Nuvolari

Hi, As I mentioned in other threads I'm at the planning stage of my +/-40m long OO "Saint Georges line". A few years ago I made some buildings. But unfortunately I didn't had an OO garden rail in mind at the time, so these buildings are actually HO. Today I compare them with a few OO locomotives and I got the feeling that my efforts weren't for nothing. I now got the idea, that if I would keep them separated from OO buildings, that they still can be used. What is your opinion? -The signal box, don't mind the lettering it was suppose to be a building for a German railway. But that can be very easy changed. -The coal supplier -The goods station Cheers, Danny

I'm not so impressed with these oil smoke generators. I got a few Märklin loco's that are standard fitted. I tried it ones, I used the original oil. The result was that the downdraft of the smoke, greased my hole model, it took me an hour to remove it. So, no thank you for me Sound Is nice, but than again, you can't fit it into each model, and for me it's all or nothing. But never the less, very nice video Mick, I really enjoyed it. cheers, Danny

This is what I like in model building. There are many products like these, that are very good usable daily through away things. These wooden swizzle sticks are also good to make wooden wall panelings for signal boxes, wooden floors, coal bunkers etc.. I even use tea bags to make coal sacks. So a happy meal, can become a very happy meal And with a little fantasy, Mc Donalds station is born Cheers, Danny

Hi, I recently bought a Hornby DCC system. This is all new territory for me, I was used to work with analoge Märklin AC system. But for my garden railway most material that will run will be Hornby related material. So to me it seems sensible then to stick as much as possible to Hornby material. Only for the track it self I choose mainly Peco (flexi rail). But I also will use some Hornby and Mehano rails that I already have in stock. The layout I plan to make will be about 40m long starched L shaped oval with two loops integrated and a 8 track station with coal depot for steam engines. I also already have given it a name, it will be "The St-George line" To make the two loops, I got two Hornby reverse loop modules. I also got a Hornby power booster that hopefully will be enough, to feed together with the main controller, the hole line. What do do guys think, will this be enough power supply? The Idea I have of running the hole line will be based like a real line is setup. The activity in the station will be controlled by me. But as soon as a train leaves the station it needs to be controlled by an automated blok system. In order to let that function breaking modules that react on signal points that in their turn react to occupied sections and closed points. This is what I want it to be going to. It seems to me that such an automated blok section run is not something where Hornby gives a fitting answer on. So one is forced to look out for an other brand, that is compatibel with the Hornby system and rolling stock decoders. So here is where I hope your experiences will come to help to me. -What brand of breaking module do you advice? -What module for blok sectioning do you advice? But keep in mind that all needs to be working with the Hornby DCC material. I don't want to build in special decoders into my rolling stock. Your advice will be very welcome in my planning. Cheers, Danny

I also think that this is a good idea. Once the item is advertized, everything can be closed handeled by PM. But I also think the seller must ad the asking prize, and let it know when it's sold. This is how it's done on an other forum that I'm member of and it works fine. Cheers, Danny

Each time I come to the Uk and take a train up to Leicester, I'm always confused with the seats. Half a carrige the seats are reserved and nobody occupieze them What's the point of that? Are those all people who booked a seat but don't show up?

Great! I' m rushing throug the Kent country site at 300km/h in the Euro star and reading the garden forum. I just flased pased an old signal box, this inspires me to put a few signal boxes on my track, as an absolute minimum on senery on my future garden track Cheers, Danny

Hi, I'm still in my planning stage, nothing concrete jet. I'm planning to integrate the Hornby DCC system. I'm also very intrested in live steam, and Horby made some beautifull OO live steam locomotives. Like I understand it, those locomotives come with also somekind of DCC control given over the tracks. My question is, can both systems run at the same time? Cheers, Danny

Yes, this is my intention. I already have ordered one to test. As I already mentioned here on my introduction, I'm going to build my railway at waist hight, due to my bad back. At the moment everything sits in a planning stage. A lot of thinks are new to me, and I've to work my way into this matter. Although I've quite some DC rolling stock, I bought them over time because I liked those models, and put them on display. 80% of my locomotives are AC Märklin, with that I'm very familiar with, but in turns of electrics is totally different. An other thing that's new to me will be DCC. I think it's logical to go for this system, if you start a new layout. As for track building, I've no plans of putting scenery around the track, the scenery must come from the garden around it. I can get my hands on EPDM rubber foil, a product they use for roofing. It's actually the left over that they normally through away, and comes for free. Most of the time are these strips of +/-40cm wide and up to 10 m long. This material is wel suited to put under the track, as wel to make a cover over the track when not in use. It can be vulcanized with glue making it one solid piece. Other advantages are that it absorbs noise, good for all weather, absorbs no water and is elastic and adept it self to temperature. If my plan works these Peco points are well suited for my needs. Cheers, Danny

Thanks Mick, I've see now how it works. This will come in very handy in the future. Cheers, Danny

If I would start a model railway in my attic, it still will be a garden railway. Cheers, Danny

I've seen some quite impressive garden railway here, if that isn't modeling? Modeling must be fun, and it comes to everybody's interests, skills and possibilities. If it's just running a train, or hours building on a village, it always have to come down at having fun, it's defiantly no competition, it's a way of passion and relaxation. And don't forget friendship, good times together and a good laugh

First of all a Happy Easter. Manneken Pis for you windscreen no sorry I can't help you never seen them before But in race cars I'm interested, specially pre war GP cars and and speed brakers. I also scratch build scale 1/32 slot cars of that era, a few examples for those who are interested: You see in the background the 1905 speedbraking Daraque, and in front the 1906 Daraque Vanderbilt cup winner 1937 Alfa romeo 1923 speedbraking sunbeam bluebird And them there are my static toy steam engines that I restore, here is a smal selection fc0RbXQW-sI 1904 Schoenner type 160 XPhUXQ5zpMA 1919 Märklin E9g72z0UQoc 1920 Doll & Co 5zwIJzXS02g 1902 Ernst Plank "noris" series All these firms where also manufactures of toy trains, as a matter of fact this is how most of the companies began. What I like the most in model building is the technical aspact, like lathe work and so on. @traingeekboy: Yes, Märklin is indeed an expensive brand, but for that you also got the quality. It is indeed a pity they don't make track for outside, but garden railways are also fairly new to mainland Europe. Only with brands like LGB it started to take off, and lets face it, we don't have the weather to make it attractive to everyone. But with some DIY it could be done to let Märklin trains run over Peco tracks, with some copper wire attached to the middle of the track. Of corse you lose on esthetics. Cheers, Danny Ps, can someone tell me how I can get Youtube clips inserted into a posting, I tried the youtube button but that don't seem to work?

Hi guys thank you for the warm welcome. @Mark: I'm really impressed with your skills in mathematics, if you keep going on, Einstein's theory in relativity will be nothing to what you will discover @Mick: Hornby is defiantly the first brand if you think of British rail modeling, it's Like Märklin is to the Germans. At the age of 5 it was the first time I visited family in the UK with my grand parents. I spend hours on the attic there with one of my older cousins, who had a Hornby model railway there. I think it was there where I caught model railway the bug. He took me to a model shop in Nottingham, where they had a model display wall, and I first got a glimpse of heaven I still remember that my cousin bought a blue, yellow nose class 37, and we run it that day until it was bed time. That same year I got my first Märklin oval set from my grand parent. I wonder where they got the inspiration The main reason why I chose this forum, is that I find here people who believe that a OO track is possible in the garden. In all the searching I've done on garden railways, about 80% advised against OO gauge in the garden. And it's great to hear that there are guys like you all here on the forum, that say that OO gauge is possible in the garden. Alone finding a forum on this topic, is to me an inspiration to go trough with it. The reason why I choose Hornby for the garden, is simple, the Märklin material is of top quality, but totally not suited for the Garden. Next to that, Hornby and Peco are relative cheaper and better suited for my project. You will defiantly here from me over the next few months. At the moment I'm still looking to find all the materials and ideas to begin with a good start. By the end of April I will be going to the annual modeling fair at Dortmund Germany. This fair is one of Europe biggest ones, where all the big brands are represented, included Hornby and Peco. So I hope that by that time, I got everything together, so I can ask the big remaining questions to the representatives of the brands.. Cheers, Danny

Hi, I'm searching also for a suitable point motor. Has anyone ever tried the Peco PL11 point motor outside? Cheers, Danny

Hi, I'm glad I found this forum as I have plans to start a garden railway outside. Let me introduce myself, my name is Danny and I live in Belgium. I've been collecting HO and OO train models since I was 5, and I've done it for 41 years now. So anyone that can count knows how old I am now Not only have I've been collecting trains, I also made it my profession. I mainly run freight trains in scale 1/1 from Belgium into Germany and the Nederlands. I also have a official license to run real steam trains. We do have several running steam trains here in Belgium, but only one is recognized a still being official in service, and that is the NMBS 29013. I've been active on this steamer for almost 5 years, but due to company reforms I had to make a choice, and unfortunately steam isn't possible any more. Never the less I really had a good time doing that and have great memories that are in the mind forever. Why a HO/OO garden rail, likely like most People here on the forum, no space indoor, and a partner who doesn't like trains running in the kitchen and living room. What really got me started thinking about a garden rail is when I recently bought a Hornby 3.5 gauge live steam Rocket. I was planning in my head a garden layout, when I realized that I got so many beautiful HO and OO models that hardly get a chance to run. So I came up with the Idea of combining the two together. Not in track size of course, but using the same bed. The bed must be under all circumstances, raised to waist hight, as I have a bad back. The 3.5 gauge track will be very simple, a 40m L shaped track with a loop on each end. The HO/OO track will follow the same shape, but will follow the 3.5 gauge track on both sides, that actually form a double track. Now, to make it more interesting, I will have several junctions running from one side to the other by tunnels and bridges. And of course a station so I can run several trains at the same time. My choice of material goes to Peco rail and a Hornby DCC control system. The first step will be the 3.5 rocket and DC current HO/OO trains running. A second stage will be also to run AC HO Märklin trains that make up 80% of my HO collection. Of course I will be able to run only one system at the time. I know that it is possible to run the two together, but it's far to complicated. I hope to find some good friends here on the forum with a common intrest, and I'm always in for a good laugh. I'm sorry if my English is not always according to the rules, and my writing is not always without mistakes as my mother language is Dutch. But I think what I write is enough to understand me. I do have some relatives in the UK that I visit often, near Leicester, who know we might meet one day. So written almost the story of my life, I hope to meet wonderful people here on the forum. Cheers, Danny