The late Roy Link, as many of you will know, was a fixture in the model railway scene in England. First, as the graphic designer at Railway Modeller magazine, where he was responsible for creating artwork for print of contributors drawings, as well as the Plan of the Month series.
From there he produced his own kits for 7mm narrow gauge industrial railways under the RCL banner, as well as starting up his own magazine the NGIRM Review. That magazine has become the go to read for narrow gauge and industrial railway modellers in England and around the world. I subscribe to it myself, and I am honoured to say that I have even had articles printed in its pages. It’s an excellent read, well designed and full of informative articles.
Hand in hand with this has been his range of high quality Narrow gauge modelling related books both on prototypes and models. This is where his latest book comes in.
All the time that Roy has been in the hobby he has been creating layouts based on his fictitious “Crowsnest Tramway” concept. A Shropshire mineral tramway loosely based on the Snailbeach district railway.
There have been four versions of this line in three scales, and all are covered in this book. All of them have been micro layouts, or “in the spirit of a micro”, as Carl Arendt used to describe layouts in larger scales that took up more than for square feet in area.
Each layouts design and construction is described in great detail, covering the good points and bad points of each one, and as you read the book you see his skills and abilities develop over the years as well as the technologies.
As a manufacturer of model railway kits and bits he has access to tools and equipment some of us don’t have. Many parts he mills out of brass, or turns on a lathe just like that because he has access to the equipment.
But don’t let that put you off. The model making is quite stunning with the attention to detail that is possible in the larger scales, 16mm scale is large enough to even model a key in the lock of a desk drawer, as seen in one of the photographs for example. Nearly all the photographs are close-ups so you can appreciate all the details. Though I would have liked to have seen some more overall views of the 16mm scale model (it’s less than 1m square in size.)
All aspects of the design and construction of the layouts are covered, from the baseboards onwards. He even describes his method of using foamcore sheets to make a baseboard for these big 16mm scale trains.
As I am starting to make steps into 16mm scale myself with Nogg Mine, the book is always close at hand for inspiration.
All in all, this is a superb book well designed, and easy to read. I heartily recommend it. Though overseas readers may find the shipping costs rather high. To my mind, the book is well worth it.
From there he produced his own kits for 7mm narrow gauge industrial railways under the RCL banner, as well as starting up his own magazine the NGIRM Review. That magazine has become the go to read for narrow gauge and industrial railway modellers in England and around the world. I subscribe to it myself, and I am honoured to say that I have even had articles printed in its pages. It’s an excellent read, well designed and full of informative articles.
Hand in hand with this has been his range of high quality Narrow gauge modelling related books both on prototypes and models. This is where his latest book comes in.
All the time that Roy has been in the hobby he has been creating layouts based on his fictitious “Crowsnest Tramway” concept. A Shropshire mineral tramway loosely based on the Snailbeach district railway.
There have been four versions of this line in three scales, and all are covered in this book. All of them have been micro layouts, or “in the spirit of a micro”, as Carl Arendt used to describe layouts in larger scales that took up more than for square feet in area.
Each layouts design and construction is described in great detail, covering the good points and bad points of each one, and as you read the book you see his skills and abilities develop over the years as well as the technologies.
As a manufacturer of model railway kits and bits he has access to tools and equipment some of us don’t have. Many parts he mills out of brass, or turns on a lathe just like that because he has access to the equipment.
But don’t let that put you off. The model making is quite stunning with the attention to detail that is possible in the larger scales, 16mm scale is large enough to even model a key in the lock of a desk drawer, as seen in one of the photographs for example. Nearly all the photographs are close-ups so you can appreciate all the details. Though I would have liked to have seen some more overall views of the 16mm scale model (it’s less than 1m square in size.)
All aspects of the design and construction of the layouts are covered, from the baseboards onwards. He even describes his method of using foamcore sheets to make a baseboard for these big 16mm scale trains.
As I am starting to make steps into 16mm scale myself with Nogg Mine, the book is always close at hand for inspiration.
All in all, this is a superb book well designed, and easy to read. I heartily recommend it. Though overseas readers may find the shipping costs rather high. To my mind, the book is well worth it.
The Crowsnest Chronicles by Roy C Link, is published by RCL Publications and can be purchased from the publishers at Narrowgaugeandindustrial.co.uk
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