Hi all, nice to meet you all!

[KarlW]

Hi guys,

 

Just joined the forum and I thought I should introduce myself! My name's Karl and I'm from not-so-sunny Wales! I've had an interest in model railways for a while, starting with my Hornby Thomas train set when I was a child. As I got older, I swapped out some of the locos and rolling stock for some actual locos and trucks instead of the Thomas stuff, but the "layout" was basically still the oval & siding I had with the set. As I got into my later teens, my interests changed and the track ended up going, although I kept most of the wagons. I did entertain the prospect of dabbling into it again a few years ago but other than picking up some DVDs and magazines that was where it ended.

 

Flash forward to seeing the Great Model Railway Challenge over the last few weeks and myself and my father have finally decided to give it another good try. We're both going to Warley on the 24th and I'm planning to pick up some stuff to get myself started again. I've done a little bit of shopping already to replenish my rolling stock, and hopefully I'll do a bit better than a single oval on green painted chipboard this time.

 

Glad to meet you all and hope to share progress of my journey back into model railways soon!

 

Karl

[jcm@gwr]

Hello Karl,

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Jeff

[Colin_McLeod]

Welcome Karl.

 

Enjoy the forum.

 

Colin

['CHARD]

Welcome!  Great to see a returnee to the hobby following the success of GMRC!

[Mike Storey]

Welcome Karl - I hope Warley gives you plenty of inspiration. Have you decided what period or region you want to model, or will you go for a completely free-form layout?

[KarlW]

I've been thinking a fictional layout around my local area (I live in Port Talbot) so I've been trying to get GWR stock or coal wagons and the like with nearby places (Swansea, Cardiff - even a couple of Bachmann Margam Junction shunter wagons) - my main issue at the moment (other than no track) is that the loco I bought to replace the old Thomas back in the 90s is an LNER 0-6-0T and so doesn't match. I'm hoping I can get a GWR loco at Warley, either as part of a train set to get me some new track or to supplement the loco from that.

[Ohmisterporter]

Welcome to the forum Karl, you will find plenty of advice and inspiration on here.

[Calsash]

Welcome Karl, from another wet guy in Wales.

[Pete the Elaner]

Welcome back to the hobby.

Interesting to hear you were encouraged back by the TV show. That seems to have polarised opinions on here but it did show what can be achieved in a short space of time & who knows how many it has tempted into the hobby?

 

Enjoy Warley. You can buy loads there & see lots of good layouts. Most exhibitors enjoy talking to viewers so feel free to ask some questions.

 

The hobby can appeal to a variety of people for many different aspects, whether you like painting figures, building trees or fiddling with electronics.

[Mikkel]

Welcome to the forum Karl   

 

Good to see that the Great Model Railway Challenge has been an inspiration.

[OhOh]

Hi Karl

 

I'm new here too and was also inspired by the GMRC to start a layout. It'll also be GWR themed, although totally freelance when it comes to track layout, buildings etc.

 

There's a lot of very useful and interesting info here - enjoy!

[KarlW]

Welcome back to the hobby.

Interesting to hear you were encouraged back by the TV show. That seems to have polarised opinions on here but it did show what can be achieved in a short space of time & who knows how many it has tempted into the hobby?

 

Enjoy Warley. You can buy loads there & see lots of good layouts. Most exhibitors enjoy talking to viewers so feel free to ask some questions.

 

The hobby can appeal to a variety of people for many different aspects, whether you like painting figures, building trees or fiddling with electronics.

 

 

Thanks Pete. Something I've gathered having a look at the various groups and sites I've joined was that the show seems to have been a point of contention for a lot of people. For myself though it was nice as you said to see what could be done in a small amount of time, and if something like that can be done with layouts and teams that have pressure on them, then having the luxury of time to be able to get things just as you want them means that anything can be achievable. The only issue I really have is space in my house considering the stuff I have is OO, and my own personal preference of having a layout where I feel like trains "go somewhere" rather than something like a shunting/marshalling yard, but I figure that with research and as time goes on, those issues can be addressed too

[Pete the Elaner]

Thanks Pete. Something I've gathered having a look at the various groups and sites I've joined was that the show seems to have been a point of contention for a lot of people. For myself though it was nice as you said to see what could be done in a small amount of time, and if something like that can be done with layouts and teams that have pressure on them, then having the luxury of time to be able to get things just as you want them means that anything can be achievable. The only issue I really have is space in my house considering the stuff I have is OO, and my own personal preference of having a layout where I feel like trains "go somewhere" rather than something like a shunting/marshalling yard, but I figure that with research and as time goes on, those issues can be addressed too

Keep your eyes open when traveling on the real railway, & check historical books.

I have always had a likening for big LMS locos & AC electrics & wanted to model a real location so it had to be West Coast Main Line. I thought this was somewhere between highly unlikely & impossible...but I found somewhere.which fits into (fills) my spare room.

Hopefully you can find somewhere which suits what you want to do.