02-21-2011, 06:23 PM
Hi all,
I decided that today is the day to start my layout blog, seeing that its also my birthday
and I have the week off work, so why not talk about my model railroad ambitions. 
My plan and my activities so far have been directed towards making a HO scale model of the EFfingham RailRoad, Effingham, Illinois, USA.
Firstly a mud map to help everyone locate where I am talking about;http://efrr.com/EFRR%20Site%20Layout.pdf
Okay so at this point I havent managed to make the map appear but I will continue with my introduction.
Around four years ago, the German supermarket chain ALDI which had only recently set up in Australia, had a special on Bachmann HO train sets, and extender sets. So despite being short of money I bought two sets and two extender sets, then the next year I bought another set as well. My thinking was that the sets were affordable and they would be a good way to intoduce my now six year old son to model trains. I was right. You should have seen him the day I first got the freight train set out. I will write a separate piece about that day another time. Anyway, I started frequenting the local hobby shop about three years ago, and on one trip I bought the Bachmann E-Z Model Railroads E-Z track planning guide and layout book, item #99978.
A very good read I must say, but what really tickled my fancy was the 'Timesaver' layout all done in E-Z track. Now it just so happened that around this time at work we had numerous offcuts of 18mm ply [3/4"] that were 2400 x 300, so with permission, I "liberated" one and painted it black. I could now with some additional track purchases set up a "Timesaver".
I decided that today is the day to start my layout blog, seeing that its also my birthday
and I have the week off work, so why not talk about my model railroad ambitions. My plan and my activities so far have been directed towards making a HO scale model of the EFfingham RailRoad, Effingham, Illinois, USA.
Firstly a mud map to help everyone locate where I am talking about;http://efrr.com/EFRR%20Site%20Layout.pdf
Okay so at this point I havent managed to make the map appear but I will continue with my introduction.
Around four years ago, the German supermarket chain ALDI which had only recently set up in Australia, had a special on Bachmann HO train sets, and extender sets. So despite being short of money I bought two sets and two extender sets, then the next year I bought another set as well. My thinking was that the sets were affordable and they would be a good way to intoduce my now six year old son to model trains. I was right. You should have seen him the day I first got the freight train set out. I will write a separate piece about that day another time. Anyway, I started frequenting the local hobby shop about three years ago, and on one trip I bought the Bachmann E-Z Model Railroads E-Z track planning guide and layout book, item #99978.
A very good read I must say, but what really tickled my fancy was the 'Timesaver' layout all done in E-Z track. Now it just so happened that around this time at work we had numerous offcuts of 18mm ply [3/4"] that were 2400 x 300, so with permission, I "liberated" one and painted it black. I could now with some additional track purchases set up a "Timesaver".
Fake It till you Make It, then Fake It some More