Describe your very first layout :)

[ianmacc]

Seeing how popular a lot of these reminiscing threads are in other sections I thought it would be nice to have one here to see how similar our first experiences were and the era we grew up in.

 

For me it was early 1980s. The dreaded eight by four foot green painted chipboard affair with four three by three legs in each corner just screwed in. The chipboard crumbled within no time and the board spent the next decade perched precariously on them! 
 

A double track loop of steel Hornby set track with siding and laid on that imprinted foam ballast roll so derided by many. Never deteriorated in all the years. 
 

Stock was a triang Princess with no front pony wheels (!) a couple of jinties and motley triang and play craft wagons including a random giraffe carrier (!) until I proved I could handle expensive stuff. First new train was a Hornby 125 in original livery and a flying Scotsman with teak coaches. My dad then bought me 37063 in railfreight and 47487 in intercity livery circa 1987, 487 being both the first 47 to receive the livery and the first locomotive to be withdrawn in it! 
 

Buildings were old triang and Airfix affairs with the first new item a lovely Heljan model of Teignmouth station and some scratch built stuff my grandad made that I’d love to have now for sentiment.

 

Many a happy hour until I moved into the loft space in 1993 and then left the hobby when my grandad died for over a decade. 

[Aire Head]

So I'm going to cheat here slightly 

 

So my first ever layout was 6' by 4' green chipboard with a suitable "flock" mat on top. It had two loops and two sidings in the centre. This was back in 1994 l, buildings were Hornby/Airfix/Triang.

 

My first ever attempt at building something serious was a railway made at School called "Penny Lane" we even managed to exhibit it at Bradford Model Railway Show in 2007 Iirc. I have attached the only photo I can find of it and a copy of the track plan.

[davegardnerisme]

 

Back in the early 90s I inherited track and stock from my elder siblings (when they left home; I was a few years behind them). 
 

They helped kickstart a layout which was, sort of, a BLT I guess.

 

Things I remember:

 

* making buildings out of Linka .. eg the shed visible in first photo

* someone once gave me a cardboard model pub which took pride of place .. I remember it seemed to fantastically detailed to me at the time (I didn’t construct it)

 

By a stroke of good fortune, my Dad recently dug out these photos of it!

 

 

Now building a layout for first time in nearly 25 years, most of which was @Harlequin’s design ... as I have noticed seems to be de rigueur on this forum!

[ianmacc]

21 hours ago, davegardnerisme said:

 

Back in the early 90s I inherited track and stock from my elder siblings (when they left home; I was a few years behind them). 
 

They helped kickstart a layout which was, sort of, a BLT I guess.

 

Things I remember:

 

* making buildings out of Linka .. eg the shed visible in first photo

* someone once gave me a cardboard model pub which took pride of place .. I remember it seemed to fantastically detailed to me at the time (I didn’t construct it)

 

By a stroke of good fortune, my Dad recently dug out these photos of it!

 

 

Now building a layout for first time in nearly 25 years, most of which was @Harlequin’s design ... as I have noticed seems to be de rigueur on this forum!

The cardboard pub is the superquick swan inn. I bet 99% of us have used superquick at least once in our lives. I still have a lot of them now with modification and improvements! 

[JST]

No photos of my first layout at it was in 1953! But I still have one of the locos which was second hand then - a Hornby 3 rail 0-6-2 tank.

I have some super quick models on my current layout which had to be done as I could buy and build the very same kits as I later made when I was about 9. I had the Greystones farm kit so I got another one recently and turned it into a pub as I thought it looked more country publike than other pub kits.

[gordon s]

Christmas morning in the mid fifties and my younger brother and I came down to find an 8’ x 4’ sheet of hardboard on the front room floor with a figure of 8 plus two sidings laid out in the early Trix Bakelite track. My Dad had built the station building out of scraps of wood from his shed.

 

The loco was an 0-4-0 Trix tank that ran on 16v AC. We had two coaches, three wagons and a brake van. That layout provided hours of fun as we let our imagination run riot. I still recall laying on the floor, looking through the station entrance to the platform and watching our train go by.

 

Of course my father is no longer with us, but I shall always remember that first train set and the hours of work he must have put in to the buildings, all of which were scratch built in the evenings when we were in bed asleep.
 

Nearly 70 years later and I still have the passion for model railways

Edited February 18, 2020 by gordon s

[mezzoman253]

Hi,

My first and only layout, so far, is here 

It was only in later life that I had the time, money and re-exposure to models that made it happen. The era modelled was far from the era I grew up with, late 50's & 60's. Then some interest in the 80's. 

 

There's a bit of background in the initial layout text.

 

Rob

Edited February 18, 2020 by mezzoman253

[Guest Half-full]

My first layout was an oval of N-Gauge track with a passing loop and some sidings, with no scenery or buildings, on a piece of plasterboard, in around 82/83.  Lima Deltic and Mk1 ones with a Farish 08 and wagons of various parentage.  Loved it.

 

I then built an engine-shed layout in the early 90's that didnt get beyond partial ballasting.

 

My first properly designed layout was not until 2013, which went on the circuit to a few various shows and since then I've built and exhibited another, and currently almost finished yet another!

[Steamport Southport]

19 minutes ago, ianmacc said:

The cardboard pub is the superquick swan inn. I bet 99% of us have used superquick at least once in our lives. I still have a lot of them now with modification and improvements! 

 

Definitely a one percenter here. Never used any of the cardboard buildings. 

 

My buildings started out with the 1970s Hornby brick ones, which were replaced with Airfix kits and then by the Ratio GWR kits as I got older and more experienced (plus the Hornby GWR footbridge and Dunster signalbox kits).

 

As for the layout itself. Typical 8 x 4 on chipboard. Double track "mainline", with a small yard for shunting and an engine shed on opposite sides of the middle. Probably copied from one out of 60 Plans For Small Railways by C J Freezer.

 

Next layout was a bit more "proper" with scenery and ran around the loft with a fiddleyard. Even had working signals, again Ratio GWR.

 

Unfortunately no photos as I wouldn't have wasted good film when I could go out and use it on proper trains. But I probably still have most of the stock and buildings as I'm not one to throw things away.

 

 

 

Jason

[Harlequin]

My first layout was a circuit on a board in my bedroom but sadly I can’t really remember it. I do remember being put to bed in Mum and Dad’s bed so that Dad could work on the Layout in secret in my bedroom and then later being carried half asleep into my own bed. It was revealed as a birthday present and I remember the green papier-mâché tunnel that covered part of the track.

 

Later we had a bigger layout in the attic. Dark, cold, dusty. Chipboard strung between rafters and roof braces. Rusty Hornby steel track. I desperately wanted a Battle Space Turbo car but Dad said it was unrealistic and silly.

 

When we moved to Cornwall we had a small BLT to fiddle yard layout in the cellar for a while before we got much more ambitious and took over a static caravan, as commemorated here: 

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by Harlequin

[Nearholmer]

1 hour ago, Harlequin said:

My first layout was a circuit on a board in my bedroom

......... and I do remember it.

 

A flush-panel door, hinged-up to the wall above my bed, to accommodate a Dublo 3-rail circuit that didn't quite fit properly, so couldn't be screwed down. Prior to that there had been 0 gauge tinplate track on the floor, and the Dublo on the dinner table (Dublo is only "the perfect table top railway" until your mother wants to clear it all off at tea time).

 

The first layout I built and finished myself (as opposed to "changed my mind half way through") also involved a flush door, in that case sawn in half length-wise, to produce two exceptionally heavy and cumbersome baseboards. It was a bngger to take to exhibitions, but it did go to a couple.

 

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by Nearholmer

[mdvle]

Would have been somewhere around 74/75, a 5'x9' table made out of boards meant for ping pong, either left on the floor or up on a frame my father had made out of plywood.

 

3-rail Lionel, with a GP7/9 and several freight cars and a caboose.

 

Never had any scenery, but as brother and I got older we would use paint to make roads, etc and then lego for buildings - we ended up with 2 suitcases full of assorted lego pieces.

 

Father built it so that the top track went up an incline to turn and then go over the other track, with the bottom turnout being elevated by about 1/3 of the distance required by the elevated track.

 

Can't remember where, but somewhere there was a 3rd turnout on the board so that when the layout was on the floor we could use the over time accumulated extra track to extend the layout onto the basement floor.

 

Kept the engine and rolling stock for quite a while but eventually disappeared during one of many moves.

 

[PaulRhB]

My first was shared with my brother, it’s since been repurposed by my father for his Hornby Dublo. The trackplan only varies slightly and the only buildings changed are the loco shed and stations which were the plastic Hornby versions still in the catalogue today. 

 

My first layout I built all by myself was this 009 in my bedroom, bit of a hotchpotch as the scenery changed quite regularly. Unfortunately I don’t have any of the last incarnation where it looked best. 

[JST]

That Hornby 3 rail layout is amazing! Love it.

[PaulRhB]

45 minutes ago, JST said:

That Hornby 3 rail layout is amazing! Love it.

The OO layout grew out of playing with his Dublo on the carpet, so kind of full circle with it ending up as a Dublo layout. It sounds great too with the rattle of a king goods train  

[RedgateModels]

My first layout was the ubiquitous 8x4 board, ply top timber edges that originally stood up against the wall in my bedroom when not in use. double track oval with two sets of points joining the two. Track was mixed super 4 and System 6 as I remember the adaptor rails clearly. 

 

After a while Dad fitted a proper loft ladder and the original hatch proved to be the perfect size to prop up one end of the board with the other end on the radiator under the window. This became a permanent fixture and the layout grew with another loop added running off one edge using the Hornby elevated track sections and metal brackets. I stand alone circle of track was put in the middle - LIma from memory that I bent to less that R1 to get it to fit!

 

Locos were Triang 37, the little red 25550 0-4-0, several Princesses and the Caledonian 123. These were added to with the first release HST and APT sets. Still got them all apart from the 37. I've recently bought a replacement for old times sake though

 

It all got trashed in the 90's when I started working and moved up into the loft. The original board got cut in half to make sections for the new layout. 

[Black5]

My first proper attempt at a layout was in the early 1970`s, in the loft, following articles in the Railway Modeller written by David Jenkinson on modelling the Settle and Carlisle.

I had boards up between rafters and and managed to start building Dent station with a circuit of track going right round until Mr Jenkinson stopped writing the articles and changed to 7mm. The loft started to fill up with the usual clutter after children came along so the railway was dismantled. Further modelling was in scratch building two model boats and then in 2008 decided on building an end to end railway in the garage, which is in very slow progress but has given me more skills than I thought possible at the start.

Prior to all of this was seeing a friends tinplate layout in his garden making a lot of noise as it ran ( this was late 1940`s ) and a train set from Canada, ( a circle of track with a loco that shot sparks out of the chimney. )

All this started the interest which has never gone away.

 

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Another one fairly quickly up in the loft, after the basic oval on some hardboard on the bedroom floor was insufficient.

It had to wait for the insulation and boarding to be completed before I could start on the railway, my role the fetch and carry of the floorboards and handing them up to my Pa nailing them all down. I learned all about voltage drop relying on steel rails and railjoiners on circuits near 50 feet in length made up mostly of 'single' straight and curve pieces; because these were what could be got used very cheaply. It was fantastic and I was in the loft (frozen or baked dependent on season) very regularly until we moved house in my early teens, and there I largely had the run of a workshop that the previous owner had built as an extension. There my Pa worked on his hifi building too, and we could have a play on matching train movements with Argo Transacords. (At various times also an assembly line for Airfix skeletons - made for sale to girls at school taking the human bilge O level, ably marketed and sold by the oldest of my sisters - large scale tank manufacturing for my younger bro's wargaming, builds of flight radio control gear by a couple of friends into model sailplanes, ah happy days...)

[TheQ]

 Mid 1970s, A 6*3 board, a 0-4-0 loco,  a couple of wagons, a circle of track,  and a couple of sidings.  Some scenery made from newspaper and flour paste. My first attempt at modelling Ludgershall,  little did I know then,  Ludgershall needs a 35ft board!!!! 

[Chimer]

Hornby clockwork O gauge, an oval superimposed on a figure of eight, so four points (one in each corner) and a diamond crossing in the middle … chaos!

[ROSSPOP]

  1976  My first layout since 1966 using Graham Farish , Peco and Minitrix stock and those great N Gauge Prototype Card building kits.

 

Peco track on the back of an old door...……………………..

 

 

 

 

 

 

1988  First 4mm P4 layout but never quite finished...….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1999 First finished and exhibited/published 4mm P4 layout...…………..

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

[Philou]

I'm with gordon s on this one - Trix Twin bakelite track with a diamond crossing and two points. One LNER blue 0-4-0 tender(!) loco and three blood'n'custard coaches. This was expanded later with a few more straights and points plus another US-style black 0-4-0 switcher loco and tender and three caboose type coaches. This was added to by means of the then 'modern' fibre based track - enough to go once around our living room (utility house so not THAT big - Johnster knows where). Various trucks added too.

 

A friend whose father was a good DIY-er, had his H/D layout on a board. As I had recently had my first 'proper' loco - 'Barnstable' in 2-rail that was the way to go and I made my own 8' x 10' layout that was fibre board on a 3" x 1" frame with an operating well in the centre - much to my mother's disgust as she could no longer access the airing cupboard that was in MY room - I was about 12/13 at the time. The solution to that - I demolished the airing cupboard!!!! Never heard any more about it. The board was hinged and I was JUST able to lift and drop it vertically against the wall - all my own work as my father was unfortunately hopeless at DIY - didn't stop him playing with my stuff though.

 

As Trix had brought out their E3001 and the overhead to go with it, the layout was altered to a single track looped figure of eight with a four bay station and sidings - still using the fibre track. I could then run THREE trains at any one time as I had additional three-rail locos but with the axle insulated one side and all locos - including the E3001 - had common return through the centre rail. Pah! Tell yer kids of today what you could do without yer section switches or yer lah-de-dah DCC - we had it all in the 60s - smoke, sound and smell (probably over-oiling, sparking commutators and dirty track) - get off my lawn ....... mumble mumble.

 

I eventually succumbed to Peco Streamline and then squatted in the loft that had no flooring, insulation or electricity. Didn't matter - did that (not the insulation as we was 'ard in them days) dismantled the layout from my room and recycled it into a 27' 1" x 7' 6" multi level layout - double track roundy roundy circuit, terminal station, fiddle yard and a BLT (had to be dinnit) - oh and about 6 buses but no bridges - and it all worked!! 5 controllers plus a Duette. Stopped all that when I discovered cars, women and pubs in 1970/71.

 

No pictures of any of it unfortunately. However, what I DO have is all the original TTR track and all the stock - of which I have pictures (not the track):

 

My very first locos and stock:

 

The first Trix E3001 I had was the blue/white one and a later addition together with some slightly more modern counterparts:

 

..... and good old 'Barnstable' - my first 'proper' loco (and a couple of stablemates) - they all run too!

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[rodshaw]

If you discount a childhood train set laid down on demand by my dad on a wonky piece of hardboard and taken up again ten minutes later when I got fed up of it, I built my first layout 20 years ago. It was 3mm scale and relied heavily on Tri-ang TT and Bilteezi. This is it:

 

You can read about it here: http://mattersofinterest.co.uk/briargate.htm

[Robin Brasher]

The first layout I played with was my uncle's Hornby 0 gauge clockwork train set. It was a black LNER tender locomotive with a grey open wagon and a brown brake van with opening doors. We used to play with it on the floor and my grandfather built some bridges for it which he painted green. I broke the spring on it and Hornby replaced the locomotive with an LNER apple green 0-4-0 but it still had the black tender.  I sold it in 1980 for £30 to a Hornby enthusiast.

[Gibbo675]

Hi Folks,

 

My first layout was fairly temporary being a double track oval with a cross over and some siding in the centre on a 6' X 4' chip board laid on the bedroom floor. This was later extended with a 4' X 4' extension piece and due to the lengthening of the straight sections and the addition of two passing loops.

 

Loco's:

• Triang 37
• Triang Hymek
• Hornby Dublo City of London
• Trix Mallard
• Trix AL1

Coaches:

• Blue Grey, Triang Mk1 RMB, Mk2 SO and Mk2 BFK
• Maroon, Hornby Dublo Stanier composite and brake,Trix Mk1 RMB.

Goods:

• Three Freightliners
• Various Triang and later Hornby opens flats and vans and a Trix Shell Mex oil tank.
• Brake vans, Triang toad and a Trix LMS.

All stock fitted conveniently into two biscuit tins, Family Circle as I remember.

 

Later we got a stretched version of Hornby track plan 4 on an 8' X 4' hinged to the wall, which I was a little miffed about as it was two feet shorter than the previous layout !

 

No photographs of any of it that I can find but here is a layout in a part built state constructed for my nephews:

 

 

Gibbo.