Newbie - District 22 - Downtown L.A. (A table top railway)

[jonte]

Hi All

Please may I introduce myself?

Not only am I newbie to this forum but also to Model Railroading in general, my interest being sparked around Christmas time when quite by accident , I discovered Mr. Keith Jordan's inspirational website : 'The Patch' <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bobsgardenpath.com/ATSF_ThePatch.html">http://www.bobsgardenpath.com/ATSF_ThePatch.html</a><!-- m -->, with which many of you on this side of the Pond will no doubt be familiar.

As a resident of the United Kingdom, I have been fascinated - in the main by British Railways (steam of course ) - by model railways since childhood, although my interest to date was merely as an armchair modeller, never actually having the confidence to have a go, apart from pottering that is (and the less said about that the better!). In a nutshell: I've never built a model railway :oops:

Anyway, I joined a national forum last year and was inspired to 'have a go' and to cut a long story short, I decided on a steam era layout set on the south coast of England in the late 1950s early 1960s. However, due to the distractions of life, interest wained and things gradually drew to a halt until I discovered Keith's site that is

So that was it: hooked and reinvigorated, I dusted off the cobwebs from my earlier humble offering and sat pondering where to start.

Consequently, today, I have at long last taken the plunge and started that long overdue blog <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/765-jontes-blog/">http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... ntes-blog/</a><!-- m --> which will, hopefully, catalogue the handfisted attempts of a would-be modeller with skills that don't match his enthusiasm to turn an embrionic 4mm scale 'OO' gauge British based 'steam' layout into a 3.5mm scale 'HO' gauge American 'diesel' railroad that might just be considered worthy(?) of a quick 'once over' from you many gifted souls on the other side of the Atlantic - and elsewhere, Kurt - who so regularly contribute, in my opinion, wonderful works of art to this absolutely brilliant forum.

Please be gentle with me and forgive any anachronisms or other 'wild assumptions' on my part that might cause offence.

Best wishes to you All and thanks for the great ideas and inspiration.

Jonte

[P5se Camelback]

Jonte ...

All the best on embarking on what should prove to be great fun for you.

I, for one, will be observing from afar (and offering encouragement when needed) as you go.

Have at it, Gov'nor!

[faraway]

Jonte, welcome! It is good to see another LA area modeler

[torikoos]

And I'll be watching from a little closer by , living on the same island as you :-)
Having just taken a peek at your blog, I'm not sure if you're that much of a newbie, or you've got talent! I would never have dreamed of attempting to lay my own track, with my home made gauges and tooling etc. in the first year of being active, great job!

Koos

[Sumpter250]

Jonte,
I think you will find this forum a much better place to present your ideas, progress, and photos, than any blog.
Sorry, but the word "BLOG" strikes me as about as impressive as the word "BULB" .......say either one several times and the sound becomes almost comical. Here, you will get acceptance, recognition, praise, and maybe even a little " try it this way next time" encouragement.
I've been in model railroading for over fifty years now, and Big Blue is the most comfortable, "hometown-like" place I've yet found. So, come in, impress, be impressed, teach, learn, and just be part of the community, that is the model railroading hobby.

...................and you can post pictures "right here" with your comments for each one.

[Gary S]

for sure!

This forum is a wonderful place to chronicle your activity in the hobby, for exactly the reasons S-250 mentions. I think alot of times, people will ignore the blogs yet participate in a forum.

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress, and hopefully we can learn from each other and give an "atta boy!" every now and then.

And a Big Blue Welcome to the forum!

[jonte]

Jonte ...

All the best on embarking on what should prove to be great fun for you.

I, for one, will be observing from afar (and offering encouragement when needed) as you go.

Have at it, Gov'nor!

Hi biL,

Thanks for the warm welcome and your interest. Sincerely hope I don't disappoint.

Best wishes,

Jonte

[jonte]

Jonte, welcome! It is good to see another LA area modeler

Hi Reinhard.

Thank you. As an old hand, perhaps you could point me in the right direction if I go off at a tangent

Regards,

Jonte

[jonte]

And I'll be watching from a little closer by , living on the same island as you :-)
Having just taken a peek at your blog, I'm not sure if you're that much of a newbie, or you've got talent! I would never have dreamed of attempting to lay my own track, with my home made gauges and tooling etc. in the first year of being active, great job!

Koos

Hi Koos and thanks for checking out my brand new blog.

This is high praise indeed of which I'm simply not worthy - believe you me, those photos hide a multitude of sins and to be frank, I'm still not totally happy with the performance of the track nor the continuity of the track at the baseboard edges etc etc.. :cry:

Still, the object of the exercise here is just to finish and at least it will give me the opportunity to put into practice some of the excellent tips I've picked up since discovering this brilliant forum.

Please continue to look in from time to time and I'll do my best to provide regular updates.

Kind regards,

Jonte

[shortliner]

Jonte - you know me from the other place - welcome to another really great forum
Jack aka Shortliner

[jonte]

Jonte,
I think you will find this forum a much better place to present your ideas, progress, and photos, than any blog.
Sorry, but the word "BLOG" strikes me as about as impressive as the word "BULB" .......say either one several times and the sound becomes almost comical. Here, you will get acceptance, recognition, praise, and maybe even a little " try it this way next time" encouragement.
I've been in model railroading for over fifty years now, and Big Blue is the most comfortable, "hometown-like" place I've yet found. So, come in, impress, be impressed, teach, learn, and just be part of the community, that is the model railroading hobby.

...................and you can post pictures "right here" with your comments for each one.

Thank you Sumpter250 for the warmest of welcomes

I think you're probably spot on about directing my activities towards 'Big Blue' as there is a obviously wider appeal for my subject and much more for me to glean.
With regard to your opinion regarding blogs, they're not really my cup of tea either. However, I just felt a little awkward about offering my meagre attempts for public gaze. :oops: As you rightly point out, not everybody's going to see a blog, so for me it was like a safe haven.

However, after your very generous words of encouragement, I feel much easier about the whole thing and shall, therefore, take your advice and abandon my blog (guess it was the shortest blog in history being less than 24 hours old ) and post any and all developments here. I've nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Glad to be aboard,

Jonte

[jonte]

for sure!

This forum is a wonderful place to chronicle your activity in the hobby, for exactly the reasons S-250 mentions. I think alot of times, people will ignore the blogs yet participate in a forum.

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress, and hopefully we can learn from each other and give an "atta boy!" every now and then.

And a Big Blue Welcome to the forum!

Thank you most kindly, Gary S, for making me feel welcome. Don't know about learning from each other, though having enjoyed several of your 'tutorials' you will most certainly be of great help to me

Kind regards,

Jonte

[jonte]

Jonte - you know me from the other place - welcome to another really great forum
Jack aka Shortliner

Of course, Jack - great to hear from you.
You've long been a conduit and sage for those of us in the UK with an interest in this great subject, and I think it safe to say that I owe what little knowledge I have about railroading to you with your regular postings of videos of switching sessions in industrial backwaters, and the most inspirational examples of shelf layouts from this side of the pond and elsewhere. Thank you.

Jonte

[Herc Driver]

You're already off to a great start! Welcome aboard.

[jonte]

You're already off to a great start! Welcome aboard.

You're very kind, Mark, thank you

Jonte