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Mouth to mouth?(1) — fatwindsurfer — 13/07/2010 13:46:50 | OK. Here is a post/question just to try to keep things going!
How many of you guys has ACTUALLY got a layout that works? I ask as I have one (EM) that can hardly be described as 'working'. I have literally dozens of kit builds in progress and stuff in boxes (OO and EM) that may never actually get a run! It's just like some sort of obsession that I can't get rid of (bit like having to eat ice cream).
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Mouth to mouth?(2) — Robin — 13/07/2010 15:40:02 | Good one, Fatwindsurfer (incidentally, would you be called something else if you did't feel you had to eat ice cream).
I haven't got a railway now that Greetby Minster (see http://homepages.tesco.net/~jksharman/_greetby2.html ) is being demolished.
I'm trying to salvage as much as possible to recycle into the next layout or to finance it. The locos and stock are all packed away, and stuff like trackwork and signals are now being retrieved. I'd really like to get down from the attic, where it's either too hot or too cold for eleven months of the year. However, I don't have a room that will accommodate the OO trains adequately elsewhere in the house.
That leaves me with three options:
1) build a much smaller railway (e.g. loco depot or branch terminus for my 153s) - but I like long modern trains.
2) change from OO to N scale - but I'm fond of my collection and I find N visually challenging as I get older.
3) venture into the garden with what I've got - but, having read up on garden railways, I'm now convinced that the elements will conspire against any sort of reliable running in OO (even if I revert to analogue from dcc).
What does everyone think? | |
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Mouth to mouth?(3) — fatwindsurfer — 13/07/2010 19:38:15 | From what I've read elsewhere it may be worth selling on some stuff, spending some dosh on getting the loft/roof part insulated in the correct way (building reg's etc.) if your loft has the room you require? Then invest in a decent fan heater/cooler and you can spend a lot more time up there.
If you have decided the loft is done for I can only suggest thinking about a move to a suitable place with a railway friendly room (e.g garage that you don't need).
Is there someone else you know with a big layout where you can indulge your long trains? If so then you could get a really smart depot layout sorted and concentrate on detailing loco's and bogs. This other person may like your loco's to appear on their layout!
36E
P.S. I have been an overweight windsurfer for ages but now tend to be only overweight as I no longer live near the coast! I have to eat ice cream as part of my medication!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Mouth to mouth?(4) — Andy — 13/07/2010 20:19:59 | Certainly got a working layout called "Highworth". It's in my garage, set in the 1970s of my youth. RTR locos include 03, 08, 25, 27, 31, 37 & 108.
It's a roundy roundy DCC with a branch terminus.
Gradients and curves are all far too steep and sharp. There are plenty of pictures on RMweb for anyone who wants to take a gander.
Have recently put a canal backscene in.
Recently it hasn't had much attention as work has taken over my life.
Andy | |
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Mouth to mouth?(5) — Neil — 14/07/2010 08:27:09 | Yes, four. Two are 4mm scale 16.5mm gauge, which are Warmley, BR/LMR on the Midland Railway's Bath extension; and Blagdon, a fictitious Somerset & Dorset branch, both set in 1954. The other two are finescale O gauge models of the North Staffordshire, set in 1912. They are Lane End, a small branch terminus in an industrial part of Stoke-on-Trent and Lower Normacot Wharf, a goods-only canalside yard set about two miles from Lane End. All are analogue control, more or less straightforward.
All have appeared in the model press, Warmley in BRM and Model Rail, Blagdon in BRM and the Railway Modeller, Lane End in the Modeller and all three smaller lines in Nigel Adams' new book "More Layouts for Limited Spaces" [Silver Link, published this month]. The two O gauge layouts are in different stages of completion, but all work - always a rash thing to say! Lower Normacot Wharf is due to appear at Tywyn Model Railway Society's exhibition in the Tywyn Baptist Church on 31st July, so if anyone's there, do say hello.
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Mouth to mouth?(6) — Albert Hall — 14/07/2010 10:43:36 | I don't have a layout at present. I tend to be a collector of bits and pieces which will be put to use when I get round to it. Not too much RTR stuff but a lot of high quality kits which will eventually go together to S4 standard. I also have an extensive library of magazine articles and quality modelling books- what I consider to be 'best practice' in the hobby.
Incidentally, I thought Warmley was one of those layouts which stood out in the crowd, partly because it is a location I recognise but also because it is what I think of as a believable quality layout.
As for trading down to N gauge, not for me but there have been some considerable achievements in 2mm finescale; and not just Copenhagen Fields. Even so, I still feel that this scale lacks the sheer weight to achieve the necessary inertia for reliable running. Even S scale scores over 4mm scale on this count.
Good to see this forum has faltered back to life.
Bert
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Mouth to mouth?(7) — Neil — 14/07/2010 13:25:47 | Thanks, Bert.
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Mouth to mouth?(8) — DavidBroad — 16/07/2010 00:26:46 | I have one in the Garden that works, albeit on battery power, one in the spare bedroom that doesn't, 18" radius spirals in OO don't work, and one in the loft which is so complicated that the control system is completely impossible.
luckily a friend has a fuly working 1950s WR OO layout I can run my trains on | |
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Mouth to mouth?(9) — fatwindsurfer — 16/07/2010 09:47:48 | The loft layout; that is so refreshing to hear! My EM layout is 'pre used' and was beautifully modelled, HOWEVER the track-work was/is dodgy in places and the electrics can really only be understood by an expert in wiring and that I am NOT.
I am so tempted to rip out the track and rebuild that along with simple wiring for my benefit. (Remember though it is EM!) Problem is there are overhead wires + the poles and fittings for the old NER OH supply AND 3rd rail for the NER/LNER/BR Tyneside Electric system!
So, to be honest, having already started to 'remodel' the scenics (i.e. remove the bridges at both ends of the shunt, I really don't think I'm EVER going to get the track/electrics sorted and the overhead system rebuilt!
Perhaps it's time to have a really good re-think?
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Mouth to mouth?(10) — peppercorn — 20/07/2010 16:01:15 | Not quite, yet. Baseboards 50% made and in place in the loft (4800mm x 550mm available) awaiting final fixing. This to be followed shortly by construction of same length of baseboards for the other half of the U shaped layout, plus I have to fix three fluorescent light fittings above. About two clear days' worth of work, I reckon.
I have two plans under active consideration, have bought most of the pointwork (Peco) for the station side, but not for the sidings side of the layout. I was planning to use Templot, but, frankly, I find it too difficult to use (my intelligence, my age...)
I'm hoping to start laying tracks in September.
other than that, I'm a fiddler with a butterfly mind that goes off into tangents, so what I need is a period of concentration. Mind you, I do have some kits that need putting together... | |
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