RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted July 24, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 24, 2015 You could have it as a UK based holiday company coach, heading for Benidorm... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold colin penfold Posted July 24, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 24, 2015 You could have it as a UK based holiday company coach, heading for Benidorm... That one would be in the tree lined layby, for personal needs due to excess beer......................... Spanish bus operators: http://www.andalucia.com/travel/bus/companies.htm Eurolines do scheduled services from UK to that area but run by local LHD operators, currently ALSA ( www.alsa.esp) I recall in the 1980s the main operators were Julia ( http://www.autocaresjulia.es/en/) I have had a little scan on the net for appropriate models but I reckon you might need to "shop local" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 I have had a little scan on the net for appropriate models but I reckon you might need to "shop local" Me too. There is a large Spanish model shop on the interweb and under Vehicles in the N Gauge section was a pair of tourist coaches by Mabar. Mabar sounded suitably Spanish to me, but on closer inspection of the image, I swear to God they both say "JR" (Japan Railways?) on the side and are RHD. Bugger. Last time I was in Calella, there was a RHD coach from Yorkshire picking up from the hotel for the journey back to the UK which was a surprise. I had no idea you could still book a coach holiday to Spain... it must take days to get there and just a couple of hours to fly! Personallly, I'd rather suffer stroppy Ryanair cabin crew trying to sell me a scratchcard or a Mars bar for £2 for a couple of hours than 3 days on a coach. Anyway, a good excuse for at least one UK coach on the layout somewhere! I also feel the need for a British "Sky Sports" bar on the layout somewhere, preferably with a large Union Jack canopy over the terrace... it wouldn't be seaside Spain without one... I wonder what the going rate for a pint of Carlsberg is? No idea, as I'm perfectly happy to guzzle the local brew when I'm over there. I reckon the days of €1 a pint are long gone though... Hoping to get the curvy backscene temporarily in place today and then I'll know where to make the cut-outs for the track exits at either end. A little bit of blue paint and a few fluffy white clouds should suffice for a Spanish feel. If this was a UK layout, I'd be using more grey paint than blue... Need to source at least one loco and a little bit of stock for a test run, but I don't want to spend a great deal on this N gauge layout until I've figured out what to do with West Croydon. It's looking like it may need to go into storage unfinished. I may be kidding myself though, because I know for sure there will be no room for it if we're renting for a while after selling this house, and then I see little point filling a van with it and taking it to Spain. I haven't said anything on the West Croydon thread yet, but I may see if someone wants to take on a project. Gutted, as it was coming along nicely, but I think I bit off more than I could chew with that one! You live and learn... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted July 25, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 25, 2015 Last time I was in Calella, there was a RHD coach from Yorkshire picking up from the hotel for the journey back to the UK which was a surprise. I had no idea you could still book a coach holiday to Spain... it must take days to get there and just a couple of hours to fly! Personallly, I'd rather suffer stroppy Ryanair cabin crew trying to sell me a scratchcard or a Mars bar for £2 for a couple of hours than 3 days on a coach. Anyway, a good excuse for at least one UK coach on the layout somewhere! You can leave on the 31st for Calella if you so desire: http://www.ferriscoachholidays.co.uk/aspx/CoachBookingProcess/CoachBooking_Step1.aspx?guid=3918317b-6a90-4585-9e34-7ea5ba3cdd9e Some people obviously still do! Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted July 25, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2015 You can leave on the 31st for Calella if you so desire: http://www.ferriscoachholidays.co.uk/aspx/CoachBookingProcess/CoachBooking_Step1.aspx?guid=3918317b-6a90-4585-9e34-7ea5ba3cdd9e Some people obviously still do! Keith You can leave on the 31st for Calella if you so desire: http://www.ferriscoachholidays.co.uk/aspx/CoachBookingProcess/CoachBooking_Step1.aspx?guid=3918317b-6a90-4585-9e34-7ea5ba3cdd9e Some people obviously still do! Keith They describe that as a "special offer"! Certainly is that, a six-day holiday with four days spent on a coach getting there and back - so only two days at the resort. Back to theme, although most current Spanish coaches seem to be products of the local coachbuilders, back in the era that Pete is modelling the standard Mercedes products were prevalent. I am sure that Wiking, Herpa, etc must have a 1:160 O303 available. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 You can leave on the 31st for Calella if you so desire... I do desire, just not by bus! Last time we went to Calella, we fly Ryanair from Luton to Girona, 30 minute coach transfer and I had a beer in my hand by the pool at the hotel a little more than 3 hours after going through security at Luton. Back to theme, although most current Spanish coaches seem to be products of the local coachbuilders, back in the era that Pete is modelling the standard Mercedes products were prevalent. I've just discovered the "Minis" by "Lemke" brand that in all honesty I'd never heard of. For 1/160 or N gauge, the detail is pretty good. The prices are a little eye-watering though! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted July 25, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2015 I reckon the days of €1 a pint are long gone though... Not in Benidorm they aren't, if you know where to go. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted July 25, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 25, 2015 I reckon the days of €1 a pint are long gone though... Not in Benidorm they aren't, if you know where to go. Mike. If we are looking back in time, I can remember when a litre bottle of Bacardi was 160 pesetas and there were 220 pesetas to the pound! No wonder so many Brits got rat-arsed. Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 My local in Fuerteventura was The Sixties Bar in Caleta and a pint of "Dorada" or "Tropical" was a Euro until I left in 2010. You know the kind of place... all day breakfasts, live music at night... they're everywhere. It was nice to pop into when in town and catch up on some ex-pat gossip, but we always made the effort to "eat" and "live" Spain, shopping where the Spanish shopped, getting involved with the local fiestas etc - I made a lot of headway with the language whilst over there and made a lot of Spanish friends with whom we still keep in touch. I sometimes think the Brits have got a bad reputation in Spain and from what I see on TV, it's well-deserved. One local taxi driver calling all Brits "animals" and refusing fares. That said, a few Brit icons on the layout are a must, but no drunken stag parties rampaging through the town... On a related note, it's interesting to see that a lot of permanent and holiday homes in Spain are now being bought by Scandinavians and Belgians, together with a little bit of an Eastern European and Russian influx. The British love affair with Spain is far from over, but maybe it's not as passionate as it once was? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted July 26, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 26, 2015 I would say more than a "bit" of a Russian influx in the northern part of the Costa Brava. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padishar Creel Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 I would say more than a "bit" of a Russian influx in the northern part of the Costa Brava.I know Cataláns who have sold up because of this 'bit' of Russian influx Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 A quick read-up of some financial and property pages on the 'net indicates that the bubble may have burst for our Russian friends. There's been a distinct downturn in the number both visiting and buying in Spain over the last few years. The number of premium properties (€500,000+) sold to Russians are holding steady though. The Brits have always seemed to occupy the lower end of the property market (no slur intended) with sales of coastal apartments and small villas as holiday homes on the rise again. A few years ago, I got chatting to a Spanish family on the Circle line in London. My "Are you on holiday?" was met with a wry smile and the answer "No, we live here. We came to find work, not for your weather!"... None of this has got anything to do with an N gauge model railway loosely set on the Costa Brava, but it does make for an interesting diversion! Holes cut, backscenes painted... should be able to get them fitted tomorrow and then I'll loosely lay out the scenic stretch of track and muck about with it until it looks right(ish). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
McGomez Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Hallo, unfortunately I cannot say if they are Spanish or not. Hope that helps es grüßt pc Startain is a marque that was started by a company called Soldat based in Barcelona. They were the Roco distributors amongst various other toy distributorships for Spain and managed to persuade Roco that there was a market for a decent model of the RENFE series 319. They started Startain just before everything went pear shaped here in 2008 but I don´t think they ever released anything before Soldat went under. If you read around on Spanish forums, the previous owner´s wife boght the Startain name from the receivers and they now only sell in N gauge. The other newish brand on the market is MF Tren. I had a look on their website a few months ago, wondering where they were based and it turns out the only address you can find is about 10 minutes from where I work close to Molina del Segura. They seem to get good press for their models. Hope that helps. Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Useful info Andy - thanks. Very little info about Startrain on the 'net, so I didn't know any of the above. As far as I can tell, I'm looking at Arnold, Roco, Kato, Startrain and possibly Ibertren (or maybe Electrotren?) for motive power. Definitely need to buy something sooner or later for a test run around the layout. Backscene is in place and has had a very basic coat of paint. This can be improved upon as the build progresses. Anyhow, it's better than bare MDF. I will cut ply fascias for the ends and the front of the layout, but that will need to wait until I'm sure about the various levels (roadway/beach etc). I usually cut MDF profiles as fascias and give them a couple of coats of black paint, but for a change, I might cut 6mm ply profiles and keep the woodgrain effect, so the whole thing is more like a piece of furniture. If that looks a bit yuk, I can always paint it black! Next job is to cut a former for the trackbed and get that in place. Using Code 55 Peco, which is new to me, I should be able to get some kind of flowing curve. I had planned just to get the boards built and the track laid before the big move, but at this rate, it will end up finished. I have decided to halt progress on the OO layout (at least temporarily), so I need something to do... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
McGomez Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I reckon the days of €1 a pint are long gone though... Not in Benidorm they aren't, if you know where to go. Mike. If you are prepared to pour it yourself you can have 1,76 pints of this for 0,97€. You´ve just got to cool it yourself. (Other brands are available.... Some cheaper) I only bought this because I hadn´t seen it for years. Do they still sell it in the UK? It is actually brewed in Murcia now! I had a beer in the village where I live this evening and for moreorless half a pint, I was charged 1€. If you like your beer, it is obviously better to live nearer Benidorm. Edit. PS. The layout´s looking good Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted July 27, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 27, 2015 Depending upon whether you subscribe to the abstinence point of view or not, but our local Mas y Mas has 8 litres of spring water for 76 cents, certainly puts the £1.20 a small bottle price in England into perspective. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Skol... haven't seen that for years. A quick "Google" reveals it's part of the Carlsberg empire. I should confess to having zero taste when it comes to lager. When we used to have people over to the villa for a barbecue, we'd go to the Spar and stock up on their own-brand lager. 48 x 330ml tins in a pack and it worked out at something ridiculous like 18 cents a can. Probably the best lager in the world? Doubtful... I could drink it all night and not fall over. Cold, wet and fizzy though. Mike - in the Canaries we had to routinely buy bottled water and it is (was?) ridiculously cheap. On supermarket trips we'd always get two trollies and load one up with water. The water that came out of the tap on Fuerteventura was desalinated and really not meant for drinking. You'd shower, wash your clothes in it and maybe use it to cook with, but it was undrinkable. Fresh milk was available but it had to come over to the island from Tenerife and usually went off instantly. Amazing how quick you get used to UHT. Did a little research after Andy mentioned MFTrain, and they produce some fine looking N gauge locos. Price would seem to be on par with (or maybe even a little cheaper than) Farish in the UK. Quite taken by the green livery with yellow stripes which unless I've got it completely wrong, would have been a 1970s/80s livery? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted July 28, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 28, 2015 Having got so far, with hidden points on the front board splitting into two lines, it would be just as easy to do somewhere like Dawlish, or a stretch of the ECML, a main line through Germany, the classic Bullet train on a bridge with Mount Fuji, or anywhere. If you made interchangable front sections, you could be anywhere you wanted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted July 28, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 28, 2015 Having got so far, with hidden points on the front board splitting into two lines, it would be just as easy to do somewhere like Dawlish, or a stretch of the ECML, a main line through Germany, the classic Bullet train on a bridge with Mount Fuji, or anywhere. If you made interchangable front sections, you could be anywhere you wanted. Doesn't that defeat the object of a single line running along the sea front? Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted July 28, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 28, 2015 Pete I use ply and stain it. When it gets knocked it doesnt show up as much as chipped or scratched paint and when it has had plenty of wear its very easy to apply another coat of stain. PS - I dont varnish it either. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 If you made interchangable front sections, you could be anywhere you wanted. You've really got to stop planting these ideas in my head...! I use ply and stain it. When it gets knocked it doesnt show up as much as chipped or scratched paint and when it has had plenty of wear its very easy to apply another coat of stain. Useful Ian, thanks. I think I'm just bored with black fascias and you're right, I'm forever touching up the paintwork... Coincidentally, I've just mentioned you and your Czech Dobríš layout in a PM... I blame you for taking me away from my Network SouthEast comfort zone... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted July 28, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 28, 2015 Doesn't that defeat the object of a single line running along the sea front? Keith I don't think it defeats the object, just slightly twists the orientation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Ben Posted July 28, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 28, 2015 Hi Pete, This is a lovely project. A few years ago Hornby took over Electrotren and rebranded them as Arnold, while continuing to actively develop the range in Spain. The models I have seen are very nice. Cheers Ben A. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted July 28, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 28, 2015 Hi Pete, This is a lovely project. A few years ago Hornby took over Electrotren and rebranded them as Arnold, while continuing to actively develop the range in Spain. The models I have seen are very nice. Cheers Ben A. The new 7700 class "Las Inglesas" are currently branded as Electrotren, have Hornby gone back to the old ways? Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Am I right in thinking that it's still branded "Electrotren" in HO, but "Arnold" in N? Bear with me... I'm still trying to get to grips with what's available! Hornby, Bachmann and Dapol are easy by comparison... bye bye comfort zone... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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