EngineDriver

Hi, yes I do use an airbrush, that said though sometimes I will use a "rattle can" if it suits the job. Looks unlikely that it will be painted this weekend now though due to a family crisis thats just ocurred, nothing to worry about but need attending to. Nige.

Just a Quick note to say that the loco is now in primer Hope to get colour on before weekend Nige.

Hi Ian, your UP loco, it looks like an SD9 am I right? And yes, I'm not surprised to hear it runs better than British stuff, but if it didn't run at all it would still be better than the British offerings !!! Hi Traingeekboy? (come on what's your first name? can't keep calling you "Traingeekboy"!) As to the paint job on my little project loco its a toss-up really between Santa Fe as it is at the moment (obviously it will need completely stripping first) I have checked and I have a full set of decals for that. Or Penn Central which is a company that we model as well. It is easier to go for the PC as its just black as you say but that is not the reason I am considering it. We only have three or four Geep's in PC livery and could really do with a few more, as we use them for switching in the yards and yard transfer jobs as well as double heading on mainline work. Whereas Santa Fe loco's are usually just passing through on various trains. I have a GP9 that has just been converted from a dummy, and fitted with a new motor and gearboxes, it has already been painted PC black and is just waiting for decals. And also a GP18 but that is a long term project, so with this one that will be three more which would be about enough. Nige.

Hi Mick, I started to model the U.S scene way back in the mid 1980's so cast your mind back to what Britsh models were available then, we had Hornby, Mainline had just made an appearance, Airfix had brought out a class 31 and so on. We all thought this was wonderful didn't we? Well I bought my first two U.S. loco's about this time from "Sharps" in Sheffield they were both from "Athearn" (which is to America what Hornby was to the UK) one was a GP 9 which is similar to a class 20 and the other was an F 7 which is the typical bull nosed american loco that we are all familiar with. They were both under £20 each which even in those days was very cheap for new loco's and I was blown away with the amount of detail that they had. Seprate wire handrails, excellent paintwork and decals, both had all wheel pick-ups and all wheel drive plus five pole can motors fitted with twin flywheels driving through seperate gearboxes. None of this power bogie at one end with a three pole pancake motor and a totally useless dummy set of wheels at the other. I still have both these loco's I run them regularly and the are still more than acceptable in detail and performance. Remember though that "Athearn" are at the low end of the market!(pocket money trains) If you look at Kato, "Stewart Hobbies" and "Broadway Limited" I don't think British models will ever get to this standard. It's taken the best part of 30 years to get as good as Athearn was back in the day. Also don't forget they had DCC 25yr ago! we're so behind the times here! Oh and Yes they are "HO". so the track gauge is correct ha ha ! Nige.

Hi Everyone, this is a little project that I have been on with over the last couple of days. I had no intention of doing this little job, it came about because I bid on and won a GP38 loco on "Ebay" it was supposed to be in "good condition" and "very detailed" but when it arrived it was sadly lacking in both of these things, and even worse it had been re-painted quite poorly and the decals were flaking off. If that was not enough the top of the front nose, windscreen and number boards had for some reason or other been cut off, then very crudely re-attached. Needless to say they did not fit and there were gaps all over the place. The number boards and centre marker lights had even been fitted upside down! In my defence though there was only one photo, and that was of the loco still in its box! Had there been more pictures then I most likely would have left well alone. I did contact the seller and fair enough I was offered a full refund if I wanted one, all I had to do was send it back. But it is an "Atlas" model and it runs really really well, also I had paid less than £20 for it and it would yeald a very useful chassis if I couldn't do anything with the bodywork. So I decided to keep it, and try something a bit different! A rummage through my "bits" box produced two "Alco"C628 bodys and upon measuring the cabs I found that they were exactly the same width as the GP38 cab, although they were slightly shorter and ever so slightly lower, this is more obvious because the C628 cab roof is curved where as the GP38 cab roof is made of angled flat sections. All this can be seen in the photo's. The rest of the Gp38 cab was removed and the Alco cab was offered up I was really pleased with what I saw as the cab fit very well onto the GP's frames and the top of the curved roof is level with the top of the GP's engine room bodywork. Only the extreme edges of the bodywork stand proud of the cab roof as it drops away due to the curve of the roof line. While this sort of thing would never happen in the UK, modifications and alterations of this nature are commonplace in the US, particularly on the "Short line" railroads where money is tight and you use what you have got to keep the job running. The loco still has some way to go yet and will eventually be re-sprayed into "Penn Central" livery, which is one of the main railroad companys that we run here. I will update this topic as the project moves along. I hope this is of some interest. Nige.Just a little update since I wrote the article. All the bodywork is now complete and all filling and sanding done, decals have been removed and paint will be stripped tomorrow. Primer should be applied by Wednesday(all being well!).

Hi Mick and Andy, I am at the moment building various structures for the layout, including a small oil refinery which has lots of pipe work, can't wait to paint it!!! might spray it yet though I will have to see. The points on the layout are not electrically operated as I wanted to keep costs and wiring to a minimum seeing as this is not our main layout and I'm not sure just how much use it will actually get. The control panels are as you say on the front facia and have been kept small so it all fits on the table. The turntable is just a standard Peco one and is operated via a small motor and gearbox, it is powered by two "AA" batteries. The layout is split as you can see by a central scenic divide so creating two separate towns or whatever. I have installed two multi pin sockets one on each side so that each area can be operated from its own side by simply plugging in the hand controller in the side you wish to run. Then my daughter came along and said she wanted to shunt on one side while Sam was using the other!!! So the wiring got more complicated. Now the layout can be split in two and each side can be used independently of each other, then if someone wants to run a train around or just to the other side, the other operater must clear the main line (just like in real life) and then a switch is operated which gives control of the whole layout to the first person, if you see what I mean.

Hi everyone, I read with interest about Andy's new "N" gauge layout that he has just acquired from his Father in Law. I too have a small table top "N" gauge layout that requires work but in my case I have been actively avoiding it for the past two years or so. It was originally just an idea for a small table that we had. I had no real intention of building it, I was just sort of day dreaming about what could be done. Unfortunately my youngest son Sam over heard me talking to his brother about it and before I knew where we were I had bought some track and rolling stock etc. A start was made but my heart was (is) not in it, and as a concequence its taking ages to do what should have taken a few months at the most. Looking at Andy's new layout it has given me some inspiration to have another go at our layout and see if I can get it done over the winter months. We have got most of what is needed with the exception of some scenic material but that won't cost much so I will not have to seek approval from the finance dept. I have taken a few photos for you all to look at. Nige.

Hi, yeah if you want to, I'm sure we could sort somehing out. Nige.

Hi Ian, We live in Chesterfield my friend, so not too far from you. Nige.

I look forward to seeing the photo's and I will be following this project of yours with interest. I will try and take some pic's of my efforts soon and post them so you can see how far we've got. Nige.

Hi Andy, I was just looking at your new winter project, there is a lot of potential there and most of the hard work has been done already. It's now ready for the good bits, choosing the buildings and all the other good scenic stuff, creating small "cameo" scenes etc. It looks big enough as well to be interesting to operate yet not too big as it takes over the room. I too am building an "N" gauge American layout for my 7yr old son, I have been on with it for a couple of years now. I must admit though I don't particularly enjoy it as I have more than enough on with the "HO" layout, but our Sam insists he wants it done and he informed me the other day that I "owe"? him a new "switcher"!! We are going to the model railway exhibtion at Wakefield at the weekend so he might get lucky ! I would be interested to know your thoughts on the minitrix stock as they do do some U.S stuff I think. Regards Nige.

Mick, thanks for your comments it really means alot to think that others appreciate your efforts. When its done there will be rock cuttings, tunnels and embankments using real rocks and homemade outdoor "Mod-Roc" using builders hession and a really sloppy concrete mix. I have been inspired by the outdoor scenic trees and shrubs used on various members layouts and I will certainly be poaching these for my layout. I have an idea for some pine trees as well using the branches from an old Christmas tree suitably shaped, I think if done right they should look ok especially if they are grouped together to make a small wooded area.

Hi Mick, yes, the first photo of the outdoor section is as it stands at the moment, if it ever stops raining I would like to get a little bit more done before the winter really sets in. I was going to cover it up for the winter, but my sons will keep insisting on running trains even when its raining! Surprisingly enough it does not seem to affect them in the slightest, with the exception that the wheels need cleaning more often! Nige.

Thanks for your comments Ian, I tend to always over engineer things! You can actually walk on the out door frame work......... not that you would need to! but you could if you wanted. Nige.

Hi the outdoor photos were taken as we built it. It does not get dismantled. Work has pretty much stopped now for the winter, unless we get some fine dry days when we are off work, but next year should see it completed and it will be detailed as far as is possible. There will be a couple of tunnels and embankments as well as a girder bridge to carry the branch over the main line. All the points will be electrically operated as well. Nige.

Hi everyone, I only found this site about a week ago, so I decided to join up and see whats happening. My sons and I have been running an outdoor Ho scale North American railway for about 10years now, but about 18 months ago we decided to totally dismantle the outdoor section and re-new the whole thing and take the opportunity to add a branch line to another building so the trains actually had somewhere to go instead of just round and round. The main layout is situated in a shed which is about 20ft x 6ft and the new building is about 12ft x 6ft. The new outdoor section is an out and back with a run of about 50odd feet. This does not include the branch line which should have a run of about 70ft when completed. Also we have included a branch line to what will be a small mining town, this will be operated by a couple of "Budd RDC's" (similar to class153's) using a "Gaugemaster" shuttle unit. I will try to include some photo's if I can figure out how to do it. If this works you can see the new outdoor section under construction and a few pic's of the layout in the larger shed.