Hornby 00

[TheHighlander]

Good Evening gents,

Currently off work as I was in a pretty hefty car accident (head on because the other driver decided he wanted to come over a hill on the wrong side of the road when the road was dead, anyway I'm recovering at home, done my back in but should recover soon hopefully)

So this means no more Motorcross bike for me for a good wee while, I was on youtube and ended up down a rabbit hole as you do and ended up watching a video of a lad with a Hornby set and thought oooo that's cool.

I'm 33 now had one when I was a kid a Intercity 225, I mind seeing all the accesories and they were mega expensive back then and been a kid I didn't get many of them, now I'm older and can buy all this stuff it got me thinking, I have an empty loft which is massive, insulated with loads of space.

So I found this from that lads YT video for £25 and ordered it - Due tomorrow
https://direct.asda.com/george/toys-character/cars...

Is there anywhere other than ebay you can get preowned sets?

I went through a phase a few years back of buying old Scalextric sets an it proved to be good crack when the wife was away and a few pals came round, beers and scalextric.

Just something I can potter with while my back heals

Sorry for rabbating on, currently blurry eyed with all these meds

[Rich1973]

A couple of the larger outlets have a good range of 2nd hand stock. Have a look at Hattons and Rails of Sheffield.
There may be others but those two are a good place to start.

[MiniMan64]

Facebook marketplace usually has a selection

[droopsnoot]

My local antiques / craft / tat centre has several stalls that have second-hand model railway stuff in varying condition, if you have one of those local to you then it may have similar. Car boot sales can be a good source when they start up again for summer. I've been gathering stuff over the last few years, but only if it's a real bargain.

[gazzarose]

Be very VERY careful. It can be a slippery and potentially expensive slope. Lol.

I bought a couple of 'bargain' Thomas the tank and Percy hornby sets when my son was only 6 months old. The intension was for his second Christmas I would nail them to a board and be done with it. OK maybe not quite that blunt, but what I didn't originally plan was to have a train set semi permanently living on our dining room table.



That was what he found last Xmas morning. He absolutely loves it. I was the same as you and hadn't had a train set since I was a kid, and were having a great time playing with it together. I've been enjoying fiddling and adding things to it, and he just keeps trying to make the biggest train he can. There is definately something refreshing and innocent about playing with it, it's a nice relief from normal adult life.

Oh and just to prove I'm not just an indoorsy type and I'm a proper man's man....



That was my first race of the year a couple of Sundays ago.

Sorry to hear about the lack of MX riding, it's not quite Enduro (that is the natural hierarchy of dirt bikes, lol) , but hope your back on your bike soon. I certainly get a bit twitchy if I haven't ridden for a while!

[gazzarose]

Oh, and while ebay can be a good source, my local railway modeling shop has a great little second hand section, which is perfect for keeping costs down especially when a 3 Yr old is involved. When ever I need anything I try my best to buy it from the local shop (which is actually 30mins away) even if its a couple of quid more than ebay or other Internet sources, but they're great for when you need something there and then, and they offer great advice.

[MiniMan64]

A proper Gordon and Percy, fancy!

I am My children are jealous.

[RacingPete]

MiniMan64 said:

A proper Gordon and Percy, fancy!

I am My children are jealous.

So am I my kids too, as they are hard to find cheap!

It is also worth checking out a few of your local shows where you can pick up wagons for a fiver, coaches for a tenner and some cheap trains - https://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/events - I would pick somewhere that has around 20+ layouts and 15+ trade stands to really make it useful for the entry fee.

And if you get really carried away then you can get into some serious details, hence some of the channels I follow:
Everard Junction - has good how to videos under playlists - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpOcgNqc3JFMhR2L3...
Chadwick Model Railway - nicely explained videos across all sorts of things - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMjSsrcmA4BNeAnh2...
DaveClass47 - good videos on his layout build - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD5N1UI1KuAa-EiKU...
Mouldy Raspberry - beautiful layout set in the dales - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPb9_WPXrSj96rxxf...

[gazzarose]

RacingPete said:

MiniMan64 said:

A proper Gordon and Percy, fancy!

I am My children are jealous.

So am I my kids too, as they are hard to find cheap!

Edited by gazzarose on Tuesday 18th February 09:58

[gazzarose]

RacingPete said:

MiniMan64 said:

A proper Gordon and Percy, fancy!

I am My children are jealous.

So am I my kids too, as they are hard to find cheap!

The Thomas and Percy came with their respective sets, and both can be found quite cheap on Ebay. Gordon on the other hand was picked by my then 2 Yr old in Thomas land 18 months ago. I convinced my wife by saying that Hornby were discontinuing the Thomas range, and we would buy which ever one our boy named. Unfortunately for my wife the only one he could say after the already owned Thomas and Percy was Gordon, bye bye £120! In terms of value though, my bits absolutely love out layout, with Thomas and Gordon being the favourite. I've since bought a few other engines, all non Thomas but close enough to have names. So we've got Flying Scotsman, the little red diesel has been named Salty, and I bought a used class 08 in black, so that Diesel. The rest of the Thomas range do seem to go for increasingly silly money. Luckily for my bank accound we are limited for space on our current layout, so it restricts purchases. Although I cant say I haven't been tempted by a few 'relative' bargains.

We went to my sons favourite place on Saturday, 'The Train Shop' (Lord and Butler railways in Cardiff) after taking my Gran to IKEA. My gran wanted to buy him something so they settled on a used 'Duchess of Sunderland' between them, mainly because it was red! When I got it home, I lookup up the R number, and it was a 3 year run model built from '77-'79. It runs really well for a 40 Yr old loco, not quite as smooth or efficiently as a modern one, but satisfying all the same.

Edited by gazzarose on Tuesday 18th February 10:00