Paulsterling

looks great, I've toyed with buying one of these for a while now.

Cheers,

Paul.

jimbob said:

Well back from the wilds of Lincolnshire. So can l wire LED's?. Well yes l know what to do know, just not for signals.....Shall have to by one and use it as a crib sheet. My mate tried to explian but he could see my eyes starting to glaze over and decided to ply me with alcohol instead to stop me asking stupid questions!

That sounds just like when I'm explaining engineering and/or trains to my Wife, there is a two second period of interest and borderline enthusiasm, followed by glazing of the eyes and disinterest setting in. cue wine and all is well.

Paul.

I think british 1:76 will look ok aside of continental 1:87 trains?

Thomas, waiting for an end of the thunderstorm in France...

Hi Thomas,

yes, British 00 will look very similar in size compared side by side to continental HO, that is loosely how 00 started, with re-bodied HO scale locomotives from Germany.

The Hornby (ish) Eurostar is a good example, it is actually built to HO standards, but looks very similar in physical size to Hornby's other rolling stock.

Paul.

I am in the same boat as far as having other things impede my progress right now. I got off to a good start and then life has interfered. But I do keep collecting odds and ends for the future.

I'm sure you'll get there. my weakness is starting a project enthusiastically and then losing momentum. So sometimes I need to push a project through as quick as I can to ensure it gets finished.

Paul.

Thanks for the shots. It looks like you were off to a good start on the layout. What caused the layout to not get done? It seems like what you did get done quite good and what was not finished showed a lot of promise.

thanks,

it was the house move, and various other projects and demands that meant it never got to a stage of sufficiency, and the last year leading up to the move there seemed little point doing more work that would have to be destroyed, so it was just ran as it was.

Paul.

Hi Chaps,

these are pictures of my old railway shortly before it was dismantled. There were a few more pics, but i'll not bore you too much.

the ballast had all been removed by this point.

it'll run again one day, the station area was the one section i managed to save.

Paul.

certainly a lot more compact, plus looking at that video, it was 25 minutes to get the train up to the top.

fun railway for sure, but a layout in its own right.

if the two layouts get joined, it'll be a track hoist, probably 6ft long, and i'll split the trains in two to use it.

Paul.

Hi Webba,

I'm not a million miles away from you if you want any help coming up with some ideas for your railway. By all means drop a PM.

Paul.

Hi Chaps,

Just received my most recent order to Hattons.

Decided to finally order a Hornby K1, I've been promising to order one since they were first announced, but Hornby seem determined to avoid doing No.62005, so i've conceded i'll do it myself (probably).

The new Q6 was a given, I've always been a great admirer of No.63395 and its performances at the NYMR, and although I doubt that Hornby will cover this one (I suspect due to it being different to the in service ones in its braking system) I still wanted to get one, as they are a lovely machine. Waited on the BR L/Cr example coming out as that was my preferred livery for the class (as well as the E/Cr example having a different type of tender rail which I am not overly fussed by).

Lastly, I decided to get a BR livery J15, simply because it is a lovely locomotive, and the model has driven some good reviews, and it looks a lot like the J21 No.65033, another favourite of mine.

I tested all three on my old loft layout and they all performed well, the Q6 and J15 but seem to draw a lot of power before moving off, but are very smooth and have exceptional low speed control. The K1 on the other hand, makes use of the slightest bit of power to move off, and is again very smooth.

So despite Hornby receiving some criticism online (largely centered around the K1 running plate, which is still not quite straight) I am very happy with this order, and look forward to a garden railway I can run them on.

Pictures to follow.

Paul.

there is also (4)6202, the third Princess class chassis, formed a completely different class, in that it became the Turbomotive, a turbine powered steam locomotive.

Initially a massive success, but suffered during WW2 due to a lack of spare components, and postwar was rebuilt into a reciprocating locomotive, being something of a hybrid between Princess and Princess Coronation (a.k.a Duchess class), with Princess Chassis, and Duchess Boiler, double chimney. Sadly it was written off at the horrific Harrow & Wealdstone Crash in 1952.

The Princess Class could be likened to a pacific version of the GWR King class, with which it shared a striking number of dimensional details, wheel size, valve train, cylinders, crosshead etc. by the time Stanier had decided that the Princess could be enlarged, a number of lessons had been learned, and the Princess Coronations/Duchess, starting with 6220, took the principle further. Wheels enlarged to 6'8", 16.5" cylinders, longer stroke, new crosshead design, a substantial increase in heating surface (and superheating surface).

two Duchess class locomotives hold the records for the highest power output of a steam locomotive in the British Isles, 46225 and 46234.

Paul.

haha, looks great.

Paul.

thanks Tony,

it might work, but its 5 foot i've got to drop rather than 5 inches, could have quite a few turns on that spiral (and some very dizzy passengers)

Unless I use a two level track hoist (like the sort of thing window cleaners use on sky scrapers). to raise and lower a train between the two. that might work.

Paul.

EngineDriver said:

Hi Paul welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will get all the help and advice you will ever need for the chaps on here, you will also most likely get some sarcastic comments from a few of them (not me of course!) so I hope you are ok with that as well! Rest assured though there's nothing malicious, we just enjoy a good laugh on here as well from time to time.

All the best with your project, don't be afraid to ask questions. Regards Nige.

Hi Nige,

thank you for the welcome. hatches battened down ready for incoming sarcasm assault

I can be a stubborn soul for the most part, with wanting to go through with ideas I have created (usually out of thin air and against better judgement), so bear with me when these instances happen

cheers,

Paul.

ba14eagle said:

Welcome to the forum Paul.

Do you have any scope to run from your basement to the garden? A helix could be very helpful

Thank you

It probably is feasible, as the basement leads into a storeroom which can be made to access the garden, the difference in intended height is around 5', so it would take quite a spiral set to achieve it (not to mention some very dizzy passengers) but it could be done. I certainly won't rule it out that is for sure.

cheers. Paul.

Thanks Danny,

Looking forward to discussing ideas with the group.

Exellent choice of profile pic by the way, if only the f1 drivers of today had even half the style, charisma and talent of the flying mantuan.

Cheers

Paul

Hi Folks,

Thought it might be good to introduce myself and say hello.

I'm Paul. 29 years old, from County Durham. I am a lifelong model railway enthusiast, and have had OO gauge as long as I can remember. I have always wanted to build a Garden Railway, but parents would not relent, absolute no no. so had to stick with a Railway in the loft, and many iterations were built in a relatively small space.

Bought a house my my now wife 4 years ago, and with limited headroom in the loft, along with next to no garden space, a railway was built in our spare room, this was my most successful railway to date, and I loved it to bits, but foolishly I built it without ever considering the prospect of 1. us starting a family, and 2. moving house.

Inevitable house move took place a month ago, and the railway was dismantled in the months leading up to it. I managed to save one section complete, which was the station area which was where most of my efforts had been in the first place. based loosely on Goathland, though on a curve, this will probably go back onto my indoor railway when I start building a new one (I've got a basement this time, so happy days!)

What the new house does offer as well is a lovely rear garden where I can finally realise my dreams of a Garden Railway. It was always going to be OO gauge, i'm just too far gone with that scale to do anything else. I do have some Mamod SM32, but not enough to go all out Garden style (though It might get put up from time to time on the patio).

Plan at the moment is for a ground level (or just slightly above) section nearest the house, rising to around 18" above the ground at the far end of the garden (to counter the gradient), which will keep the railway almost level. In one corner, there are plans for a ornamental pond, and the railway will go over that on a gently curving viaduct (the pond is to be a concrete+ Resin coated structure, so the viaduct can in fact be raised from the pond bed).

I've been reading a number of the threads on both this forum and RMweb, so I am slowly gaining some ideas in terms of the track bed. Once a basic plan is in place, i'll start a thread up.

Now the boring stuff. I am a Mechanical Engineer for employ, starting out as an ICI premium apprentice (I believe the very last one in fact), before working at Johnson Matthey (apprentice technician), Furmanite (Machinist), Corus (Graduate engineer), Cummins (design Engineer), and most recently Nifco, on R&D work. I restore Tractors and Stationary engines, and occasionally like to sing as well, with a bit of a passion for Opera. I organise a rally or two at Locomotion each year for vintage machinery.

cheers.

Paul.