any fans? (I know there’s at least one here as I saw the same distinctive username on a railway site that Google randomly led me to 😃)

I’ve never expressed interest in getting a train set but must’ve watched the recent Hornby series on telly a bit too intently as the Mrs surprised me with a Flying Scotsman starter set for Chrimbo! Didn’t really need another hobby but there’s actually a lot of crossover with some of my other interests including electronics/automation so I’ve already converted the loco to digital with sound effects (which straight away makes it much more fun!), and built a DIY digital controller for the track so it can be controlled via computer now. Currently experimenting with servo-controlled points (just waiting for some piano wire to arrive from eBay 🤣)

Think I’ve hobbled myself slightly by building my baseboard to 6’x4′ to approx match the Trakmat supplied with the set. (I did have enough timber for at least 8’x4′ but cut it down which I’m slightly regretting now!) Currently looking at the FreeTrackPlans site & playing around with options on RailModeller Express before I go much further… very much looking at this as a starter/learner layout but definitely want to include tunnel/bridge in there somewhere!

I have a Hornby trainset in the cupboard which must be nearly 45 years old and has t been used for over 40 years. Must do something with it.

One thing I like is the design of everything is essentially unchanged so all the old stuff is interchangeable with new – the old locos can even be upgraded to digital/sound & light etc with basic soldering skills. The opposite of bike standards basically 🤣

<peakNerd> I can never forgive Hornby for their unspeakably bad mk3 HST coach which was about 4cm and a whole window frame too short. See also their comedy class 37 with bogies from somewhere else and their 08 diesel shunter which was kludged together on the chassis of some useless kettle.</peakNerd>
So Lima, Mainline and Bachman all the way. A bit of me died when Lima went bust & Hornby bought their tooling.
The boy has a fairly recent Hornby Mallard. It’s in a different league to the stuff that they were churning out when I grew up.

Currently experimenting with servo-controlled points

You know where this leads don’t you? I know finescale nerds who make their own motors to replicate the action of a real point blade – soft take off, bit of bounce when it contacts then winds firmly into place. You’ve been warned!

@hot_fiat they had a new management team a few years back and, at least according to the telly series anyway, are doing their best now to make sure everything’s as accurate as possible! Feel some loyalty towards Hornby as had quite a bit of their stuff when I was little (pretty sure it’s still in my parent’s attic although my dad claims not to be able to find it 🙄) and the Hornby place is only down the road from me (already popped in when they re-opened after Christmas to have a look for a bit of inspiration!)

The boy has a fairly recent Hornby Mallard. It’s in a different league to the stuff that they were churning out when I grew up.

yeah, they’re not cheap, even the lower-end ones that you get with the starter sets are definitely in the league of “detailed scale model” rather than “toy”.

You know where this leads don’t you? I know finescale nerds who make their own motors to replicate the action of a real point blade

ha! I must admit at this point, I like a train but have no special interest in them & not particularly fussed by the accuracy of anything… this could all change I suppose 😃

A while back, I accepted the fact that there’s a big layout in my future, and it’s only a matter of time. Every year I have to dedicate about an extra half percent of my entire brainpower to resisting it, I reckon we’re into the low tens now.

njee20 and I both hang about on a couple of model railway forums. I saw a post from him recently saying he’s effectively a railway modeller not a cyclist nowadays.

The first thing to do is have a really good think about whether you want to stick with OO or not – I run N gauge and if you only have 6′ x 4′ of space, and N gauge layout in that space will be equivalent to a 12′ x 8′ OO one. njee20 also plumped for N gauge. If you think you’d prefer that then maybe see if you can exchange the Flying Scotsman set while you have time.

If you’re committed to OO, which it sounds like you are, Model Rail magazine spent three or four issues last year on a segment on 6×4 track plans by a guy who designs layouts for a living. I’d really recommend getting the digital copies of these as they’re aimed at people exactly like you, just starting out.

https://pocketmags.com/model-rail-magazine

If you want buildings for your layouts, scalescenes are great because you just download the kit and then print it and put it on card (I use a4 adhesive labels) as many times as you want, so it’s cheap and they’re a really satisfying pastime on their own. Otherwise, Bachmann Scenecraft buildings are ready to place – they’re expensive but good.

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My main tip for your first layout is absolutely do not overcomplicate things – keep the scenery simple, and the electronics if you’re not sure (although it sounds like you are well up to that) and you’ll end up with a simple but higher quality layout, which is more satisfying than an overambitious one that looks bad and doesn’t work well. Also, make sure it’s interesting to operate- a Flying Scotsman whizzing round in circles is fun for a little while, but if you put in some sidings and get a small goods train you can start shunting as well, which will keep you engaged while your express trains run on the main loop.

Any excuse to show mine off – I’m about to retire this layout and build a new one as the electronics weren’t great and the scenery isn’t quite as realistic as I’d like.

And a couple of shots of the first two buildings for my new one-

I suggested getting rid of the oldest child to make room for the trainset. There wasn’t the positive response I was hoping for.

I’m not into building them but I like following this build on YouTube

And a chap I used to work with built Birmingham’s New Street Station in all its concrete glory

https://p4newstreet.com/

Does anyone make N gauge versions of these cemex wagons/hoppers? I quite fancy having a small set of the daily train I see but can’t find the wagons in N.

Cemex wagons

One of my 2022 plans is to start on a model railway. Wanted one ever since I was a child. It’ll have to be N gauge as I want a decent length of train to run on it. Any advice on a decent digital controllers? Planned layout will be a double track loop and a single track loop, joined at a couple of points. Maximum of tree trains running at single time. Ease of use more important than cost as this will be a long term project.

That Scotrail 47 is lush. I’ve a Lima mk3 rake made up to look like the push pull sets used on the Edinburgh-Glasgow route, but I never got around to building a dbso for the trailing end. You’ve triggered a 30 year old itch now. Damn.

hot_fiat – Bachmann now do the DBSO and it’s really excellent.

@mrsheen – Graham Farish produced the HYA (which is what you’ve linked to) but they’re out of production and there’s none on ebay (although they seem to come round once a month). The closest thing is Revolution Trains’ HOA, which is the same with an extra hopper –

http://www.revolutiontrains.com/product/hoa-aggregates-hopper-wagon/

There’s also the Dapol HIA-

https://www.hattons.co.uk/newsdetail?id=543

While the logos come of easily enough with a cotton bud and t-cut no one makes Cemex decals to replace them. It is, however, very easy to download a jpeg of the logo and print it on waterslide decal paper to make your own. I do this a lot now.

I still have my old Hornby and have secretly added to it in the last few years. The plan is to clear the loft this summer then shit gets real! My son is just about old enough to get involved.

From memory I have a couple of HST sets, Network South East Class 86, Lady Di Class 47, a Lima Class 55, BR Mallard, couple of small steam engines + stock and track.

I’m going down the rabbit hole thanks to this thread, aren’t I?

I have a Hornby trainset in the cupboard which must be nearly 45 years old

I’ve got some bits & bobs which are at least 60 years old, including a mint & boxed tank engine, some boxed carriages & a crane.

Must do something with it.

Me too, like flog it.

When growing up I became co-owner of a 28’x16′ OO model of Armathwaite on the Settle Carlisle. Ex model rail club, now owned by Alston rail museum.

I sold my share to my brother to buy a sailing dinghy. 😎

I’ve always hankered over building a narrow guage model at some point.

I started my apprenticeship at Hornby, Westwood Ind Est back in about 1977 but had no interest in the products, and I still don’t harbour any interest in building a layout!

Production engineered on Dutchess of Sutherland, ultrasonically welding the nose onto the HST, and auto spray painting of the HST and other projects (including Scalextric slot cars).

@zilog6128.

PM me if you wish. You say you are near there. I still have friends and family around there, although I moved away for work a number of years back.

@munrobiker thanks for the tips, that layout looks fantastic to me tbh! Yes, I was agonising over N vs 00 as I was wandering round the Hornby museum. Appreciate the space aspect but I much prefer the look of the 00 models. A lot of the layouts there had gradients and a couple of levels which extends the length of track and makes it a lot more visually interesting so I’ll probably try to do something like that. I’ve got just about enough space for up to 9×4 max I think so will rethink if I need it bigger, that would be 50% more scenery to model though – one of my reasons for going 6×4 is I stand a much bigger chance of actually finishing it 😀
ScaleScenes stuff looks great, I’m a printer/sign maker so have lots of kit which will be helpful & am probably most looking forwards to getting stuck into the model-making although it’s not something I’ve done much of before!
I almost did buy a Diesel engine/freight set while at Hornby but I definitely had that when I was little which should be in the parents’ attic… if they can’t find it though I’ll certainly get some more as like you say it adds another aspect to things.
Yes, it was njee20’s name I came across on another forum!

I had an extensive N gauge layout as a kid, the bikes, girls, basses and cars took over.

Was quite excited when the bus went past the old Hattons shop on Smithdown Rd on my 1st day at university.

My neighbour built a good layout- elements like house/shops/cars/train types all designed to have a personal connection for him & his wife.

Until last year I was working on the same industrial estate as Hornby so was regularly making lunchtime shopping trips for him.

After his track piqued my interest I got what remaining items I had (inc an old 00 sixties set passed down from cousins) from Mums loft but either the locos are in need of TLC or its a dodgy transformer (again and again).

Still can’t decide on sell as is or try to repair.

@FB-ATB – unfortunately most older n gauge stuff isn’t worth much as it has come on so much in the last ten years. I’d sell without repairing.

Thanks @munrobiker

@munro- I was thinking of repair for myself or just cut my losses/time selling on

Any advice on a decent digital controllers?

if you have an interest in electronics then check out the DCC++ Ex project which is what I did. I actually had all the required bits in my parts bin so didn’t cost me anything (extra!) and all the software is free (and ridiculously comprehensive!)
Otherwise there are loads of off-the-shelf options but even the most basic Hornby one is over a ton and, flicking through a mag I bought, you could easily spend hundreds.
I know you said ease-of-use is paramount and money not an issue, but the actual electronics used in these systems are pretty basic so to my mind there’s a huge amount of money to be saved by DIY-ing from generic components which can then be spent on trains/scenery instead! Although I enjoy figuring out that kind of stuff anyway.

njee20 and I both hang about on a couple of model railway forums. I saw a post from him recently saying he’s effectively a railway modeller not a cyclist nowadays.

The first thing to do is have a really good think about whether you want to stick with OO or not – I run N gauge and if you only have 6′ x 4′ of space, and N gauge layout in that space will be equivalent to a 12′ x 8′ OO one. njee20 also plumped for N gauge. If you think you’d prefer that then maybe see if you can exchange the Flying Scotsman set while you have time.

If you’re committed to OO, which it sounds like you are, Model Rail magazine spent three or four issues last year on a segment on 6×4 track plans by a guy who designs layouts for a living. I’d really recommend getting the digital copies of these as they’re aimed at people exactly like you, just starting out.

https://pocketmags.com/model-rail-magazine

If you want buildings for your layouts, scalescenes are great because you just download the kit and then print it and put it on card (I use a4 adhesive labels) as many times as you want, so it’s cheap and they’re a really satisfying pastime on their own. Otherwise, Bachmann Scenecraft buildings are ready to place – they’re expensive but good.

https://scalescenes.com/

My main tip for your first layout is absolutely do not overcomplicate things – keep the scenery simple, and the electronics if you’re not sure (although it sounds like you are well up to that) and you’ll end up with a simple but higher quality layout, which is more satisfying than an overambitious one that looks bad and doesn’t work well. Also, make sure it’s interesting to operate- a Flying Scotsman whizzing round in circles is fun for a little while, but if you put in some sidings and get a small goods train you can start shunting as well, which will keep you engaged while your express trains run on the main loop.

Any excuse to show mine off – I’m about to retire this layout and build a new one as the electronics weren’t great and the scenery isn’t quite as realistic as I’d like.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mVyuaL]DSC_6311 (1)[/url] by Luke Bradley, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mVyu6n]DSC_5170[/url] by Luke Bradley, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2kNE7Xn]IMG_20210313_185803[/url] by Luke Bradley, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2kHRdyt]DSC_6344[/url] by Luke Bradley, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2k9m9FV]47373923902_5d60bc60e7_c[/url] by Luke Bradley, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2k9mqSd]47373923742_2473f2935e_c (1)[/url] by Luke Bradley, on Flickr

And a couple of shots of the first two buildings for my new one-

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2m48h2W]DSC_7603[/url] by Luke Bradley, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mVxqC1]1639300164650[/url] by Luke Bradley, on Flickr

@zilog6128 cheers for the advice, much appreciated. I’ve no great interest in electronics (or rather I’d prefer to spend the time building the layout) so just looking to buy off the shelf. Am going to do a bit of research then head to the model railway show in Glasgow next month armed with various questions and some basic knowledge. Just wondered if there was any one particular make that stood out.

This reminded me of a previous thread started by MarsdenMan (RIP my friend, just been reading old threads and choking up) whose father had a setup in the garden

Dad's Garden (model) railway…..

more pics on CHris’s flickr feed here:

I found that ^ thread via the google search that resuled in this

Model Railroads

No love for European HO?