John Flann's OO Scale Model Railway
I conceived and built my Hintock Branch model railway so I could operate a joint Great Western Railway and Southern Railway branch set in Dorset. And on it to run trains representing everyday workings.
This is the story; why, where, when and how. It goes a long way back, and starts with the late Peter Denny. [Continue Reading…]
3433 SR local passenger train from Yeovil runs into Hintock passing Hintock Dairies.
The setting for Hintock: The period is the 1930’s, the time a beautiful English summer’s day. All is tranquil at Hintock and in the Vale of Hintock, Dorset.
Hintock Redux, though more commonly known as Hintock, is a market town in the Vale that is bounded to the north by the Dorset Downs, to the south the English Channel, east is Dorchester and the west, Devon. [Continue Reading…]
The Hintock track plan is simple and prototypical and developed so as to be attractively scenic and practical. [Continue Reading…]
3576 To the left is Hintock Dairies creamery and to it the arriving mixed train is bringing empty milk tanks. In the background are the ‘East’ sidings.
Building trains to move from one place to another is a key part of model railway freight operation. Hintock present many opportunities with milk and dairy products from Hintock Dairies providing traffic. Milk is collected all around Hintock for processing at the Dairy and dispatch by rail in milk tanks to London (by the SR), and to the Midlands (by the GWR.) It also dispatches butter, dried and powdered milk in fitted ventilated vans. This requires one train every day with tanks and vans that run alternately to Vauxhall, London or Wolverhampton. The Up train collects further milk in churns from intervening stations. [Continue Reading…]
A key aspect of being the proprietor of a model railway is improving model locomotives. These two images demonstrate how the simplest of improvement can enhance what are now very good examples of particular classes of locos. The first is a Triang/Hornby GWR 27XX half cab pannier that I have possessed for many years. I cannot recall now what exactly I did but it appears I changed the funnel and safety valve cover. The other was to add a crew, coal, vacuum pipes and lamps and a fairly heavy weathering. [Continue Reading…]
Hintock Branch Videos? As much as a proprietor of a model railway may like to think that other model railway enthusiasts are interested in all details that make the model railway special to him or her, the reality probably is that most people are more interested in reviewing the pictures to see what the model railway is all about. And we are working on new picture pages, with galleries of the best pictures of Hintock Branch over the years. [Continue Reading…]