Model Railway Chat
Discussion
I don't think we've ever had much discussion here on the topic of model railways. Ironic really as it probably is the largest modelling sector of them all.
I've recently started developing an interest in this area. I've always had a passing interest in trains (once a geek, always a geek) and a chance purchase of a Hornby OO starter set in a charity shop a couple of months ago has set me off on the slippery slope.
Unlike aircraft, I know very little about railways and can just about recognise an Intercity 125 or a Deltic. Like everybody, I love steam locomotives but I also quite like BR diesels of the 1960s and 70s.
Anyway, if anybody else got an interest in model railways and has any useful information to pass on, I'd be more than happy to hear from them.
I've recently started developing an interest in this area. I've always had a passing interest in trains (once a geek, always a geek) and a chance purchase of a Hornby OO starter set in a charity shop a couple of months ago has set me off on the slippery slope.
Unlike aircraft, I know very little about railways and can just about recognise an Intercity 125 or a Deltic. Like everybody, I love steam locomotives but I also quite like BR diesels of the 1960s and 70s.
Anyway, if anybody else got an interest in model railways and has any useful information to pass on, I'd be more than happy to hear from them.
www.rmweb.co.uk.
I've you've started developing an interest, that website / forum will turn it into a full blown nerd out interest!
Some of the projects on there are mega, and to be fair I believe somewhere on here is a large thread on I think Simon George's(?) enormous self built 00 layout which is incredible in itself!
I've you've started developing an interest, that website / forum will turn it into a full blown nerd out interest!
Some of the projects on there are mega, and to be fair I believe somewhere on here is a large thread on I think Simon George's(?) enormous self built 00 layout which is incredible in itself!
Not so much the fact they're trains, it's the engineering I find fascinating.
I live close to this https://rsme.org.uk/ so often pop in when they do their exhibitions if I'm passing on my bike.
Got chatting to a Japan Air chief pilot a few years back, who trys to align a UK flight with one event a year so he can bring his train with him.
I love chatting to the scratch builders... Amazing the stuff they've made...and their backgrounds.
I live close to this https://rsme.org.uk/ so often pop in when they do their exhibitions if I'm passing on my bike.
Got chatting to a Japan Air chief pilot a few years back, who trys to align a UK flight with one event a year so he can bring his train with him.
I love chatting to the scratch builders... Amazing the stuff they've made...and their backgrounds.
I had a small model railway layout when I was a kid, started with a 6' x 4' board and then up to an 8' x 4' one, but no larger than that and it got dismantled after a while. I've been collecting bits of track and things as I see them at a decent price, with half an eye on building a bigger layout around my shed when I've finished restoring the cars and only need it as storage space. When (or if) that happened is another matter, of course, as it is with all projects.
I stopped this from being thrown in a skip a few years back
A typical small layout which crams as much track as possible onto a small board, but they were throwing it out (along with a load of buildings and some power controllers, but no rolling stock unfortunately) and that seemed wrong. I doubt I'll do anything with it as it stands, but it'll be useful for track parts.
Will I ever get to it? I don't know. Maybe visiting Chester Cathedral will give me a bit of impetus.
I stopped this from being thrown in a skip a few years back
A typical small layout which crams as much track as possible onto a small board, but they were throwing it out (along with a load of buildings and some power controllers, but no rolling stock unfortunately) and that seemed wrong. I doubt I'll do anything with it as it stands, but it'll be useful for track parts.
Will I ever get to it? I don't know. Maybe visiting Chester Cathedral will give me a bit of impetus.
tommobot said:
www.rmweb.co.uk.
I've you've started developing an interest, that website / forum will turn it into a full blown nerd out interest!
Some of the projects on there are mega, and to be fair I believe somewhere on here is a large thread on I think Simon George's(?) enormous self built 00 layout which is incredible in itself!
I'm on there too, it's very diverse with oodles of knowledge and good advice. I'm just getting back into modelling and plan to get stuck into 0 gauge again.I've you've started developing an interest, that website / forum will turn it into a full blown nerd out interest!
Some of the projects on there are mega, and to be fair I believe somewhere on here is a large thread on I think Simon George's(?) enormous self built 00 layout which is incredible in itself!
loskie said:
My late father's collection of 60s and 70s Hornby stuff up to the Zero One Controller era is gathering dust. There's a lot of stuff iirc. How best to sell it? Much of it is boxed and unopened.
Traders like Hattons buy up model collections. They will take any sort of model but they are best known as a model railway retailer.droopsnoot said:
I had a small model railway layout when I was a kid, started with a 6' x 4' board and then up to an 8' x 4' one, but no larger than that and it got dismantled after a while. I've been collecting bits of track and things as I see them at a decent price, with half an eye on building a bigger layout around my shed when I've finished restoring the cars and only need it as storage space. When (or if) that happened is another matter, of course, as it is with all projects.
That's reassuringly familiar 
I sold a B2 Coupe quattro to a musician who, it turned out, scratch built in O gauge. I've got a heap of OO at Mum's house, a (growing) heap of S&D themed N stuff at my house, and nowhere to run any of it because all my spare time is spent looking after the cars.
And now I've started old-school balsa wood and tissue paper aeroplanes too
The 'Speed & Power' generation at play.
For those thinking of getting back into it, I highly recommend this https://scalescenes.com/product/ly01-industrial-bo...
It's a model in a box file and basically needs 4 bits of track, one point, one box file, a pritt stick, a knife, a steel rule, some card and access to a printer. it took me a couple of weeks of evenings to assemble it, having not done any modelling for a long long time. Also, because you buy the pdf file, if you make an error you can just print a new page and start again (ask me how I know...)
He's produced a number of other kits and there are some free ones on the main page. I've no relationship other than as a satisfied customer, I've built a few and they are streets ahead of Metcalfe and Superquick.
It's a model in a box file and basically needs 4 bits of track, one point, one box file, a pritt stick, a knife, a steel rule, some card and access to a printer. it took me a couple of weeks of evenings to assemble it, having not done any modelling for a long long time. Also, because you buy the pdf file, if you make an error you can just print a new page and start again (ask me how I know...)
He's produced a number of other kits and there are some free ones on the main page. I've no relationship other than as a satisfied customer, I've built a few and they are streets ahead of Metcalfe and Superquick.
Have you spotted the Making Tracks 3 thread?
Second vote for the rmweb forum.
Get yourself a track planning program.
Anyrail is easy to use but has a modest size limit for the demo version.
I use XTrackCAD which is freeware. A bit more techie but great VFM!
Technology, as you might expect, has changed things a lot. DCC (digital command control) has made things both easier and more complex!
Second vote for the rmweb forum.
Get yourself a track planning program.
Anyrail is easy to use but has a modest size limit for the demo version.
I use XTrackCAD which is freeware. A bit more techie but great VFM!
Technology, as you might expect, has changed things a lot. DCC (digital command control) has made things both easier and more complex!
This is a timely thread. Having been inspired by a visit to Mevagissey model railway, I've just dug out my really old 00 Lima set. I don't think it has run for about 35 years. I set it up briefly on the Kitchen table and it still just about functioned. The Heath Robinson speed control that my Dad must have made from an old scalextric style controller was playing up a bit, some of the wagons had lost their axles, one set of points was broken and I didn't have enough fishplates to join all the track together.
I bought a cheap used Gaugemaster speed control off Ebay to get it going and all is good now. Loco runs really smooth. Need to decide whether to make a semi-permanent layout on a board now, or put it away never to see the light of day again. The one thing I've discovered is the cost of getting into model railways looks insane if it's not your main hobby and also my son was a lot less excited about seeing it run than I was. He liked it, but he' wandered of quite quickly. I can imagine a lot of satisfaction in a really nice layout, a lot of work and money to get there though. A simple oval track and a siding on a board doesn't hold a lot of appeal.
I bought a cheap used Gaugemaster speed control off Ebay to get it going and all is good now. Loco runs really smooth. Need to decide whether to make a semi-permanent layout on a board now, or put it away never to see the light of day again. The one thing I've discovered is the cost of getting into model railways looks insane if it's not your main hobby and also my son was a lot less excited about seeing it run than I was. He liked it, but he' wandered of quite quickly. I can imagine a lot of satisfaction in a really nice layout, a lot of work and money to get there though. A simple oval track and a siding on a board doesn't hold a lot of appeal.
I have built a number of layouts, heavily industrial influenced, narrow and standard gauge in 7mm scale, mainly scratch built or kit bashed, all with DCC control. Lately I have moved up to 16mm scale both indoors and out. Most of them have build threads on RMWEB.
My first layout I started building 1999, exhibited 40+ times and sold it last year and pleased the new owner is still exhibiting it. Scenic area 8’ x 2’.
Similar theme but this one was a club layout, 7mm narrow gauge and standard gauge with sections of dual gauge, all hand built track. Scenic area 27’ x 2.5’. Virtually all the rolling stock was mine. Layout did about 10 x shows, then got scrapped due to not being able to get enough club members to help exhibit. I left the club after that.
The current layout again is 7mm standard and narrow gauge, all sound fitted locos. Features radio controlled gantry crane and lorries. Done eight shows since 2018, have two more to do this year. Still a WIP, but hope to finish off over the winter. Scenic area 6’ x 2’.
The latest projects are 1/19 scale, 16mm to the foot.
The indoor layout is a scale model of a station on a heritage line I and few friends volunteer on. A group of four of us are building this one.
Layout is 32’ x 2.5’ and features a vertical rotating fiddle yard
The track is scratch built, the sleepers are pine, the track plates and pandrol clips are lost wax brass, cast from own patterns.
This is a test section of track I was trying out painting techniques on before attacking the layout.
WIP of the rotating fiddle yard.
We laid all the boards out to get a feel for the total size.
I wanted to move away from the usual curtain drapes on exhibition layouts, preferring a floating edge to the layout with a curved lower fascia.
This photo shows one of the boards while we were working out fixing methods.
The other 16mm project is the garden line, it works its way around the garden and eventually will end up reaching one of the sheds. Here the indoor bit will be heavily industrial, along the lines of my previous layouts. The buildings outside are all scratch built and hand scribed using PVC Foamex. These ones have been out for ywo years now.
Martin
My first layout I started building 1999, exhibited 40+ times and sold it last year and pleased the new owner is still exhibiting it. Scenic area 8’ x 2’.
Similar theme but this one was a club layout, 7mm narrow gauge and standard gauge with sections of dual gauge, all hand built track. Scenic area 27’ x 2.5’. Virtually all the rolling stock was mine. Layout did about 10 x shows, then got scrapped due to not being able to get enough club members to help exhibit. I left the club after that.
The current layout again is 7mm standard and narrow gauge, all sound fitted locos. Features radio controlled gantry crane and lorries. Done eight shows since 2018, have two more to do this year. Still a WIP, but hope to finish off over the winter. Scenic area 6’ x 2’.
The latest projects are 1/19 scale, 16mm to the foot.
The indoor layout is a scale model of a station on a heritage line I and few friends volunteer on. A group of four of us are building this one.
Layout is 32’ x 2.5’ and features a vertical rotating fiddle yard
The track is scratch built, the sleepers are pine, the track plates and pandrol clips are lost wax brass, cast from own patterns.
This is a test section of track I was trying out painting techniques on before attacking the layout.
WIP of the rotating fiddle yard.
We laid all the boards out to get a feel for the total size.
I wanted to move away from the usual curtain drapes on exhibition layouts, preferring a floating edge to the layout with a curved lower fascia.
This photo shows one of the boards while we were working out fixing methods.
The other 16mm project is the garden line, it works its way around the garden and eventually will end up reaching one of the sheds. Here the indoor bit will be heavily industrial, along the lines of my previous layouts. The buildings outside are all scratch built and hand scribed using PVC Foamex. These ones have been out for ywo years now.
Martin
I can't really follow that, absoluely stunning..
Just getting back into it after a 35 year hiatus, so very much the other end of the scale....
Having great fun buying old N gauge stock off ebay, new track and then arduino power, and servo based point and decoupler control. Really enjoyed making some of the metcalfe kits.
Currently building a simple inglenook, aiming for early 50s with steam. Spending wet days and dark evenings learning long forgotten skills and messing around with electronics.
It's great fun just running a loco you've serviced up a simple bit of track using a rheostat and switches, knowing you wired it up and wrote the code to do it yourself, and going.. Chooo Choo inside....
Just getting back into it after a 35 year hiatus, so very much the other end of the scale....
Having great fun buying old N gauge stock off ebay, new track and then arduino power, and servo based point and decoupler control. Really enjoyed making some of the metcalfe kits.
Currently building a simple inglenook, aiming for early 50s with steam. Spending wet days and dark evenings learning long forgotten skills and messing around with electronics.
It's great fun just running a loco you've serviced up a simple bit of track using a rheostat and switches, knowing you wired it up and wrote the code to do it yourself, and going.. Chooo Choo inside....
droopsnoot said:
I had a small model railway layout when I was a kid, started with a 6' x 4' board and then up to an 8' x 4' one, but no larger than that and it got dismantled after a while. I've been collecting bits of track and things as I see them at a decent price, with half an eye on building a bigger layout around my shed when I've finished restoring the cars and only need it as storage space. When (or if) that happened is another matter, of course, as it is with all projects.
I stopped this from being thrown in a skip a few years back
A typical small layout which crams as much track as possible onto a small board, but they were throwing it out (along with a load of buildings and some power controllers, but no rolling stock unfortunately) and that seemed wrong. I doubt I'll do anything with it as it stands, but it'll be useful for track parts.
Will I ever get to it? I don't know. Maybe visiting Chester Cathedral will give me a bit of impetus.
Seeing the dark grey area in the top left and the building with the roof off makes me think of wartime observation photos taken from the air. It would be cool to make a WW1 or 2 scenario with bomb craters, burnt out buildings etc.I stopped this from being thrown in a skip a few years back
A typical small layout which crams as much track as possible onto a small board, but they were throwing it out (along with a load of buildings and some power controllers, but no rolling stock unfortunately) and that seemed wrong. I doubt I'll do anything with it as it stands, but it'll be useful for track parts.
Will I ever get to it? I don't know. Maybe visiting Chester Cathedral will give me a bit of impetus.
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