Author Topic: Any railway modellers out there?  (Read 1149 times)

Dorsetmike

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Any railway modellers out there?
« on: May 13, 2019, 09:35:21 PM »
I had a browse through the hobbies and interests and only found a few mentions of model railways about 7 years ago, so thought it might be an idea to see if anybody out there is "playing trains" in their second childhood.
Like many others my first experience was a Hornby gauge 0 train set for Christmas when I was about 5, that lasted until I was about 15 when I discovered girls, then joined the RAF at 17 and 6 months. Next was when I had sons of my own, yep trainset for Christmas. Their interest didn't last as long as mine so not much happened until 1974 when my Father died and left me a couple of locos, some wagons and track; I left the RAF and we bought a house near mum.
Since then I've started a number of layouts, none of which got completed for one reason or another,like divorce, moving house marrying again, more house moves; one house we had a proper floor put in the loft and stairs up to it, all for the layout an L shape 17'x25' which in N gauge (scale of 1:148 about 2mm :1') is a lot of railway, after 5 years, redundancy so moved back to Dorset, luckily my wife still had a job and I had my RAF pension. A few small contracts and jobs kept us going until I retired in '99. I had managed to do a bit of modelling between jobs, I was able to do a bit more after retirement. My wife passed in 2008, I managed to keep the house going until about 4 years ago when I downsized to this retirement flat, not done much modelling in the last 18 months, lost my voice, turned out to be cancer on the vocal chord, a months rsdio therapy last May seems to have sorted that, but it knocked me back a bit. Maybe I'll start another layout!
 My layouts have all been based on the Southern Railway as it was in the mid to late 1930s, I went to school alongside the Bournemouth - Weymouth line and discovered train spotting which has influenced my modelling.
A few locos, some bought ready to run, some built from kits others modified from what the manufacturers intended.



I'm like my avatar, a local ruin

zoony

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Re: Any railway modellers out there?
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2019, 12:11:35 AM »
Might've known it was Southern Rail...All stationary..
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

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Michael Rolls

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Re: Any railway modellers out there?
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2019, 06:36:19 AM »
When I was at St. Olave's there was a magnificent model of the School Class 'St. Olave's' in the school hall - can't remember for sure but it must have been something like three or even four feet long.
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

Johned

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Re: Any railway modellers out there?
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2019, 09:27:59 PM »
One of my interests Dorsetmike.  I started with a Hornby Gauge 0 clockwork set with a few extra wagons dad bought me for Christmas 1937 when I was three.  I added to this after the war and went 00 scale electric after National Service in 1955!  Many years ago when I was recuperating from illness my elder son and daughter in law bought me a complete 00 layout on a baseboard and I have developed this but have nowhere, literally, to put it being short of houseroom.  My interest shows no sign of flagging but I am definitely stuck in the steamage.  When I win (ahem) the lottery, I want an ACE trains 0 gauge system but need to win the former first.

Dorsetmike

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Re: Any railway modellers out there?
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2019, 10:42:32 PM »
Space is the main reason I chose N gauge, another is more to do with how far one can reach, assuming the layout is against a wall anything over 3' wide gets to be a problem, a 6'x2'6" in N is doable but in 00 curves would be a bit sharp.   I've got a second bedroom about 10'x8', an "L" shape on 2 walls  leaves room for a work bench and storage space on a third side.
I'm like my avatar, a local ruin

zoony

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Re: Any railway modellers out there?
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2019, 11:27:38 PM »
I know nothing of that of which you speak but the obvious answer, as an outsider would be some gradients. More track in less space, no?
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

"Never use money to measure wealth, son"

                                           cowboy wisdom.

Marshal

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Re: Any railway modellers out there?
« Reply #6 on: Jan 27, 2021, 11:21:49 AM »
I'm moving soon (soon? is anything happening soon?) and will finally have the space to get a layout underway, 50 years since my last. Decided to go straight in for DCC from the start which is going to push up costs but gives me endless scope for twiddling with code etc. Still not decided whether to go for OO or N gauge; OO look like it's more doable, a lot less fiddly, but the amount of space might still be an issue.
Either way, there's no rush and I'll be starting either small or smaller  ;D

Johned

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Re: Any railway modellers out there?
« Reply #7 on: Jan 28, 2021, 01:27:35 AM »
My brother has an N gauge layout; the quality and detail in that scale of British prototypes is far more realistic these days than used to be the case.  German products used to be more prototypical by far.  The disadvantage of that scale for me, however, is my eyesight is not good enough to appreciate the fine detail so 00 gauge has to be the minimum for me.

Marshal

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Re: Any railway modellers out there?
« Reply #8 on: Jan 28, 2021, 09:12:20 AM »
My brother has an N gauge layout; the quality and detail in that scale of British prototypes is far more realistic these days than used to be the case.  German products used to be more prototypical by far.  The disadvantage of that scale for me, however, is my eyesight is not good enough to appreciate the fine detail so 00 gauge has to be the minimum for me.
Yes, eyesight and steadyness of hands is something I've thought about. I paint a lot of miniatures and don't have too much trouble but none of us is getting any younger and it can be frustrating to find that you can't get the effects you want as fine detail gets harder to achieve.