Sometimes layout ideas drop unexpectedly out of the sky from the weirdest sources. Thus it is that the idea for High Dudgeon was born from from the phrase “Pontificating in High Dudgeon” which was so thoughtfully provided by Byron Henderson (cuyama).
High Dudgeon, fictional though it may be, is a village in the scenic Cotswolds in western England. Grown prosperous from the wool trade in medieval times, the village fell on hard times during the decline of the English wool trade during the Renaissance. High Dudgeon eventually settled into a somewhat sleepy existence by the end of the 18th Century. Sleepy most of the time, perhaps, but the denizens of the village were characterized by a hair-trigger willingness to be offended by almost everything, a characteristic they maintain to the present day. It is widely rumored that the idea for the Monty Python “Argument Clinic” sketch arose when John Cleese had the misfortune to have a flat tire in the village during a drive through the Cotswolds. Naturally, the citizens of High Dudgeon were quite generous with their advice on how to change a tire even though the majority of them didn’t own cars. The resulting “discussion” about various tire changing methods soon led to an outbreak of fisticuffs among the villagers, allowing Cleese to rapidly change his defective tire and get out of town before he was drawn into the brawl.
If it’s Great Western, I would think perhaps an 0-4-2t with a single coach for passenger service. They had a very unusual push-pull arrangement. Then a Pannier tank 0-6-0t for the goods traffic. Of course my experience with British practice is limited to what I’ve seen in pictures, so I’m no authority.
Sounds workable to me, Andre, and I really enjoyed reading your back-story for the plan.
Rather than restrict it to Dublo, though, the modeller could choose whatever scale he wanted simply by using the trains from Thomas, which are widely available in several scales. That’d have folks everywhere pontificating, let alone those in High Dudgeon.
These are etched brass, and I have long wanted to get. His LSWR T9 and LNER A3. You have to buy the wheels and motors separately, but what an impressive product!
Also, you might consider having a look at Adrian Vaughn’s “Signalman’s Morning,” an account of learning to work as a signalman (what we would call a block operator) in Berkshire in the early 1960s, during the British transition era. He worked in Western Region, the former GWR, and the book is thick with both atmosphere and the details of “absolute block working,” the British equivalent of American manual block rules.
Apparently, a satire is something that most people think of as an item that fits on some kind of wheeled vehicle. Granted, it’s not on the same level as Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, but really???
Andre
From Mark Twain’s short story “Niagara”:
… and, to crown their disgraceful proceedings and add insult to injury, they threw me over the Niagara Falls and I got wet.
That pretty much sums it up. I think I’ll try some other endeavour, albeit probably something other than satire. Like my boyhood hero, Mark Twain, maybe I’ll re-invent myself as an editor of an agricultural journal - http://www.twainquotes.com/Galaxy/187007a.html
Actually, I’m familiar with both. Rail Model in the UK published an article on the Madder Valley in “Great British Model Railways, Vol. 2” (2014) and I stumbled on John Ott’s website a couple of years ago.
Personally, I’d regard the Madder Valley as more whimsical than satirical. As for Ott, not my cup of tea, but he does fantastic work. Not a fan of HP Lovecraft, however.
Ah but its only part of the name. Im guessing Much Simmering is either a branch from High Dudgeon or on the way there from Knickers-in-a-twist. You could model the High Dudgeon to Knickers-in-a-twist line.