All Activity

I haven't posted anything for a while. To be honest, the last 2 years have been a challenge with parents health and I've spent a lot of time with them and travelling. Basically trying to look after 2 houses and gardens while still working. Railways have taken a back seat both in my garden and at Dad's. There are a lot of models on pre-order though so maybe that will inspire some progress next summer. On order between us: Accurascale 37420 and Mk2 TSOT, Heljan 47492, Revolution OO class 320, Bachmann class 314 (both Strathclyde orange and black). I'm hoping to get some time over Christmas to work on Dad's layout. I could really do with installing 4 point motors and then create the mimic panel to show routes. I've decided the arduino route looks a bit too much so I'm going to try every LED with its own little set of transistors. Probably an inefficient way of doing it and agricultural by modern standards but at least it'll be visual how everything works. I'm talking about 3 not gates and 7 and gates to make the panel.

A-shunting we will go A few days later, another posing exercise was arranged to mark the arrival of some new wagons, although too late in the day to enjoy the earlier sunshine. Here, a short goods train has arrived onto the branch and makes its way slowly upwards. Two of the wagons, for Dorking's lime works, are detatched and taken forward. Meanwhile, the rear portion is well braked and awaits further action. Eventually the train is reformed... and heads away up the line

Posing Interurbans Sadly there's been little progress on the rebuilding in over a year. I seem much busier now than back in 2012. But one recent afternoon I couldn't resist the sunshine, and after a bit of weeding, posed the interurbans on the remnants of the old railway. Here we see a two-car train a hundred years ago, by which time the interurbans were in decline, approaching Canyon flagstop on a soon-to-be-closed branchline already showing signs of dereliction: Sadly, despite a brief wait, no-one boards at the stop: So the train sets off for the end of the line... Approaching the rather desolate temporary terminus: With no passengers here, it's no wonder the line is due to close. The track has already been abandoned beyond this point, so it's one set of trolley poles down and put the others up for the return trip.

More pics:

Hello everyone! Now that I've finished the hedge protection, I've also addressed the problem of the WPC battens in the substructure of the first high-speed line. They tended to shift horizontally and vertically at the transition from one batten to the next. This problem has now been solved with precisely fitted and then screwed-in aluminum U-profiles. Subsequently, the affected section and the other sections affected by the work were re-ballasted, and the cable ducts were replaced at the same time. Furthermore, the power line masts were erected. Please excuse me for not vacuuming the tracks beforehand, but unfortunately, the ballast cement takes quite a while to set in the somewhat damp weather here in the Palatinate region.

So, after having numerous kits for French overhead lines (25kV) but no instructions, I was able to buy a fully assembled mast on eBay during my vacation in France and have it shipped there (which significantly reduced the shipping costs). Using that as a template, I was able to complete numerous other kits I had lying around. If tomorrow isn't a German national holiday, they'll be permanently installed. Also, while I was on vacation, my neighbors completely trimmed back the part of the hedge they hadn't already torn down. I've now taken the opportunity to claim the entire dream light profile along the hedge above my railway for myself. Acrylic glass will be added to protect it from the weather, and the sides will be sealed with sturdy stainless steel mosquito nets, so the hedge stays where it won't bother me anymore. On top of that, my vines will be allowed to grow, which will surely welcome the extra sun.

Okay, that's a good point then. Thanks for your feedback on this. You're right, I'll wait to get the house before deciding. I know I want doule track and I've a right idea of a "dog bone" shape layout but it will heavily depend on the garden shape. Thanks again for your help and be sure I'll keep posting on this forum from the next stages of this project. Nuno

I've had my Peco code 100 flexi track outside for 5 years now, its fine and rain is no problem. As it is nickel silver track, it doesn't corrode. Cables and controller depends on what you want and what your track plan will be. If you want a single track line or want to go double track? How far the longest cable run will be? All things you are better deciding once you have the house and can properly survey the land.

Hi Clay Mills, First, thanks for all your advices and feedback. For the tracks, I'm planning to use Peco 100 flex tracks. Are those resistant for outside weather, especially rain ? I want to buy them new. What cable and controller do you recommend me to buy ? For the trains, I'm thinking about buying two TGV on second hand to limit budget expanding too much. But now, I need to have the house first, but it will take a bit of time before it happens. But I wanted to start planning early and share my project here to experienced modeller before working on it. Thanks again Clay Mills.

Hi Nuno, Welcome to the forum. It sounds like a nice project. Depending on how long your track is, it sounds like a lot of work to lay the track and electrics every time then take them up. The track itself isn't too bad for leaving out. OK, you have to clean the rails before each time you use it, but I find the same thing with indoor model railways. I use a peco track rubber outdoors, its worked fine for me. It is best practise to have some kind of separate cable to feed the power. If you use the right cable, then its perfectly reasonable to leave that out all year. The controller, trains and everything else are the fragile things that will be better taken in while not in use. I imagine that your biggest issue will be the expansion and contraction of the track due to the heat and cold. But if you have the right solution in place then it is a solvable problem. Good luck and I look forward to seeing progress.

Hi everyone, I'm Nuno, a 25 years old man that has a main passion for one specific locomotive which is my french TGV. I live in Toulouse, France. Newt year, I'll moove to the country side with my girlfriend. We'll have a large garden and I really want to have a little garden layout. I never had a train layout, I'm really new in this hobby. I'm still now in a planning stage, figuring out what to do. The main idea and project is to have a couple of HO TGV running around in the garden between flowers and plants. I already read some topics on this forum about HO outside and the fragility of this gauge. My idea is to prepare the ground with a stable rock and sand base that will stay. I'm planning to put the tracks outside only on sunny day for a couple of hours of running and then remove everything and store inside. The idea is to put tracks trains and decorative stuff only for running sessions and then avoid the rapid deterioration of the tracks and locomotives. What do you think of that idea ? I still have a lot of questions, especially around what electric system to use, etc. But I'm waiting to have the house and see by myself how the garden will look like. Thanks for those who will read this and thanks in advance for all your help. Cheers from France ! Nuno

Hello John! I turned to all the model railway forums and Facebook groups I knew for help. Despite some stupid chatter, I found a lot of helpful information. So, I've now shielded the cables between the servo decoders and the servos, as well as the power cables to them. I've also installed switches in the power cables so that the various servo decoders can be switched on one after the other, rather than all at once. I'll also ground the two steel staircases located near the problem servos. Furthermore, I've discovered that some of the outlets in the garden don't have 230 volts at exactly 50 hertz. Therefore, I've refrained from running the server decoders with an external power supply from transformers connected to these outlets for the time being. Since then, it's been running reasonably stable. I'm sorry about the end of your Greece plans. But the mention of a new partner and new model railway plans makes me think you're looking forward and in good spirits. Nevertheless I wish you the best of luck and hope we might see something from your railways again soon. Best wishes Thomas

Hello Thomas, I’m glad to see that you haven’t ripped everything up and started a new hobby! Despite the frustrations, I do think this is the most absorbing and creative hobby that there is and I for one, could never replace it. And yes, I have tried! I am equally glad that you are still going as you are the only person I know who is modelling a modern high speed line. Although I have not been able to get outside (& therefore, not on this forum), I have finally made a start in a purpose built garden room of 7m x 3.5m which will incorporate a classic and a high speed line, despite having to return to the UK from my dream in Greece, followed by divorce and getting a new partner. The railway keeps me going! No matter our circumstances, our hobby sustains us and is therefore worth persevering with. Best wishes, John.

The curved bridge is made of 10mm Styrofoam panels, the interior of the arches of kneaded concrete (a type of concrete that can be molded like clay). After the kneaded concrete had dried, the remaining cavities were filled with concrete in place. The straight bridge is made of 60mm Styrofoam blocks and 10mm Styrofoam panels. Stones, etc., were engraved into the Styrofoam.

Hi Thomas, I love these two new viaducts, they are so impressive! Please would you tell us how they were constructed.

The "old Line" got more scenery, catenary poles, bridge railings... Also I had some trains running.

After the existing iron bridge, built by Hack, collapsed due to rust, two new viaducts were built. One features a sandstone design (fictitious construction year 1854), the other is a tamped concrete bridge based on a Bavarian Prototype (fictitious construction year 1900).

I've also got my single track branch line going!

Hi All, Well, it seems Summer has come and gone, at least in the UK!!! As always, I've run out of time completing the various projects I had planned to do around the railway. However, I did allow myself a day over the August bank holiday weekend to get some trains running. I also did some shorts as well.

Looks great. Hope it's holding up well. Some ground-level photos of trains in the sunshine would look good too!

So, a little more about my H0 garden layout. The cable-stayed bridge shown in the bottom right of picture 2 is indeed destined for the bulky waste in the foreseeable future. I would like to replace it with a bridge like the one in the last two pictures. Unfortunately, there is no such thing with a 75cm span. And I haven't yet been able to convince Objectica (whose "Modena" model is https://objetica.com/de-de/products/trave-viadotto-ferroviario-modena?srsltid=AfmBOoqKWp1AJqxETIDSd5f5ZJn7bu-iN57MTAVmXLnN1y8TwLYf63oA) to make me three 25cm elements in that style, which I can then combine to form a 75cm bridge...

Thanks for the tip, Mark! Undecided if this is the final plan, but once I'm settled I'll be sure to sort this out, and definitely before winter! Already seeing problems of ground level running, but nothing that can't be overcome with a little maintenance. The track bed is looking a bit rough already so will need to repaint, but again that's easy to do.