Hello from Devon

[AncientMariner]

Hi, my real name is John, and having joined this forum very recently, I thought I’d introduce myself.  My blog name reflects a 46-year seafaring career, from which I retired about 4 years ago.   I live in a coastal village in South Devon. 

 

My interests and my layout are 1950’s East Anglia, where I spent much of my childhood, and many years ago started my OO gauge layout of a fictitious location in a spare room, and although I got the baseboards and track down, bought some rolling stock and buildings, I never made much more progress. 

 

At the end of 2015, I moved to a smaller house, which of course, meant quite a bit of disruption to the layout.  I now have a 11ft 6in x 10ft room at my disposal, similar in size to the area I had in the railway room at my previous house, but crucially I had to lose about an inch and a half from the longer dimension to get baseboards into its new home. The room has to be multi-functional, as it is also used as a study, and there has to be sufficient floor space to accommodate a folding camp bed when I have grandchildren staying.  I took the opportunity to make some modifications - well, quite major surgery to be honest -  born of experience at my previous home, not the least of this being making tracks in tunnels being more easily accessible.

 

I don’t have the skills or resources to be a fine scale modeller, but neither do I like the sight of large locos and bogie coaches negotiating 15-inch curves.  Like most of us, I have my own ideas over what are acceptable compromises when trying to create a reasonably convincing model railway in a confined space.

 

I’m lucky to have a wife who not only puts up with my eccentricities, but actually helps out by making buildings and scenery.  Many of the garden plots and allotments are hers, as are the many of the trees on the layout.  There is a price to pay, in that my wife is a keen gardener, and whenever the weather is clement, I have to devote much of my time outside, particularly with anything that requires hard physical graft (i.e. most of it).  Attention to the garden often means having to apply a brake to progress on the model railway.

 

The layout (far from complete) follows a fairly conventional double-track oval around periphery of the room, with a hinged lifting section in way of the door.  Against one wall is a rural through station on a main line, which is approached from a tunnel at on end.  At the other end is a junction, and a single line branch leads off the main line up a gradient to a not-so-small terminus, which sits against the opposite wall, while the main line continues on its circuit down through another tunnel, and under the terminus, where there is a limited amount of storage.  Under construction is a reversing loop, which will enable trains to depart from the branch terminus and then return there.

 

Track is Peco code 75 in the visible parts of the layout, but I have saved a few pennies by using code 100 in the non-scenic areas .

Most of my rolling stock is RTR at the moment, but I have some kit built items, some goods wagons by Dapol and Parkside Dundas, also some Ian Kirk coach kits awaiting completion.  I have an SE Finecast white metal C12 4-4-2t in an advanced state of construction.

 

I have followed this site for over a year now, and found it very helpful.   I look forward to being able to learn more, and perhaps be able to share my own experiences.

[28XX]

Welcome to the asylum.

 

Show us photos!

[Andy Y]

Welcome to the site John, a lovely introduction. We do have a mix of pirates and fine upstanding members from your area here. Often they're the same people.

[jcm@gwr]

Hello John,

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Jeff

[brianusa]

Hello John, don't let the avatar fool you, I'm from Plymouth along with a lot of others on this forum.  My wife and I just happen to live over here!

 

Brian.

[Captain Nick]

Hi John. Welcome aboard at last. I think there are quite few of us old salts hereabouts. I shall have to come over to view your railway sometime. It was good to see you on Friday too.

 

Best regards

 

Nick

[AncientMariner]

Thanks for the replies, which I find very encouraging.

 

I have a bit of a problem with posting photos at the moment, as when I moved recently, some of the vital equipment somehow managed to get lost, and we haven’t got round to replacing all of it yet.  Also my teenage grand-daughter will be staying with us for the next few days and might be sleeping in the railway room, which will put a limit on access to my favourite toys.   But I will post some photos when I can.

 

Andy Y, an old salt I may be, but definitely not a pirate.  Believe me us genuine seafarers try to avoid modern pirates like the plague, boldly defending our vessels against RPGs and AK47s using fire hoses, so that we can bring your Mitsubishi 4x4’s from Japan, and the oil from Saudi Arabia with which to run them; also the Chinese Hornby products on many layouts, and the computer screen that you’re looking at right now!  As you say, there are a few like-minded salts in my area, indeed, I know a few.

 

Nick, likewise, good to see you as well.  Having seen and had a play on your Wormdale creation, it’s only right that I should return the compliment.  My layout is considerably smaller, and less developed than yours, but I now have the continuous circuits up and running, so at least some tail-chasing can be accomplished, albeit in a sparse, plywood dominated landscape.

 

Progress will probably be a bit on the slow side during summer months due to other commitments (e.g. picking slugs and snails off the runner beans or dredging the pond etc.).  A spate of bad weather should trigger some progress.  We shall see.

 

John