godderz Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 (edited) Hello everyone and thank you all for the wealth of information I have acquired from you already! I am a total newcomer to this world and I must say i am already hooked. I did have a train set when I was a kid, basically two separate ovals (one mine and the other my brother's) with a siding each, pinned to an 8x4 sheet that was painted by my dad. Not very imaginative but it worked. I'm sure you've all similar stories. My son got a Thomas train set for Christmas from the grandparents and it has been down to me to get something going. He gave me a brief...some trees, a bridge and some people! That's it. Well, I've got more and more into it and it's snowballed into something that will keep me interested and enthusiastic and hopefully create something imaginative for the kids. I know I'm going to make loads of mistakes, but I'll happily learn and one day I may be able (would like) to produce something akin to the amazing circuits, dioramas and layouts I've seen on here! I came up with a space saving circuit that would fit in their room. As it is a Thomas layout and for the kids it doesn't have to be too sophisticated. I got a free download of AnyRail which was a massive help in overcoming the complexities of designing a layout. I must have drawn up twenty different designs before I came up with this one! I can't include any of the landscape with the basic download so have physically drawn details on which hopefully I can scan so you can critique. Again, many thanks for opening up this amazing universe to me and I look forward to your comments. Edited May 18, 2018 by godderz 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted May 15, 2018 Author Share Posted May 15, 2018 Oh. I can't upload the AnyRail file. Will try another method of illustrating it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold scottystitch Posted May 15, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 15, 2018 Oh. I can't upload the AnyRail file. Will try another method of illustrating it. In Anyrail, if you go to the File tab and then select "Export" you can export/save it as a JPG or PDF and then upload it here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted May 15, 2018 Author Share Posted May 15, 2018 In Anyrail, if you go to the File tab and then select "Export" you can export/save it as a JPG or PDF and then upload it here. Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted May 15, 2018 Author Share Posted May 15, 2018 Ok. As I said, it hasn't got any of the animation of the landscape and buildings but I'll scan that later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted May 16, 2018 Author Share Posted May 16, 2018 ok, so here's a photo with the sketching i've done. I copied the symbols from a really old Peco guide book a client lent me, so hope they all make sense. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted May 16, 2018 Author Share Posted May 16, 2018 I've made a church using the Metcalfe kit and have some of my old Hornby buildings i had in my uncle's loft. I think I'll end up changing them as they don't look very realistic. However, I must remember that essentially this is for the kids so card models could easily get broken as opposed to plastic models. We'll see. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted May 16, 2018 Author Share Posted May 16, 2018 A lot of the track is really old, Namely Hornby and Lima. I've noticed that the turnout included in the Thomas set is much better than my old Hornby turnouts so I'm going to replace them. After doing a test it seems trains derail more easily on the old points and also have a different mechanism for changing. As I'm using point motors it might make things easier. Bought some flexi track too although I'm going have to find out how it'll lay by trial and error. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Corbs Posted May 16, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 16, 2018 Looks like fun! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted May 16, 2018 Author Share Posted May 16, 2018 Can anyone tell me if you can edit your topic? I.e. can I change the name once I come up with a suitable title for the circuit? And can I add some tags? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 Can anyone tell me if you can edit your topic? I.e. can I change the name once I come up with a suitable title for the circuit? And can I add some tags? I believe you can access that by editing the first post. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium BR60103 Posted May 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 17, 2018 How old is your son? If your Hornby track is old enough, modern stock may not like it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Can anyone tell me if you can edit your topic? I.e. can I change the name once I come up with a suitable title for the circuit? And can I add some tags? As Martyn said you need to edit the first post then select "Full Editor". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted May 18, 2018 Author Share Posted May 18, 2018 How old is your son? If your Hornby track is old enough, modern stock may not like it. I've two, 5 and 10, with a 7 year old daughter who likes the circuit too. I've had a good look at the points and you may have a 'point' (no pun intended!). The frogs on the old points have a much larger gap between it and the guide rail which may explain why a 1980 class 37 is ok but the 'Thomas' tank engine doesn't like it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium BR60103 Posted May 19, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 19, 2018 (edited) When I switched to 16.5mm gauge I chose North American. My friend went for TriAng. When I ran my trains on his track (Series 3 was new then) the large flangeways allowed my wheels to run down the wrong side of the frog. He bodged a cure by carving bits off the side of the frog point. When I ran TriAng through North American track, the flanges either jammed in the tight flangeways or climbed on top of the guardrails. Or both. Edited May 30, 2018 by BR60103 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 Well, it's been sometime since I posted as life has it's way of taking over sometimes....so much so that I've forgotten how to upload photos here? can anyone help? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 ...ok!..."reply with attachments might be a clue! So this makes it all worthwhile. After no work on the thing due to that horrible thing of needing to work to earn money, the small people leant on me to get things moving. ...ok!..."reply with attachments might be a clue! So this makes it all worthwhile. After no work on the thing due to that horrible thing of needing to work to earn money, the small people leant on me to get things moving. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 I managed to lay all the track on cork bedding but admit I did find laying the flexi track quite difficult at first. I've never really laid track properly, apart from joining it all together on the kitchen table when I was a kid, much to the annoyance of my mum. I found spacing the sleepers correctly on the flexi track quite vexing, and sometimes the ends would come out of the sleepers. I eventually got the hang of it. I bought some point motors as this really interest me. I like the idea of being able to control it without touching the circuit and I think the kids will particularly like this. I wasn't sure how to mount them, or, I didn't really have the confidence. So, after some research on this site I elected to mount them straight under the track but cutting a rectangular hole. I found it simpler to join the pin to the track, but it was only when I came to ballast that I was flummoxed! Some old 'Chance' cards from Monopoly seemed good to block the hole but I found it difficult to ballast over them properly without pink showing through. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 Things seem to be running ok although sometimes the train derails near one of the points and shorts everything out. I will have to tweak the run in I guess. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 I was unsure of ballasting and scenery so I decided to do a maquette so I could make my mistakes on the maquette rather than on the proper circuit. I used the brown ballast as I had bought a few colours to try out. I think I prefer it as it is seems to look like the ballasting near us. The kids prefered the grey ballast and I thought perhaps it might look less artificial if I spray the track afterwards. I had two greys so mixed them together. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted December 12, 2018 Author Share Posted December 12, 2018 Nearly finished the ballasting. Will try out some scenery soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire2865 Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 Looks like youre making good progress. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted December 12, 2018 Author Share Posted December 12, 2018 Trying out a few mock ups of buildings and scenery as I’m driving blind a bit here, to be honest. I drew it out on the plan, but I’ve never really done this so we’ll see what happens! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
godderz Posted December 12, 2018 Author Share Posted December 12, 2018 I’ve just done a test run and found some issues with the points. It cuts out while passing each point. I’ve cleaned the rails with a track rubber but no luck. This is since I’ve done the ballast. Any advice?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Model Railway Noob Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 (edited) Good luck with your design. I really like it. I bought the same set for a 4 year old's birthday then decided it should be on a layout so I got to work and added more track, scenery, rolling stock and locos. It was a steep learning curve but great fun. I had to hire a van to deliver it. That was only this July. I enjoyed it so much I am doing one for myself. For some of my peaks I used shaper sheet. After ballasting I used a track rubber and when the points were still not working well, I ran a bradawl along the edges and then it worked well! Take care over the more delicate parts of the points. More experienced people here might recommend something more professional! Edited December 12, 2018 by Model Railway Noob 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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