Hi, Ol' Friends, and a belated Merry Christmas.
As you can see by the date of my last post, it's been a good couple of years since I last posted, and some of you may well be wondering what on earth I've been up to since then (or perhaps not
).
Well, apart from completing a couple of kit bashed card buildings and soldering up umpteen lengths of nickel silver rail of various codes into something vaguely resembling an early Victorian trussed station roof - freelance and not quite finished - not much really. Still going round in ever decreasing circles modelling-wise, although I've finally decided what I'm going to plump for in British railroading; but I quite rightly shaln't bore you Model Railroaders with all that stuff. That can wait till another day and for a more appropriate thread - if at all. Anyway, needless to say, I've yet to build a working model railway of any sort, so in modelling terms I've come a long way and still got nowhere!!!!!!
So why have I dared to turn up out of the blue so to speak and post this rambling rubbish, you may ask?
Well, the experience of my short venture into the Dark Side never completely left me, and I've still been an occasional 'lurker' to Big Blue to see what Kurt, Reinhard, 'Koos and Y'all have been getting up to, although I have to admit, these have been rather infrequent visits. And of course, those old photos of 'The Patch' and railroads in Downtown LA were always such a draw, it was inevitable I suppose that one day I would return. So why now?
Well, it all started a couple of months or so after we had all five ground floor doors replaced to match those upstairs which had been changed during an intensive period of decorating
and I was left with a decision as to what to do with them. Online auctions weren't considered as I'm just too idle to bother posting them up for sale, although I seriously considered using them as a board for that British themed layout I mentioned earlier, however, as I've still yet to confirm what type of track to use (yes, that ol' chesnut) which will determine the final dimensions, I reckoned it was still too early in the day for all that, so I thought I'd just ring the council to come and collect them - they're MDF so too big and cumbersome to fit into my small estate car for that trip to the tip (dump?).
Determined to put them to some use (I hate dumping any sort of lumber as to me, old lumber = model trains) the idea of a 'table-top' railway came to mind - like those we all built as kids or perhaps received as 'Chrimbo presssies of old' in the form of an oval of track with perhaps the odd siding or two, and some good old Superquick buildings randomly placed to represent a model town or village, which our 'six by four' could faithfully serve.
The more I thought about it, the more plausible it seemed: something relatively quick and cheap to build, offering some light operating ptential with the added bonus of just occasionally enjoying the trains going round 'n' round.......... A small oval would also be highly suitable for my (currently) one USA loco and several wagons/cars I bought from a fellow member on a UK model railway site a couple of years back.
Initially, I thought of trying to use up as many of the doors as possible - which would also offer more real estate and make my task a whole lot easier - however as mentioned, these old MDF doors were potential back breakers, and the realistation soon dawned that only one would be feasible as a base. But how on earth could I shoehorn anything remotely prototypical into a space measuring only 76" x 30"? The challenge proved irresistible and I was determined to make it fit. It was at this point I remembered a few bits of Peco Setrack languishing long forgotten in my loft which had formed the basis of one such table top railway many years hence when my adult son was just a nipper. Sadly, his interest in model railroading never developed so why these bit 'n' pieces managed to accompany us during our house move fifteen years ago, I'm at a loss to explain. Perhaps somewhere deep down within, the thought of abandoning anything vaguely connected to model railroading, is just too hard to contemplate. Perhaps, fellow modellers, you can explain this better than I.
After risking life 'n' limb clambering in and out of the loft, I discovered to my delight that everything still fitted together and discovering that the curves were of 15" radius, well, I near wet my pants. With the prospect of fitting it all into my 'pint pot', my armchair notions were seemingly not as daft after all
But what about the track for the small scenic bit - the bit which would be in view and contain the switches? I suppose I could have gone out and bought some new stuff from Hattons (I'm a Liverpudlian and therefore benefit from having this internationally renowned model shop literally on my doorstep - no connection with said proprietor, just a satisfied customer of many years standing) as nowadays they even stock the new Peco Code 83 variety, but somehow, this cheapo make 'n' mend approach of using up what I already had seemed appropriate, so thoughts turned to several Peco Code 75 offerings mentioned earlier in this thread. Problem was, I'd hacked at them (the diverging rails of each) to make the roads closer together at crossovers which didn't work as I'd expected, so I'd have to repair them be fore using them. Still, as only 3 switches were required, this didn't prove too daunting a task. However, after reconstructing them on purpose built plywood bases and wiring them up for 'live frogs' via a SPDT switch, tests were disappointing. Why? Well, scrutiny showed that my lone Bachmann loco was striking the crossing nose (frog) and as I simply cannot stand for bumpy rides through pointwork, it was obvious that they weren't fit for purpose. Damn!!!! I was semingly back on the old tread mill of 'choice of track'!
Downheartened, I decided to return to the arm chair and undertook a little research. To my surprise, I discovered that others had encountered similar problems with HO gauge locos on Peco Code 75 track which made me feel a little better. Additionally, I discovered an article which demonstrated that, good as it appeared, the guard rails of the purpose designed Peco Code 83 track were dimensionally incorrect! Oh how releived I felt at not having gone out on a whim and purchased new as I'd considered. These things ain't cheap as you well know folks, still, I don't mind forking out, provided running isn't hindered. Now, at this point, I should say that I am aware that many railroaders enjoy excellent running with this range of track and consider it a worthy item: it's just that, knowing my luck, I'd be the one that would fall foul of it!!!
Anyway, at the risk of meandering, I remembered those home made switches which were shown earlier in this thread which for some unearthly reason I had cast aside in dissatisfaction. Surely it was worth a couple of days revisiting them and testing them for old times sake? After all, apart from the time involved - and I was eager to press ahead - there was nothing to lose. And if all else failed, I'd just pop down to the model shop and purchase some good ol' Code 100s which after all these years still provided sterling service and are still used to good effect by a number of excellent UK model railroaders on their exhibition layouts to this day. Thankfully, this didn't prove necessary: all three worked perfectly although many short traversings over each were made just to make sure - I think I need to see a doctor :?
I can’t recall why I had consigned them to languish beneath the tons of other detritus in my modelling den: after all, they were built according to dimensions gleaned from the excellent NMRA site via a digital calliper, so I had no reason to doubt their performance. I just wish we could enjoy a similar set of standards over here in the UK.
Anyway, construction began in earnest with the level of the track above door surface being determined by the set of drawer runners to be used as useful traverse – one of a couple left over from when we had the kitchen fitted a few years ago – the 4mm plywood track base (more leftovers) being supported by umpteen blocks of planed two by one offcuts themselves left over from construction of the station roof referred to earlier in my post.
I think rather than waffle on as I’m doing now, I’ll take a break from the keyboard for a bit – which will no doubt be a relief for you all – and pop back later with a few piccies for you to peruse as I’ve been keeping a photographic record of my progress to date.
If any of you are still with me at this point, may I thank you for your forebearance and hope that you may find my little sojourn of interest. I hope and trust I can maintain it.
Finally, it’s good to be back!
Jonte.
P.S. I think I'll change the title of this thread accordingly. jonte.
