Just when you thought the snow had gone...

nevard_111101_snow_DSC_4427_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

After some of the warmest late winter days recently with temperatures hitting the upper teens, some parts of this wet island we live on have since had more snow just we thought that winter was all but over for this side of 2012. This strange weather is probably the bi-product of some grubby far east factory producing cheap highly detailed model locos and trains. That’s another story though, well for another day anyway.


I was going to keep this shot for much later in the year, but for want of something to write about which isn’t about toy train forum and magazine buy-outs, those are being discussed to death on forums by people who think the world has ended. So, concentrating on the hobby rather that toy chuff chuff politics, let’s talk about toy snow.

Some of you may have seen this photo in the January 2012 Model Rail mag where it was used to illustrate various products to recreate the effect of snow.

I tried a few of them out, but found the one which stuck to everything like snow in a blizzard wasn't a model snow product at all, but decorator's plaster applied with the kitchen sieve! Whilst it looks great in a model photo like this, I'd not recommend it for anything other than photography because it gets everywhere. In the end I had to take the locos and diorama outside to blast the stuff off.

The rear loco has a very flat finish, and despite a good dusting off after the studio session, it still has the white powder engrained into the paint. Still, it gives a good effect to an engine which spends much of its time shunting at a miniature cement works! If I’d used plaster on a working railway the powder would almost certainly mess up the delicate works. For a working model railway it is better to stick to the bespoke model snow products because they won't damage your trains.
The rather good snow plough is the recent release from Flangeway, and with that nice sharp front end could almost certainly be used on a large model railway to remove pets and children’s toys which may have somehow ended up where they shouldn’t have.