two open wagons, which I felt would add a little colour to the project. The yellow United Glass wagon is Hornby-dublo but I replaced the old cast metal chassis with a more modern Dapol one (Dapol chassis ‘Wchass10’). I reasoned that the vinegar company would need glass bottles and the United Glass livery appealed because that company had its head office in Staines when I lived there.

The red ICI salt wagon also appealed because of its colour – and salt is another good condiment connection to the layout! I suspect, however, the real thing carried road salt. The model was by British Trix and the best modern underframe I could find was from a Bachmann ‘Clay Hood’ but is slightly short for the body.

Above: The British Trix ICI salt and Hornby-dublo United Glass Bottle Company open wagons have both gained new chassis. Neither was in good enough condition to have any collector value despite their age. Right: This Dublo Dinky lorry dates from my Hornby-dublo layout pre-1960. I resprayed it in matt grey many years ago. The bed was stretched to accommodate Hornby’s paper-covered wooden container which was quite a bit over-scale compared to the modern Peco plastic version.