Hello!
The news of Hattons closing down has no doubt shocked a majority of the model railway community. The topic has been extensively covered by a lot of people so I won't rabble on! They will be missed and I wish the team all the best.
With the sale on I made an impulse purchase of a second-hand Bachmann Class 168. This is well outside my era/area which is usually SE London around 1991-1995 but I do have my reasons, not that I need to justify it! 😂
Back in
I've made a start in running the fleet using DCC Concepts rolling road which I've had for a while. Space constraints makes this a very useful tool for running in.
First up were the two latest additions, 60015 and 4308 then slowly going through the older stuff which haven't been out of the box in three years. So far so good!
I am impressed by the Hornby class 60 with the level of detail and the weight is quite something! One day I would love to run this on a layout with
Hello!
It has certainly been a while since my last post that was all doom and gloom. I was in a dark place from the messy divorce and the legal implications that came with it. I survived two attempts on my own life, looking back I really underestimated how bad things were. Now I'm in a much better position and even gotten into a better career path. The scars are still there but they are healing as time goes on.
Taking a break from the hobby has done a world of good for
Hello all! Hope you are all keeping well.
As usual, it has been a while since last posting on here. The recurring theme has always been losing interest in the hobby followed by regaining it for a short while, I guess it applies to all hobbies.
I've hit the buffers well and truly this time due to personal circumstances. My marriage fell apart last November and the situation got really out of hand to the point where the ex got me arrested under false allegations, I was fo
Railway modelling has been quite an emotional rollercoaster over the past couple of years. So many projects come up then quickly get scrapped. Th problem is that I push myself to build a layout that I have in my head but then I find myself not enjoying it or face an obstacle and that'll be that. I've built some layouts that I am so proud of, Chalk Lane being my first and Leahurst Green being the largest so far, but I feel as though I can't get the motivation to build one from start to finish. Th
It has been a while yet again since posting anything on here! After losing my job with NR, I struggled quite badly it did hit hard and left me feeling quite useless and forever asking myself what I did wrong. Fortunately I gained employment as a bus driver once again! Not the best job but it pays the bills for now and it should be short term before finding something better.
Railway modelling took a massive back seat in the process due to restricted finances but now things are improving, I c
Bachmann & Hornby have recently announced new models as they do every year. Some announced models aren't to everyone's taste and this year there's nothing much to appeal to me, that's personal taste. Can't please everyone at the same time, it's as simple as that.
My biggest criticism towards Bachmann has always been that from announcement of a specific model to when it reaches the retailers, there has been a rather large time span. The retooled 158 for instance, was announced about 5 ye
Almost there, as in really close to starting construction on Leahurst Green!
Sold a few unwanted bits on eBay and used the funds to buy the final few things to get the layout started up. So far cork sheets, fishplates, track pins and the replacement double slip have been purchased and all that is left now is to get the baseboard! Once that has been sorted out then the layout can finally begin!
It'll be a slow construction as funds are restricted at the moment with recent events. Howeve
Christmas is just around the corner and for once I did not ask for any locomotives or units! I did ask for some rolling stock so that the locomotive fleet will have something to pull on the new layout. We shall see!
The fleet has been more or less the same, the only addition was 08600 Ivor in September and it has proven to be a lovely little locomotive I did sell one of my two Networkers recently as it was not viable for me to get it up to running condition with the severe lack of spare pa
.....you start running trains and they sound a bit rough!
I've been spending today giving the entire fleet a good running session on an oval track laid on the floor, the last time I've done this was quite some time ago and it really shows! I did have a small temporary shunting layout set up to play with the 08 but that isn't really what I call a good running in session.
The set up in the hobby room. Was running the centre car of the 159 at the time.
Spent today just switching off from the outside world and focused on the hobby. Not done much in all honesty but a lot of rethinking has been carried out in regards to Downham.
The biggest rethink was to decide not to bother with the cheap pasting table idea and actually build a proper baseboard. The reasoning behind it is simple, pasting tables are a good, quick and cheap option but it does have its downfalls such as warping, sagging and being quite flimsy. I've tried a few techniques to a
It has certainly been a while since I've posted anything on here and it has been even longer since I've done any railway modelling! I will need to make a change to that soon...
A big part of the reason for the lack of railway modelling is that I've been away on signalling training and I'm only home at weekends. Signalling school has been a huge eye opener on how the railway works from behind the scenes. It has been tough being away from home but it is short term pain for long term gain and
Good morning!
It has been getting quite hectic at the moment with everything happening at once, the house move being the main cause for the chaos. I just got to think that at the end of this I'll have a dedicated ''Railway room'' that will be cat-free! Anyway, I'd thought I'd post a little update.
Leahurst Road has now been sold on and is at it's new home which isn't too far from here. I'm a little sad to see it go but I've gone as far as I can with it and I am now yearning for somethi
Afternoon! And what a nice day it has been, minus the recent news about Manchester.
Some big changes are coming up ahead. We viewed a house in Lincoln and fell in love with it, quieter area than this place and the house seems to be better looked after than this place. An application was sent and got accepted yesterday, so we can move next month! An added bonus is that I can finally have a dedicated railway room which is actually a spare bedroom but I persuaded to my better half that the gues
I've done all I can on Leahurst Road, for the time being anyway. 3rd rail has been added and it looks very southern now, I am very pleased with how well it looks
Between now and when I can start on the ''Addiscombe project'' I have little to do, and this has led me into a decision to focus more on the rolling stock side of things. This includes working on the current fleet and also expanding it with locomotives, multiple units along with carriages and wagons.
I have recently purchased
Further to the previous post about the new project I have planned, based on Addiscombe. I have tinkered about with track planning on AnyRail, trying out several ideas until I had a eureka moment.
Below is the track plan that I feel most happy with. It isn't perfect as it is a rough plan but here it is!
The two shorter tracks at the top will go into a small carriage shed and the platform/sidings can easily cater a 4 car EMU. It is all within 8ft x 50cm space.
Opinions welcome!
Further to my previous blog post 'What next?' I have been thinking about where to go now in terms of layout building and what to do next.
As mentioned before, Leahurst Road is almost finished, with only tiny bits to do here and there. I feel as though I have gone as far as I can with the current layout in terms of construction and it is fully operational. To be realistic, it was an exercise to try out new things and to have a layout with more operational interest than my previous projects.
Leahurst Road is now at a quite advanced stage of construction. All that really needs doing now is installing the 3rd rail and a few other little bits, like more signs and posters. I have enjoyed building this layout, more so than my previous projects/attempts because I learnt so much. It is also the first layout I've built from scratch, the baseboard for example, was my first attempt to get away from the usual shelfboards / APA boxes that I usually go for. It isn't perfect but it does the job a
I'll admit, I have a list of loco's/Units/Rolling stock that I want on my PC. The top one was the Heljan 33 in NSE livery, a must for anyone modelling the NSE era in my opinion! I found a few online but the price tag was ridiculous, especially for a 2nd hand model and I have limits on what I'm willing to pay for a train. I had a quick browse on S&J Models website and found the 33 at a fairly reasonable price! I had to buy it and I will have to do some overtime at work to pay for it.
It a
... I've gone and started a new layout project. When will I ever learn?
I may have mentioned it before but now I call it official as the track is down, ballasted and the station is taking shape very nicely. It had to be redesigned after realising I made a slight boo-boo with the track laying and it meant that my intended plan of a 2-platform island terminus with a siding would not be possible without altering the track plan (couldn't be bothered, to be honest). So it is one platform with t
It has finally arrived! The much anticipated Capital Commuter Train Pack from Bachmann to celebrate 30 years since Network SouthEast was created. I've had it on pre-order since it was announced as it couldn't be any more suited for me and it wasn't at a bad price for what you get. I always wanted the 2EPB in NSE ever since I got the one in BR Blue & Grey with NSE 'Kent Link' logos. Bachmann did release one exclusively for the collectors club and it was available on eBay but at such a ridicul
The focus recently has shifted from layout building/planning to rolling stock. Three items of rolling stock in particular, them being the 73, MLV and the Thumper, all of which are in NSE livery but unbranded. The unbranded NSE livery is fine but it covers the era slightly after privatisation which is slightly out of my chosen era (1990-1994). I've ordered NSE flash logo's along with the logo for 73129 a while ago but I've never had the confidence or patience to try it out. My wife-to-be decided
It has been a little while since my last blog post, things have been busy and hectic! Went to London/Kent for 10 days, transferred depots within the bus company that I work for, also I turned 26! So not much time was spent on the actual hobby of railway modelling recently other than taking apart Leahurst Road for it's rebuild project, which I have to come to regret starting.
My birthday just passed and I got some lovely presents, some more model buses (brings the total up to 34!) and a pai
I'll admit it, I'm a terrible impulse buyer when it comes to certain things. I mean that is how I got most (if not all) of my loco's/DMU/EMU's along with the vast collection of model buses!
There are two things that have caught my eye for a while now and I regret not buying them when they were available from most retailers. These two things are hard to come by and don't sell for cheap anymore as they are quite sought-after models. First one is the Hornby 4VEP in Network SouthEast livery (R2
Ok, I was too tempted to make that as a title.....
Today I have made a rough plan of a future project, which will be named Chalk Lane 2.0. In a nutshell, it will be like how the original was but with improvements that came with experience. The original Chalk Lane was actually intended to be a test bed for trying out scenics and all that but it turned into something a lot more and it was my first layout that was completed! And now that Leahurst Road is very much near completion, I have shift
