Model Railways and Railway Related Things.

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Anyone into model railways?

I don't know if pictures work in here and would probably not make them work, but I thought I would introduce the subject anyway.

Ever since I can remember either toy trains or model trains and railways have been my life... I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I find I use my hobby to relax and unwind. It inspires me. There is something special about trains!

About ten years ago I was collecting British Railways blue era early 1980's 00 gauge trains. However, I left a well paid railway job in 2007, and then I found myself with some years of no income and some years of very low income (Low hours part time work often temporary). The price of 00 gauge items doubled in just a few years so buying in my circumstances was more of a pipe dream (Do pipes dream...? Maybe not!)
A major rethink had to happen. While I had a decent income I happened to buy a 7mm narrow gauge body kit which I bought for no other reason other then I loved the look and character of the locomotive. It is a Smallbrook Studios Clio kit. (Smallbrook list it as 0e which is the European equivalent of the British 0-16.5). It remained in its bag for a year or two until I took the plunge and decided to build it. By then I was without a job.
On assembling it I fell in love with this scale and gauge. It became personal. Everything has to be either scratchbuilt or kitbuilt but it is not a difficult scale and gauge to model in. If anything, if one decides to kit and scratchbuild, in my oppinion there is nothing better then 7mm narrow gauge.
The advantages.
1. Very cheap way to model. I can make little waggons to my own design and even coaches for not a lot more then the cost of a pair of wheels.
2. Everything becomes personal and consistent, as you are the builder and the painter ad even the designer.
3. The scale and gauge lends itself to freelance modelling, which I find to be extremely liberating.
4. Cheap 00 gauge chassis and wheels can be used and even 00 gauge track if one is on a tight budget.
5. I find the larger scale so much easier to work in especially in regards to painting the things!
6. Can be made to turn very tight curves and therefore fit in a small space. The layout I'm building has an oval with two passing loops and a siding in just 7ft x 2ft.
There are dissadvantages.
1. If modelling British outline there are no ready made models availble. (This could be a good thing depending on ones views).
2. Everything needs assembling or converting and most things need painting.
3. I can't really think of a third except one. There is no set standard for a coupling. I make my own which cost me just pennies to make and they look the part.

So whatever scale and gauge you model in it would be nice to hear from you!

My father is a model railway enthusiast . For him it's the GWR that's the railway company he's very much into. I never got interested in it.

As a teenager I was deeply into GWR. The books I had were read so many times it is miraculous they survived. I would remember all sorts of details, though I don't remember so many now.
I put my entire collection for sale when I was in my late tees to early 20's. Nearly all the GWR sold along with everything B.R. green, but I was left with B.R. blue.
I decided that as I grew up with B.R. blue on the real railways, and liked them, that it made sense to go into that instead. Things changed about 2007 to 2009 when circumstances had me change to 7mm narrow gauge which I love!

A friend of my dad had a whole room of his house devoted to his ever expanding model rail road. A track system. Collected locomotives of different rail roads. Steam, and diesel. I relate to it as an interest. Had my own electric train set as a kid, and our family road the last of the luxury passenger trains in the early sixties. That was when the Pullman company still worked with the railroads to make passenger trains into luxury hotels on wheels. Dinning cars, sleepers, dome cars for observation. Not the same experience as today's amtrack trains (North Korean style gulags on wheels). So I have a lot of affection for trains even though I don't actually do model railroading now.

Being into trains I often assume everyone is also into trains... I do think though that as a hobby I can't find any other hobby so vast. I mean, the amount of other subjects involved to make things work.
Carpentry, photography, technical drawing and artwork, painting, scratchbuilding (I am a very deep and also a great visual thinker and often since I have taken up scratchbuilding, will have certain designs going round in mh head for a long time.. Two and a half years maybe? The mind is amazing, in that I can design, re-design, fit things together in the design.... It only occurred to me recently how doing this is so, so useful. I have assessed and developed a design without using any paper or in some cases any measurements, and when I fewl ready I will go out and try it in reality. I always assumed everyone does this. I only use paper to record designs if I want to remember what measurements to use from the prototype so I can build more if I ever need to in future years. My gradad and his dad (On my mums side) were both designers, so maybe I get it from them, but the not using drawings unless I have to comes from my dad. He would visualize what he needed to make and go ahead and build it. He was an excellent carpenter by trade but also turned his hand to other things like metalwork in his spare time). Other skills like soldering and electronics, mould making and casting... Lots more skills then I can list here!

I'd like to have an electric train set. There's just not enough room in my apartment.

Nothings impossible.

I work in the rail industry so I get to play with full sized trains every day.

I did nine years as a guard. As I had faceblindness, if someone moved seats I would try to sell them another ticket! I would work the trains remembering which seats were occupied and which were empty.

Anyone into scratchbuilding?

I have challeneged myself to build a little layout where I make everything. Ok, I am in no hurry. But it is surprizing what can be done with a little know how. I have an almost finished train controller. The track is finished though may need tweeking up as it is scratchbuilt and not wired up yet. The locos and rolling stock are kit built or scratchbuilt. All is coming along nicely so far.

Are you able to take pictures and post them here? I'm not a model train enthusiast in particular; it's more of a general interest in transport history and in building things - and watching other people use their skills to build things (I could spend hours as a kid just watching my Grandfather in his little workshop shed.) I'd love to have the space and money to have my own little machine shop; I still do a little bit of amateur electronics, but it's been too long since I designed and built anything mechanical, aside from a bit of Lego Technics now and then.

A few pictures of different stages of your build would be great to see, and I know a couple of people (one of whom works on the railways) who'd be fascinated by any of the background history behind your locos and rolling stock.

The only way I know how to put pictures up is to copy them from another site I am on. It's a model railway site. One of the moderators said it was ok as they are my pictures to begin with as another model railway site I am on I can only post pictures to it via this method.

https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... &mode=view

Making track. (I hope the image works ok). I initially took some spare 00 gauge track as I didn't have 7mm narrow gauge track and didn't have the funds to buy some... I took spare track and pinned down the rails onto tea sturers which had to firdt be drilled as the track pins used would split the sleepers. This was done on a board which was 2ft x 3 1/2ft so was quite small. After laying an oval of track with a home made single bladed point (Turnout or switch could be terms you use in USA?) I found the oval heads of the Hornby Chinese made track pins were interfereing with the flanges of the wheels. I then had some older UK made Hornby track pins spare to use instead as these have flat heads instead of domed. Ideal except the newer domed headed pins are thicker, so the old pins fell straight in the holes. Well, every sleeper had to be moved and many didn't like being moved so new ones had to be made. Was a lot of work doing this. I then found that when I pushed waggons around the track they kept de-railing. It turns out that the rail height was all over the place. The gauge was fine. I started work to correct this, but I was chasing round the layout again and again, It was no good. I also felt the space saving layout was just too short to accomodate the trains I planned to run.
So a new approach had to be made. A second board with legs was made whiich only need legs on one end as it joins the first origional board, so the layout board is now 2ft x 7ft (Just under 7ft).
I decided to adopt the old ways and use copper clad sleepers and solder the track to them. I had a single PCB board which I cut sleepers from and soldered the rails (Peco code 100 taken from old 00/H0 flexible track) to the sleepers making sure I scored the copper surface of the sleepers to prevend direct shorts.
The first point made this way was basically a bashed up Peco 00/H0 point which had broken sleepers. I soldered on new sleepers. I disna second point like this also and these points are going to be used behind the backscenes.
I then got more adventerous. The single bladed point was made by offcuts of Peco rails soldered onto PCB sleepers, so I looked how I could rebuild it into a conbentional 2 bladed point. Success. I then made another two, one of which is seen in the photograph.
The tight curves I wanted to add an extra feature on, which are the long checkrails. Soldered on these look the part!
[I will add more later!]

Diamond (Closer to a square?) crossing.

First I made the diamond crossing structure. Then I needed to isolate the rails to make it work, so using a cabodium cutting disc on my mimidrill (Eye protection is a must preferably of the seethrough variety) ad I cit slits where I wanted the isolation to be. I then used playdough round the crossing and mixed some Sylmasta G26 resin and poured it in. I then had to work on the resin to only remove the parts I didn't need. Ignore my crude soldering. It is slowly getting better, but I have had to move rails so many times...
I also soldered on dropper wires to the crossing ready to wire it up. The wires are not visible as they drop thhrough holes in the baseboard.

https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... &mode=view

https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... &mode=view

https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... &mode=view

https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... &mode=view

https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... &mode=view

https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... &mode=view

https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... &mode=view

https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... &mode=view

I just thought I would add a little picture link to my loco number 1 so you have an idea of what runs on my little railway line.

https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... &mode=view