Technical articles

Alex Jackson coupling
Over the years many of our members have been prolific in the development of railway modelling in this country, the United Kingdom. Of particular note was Alex Jackson who is well known for the development of his unique coupling which is now used by many modellers worldwide. Full details, including new drawings showing critical dimensions.

John Langan was another of our top modellers and he published a series of articles in the MMRS magazine The Link during 1963, covering split-axle current collection, wheel bearings and sideplay. If you have any interest in these topics, you may wish to learn from an expert (and avoid repeating his mistakes).

Modern Permanent Way
With an increasing emphasis on getting those little details just right, after much research Colin Craig has put together a series of articles on the development of the. The first three parts are now available by clicking the link.

Making your own wheels
Our members were active in the development of "finescale" in the early 1950's and EM gauge was a common standard in our club together with the Manchester Profile for wheels. Given the present difficulties in obtaining supplies of finescale loco wheels, Dave Booth has produced an article about making your own from scratch.

Painting and lining
Adrian Prescott, who paints and lines professionally, gives hints and tips on putting those vital finishing touches to your stock. At our 2007 Exhibition Adrian won the Championship Cup for a 6-PUL Southern emu set.

Geoff Taylor's website
Geoff has constructed many of the fine buildings on Dewsbury Midland and The Gresley Beat. A dvd in the British Railway Modelling Right Track series showing his techniques is available on loan to MMRS members from the Dean Hall Library.

Let me know if you would like an article on anything else - there must be someone in the MMRS whose arm I can twist.

We also had members working on Gauge 1 Live Steam and several people will remember the GMT (Getgood, Mills and Thomson) development of live steam locomotives running on tracks at our exhibitions in the Corn Exchange, Manchester.

Since then many of our members have written articles for the model press and some of those writers have produced their own layouts to a high standard often exploiting new techniques and styles. Of particular note is Bob Harper with his GWR Broad Gauge layouts seen at exhibitions all over this country and abroad.

To record these contributions we have stored them in a table and you are encouraged to dig out copies of the magazines and take a look. We have copies of all these magazines in our library at Dean Hall.

MMRS Members Magazine Articles