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New member 3 posts Daan Smit New member 3 posts
Daan Smit

My story is kind of hilarious but also sad. Briefly it all happened 22 years ago when my then wife decided she had enough of me and moved out with my collection of HO trains, a collection I started 12 years before that. in the beginning of 2009 my son brought what was left of the tracks, loco's and rolling stock. Obviously after years of lying in a storage shed on the farm there was and still is a lot of damage control to be done, so far I have succeeded in restoring all the electric units and diesels to running order. Some of the track is still usable but some seems to have melted and buckled. All 12 of the DC controllers are still operating and most of the switches are working. A lot of time has been consumed in restoring track. I have started a new layout in my garage,unused for vehicles, and the size is 3 meters by 6 meters square built around the outside perimeter, Base width varies between 70cm and 30 cm. I used to run up to 6 loco's on the old layout on different track sections. I must admit that I am totally out of my depth now with all the new developments. DCC sound great especially with sound. The biggest problem is I live in South Africa and in a rural area thus no hobby shops and then obviously pricing at Rand 7.94 to the $ it is fairly expensive. It is also bothersome to not have access to people in the know and hence my great joy to discover this site. Reading through the discussions I have gained a lot of answers to my questions and thanks to all of you whose brains I have picked without your knowledge.
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joef MRH Founder 17,521 posts
joef

Welcome, Daan!

Welcome aboard Model Railroad Hobbyist, Daan. Some 30% of our readership is outside the US, so you're in good company!

Joe Fugate​
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine

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Read my blog
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Rio Grande Dan Prolific poster 2,307 posts
Rio Grande Dan

Welcome to the MRH forums

Welcome to the MRH forums Dann Happy to have you join our world of Model Railroaders. Any time you have any question about anything Model Railroading just ask us and one or 20 of us will help as much as we can. I have found that there are more real experts on model railroading on this forum than any other forum I have found to date and on top of that one great magazine FREE. Hope to here more about your Railroad soon.

Dan

(Rio Grande Dan)

Rio Grande Dan
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Russ Bellinis Prolific poster 3,335 posts
Russ Bellinis

Welcome aboard Daan!

Ask away for any questions you might have.  About the only area where we may not be able to help you are questions about where to buy stuff in South Africa!  Then again we may even have some South African members here who would be able to help in that area as well!
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jappe Frequent poster 502 posts
jappe

Welkom Daan

I am one of the 30% Mr.Fugate pointed out and all I can say, this is a second to none forum Daan. Since day one I joined, I never felt as beeing one of the 30%. It's just one big family here. So sit down, relax and enjoy the ride.

Jappe

CEO, U.P.-Willamette Valley Sub aka U.P.-Eureka & Willamette Valley Branch

----------------------------------Ship it now, Ship it right---------------------------------------------

                                        age(42).jpeg 

Don't ride behind me, I will not lead you, don't ride in front of me, I will not follow you, just ride next to me and be my bro......
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santa fe 1958 Regular poster 393 posts
santa fe 1958

Welcome Daan

Welcome Daan.

As another one of that 30%, I was surprised it was that high!

Feel free to ask questions, or just read whats been posted. I've learn't a lot that way and there are a heck of a lot of experienced modelers on this Forum who are more than willing to pass on their knowledge.

Distance is no barrier!

I don't know anything about this store but Walthers do have 'Model Train Exchange' as being available for their products;-

10 NBS Building, 310 Oak Avenue, Ferndale
Randburg, Gauteng 2194
Phone: 27-1178-76121
Fax: 27-1188-62725

I appreciate that South Africa is a large country so that might not be practical, but its just a suggestion.

Brian

 

Brian

Deadwood City Railroad, modeling a Santa Fe branch line in the 1960's!

http://deadwoodcityrailroad.blogspot.co
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joef MRH Founder 17,521 posts
joef

Yes, 30%

I think the reason as many as 30% of our readership reside outside the US is because there's a great interest in railroads globally.

With the print magazines, it's a much greater hassle to get an issue delivered and to "connect" with the US model railroading hotbed.

But not so with MRH! Finally, there's a publication to meet this pent-up demand ... and a darn convenient publication at that. The barriers to getting Model Railroading Hobbyist into your hands are few - US or otherwise.

Joe Fugate​
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine

[siskiyouBtn]

Read my blog
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jeffshultz MRH Staff 7,990 posts
jeffshultz

Howdy Daan!

I think you're the second (that I know of) modeler from South Africa that I know.

Is there a community of modelers down there or do you feel like you're sort of floating alone? I can refer the other SA modeler to you if you are interested.

orange70.jpg
Jeff Shultz - MRH Technical Assistant
DCC Features Matrix/My blog index
Modeling a fictional GWI shortline combining three separate areas into one freelance-ish railroad.
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