Graceland

looking at doing another model railway layout - brother used to have a HUGE one in the loft a few years ago - had over 1500 quid of gear and spent about 400 on track alone

any hints or tips on setting up a layout again? - and yes, i expect some pisstaking on this subject aswell but generally its a serious one please

SimonT

My old man built one in our loft - its still there!! Ive been trying to get him to rip it out so I can build a studio but he is having none of it!

As for track - all he ever used was points and "flexible" track sections rather than fixed radius curves etc...

Ill try and grab a pic later - but I dont like the loft - theres spiders

churchy

I think everyone wants to help, but are a bit embarresed , because as we all know, everyone have had a train set at some point. And everone loved it too! Still got mine, foookin love it. First thing to do is measure the space you are using, then do a scaled drawing of the layout, because no doubt you'll wanna change it a few times before settling on a particular design, as the possibilities are endless!!! Ooooh, show us some pics when its done!

Graceland

cheers simon - thats what me dad did for arr kids layout - about 300 quid on flexi and 100 quid on points - was amazing, spose its all been re-kindled by me working on't railways - a bit sad i know, but i need summat to do with all the money and time i now have

SimonT

if its any help he used to subscribe to a magazine called "Railway Modeller" (no its not porn! )

might be worth checking to see if they got a website

churchy

I forgot all about flexi track! Flexi track rules!!!!!

Graceland

churchy - the layout will be based around a real station - manchester victoria - and will be using my bedroom - its big enough for the space, but will need to re-do my room with regards to my bed and stuff.

also its been started by seeing a model train on ebay in teh livery of the company i work for

SimonT

You know it mate! I mean..........My dad would agree!

churchy

It would probably be easier to base it in the early 90's, before someone thought it would be a great idea to paint each train a different colour! Good station to pick. What about overhead cables and the like, its something I never got round to doing. Look, you've got me started now.

Graceland

man vic doesnt have overhead cables apart from the metrolink tram, but that won't be included - i've got scale maps in the form of the sectional appendix for trackplans of all the lines in the north west of england - so in theory i could model it on anywhere round there, but i've chosen man vic for the reason of - 4 thru platforms, 2 bays, plenty of crossovers, newton heath depot is only a couple of miles on the down towards rochdale and its generally a nice plan to start on station wise .

been looking on ebay at model trains, rolling stock etc and theres plenty out there - even the old early 90's regional rail livered units - should be a good project to do, just need to create some space first by moving my bed round and rasing it up so i have the full room to use etc etc. lol

churchy

Keep us posted man, I'd love to see the finished article! Oh, and buy Lima stuff if you can, Hornby stuff is unrealistic in sizes! Try proper model shops for trains and rolling stock, you can normally get stuff second hand that has been weathered an that. Good luck.

Graceland

Lima, bachman and graham-farrish are the best scale railway models - hornby is good for track and so is peco

will keey you posted on it - should hopefully be starting it soon - need to have a move round in me bedroom first tho to create a lot of space

FastFordChris

they're used to be a show on home and lesure everyday about model railways etc
the coolist thing they showed was they had cars that run along the road and could steer on theyre own and everything. the car just run on a moter but the steering was done by having a metal wire running along the route u want it to take and the wheels that steered had a magnet connected to them. they had like propa motorways with cars overtaking etc look soooo cool! and the same applys for bouts aswell if u want a river.

Graceland

thats a bit toooooooooo detailed for the beginner m8 love the idea tho

MWF

What gauge is it?

Graceland

OO/HO guage is what i'm looking at - thats what we had before, dad used to have an N guage when i was a little nipper - that thing was fooking amazingly detailed!!!!!!!

MWF

Ah OO/HO is good value, the N gauge stuff is a fortune!

Graceland

the N gauge is a fortune yep - but the detail on it is amazing

and with clumbsy hands, OO is a better gauge - easier to re-rail etc

Stavros

Ok, i admit it, i do know a lil bit about model trains from when i was MUCH younger... (TBH i still would be interested if there was enough time in the world, and money, and space, but there not, and thankfully i have better things to do, lol)

Funny, this was the only thing i was gonna comment on...

If was ME id only EVER use N gauge...

Fair play its expensive, but its fucking top quality, wheras OO stuff is big enough to realise it looks shit

And of course its smaller so can fit a lot more in...

But its stupid expensive. Get what you pay for tho. I had a REALLY good/detailed/complicated N gauge setup when i was 9 or so (my Brother did it for my 9th Birthday i think) but i hardly used it TBH and it was got rid of by time i was 12 i think.
BUT! The engines n stuff was just left in the attick all boxed up and i got over 500quid for them a year or 2 ago, result

If was me id base it in the 70s or early 80s myself, more interesting stuff can be used then.

OR!

Dont! You got a cossie, waste your cash on that you fool!

Graceland

and i got 9 bonus points on my licence too - i need something to keep me off the road without being banned

Oranoco

I've still got all my OO kit. The layout was on a 6' x 4' board which was hinged onto my bedroom wall (it's still there too). Most of my stuff is GWR. I have a Hall class loco 4-6-0 as well as a couple of pannier tank locos 0-6-0.

Defo agree with using flex track as it minimises joins and allows gentler radius's on the curves. I'd also recommend soldering small wire strips between the joins as the fishplates can become weak over time and provide poor conductivity.

Get some pics up mate as I recon more people will be interested in this than may let on. I don't play toy trains anymore.









I play Scalextric instead

Graceland

you got any pics of yours m8? wanting some ideas yasee - just in the process of cleaning the room totally and moving everything that can be moved out the way aswell to make way for the railway creation - even moving my pc - which is criminal

Big G

You gonna put a signpost for my house near Mills Hill

Rick

used to have one runnin int the garden on our old house. We've got a lot of N gague too - must be 20 years old. Steam engines, diesels etc. Bet they worth sommat now.

FastFordChris

thats the thing mate it wasnt that complex to do. as u can buy a tool to carv out the track u want to run the wire then u just have to smooth over it and paint it

Ginge !

no comment


think a car track would be the tits though, start making them




i knew steve had a dark side, oranoco i would have guessed you have a railway track STILL in ya room

Ginge !

CHRIS,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, NO COMMENT