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 number of projects and ideas, had a lot of advice, help and encouragement from across RMweb and elsewhere, read books, watched videos and trawled the blogs of experts.  I’ve made numerous well-intentioned starts, a couple of dioramas, some kits and plenty of baseboards, but only the CAL has so far got much further than that.  It’s time for a change!

I have some space, some wood, an idea (another one), and as much motivation as ever.  How far will I get this time…?  

To understand why it’s a question worthy of a blog, I’ll begin by visiting “The Shelf of Shame”, the topic for this first blog post.

Episode 1 - “The Shelf of Shame”

“The Shelf of Shame” - it’s not a wonky switching layout or never-finished Inglenook, but the place where failed projects and fallen ideas reside, a concept I came across some years ago in another context to keep us humble and remind us not all our grand plans work out.  

What’s on mine?

My first layout, when I was aged 10 or so, was a tabletop British outline N-Gauge layout inspired by articles and plans from Model Railroader magazine.  No photos were ever taken of it (film was valuable in those days, and my little 110 camera didn’t have a flash anyway).  I never got as far as scenery or ballasting, preferring to change the track plan with increasing frequency instead.  The idea of progressing with a layout, then building another one, never dawned on me.  In the end it bit the dust when I thought I’d be able to rebuild it from the ground up to resemble an exhibition layout I’d really liked, in just three days* .  It never happened and I sold my N-Gauge when I got married and no longer had easy access to my Dad’s tools.

Over the next thirty years I gradually built up a collection of British outline OO Gauge stock, eventually owning nearly twenty locos, more than forty coaches and a similar number of wagons.  Approximately half was devoted to the Great Western, while the other half was early BR steam.  A total change of career in the mid noughties meant my main ‘outside work’ commitment became my job, so my hobby took on a renewed interest.  A couple of layouts were started, one using Setrack and then one with Flextrack, but again neither progressed beyond track on bare baseboards.  Stock (and buildings) lived in boxes.  Both layouts were fun to run, but after our most recent house move in 2018 it was time to start again.

Shortly after that I joined RMweb.  I’d been ‘lurking’ for a while, but wanted to join the discussion on the Great Model Railway Challenge TV Show.  After all, I could sympathise with anyone wanting to build a layout in just three days (* remember, I’d tried it - and failed).

Once established on RMweb, I set about trying to plan a portable layout - the convoluted tales of my Great Western Adventure(s) are in the Layout & Track Design Forum.  I built / rebuilt sixteen baseboards for three different projects and a test layout (4 - 2 - 4 - 6), but only the test layout ever saw any track.  Constant changes in family needs saw my modelling space move around the house, and a change of plan on my part to pick up my long-standing interest in North-American Model Railroading.  To be fair, that interest remains alive, but I’ve not been able to settle on a track plan for the space I now have despite a re-start (and a re-stocking!).  My OO was sold off for funds.

I tried scenery and scratchbuilding with a couple of cakebox dioramas in 2019 and 2021 - surprising myself with how well they turned out:

Other dioramas and micro-layout ideas also sit on the shelf, over a decade after Carl Arendt published some of my designs.

When I was moved up into our attic room a couple of years ago, a switch to Narrow Gauge made sense, and that remains my primary interest.  But my mind wandered again, from HOn30 and H0e to H0m (and back again).  Once used to 9mm gauge I had another look at N-Scale, but I can no longer see the detail (detail has got finer as well as my eyesight getting worse).  Fourteen baseboards for five more possible projects and the CAL followed (4 - 1 - 3 - 1 - 3 - 2).  I like TT and also dabbled in Continental TT before rationalising my list of projects (to try and make progress).  Two of my baseboards are being retained for a TT:120 project - I’d still like a GW Branch line.

Last Autumn I even put on a show for the family so they could see what I had on the go.  I no longer own everything in this photo:

(Note: American HO was in storage under the tables at this point).

Why list all these?  At some point, I’m sure I’ll refer to some of the lessons I’ve learned and avenues I’ve explored.  But that’s enough for now.  In my next episode I’ll look at what I consider makes a model railway worth going for - and the joys and constraints that brings.

Well, it’s either that or actually build something…

Until next time, Keith.