Across the pond - layout from Blighty
Good afternoon from across the pond here in Blighty (that's England for those of you not in the know!)
I've been enjoying the magazine over here and am picking up some good tips. I thought you might be interested in seeing how we do things in this neck of the woods.
First, some background. Although in my late 30's, I have only recently discovered the joys of model railways (or railroads as you call them. I will try and ensure I keep up a translation of our differing words!) for about a year. As with the vast majority of Brits (or loyal subjects of Queen Elizabeth and the British Empire as you would say) I model in OO gauge. Although not technically correct, OO gauge is bar far the most popular gauge over here and the easiest to get hold of stuff for. N gauge comes a close second.
I am planning a heritage site (aka preserved railway) based very, very loosely on the LB&SCR (London, Brighton and South Coast Railway), SR (Southern Rail) and the Isle of Wight (an amalgamation of the two). Heritage is a bit of a 'cop out' (um, not sure on this one - poor excuse, maybe?). It makes life easier for me as I don't have to be historically exact. Also, there are no problems with me running a steam loco and a diesel at the same time. My set up is DC powered.
My set up is a small (miniscule, tiny or microscopic by your standards) layout in my summerhouse-come-home office-come telescope store. My layout is approximately 1.54m long (4' 5") by 1.1m (3' 8"). My key is to try and make the whole layout as cheaply as possibly, using cast offs and second hand items. To this extent, I use freecycle.org a lot for getting hold of stuff. All of the MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard, which I believe is banned in the US!) I used for the base came from freecycle - the previous owner had used wanted she wanted and gave me the spare rather than throw out (garbage/landfill). The controller came from there too (along with some lovely 3 rail Dublo stuff from the 50's - more on that later).
Please have a look over my website - http://themolevalleyline.weebly.com/ The Mole Valley Line - which gives some more details.
I was going to add photos, but they don't seem to be supported as yet. There are plenty on the website though.
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Adding photos
Check out Jeff's blog on the subject.
Adding photos
Across the Pond
Welcome aboard. Never heard of "Blighty", but that is cool. I wonder where the nickname came from. It seems that you have plenty to do and have done quite a bit. Nice website. I also have my layout built on MDF board here in Southern Florida. I really like it. I model in O scale in standard gauge and in narrow gauge.
Please keep us posted on your progress and it is great having you. I believe you are the only one modeling in OO scale in this group. Although I have a good friend in Texas that models in OO also. So you have a niche here being the only one in that scale. So I think it would be a nice thread to keep us posted and educate us on that scale.
Nick Biangel
I have only recently
Obviously you are directing that to the American contingent on this site; as a Canadian I have to point out that we only have railways in Canada (Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Railway, Ontario Northland Railway, just as examples), and up until the non-lingual red and white crossbucks began adorning our grade crossings, the english ones read "Railway Crossing" as well.
That makes it a pain to find proper lettering for our crossing signals, too...
Jurgen
Visit the Sudbury Division at www.wrmrc.ca
neat layout
Wow have seen a few European and Brit models but not many layouts. Interesting rolling stock like the locomotives as well, keep us updated on layout progress.
Shucks!
Thanks for all the kind words gents.
I realise that my layout is small fry compared to many here (and the truely astonishing ones that appear in the magazine), but I'm please at the interest. I'll keep you posted.
As an aside, it seems unusual that you can't add picture to a thread, only to a blog? Not that I'm complainig, but I'm used to just adding a link to Photobucket.
Shouldn't matter ...
It shouldn't matter ... you should be able to add photos to any post, blog, forum, or otherwise.
If you can't, let me know, but it should work ... just click the little mountain button with the red sun in it.
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine
View of the layout base made
View of the layout base made from 18mm MDF on softwood 2x4s
I get it now! Thanks for your patience!
Some various shot (which should have spaced a bit better - apologies!)
The layout as is now, from above. There is a little bit more work required on the shunting area - additional points (turnouts?) required.
An ex-LMS Crab in early British Rail Lined Black with the early emblem on the tender
A nicely weathered (not by me!) Calss 31 diesel
A close up of the shunting area/industrial zone, prior to expansion in the first photo. On the left is another Class 31 in Dutch livery. On the right is a little 0-4-0T GWR loco and central a few small items of goods stock including a black fruit van, green open plank and petrol tanker.
Semafore signal bridge
Cool Semafore bridge, does it operate or is it a static display? Like the diesel loco.
Other side of the pond...
Looks like we have virtually the same mind when it comes to our train tables. Softwood (pine) frame, MDF table top, sanded smooth with two coats of maple stain & polyurethane. My layout will be in the living room, so it has to fit in with the rest of the furniture. I have no "man room" I can go to be a geek in
. I sealed the MDF with the polyurethane to protect it from soaking up any moisture & swelling or warping...
Jeremy
Semaphore (Semafore) Signal Bridge
Bruce,
It's static at the moment. It's quiet an elderly bit of kit (another item from freecycle.org) produced by Cresent Toys in probably the mid 1960's and is actually split in the middle. I have it balanced together at the moment. I'm just getting to grip with soldering, so it's on the list to repair!
Currently, it is static, but the arms do work. they follow the GWR (Great Western Railway) system of dropping to signal a clear line. The yellow arms are for distance, to warn of up coming signals.
The levers that work the arms move as well and are connected to the rods. I believe that it is possible to run these from motors, like point (turnout motors), but I've not looked into it as yet. I may try using the rod system to activate them - thin brass rod run under the base board that turns a pulley and drops the arm) but I'm not sure yet.