traingeekboy

Oh my. Materials means Buildering is soon to come!

Yes, even a simple oval is the key to railway happiness! Now, the things to avoid are having your track too close to dirt. With the Garden railways it's really important to think in terms of platforms that the track sits on. Sure some hide them by making them smaller, but you have to have a solid base for that track. I am sure your son is beside himself over all of this new construction. The gradient should not be an issue if you are running more toy train like models with shorter trains. i.e. not an American 150 car coal unit train with mid train helper engines. You can also make all gradients easier by lowering the far side straight section. So between the two you are only having a mild grade all around. i.e one goes down 2 inches, and the other goes up 2 inches. It's really easy to find materials if you want to go cheaper. I built mine with nearly any investment in lumber as it mostly came from skips. I became an adept alley stalker for railway things. Most of us are very partial to the Roofing felt technique. But you can also just use loads of creosote to soak the lumber. There's one guy who just brushes motor oil all over his baseboards, but he's doing O scale. Here is a sample of basic creosote style baseboards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJid_633Abo&t=296s

Scroll down and you can see the live cam. It seems a business trip will take me right through this town at the half way point. Guess who has planned to stop for lunch at this location? https://goldenspiketower.com/

Scroll down and you can see the live cam. It seems a business trip will take me right through this town at the half way point. Guess who has planned to stop for lunch at this location? https://goldenspiketower.com/

Really busy. My current project is on a big deadline and I already feel dead from it. So for now I am just buying some things here and there. I did discover some cool switch controls by Fleischmann that are the 6900 model toggles. They are very much the ideal thing for indicating what direction the switch is in.

oh oh. I may have to snag that one. Thanks!

Well, I stand corrected. I would never want to offend a Bavarian. I am pretty sure that a couple years back I purchased some epoche ii or iii passnger cars that were very beautiful, so they would go Well/Badly with my Bavarian Freight locomotive. I know the Settebello very well. I rode in the lounge at the front of the train in the 70's. It was night time and the view of everything was amazing. I went from Porto Gruarro to Monfalcone italy. How this happened is another odd story I'll tell at another time. I saw one of those on American ebay a while back and bid on it. Once it got over about 200.00$ I said, Nope I don't really need that. he he he Lovely train and a very good model manufacturer. It is strange that with the train being so famous, there was no earlier model made of it. One would think Lima and Rivarossi would have thought to do it as sales would have been very good. What you may not know is that the train is named after a specific card in the game of Scopa. If you manage to pick up the seven of denari, or coins, you get a whole point. I would love a Sette Bello, but right now I am chasing these items. They aren't easy to find actually. first: An OBB transalpin end car by Lima. I have all the other things and found them very cheap on ebay. Second on my list of hard to find items: Kibri oil refinery Esso Ho scale Neither is easily found as they are not made anymore. Correction, the lima can be found, but I paid less for the loco than what they ask for the one car. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lima-201072-HO-Gauge-OBB-TransAlpin-Passenger-Trailer-Car/142665028354?hash=item21377f9302:g:kAYAAOSws0JaZkHv

Mick, Well first off. I have a lot of models that are like chinese puzzles when you try to figure out how to open them up. In this case, I thought maybe something would be behind the sidestep, when I tried to pry it out the pin broke. It's an easy fix as it's just a cosmetic issue. Me ham-fisting it and breaking things is just customization/ personalization. I've peeked around the web for these Kof's. It is a german private rail company and this is a fairly modern color scheme. So you see all kinds of fascinating images of them online. I think I mentioned that while in Italy I picked up a monogram on Siemens locos on italian track. I am now pretty obsessed with that kind of loco which is a broad term: Siemens locos from about 2001 onward. There are currently two vendors selling a lot of european models on ebay and they begin with a very low bid of 9.95$ I watch a lot of these items and just wait for something cool to get underbid then snatch it. I've missed out on some neat things, but you have to learn disappointment if you want deals. I recently had my eye on a Faller Car system set. I have done a lot of research on pricing these. Somehow a bidder decided it was worth more than brand new price for a second-hand set. I don't get that. The batteries have been sitting and you can't be sure what is in the set. The european models can really get too expensive. Modern coaches are ridiculous. If you google Acme or Vitrains you can see that a single coach can be 60-70 dollars, often even more. Yet back to the KOf, it is a Brawa brand model. Brawa models are very pricey. I got the switcher for 52.00$, which is about a quarter of what I see it going for in most places. Here is a shot to give you an idea of how small it is. But it also comes with a decoder plug and has those sprung buffers. This is my Mallet by Rivarossi, if I hadn't shown a picture before. The photo is from the ebay sale. What is cool about this unit is that it is ready for a drop in smoke generator. Needless to say I will be needing one of those just because it's fun. So yeah. No reason why a east german loco is going to be next to a west german kof on a Italian Catenary Railway. he he he

Sadly I am still a smoker. Quit twice. Once for 5 years and once for 3 years. But yes, part of the quitting was thinking about al that money going up in smoke. I'm now spending the price of an amazing layout in cigs. It's actually shameful.

I've done a bit of research on making layout control panels. This video has a nice looking panel making technique.

this should come in handy: https://www.brawa.de/fileadmin/Produkte/Bedienungsanleitungen_H0/rangierloks/0596_0597_Rangierlok_V_121_MWB.pdf

Yeah, do you really need every A4 ever made for HO scale? I got overly excited a while back and bought a taurus. Then a while later an even better Taurus loco comes on ebay. Do I really need 2 Taurus locos? not really. I am already feeling the need to thin the collection. But I would say that as long as they make you happy, keep them. Perhaps you need a nice display shelf?

Just to update this discussion. I'm still planning and buying. -two stations - Lots of covered platforms -lots of toy trucks (5 so far) - a container crane kit by Vollmer -So many switches/points Got some great deals on 3 way and fourway ones. Should make the station entrance trackage really fun. -electric toggles so I can wire my blocks up in ANALOG!

My most recent addition to my fleet has caused me to realize I am going crazy on trains. Well... It seems I've lost my mind this year when it comes to purchasing trains. I think part of it is the "I am working a lot, no time to do anything else, so I will pay myself in model trains" kind of thinking. I am definitely going to need to do an update on my photos, but not enough time to really do it now. Just to list the newer items: -A Slovenian railways Taurus in red with the four pantographs that would allow it to work in numerous countries. I owe you a phot of that one still. -Set of four coaches with a matching loco. All FS livery. I got it because the new loco is the price I paid for the whole set. This loco also matches the previous set of coaches I first showed off here. I can theoretically combine the whole lot into an 8 car train. -An oddity. I have always wanted a Mallet. I found one by rivarossi for a east german railways steamer. Being the typical garden railway type, as long as it's a cool loco I have to have it. Time period? Prototype? no idea what those words mean. -somewhere in here I also purchased an old lima diesel for about 10 bucks. I now have two of these. I will be making one nice one out of the parts from both. -Since todays arrival is still active on ebay I can simply steal an image from there. Yup, it's a KOF. yet in a fairly modern german coloring. It's a brawa model. Amazing little thing. Very fine grab irons that look to be metal wire. In my attempt to open it up, this is standard for me now -- I get an engine I crack it open to see under the hood, I managed to pry off a piece that now needs re-glue-ing. This is standard too. I am always breaking pieces off of locos, but I have learned to re-attach them! Walthers Goo is the fix all for things like this.

I am having similar... Problems? I dunno, seems to me a shelf full of favorite locos is something to be quite happy about. I see 22 boxes on the top shelf. So, 22 A4's in the collection? well done sir.

I will make note of this. I will need a lot of 86 1/4 " radius switches. Hmmm... why does my layout feel so small?

Ok, I think your diagram is a bit simplistic. If you are using insulfrogs you should be ok, a;though they can introduce some quirks if you do reversed sections which you haven't. You might want to do some insulators at the mid point of both passing sidings. It would allow for stopping trains more easily. Since you are putting your power in the shed, you could also make the mainline into sections for blocks. You're already running wires out there, so why not have them on double pole double throw center off switches?

I visit several european model train forums and I look at their track work and see them running long coaches through small switches in stations. I am actually planning on using only larger switches on my mainline because it just seems more realistic. I'm not sure what the larger Atlas switches are as far as radius, but they are nice and long. Not as long as your switches Thomas, but still much bigger than I see on many layouts. Man, 500mm radius seems a bit small on an outdoor layout. My indoor shed portion will probably have 22 inches and larger just to be sure. But now that you say 19 inches is standard in europe... hmmm...

It all depends on what you run. I think some HO scalers get a little crazy on curve radius. But if you can avoid the smaller train set sizes you are better off. Most train sets would come with 18" radius curves here in the USA. I don't know what the metric countries used. If you can keep it to 24" or better, you are doing well. But a larger curve would allow for more high speed running.

If you really want to get really stupid over detail, you can also check out: http://intermountain-railway.com/ho/loco/holocf7.htm

RE: the Tyco F. They sold it as a F9. They used the same mold in all color schemes. SO it's the same body on the blue and yellow freight loco as the silver and red passenger loco. To top it off, the loco body is closer to a F7, so who knows what the Tyco F actually is.

Santa Fe passenger scheme is one of those classic drool inspiring looks. You just can't go wrong. Athearn made some easy to assemble coaches to go with; from their blue box line. It's one of those odd things, I get weak knee'd over all the hooded units like the F's and E's. Despite being in a real european phase, I still think about getting just one F unit, just because, so I know why you are so fascinated by those. Those Tyco's are really almost a collector loco now. I have one from my set from 1970. Mine does not run at all. I'd efnitely consider keeping those tyco locos in their out of the box look due to the collectible factor and also that they came from your uncle. I'm sure British trains have the same problems as to what generation they come from. The older motors need a big shot of electricity just to start rotating. Also the detail on older models just isn't up to what we are used to these days. A quick run down of the most known brands: Athearn was considered the standard for a cheap out of the box model that could be modified with detail parts to make it a show stopper. Is yours an older one, or one of their newer upgrades? Most of my experience with US diesel models comes from having done N scale, but generally speaking the same applies regardless of scale. Toy train models like Tyco from the 70's are just obsolete for any kind of model railroading. Life like and Bachmann are sort of the same, except if you look at newer models from each brand they do have really nice things that are higher quality upgrades. But you have to do research to see what you're getting as they also sell toy train junk.The life like Steam engines from the transition era like their 0-8-0 are amazing. I have one. It is the most detailed model I have ever run. It's mechanism is comparable to BLI. Athearn higher grade. New models are even better. Kato is the gold standard for mechs, but have been out done by some newer companies. Atlas has always been a good product. They used to outsource a lot of their manufacture and design. 90's era locos are often just a Kato split frame unit with a Atlas label. BLI it goes without saying that BLI is amazingly good stuff. There are other brands, but that covers the most common.

talk to your crew.

Jim bob, I had the same issue. The damage done as they broke in was almost worth what they got going out.