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About this blog

The ramblings and reflections of a perpetual project planner - and my attempts to build a model railway.

Entries in this blog

Planning and Design

How to not plan a model railway (part 4) - In which we find an unexpected ending...

At the end of my last post I was thinking of a North American standard gauge HO project again.  It would be instead of the European one I'd been edging towards since being joyfully distracted by my Roco HO OBB Taurus loco (and all that followed).   I previously shifted my focus stateside last November, but while I already have about forty US HO freight cars and kits, plus kits for buildings, I hadn't managed to find the inspiration to keep going when my ideas for a layout design got a
Planning and Design

How to not plan a model railway (part 3) - Some thoughts on Inspiration...

An important point was made in the comments below my previous blog post by @AndyB that is worth highlighting before I start: thinking through ideas for a Standard Gauge layout is not the only thing I'm doing.  I'm not a quick modeller, but my workbench has some narrow gauge scratch-aid kits and scratchbuilds in progress:     And earlier this year I completed five different station model kits, (one in TT I began last year and four new builds in HO):     The
Planning and Design

How to not plan a model railway (part 2.2) - Another view?

The question I'm picking up for this blog entry is whether trying (and failing) to fit a good continuous run plan into my space is getting in the way of me building any sort of layout?  I decided to have another look at a terminus to fiddle yard scheme, an idea I’ve explored in the past in both standard gauge and narrow gauge:   How to not plan a model railway (part 2.2) - Another view?   Opening up my space would appear to offer a number of advantages.  This...  
Planning and Design

How to not plan a model railway (part 2.I) - The narrow path

At the end of my previous post I gave myself two objectives:    To do:  slim down the baseboards for my next narrow gauge project, and The big question:  to consider alternatives to a continuous run for a standard gauge HO project.   Although August hasn't seen me doing practical modelling for my project threads, enough has been going on behind the scenes for me to split this blog update into two entries.  This first section is about narrow gauge:   How to not
Planning and Design

Season 2 - How to not plan a model railway (part 1)

Episode 1: “The only way is up!” - a nadir is reached…   I’ve been interested in layout design and track planning for as long as I’ve been interested in model railways.  After all the books I’ve read, videos I’ve watched, and ideas I’ve doodled, I’d suggest there are two fundamentals to be decided on at the start.  Most importantly: what’s the vision?  What do I want my layout to represent, or achieve?  Trouble is I like a lot of different things and have far too many ideas, as demonst
Introduction and Background

The Leaky Bucket List and the Rule of Two (Part II)

Episode 4 (part II) - The Leaky Bucket List and the Rule of Two   In the first part of this double episode, I described the number of layout projects I’ve tried to start over the past couple of years as being like having a Leaky Bucket List.  Each time I thought I was getting somewhere something changed, so I started again with a new idea.  I want to break this cycle now I have a layout space I can use for longer, so I’m using this episode of my blog to review my options.   I
Introduction and Background

The Leaky Bucket List and the Rule of Two

Note: This final instalment of my Introduction and Background has been split into two episodes, to keep the suspense up (???) a little longer.  Some content has been discussed in other RMweb Forums / threads:   Episode 4 - The Leaky Bucket List and the Rule of Two   In this double episode I’m looking at possible project options, to draw this first series of posts to a close.  I don’t have a permanent modelling space, but I do have use of a room that has become spare, with the
Introduction and Background

Here’s one I made earlier - kits!

Episode 3 - Here’s one I made earlier! Anyone who’s read my previous blog post might think I’d be content with a larger test circuit to run trains on.  Not so!  Many of the layouts I check out regularly here on RMweb and elsewhere are beautifully finished with amazingly detailed scenery, and quite often in finescale too.  I don’t aspire to such standards myself, but I do want to have a fully-sceniced layout.   Our hobby teaches us a whole range of practical skills, as well as h
Introduction and Background

Slim Shelby is my Hero

Episode 2 - Slim Shelby is my Hero   My all-time favourite book on railway modelling is A.C. Klambach’s “Operating Manual for Model Railroaders” published in 1944.  Writing under the pseudonym “Boomer Pete” Kalmbach interweaves practical advice still relevant today on cleaning wheels and track, ensuring coupler heights match and how to handle delicate models, with rich insights into the way the prototype operated, all couched in a knowledgeable writing style full of enthusiasm.  I spen
Introduction and Background

An Intro to the Blog & “The Shelf of Shame”

An Intro to the Blog - “How to Not Build a Model Railway.”   I’d like to have a model railway.  I’m just not great at building them.  I do have a small layout, my grandly named freelance HOn30 Carabassett and Atlantic Lines (CAL).  It started life as a test scenic test circuit (1.0m x 0.6m) a couple of years ago and is fun to own and run.  It has shown me I can do this, but it was never intended to tick all the boxes.  I’d like to aim for something bigger.   I’ve looked at a
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