Brief Encounter - A monochrome model railway. Part 1

[@mfinn80]

Saw this in the Railway Modeller magazine this week. Looks strange but very good at the same time

[@keithkarbel2000]

The first monochrome module I’ve seen. Love the idea and your execution.

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thanks Keith - I've really loved the process of building it. I see the coloyr grey in a whole new light now! :-)

[@Chandwell]

This is a fantastic idea! I can’t wait to see how this turns out. I actually considered a monochrome back scene for the buildings behind Market Street in Chandwell but didn’t dare do it. The monochrome foliage is fabulous. Thanks also for the Boots fact - stored for a future pub quiz! -Michael.

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thanks for much Michael! I learned so much about the film - great fun!

[@scottfw7169]

Years ago there was a Gn15 forum named Gnatterbox where one or maybe two members had built monochrome micro layouts, maybe a foot square each, and even at that size the effect was most intriguing.

[@jonathanjones35]

This is a great concept and showcases creativity that we don't often see in model railroading. I did my model railroad using somewhat similar concepts, except I mixed color and monochrome to create hierarchy. The trains, track, and key structures are in color but the context (urban as this is a city prototype) is in monochrome shades of gray. My backdrop is black velvet, the purpose of which is to redirect ones view back to the trains and make the trains "pop" visually. I, too, was inspired by film. For me, it was the movie Dogville, from 2004, I think. I am so glad to see someone else thinking out-of-the-box about design and construction of their model railroad. Thanks for sharing this!

[@modelrailwayquest]

I love that idea Jonathan! Would love to see photos if you'd like to share? I have a website gallery of fellow model railway builders' layouts - you can send them to [e-mail]

[@Felixjaz]

Many years ago I remember seeing a monochrome train on a colorful exhibition layout, but never thought about a full layout in black & white. This is great. Well done.

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thank you! What was the layout - can you remember?

[@Felixjaz]

It would have been before I started taking photographs at exhibitions so we're talking over 40 years ago. It could have been either London or Manchester. The strange thing is up until seeing your layout I'd forgotten about the idea. I actually prefer the scenery being in monochrome and may look a doing a section of my layout in black & white.@@modelrailwayquest

[@martinconnerty1201]

I hope you have Warley in mind. This is such an unusual idea, pretty much unique in fact. Thank you for including some anecdotes in your video, especially the one whereby drivers stopped short of Carnforth thinking there was something wrong.

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thank you - Warley would be great! I love movie anecdotes... fascinating.

[@pim1234]

What an original idea ! Brilliant !!

[@stevesalvage1089]

It is a brilliant idea , never thought, look forward to next update , thanks for sharing,

[@chrissharp5073]

What an outstanding idea for a layout. Has this created a new genre in modelling ideas with Black White landscapes especially if it's based on old black & white movies where the train was part of the film. Oh Mr Porter!!! My mind's gone into overdrive!!! Well done you and thank you for sharing.

[@modelrailwayquest]

I haven't seen any other B&W layouts yet. It's been a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting project to work on.

[@michaelkinsey4649]

Plaza cinema - Stockport? Caught my school bus outside there through the 1970's!

[@modelrailwayquest]

It is indeed! :-)

[@Earbrass1]

This reminds me of the Goodies episode where Bill Oddie decides to make a black and white film, and spends ages painting all the sets black and white to suit.

[@scottfw7169]

Hey, a Woolworth! 😄 Worked for them in the US in the 1980s.

[@modelrailwayquest]

Gotta love a Woolworths. Especially the Pic n Mix - did the US stores have those or was it a UK thing?

[@scottfw7169]

@@modelrailwayquest It was their last several years of existence in the US when I was with them and our store did not have that.

[@terryjacob8169]

Interesting. I have to say my memories of railways when I was a small child in the 1950's are now all monochrome. Something reinforced by period photos.

[@modelrailwayquest]

Isn't that fascinating... my friend's daughter once asked her if, when she was younger, was everything in black and white! :-)

[@simontrainsmodelrailway]

That is a very interesting layout. Never seen one in monochrome before. Great video

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thanks Simon! Just putting finishing touches to it...

[@roystudds1944]

This just popped up on my list of videos to watch. What a fabulous idea. Will certainly subscribe and follow. Thanks for sharing. Roy.

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thanks Roy!

[@oldcitybricks9153]

What a concept!

[@ianjeffery6744]

What a wonderfully imaginative idea - well done! The mere thought of recolouring everything to monochrome is something my poor old brain finds very hard to grasp... If I can make one very small criticism, it's about the signals at the end of the station platforms. These should face the other way (towards the platforms) and should be home signals - no fishtail ends - another old Hornby-Dublo home junction signal will do the trick!

[@BrianSeaman]

Very inventive - and well thought out. Loved it!

[@andyhs1970]

Very cool. I'm starting an N gauge layout, based on the great escape film. Please keep up the good work.

[@modelrailwayquest]

That sounds great - I have a readers' gallery on my website - would love to see photos of your progress if you'd like to email them to me.

[@DYLINGTONMODELRAILWAY]

I'm really looking forward to seeing this completed. It is very interesting to see a layout built in monochrome and to see how you are overcoming the problems with such things as foliage. Keep up the good work, James 🙂👍

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thanks James - will keep you posted!

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thanks James - it's been a lovely project to work on!

[@dtrain1634]

Very clever artistic concept !

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thank you

[@danieltempleton7512]

It reminds me of the paul lunn design concept. Very cool​@modelrailwayquest

[@Northwestrailwayenthusiast]

Excellent idea's.i definitely have get that low relief plaza cinema my layout. Soon saw plaza I recognised the building, its just down road where I live

[@861706]

This is an amazing idea and I love the layout, being a massive fan of Brief Encounter. Can I just point out that the coaches should be LMS maroon rather than the two colour ones you have which could be British Rail or Great Western, but being in monochrome it is impossible to tell. Apart from that, Well done!

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thank you - and you're right! The layout idea has evolved from the initial concept to the present, starting out life as more of a representation than a reproduction... and I will be making tweaks and changes along the way. Thank you!

[@louisbruette4307]

Well done!

[@jeffholt9437]

I must say, the Yorkshire Tea really sets the scene!!!! Seriously, great idea - I've been to this station so will keep an eye on this as is develops. however, I do think your Celia Johnson (timestamp 05:11) needs some work!😊

[@modelrailwayquest]

Yorkshire Tea is the best tea on earth - and as you can tell from the video, I'm not biased because I came from there! :-) Thanks for the lovely feedback. And yes... Celia Johnson let herself go a bit after filming ended.

[@Treeshaveears]

It looked great at the show.

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thank you!

[@MrDavil43]

What a brilliant idea! So good to see some original thought behind a layout. Whenever I watch Brief Encounter I get very frustrated as there's too much human action and not enough loco-motion.

[@modelrailwayquest]

Spoken like a true train buff! :-)

[@timaddison707]

great idea very original

[@modelrailwayquest]

@@timaddison707 thank you!

[@bertiewooster3326]

Its just cracking !

[@martinbrooker8784]

Sorry dawn that A3 is a LMS corrnation class or streamlined city or duchess

[@clangerbasher]

Wow. Now that is original.

[@franktuckwell196]

Two points, firstly great idea, but when the early films that were made in black& white, was the scenery painted in normal colours and merely filmed in black & white, because colour film hadn't been invented, or were certain colours emphasised, due to the known resulting tones in black & white for effect. Also there was an occasion when driving trains passed / through Borough Market Junction, one time we were advised that there would be spot lights and lots of movement due to a Michael Caine movie being shot there. To drive more slowly than normal but it could only be filmed in the dark and after 11:00 at night. So did you look at your scene first in colour then through a black & white filter or imagine the tones from the outset. I personally cannot wait to see the final product.

[@modelrailwayquest]

Hi Frank - my understanding is that certain colours were emphasised when filming in black and white, and some were avoided all together because they just looked off! Blues and reds were particularly difficult. There's a lovely story about the first superman costume actually being black and white itself - as the red and blue colours didn't work. Cinematographers would also add filters to the camera lenses to make some colours stand out. For this layout I studied stills of the film - to identify which shades I'd be using and then tried to keep these consistent throughout. You'll see a red phone box and red post box are both the same shade of grey for example. It's been a really eye-opening experience.

[@MrMattMWH]

Lovely idea! How about adding some sort of smoke generator to provide extra atmosphere?

[@modelrailwayquest]

Love that idea!

[@ngaugefouroaksstreetstatio6932]

Very interesting

[@colinnewmarch1106]

Brilliant

[@jamfjord]

I love a creative cencept for a model railway layout, love the film (of course!) and I'm familiar with Carnforth having grown up nearby - I can't wait to see this layout out 'in the wild'. Have you been invited to the Carnforth exhibition yet? It would be lovely to see this layout there 😊👍

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thanks so much - and how lovely to grow up with Carnforth on your doorstep! I'm in touch with the show organisers so... watch this space! :-)

[@houghmagandie]

Hi. I built a model railway (in colour) base on Brief Encounter about ten years ago. I scratch-built most of the buildings from cardboard. You could make monochrome cardboard buildings easily (and cheaply) by printing brick papers and textures in black and white.

[@modelrailwayquest]

Ooh - that sounds fab! Do you have photos - I'd love to see it.

[@pim1234]

'There is a war on you know' LOL

[@mewsdo]

Love it! But where's Rachmaninov?

[@modelrailwayquest]

Funny you should say that! I'll be having Rachmaninov playing as part of the trailer on the layout's working cinema. The piece also seems to follow me around - any time I switch on the radio it's playing! Gorgeous piece of music.

[@johndavidson8883]

Love it.

[@keithharris9556]

have you seen Victoria woods " A brief encounter parody" and i noticed on the top shelf a box of Yorkshire tea bags my nearest stockist is a round trip of 110 miles -yes im going off the rails, loving your video's keep em coming

[@modelrailwayquest]

I have and it is very funny. I have done a little parody of my own in this video on Brief Encounter kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHK1gHWMlN2Lbas

[@nickrails]

Great concept! Intruiged by how many different shades of grey you must have mixed

[@modelrailwayquest]

32 at last count!

[@nickrails]

@@modelrailwayquest Zoiks!

[@modelrailwayquest]

That will always be one of my favourite words - having grown up watching Scooby Doo!

[@Steven_Rowe]

I have often wonder what would a model railway look like if instead of making the video monochrome, you actually made all the models monochrome, ie all the locos rollingstock building the works. It would be a challenge and difficult as you go from White to black with infinite grays.. Im in trouble, the model railway world will soon be female powered. Mydarling wife is now building her own 8×4 railway, she is ADDICTED to building metcalfe kits. This could ge the start of something big, we may do a big layout together, how good would that be.

[@modelrailwayquest]

Hi Steven - everything on the layout is monochrome - from the grass to the buildings, the people, back scene - the lot! :-) Infinite greys indeed! I've counted 32 shades of grey so far. I need to talk to your wife! I'd love to get in contact with more female railway model builders. I've just created a FB group - The Women Railway Modellers, if your wife is interested in joining? facebook.com/groups/womenrailwaymodellers And yes - do a layout together! :-)

[@raymondo162]

monochrome !!!!! doh ! i wish i had thought of that idea. triffic vid

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@modelrailwayquest >>> Great video...👍

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thanks!

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@@modelrailwayquest>>> You're Most Welcome.

[@Bawdsey64]

Nice idea to pay homage to the boys in blue but your A.M.E.S. 24 Radar Masts would not be visible from an airfield. For a start it would make them a target marker for the enemy trying to find the airfield plus there are sound technical reasons for them to a fair distance away. The first radar station, Royal Air Force Bawdsey in Suffolk is quite some way from the local RAF/American bases at Martlesham, Bentwaters & Woodbridge. I had the pleasure of serving at Bawdsey in the 1960's when there was still at least one of the masts. If you want to see some real ones then there are three masts at Great Bromley in Essex. I intend to include a RAF base in my layout when I get around to it and I even have a Queen Mary low loader lorry ready to take away damaged aircraft to the local railway. I enjoyed the Victoria Wood version all that was missing was " Two Soups" but that was in another of Victoria's brilliant shows.

[@modelrailwayquest]

I love the sound of your RAF base and low loader lorry. Be sure to send photos when it's done - would love to see them. And thank you for the tip about the radar masts. I'll have a rethink. And yes - Victoria Wood! I've watched her Brief Encounter sketch so many times and still laugh. Who could forget Two Soups? Maybe there's another layout I can feature that in. :-)

[@scottfw7169]

Will have to tell Julie about that lorry, she's having an RAF museum on her little railway which can be let down on to her quilting table.

[@smallrails6831]

Awesome to she women in the hobby. Hi from NZ

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thank and Hi there!

[@carvermarks]

. . . but can you pick me up at the airport :)

[@bertiewooster3326]

Here is a factoid for you. ...Trevor Howard was paid £500 and Celia Johnson was paid £5000 for their part in the film.I know.

[@mattvoce1091]

What a beautiful lady who loves model trains. Go girls we need more girls who love trains !

[@davestrains]

Fabulous

[@modelrailwayquest]

Thank you!