S'pose I'd better introduce myself. I came back to model railways about 4 years ago - initially for (mostly continental) narrow gauge. Trouble was, when I was last a modeller (early 1970s when I was a teenager), what I really wanted was Southern EMUs like I saw on the real railway. No money for what became the Phoenix 4-COR kit, and inadequate skills to try to make my own. And then Bachmann brought out the phase I 4-CEP.

Now, I've got adequate cash, but my skills are still limited. So, these entries will generally be described as bodges, and undoubtedly some RTR stock will be harmed, and many people here will probably be disgusted by my lack of skills. That's ok, "I can't hear you" ;-)

To be honest, I don't really want a blog, but I'll give this a try. My intention is to share my findings of what needs to be done, and what works for me (and also what doesn't), which sounds opinionated enough that a blog will be the proper place for it ;-)

My overriding principles are:

1. if it looks ok from 3 feet away, it will do.

2. for 00, whatever I do has to negotiate the 18" radius curves ('corners') on my test track - looks horrible, of course, but one day, when I've got enough stock, I'll have to work out where I can fit a continuous-run layout, and space will be at a premium (particularly since I won't be able to use a duck-under to get into the middle of a layout - I'm disabled, although walking).

3. for EMUs (and, potentially, DEMUs), I want separate examples for up and down trains, with the headcode at the leading end, and red blinds or tail lamps at the other end. So, I'm intending to create a lot of stock, and therefore I'm willing to use the first example of each as a prototype - hopefully, not too many will be destroyed.

ĸen