Chris M

An evening out in Rowley Regis? Wow some people know how to live the high life!

Garden centres are a well-known haunt of the kind of old duffers who buy model railway stuff? Or their wives looking for birthday presents.

It would be great to see garden railway sales at a few garden centres but I guess sales would be too small. One local garden centre houses a Hobbycraft so already sells a little bit of Hornby. I don't get the impression that sales are great. Probably the only way it would work is for a trader to have space at a garden centre and combine that stall with internet sales.

Trying out some varied whistles

 

A bit of drifting. Serious modellers should look away now.

 

Running a couple of battery powered locos

 

One thing I have noticed. Most model railways are set in summer and signal boxes have a lot of glass. Put these two facts together and some the upper windows should be open. Usually ones at each end to allow a through flow of air and often the door is open. Very few model signal boxes have this.

I'm going to hang on to my Honda 2.2 litre diesel as long as I can. Oodles of torque, goes like off a shovel, £20 a year road tax and over 60mpg on a run. Small engine big turbo cars are ok and I would say better for very short local trips where they warm up quicker and so are better for fuel economy. The big problem is that when you use the loud pedal those turbos really start to drink the fuel. For anything but very light driving they have to be worked hard and suffer poor mpg. The big diesel just pulls strongly and smoothly from low revs and never drinks heavily; very relaxing to drive but will give you a decent thump on the back if you ask it to.

 

As the yanks used to say " there ain't no substitute for cubic inches"

128 minutes of boredom but it felt like more. I was so pleased when it ended.

 

The best way to ensure on time services is to build plenty of bunce in to the timing. I've also noticed the aeroplanes see to be getting slower.

 

Agree this is a none story comparing average speed along tracks that were built for the premier services of a railway company to speed along tracks that were built as secondary lines. The secondary lines will inevitably have sharper curves, greater gradients, slower junctions etc because initial investment was lower. Something which just can't be fixed now. We all know that average speed has little to do with how fast you go and a lot to do with how long you have to run at a low speed.

If I may comment please,

 

I have a slight problem with the link between real locations and prototypical practice in the poll. Dose the poll assume that a model of an exact prototype location automatically equates with the exact use of prototypical practice? For example, I have seen layouts that exactly mirror a real location but do not use prototypical practice, or perhaps use it in part. I would also comment, based on my own experience of attending and exhibiting at model railway exhibitions, about five to ten percent of layouts may use anything like prototypical practice, if you are lucky. Yet, the poll would seem to suggest that about 87% of people are dedicated to this, I wish we could see more of it at exhibitions. I belong to a group that dose model a real location, yet compressed. A group that dose use real timetables, freight workings, train formations, signalling etc, yet I would be foolish to claim that it was all 100% prototypical. Is there not two polls that should be separated out here, with regard to the degree of prototypical practice and the fidelity to a real location?

The interpretation of following prototype practice can vary. I run trains that fit into the location and era of my layout. They are not exact in that the trains are too short I.e. My express passenger trains are only eight coaches long. Also the frequency of trains is somewhat higher than the real thing. I do call mine a caricature of the place rather than an exact model.

I agree that too many layouts at exhibitions completely ignore prototype practice but where do you draw the line? For instance every siding and loop have a trap point? I don't think we should be too pedantic but it's good to see layouts where it is obvious that the real thing has been studied and the feel of a place and time captured.

I really don't expect Hattons to get invold in tooling up anything for N; it would be a high risk project with hard to predict returns.

 

If the DJM king is a success I would predict more crowdfunding. I do expect crowdfunding to become much more important to N gauge and maybe becoming almost the normal way to do things. It might be bit like new build steam locos in that there will be an ever increasing number of projects in the melting pot at any one time. Some will make it and some won't.

 

You have to ask how many gaps there are in the N gauge line that would sell in sufficiently large quantities. Most main stream GWR locos are now covered with relatively modern tooling. Once the king has landed I would suggest trying crowd funding the GW Mogul. The Union Mills 2251 will fill another gap but will of course be lacking in the level of detail we expect. Most of the major LMS types are also already covered. There are quite a few gaps in the BR standard steam locos but there may not be sufficient potential sales to make the gaps viable. I would expect rebuilt Merchant Navy and West Countrys would be successful but maybe not earlier Southern locos. Dapol will know based on sales of their schools. The only sizeable gap in diesels I can think of is the class 50. I'm assuming that Farish will update their 45 at some time, So, the question is - what locos which have not recently been produced would sell in sufficient quantities to provide a reasonable return on investment. Revolution's experience may well suggest modern prototypes are most likely to be successful.

I'm a GWR fan but I love seeing the Bullied Pacific on the SVR. They are beautiful pieces of machinery even though aren't the best at climbing hills on the SVR.

It seems to me that the O gauge ready to run success may well be a "flash in the pan". My reasoning is that O gauge stock takes up a lot of storage space. Once you have half a dozen locos, a rake of coaches and a collection of wagons storage space will become a problem for many. With N gauge you can store a huge amount of stock in a small space so people will keep on buying.

 

The above is based on my G scale experience where, despite having a large storage area, I really cannot buy anything new unless I sell something first. The G scale market went really well about 15 years ago and then suddenly went much quieter and I think storage could well have been a factor. It is quite possible that in say 5 years time the current O gauge bubble will have burst.

 

I don't think Hornby's lack of interest in N is significant, after all they have stayed away from O as well.

N Gauge is not really a large segment of the UK Model Railway market, A pointer for my statement is Hattons themselves, if you receive Hattons regular Seasonal Best sellers Brochure, which they distribute to online order customers and occasionally in magazines, It would be noted that the average number of pages is 30-32, and for example the current edition has but 3 pages devoted to N Gauge, 3 pages devoted to 'other scales such as 009, 0 and control equipment etc and the remaining 25 pages feature 00 gauge.

 

I would add that as an N gauge Modeller since the late 60s I would like to see the sector grow, but I believe that a major concept that potential newcomers to the sector have is that it is simply too fiddly and expensive.

 

 

 

If they were to do a couple of years modelling Z Gauge they would not dismiss N so easily

 

personally I would like a few more SR EMUs in N

 

Having said all this the Garden Railway calls me!!

Good to find someone else who does N and also has a garden railway. I hope the garden railway is G scale like mine.

 

I did 00 for many years and then sold it all and moved to G in the garden. I didn't own any N gauge until 2013. Yes I do find it small and fiddly but if you want to create a whole scene in a relatively small space it is brilliant. I do use a magnifying glass for any modelling work in N but I don't see that as a problem. The choice of models is a bit restricted but must mainstream interest is catered for. I hope the DJM king makes it and I would love to see Farish stick one over Dapol by bringing out a new tooling class 50. Perhaps us N gaugers need to be more evangelical about our scale.

 

I find modelling a real location is much more interesting. You can research the place and then run stock which is correct for the

location/period. If people just want to play trains and run whatever they fancy then that is fine and just as relevant to the hobby as a whole.

Unless someone has created a competition with specific rules there is no need to worry what size a micro layout must be. I'm not a fan of hanging tags on layouts other than roundy roundy or end to end. Maybe inglenook is also an acceptable description of layout type. If the term micro is used it normally means a small simple layout with very few points. There are however some very small layouts that are much more than this, especially in N, that would fall into micro layout size. The builder has the right to hang a tag (or not) on his or her layout according to how they see it.

There is no room for these "travellers" in today's Britain. They say more places should be provided for them but I have to ask why? Do they pay income tax and council tax? If not why not? In years gone by it was an acceptable lifestyle but there isn't any spare space in most of England and also there isn't the same need for itinerant labour. It's a lifestyle for which the country no longer has a need for in the same way as we no longer have gas lamp lighters or horses working on the railway. I do know that after they have illegally occupied a public space that a big cleanup is required paid for by our council tax.

I don't understand the problem, there doesn't appear to be any damage to the loco or coaches. This guy seemed to give a lot more attention to the package than the loco and gave no attention at all to the coaches.

 

I've always found Rails pack things very well.

I know that Great Western locos are more important than any others but I just can't get too worried about this disposal. There are six of thes marvellous beasts still in existence together with nine of the 2884 class. There is currently no danger of this class of loco disappearing and therefore ask whether there needs to be one in the national collection. Living in the midlands I am rather spoiled as I regularly see 2857 plying her trade on the SVR and used to see 2885 everyday on my way to work when it was at Moor Street Sation. There are a small clutch of them on the Glos & Warks in various states. To me they are very common locos and don't see the need for one in the national collection.

I have often thought the line just south of Tarragona in Spain would make an interesting model. It is single track but it handles in interesting variety of trains. Local and regional stoppers to Barcelona, freights, Talgo Tren Hotel and the Euromed high speed train from Barcelona to Valencia all mixing it along a single line. Often the locals are held at passing stations for quite a while in order to ensure the Euromed gets a clear run through. A few years ago a new high speed line bypassing the single track section was opened. As a model it would provide quite a mix of train types and some interesting operation. Some of the line runs along the back of a beach which would make a nice setting for a Euromed train on a single track line.

 

I also like US short lines where pretty much anything can be run.

That's why it's called railway MODELLING and not collecting or buying models of trains, isn't it?

This is going rather off topic. Anybody buying stock whether to collect or run is helping to keep the market alive and therefore good for the hobby. Anyone who succeeds in building a working, scenic model railway has achieved something. I say they can be called a Railway Modeller because they have built a model railway. There are many levels of modelling from purely buying rtr stuff to making everything from scratch. All should be welcomed as part of the modelling fraternity. We might not like what some others have done but we should respect that they have done something.

Many years ago I used to build locos from kits but now I buy rtr because they are so much better than I could ever make. I rarely do repaints these days for the same reason, and of course the range of liveries now is so great. I still add the details they come with and add a bit of weathering but that's about all. I still call myself a modeller as I create a model scene and my work seems to be appreciated at exhibitions.

As Steam is owned by Swindon Council it could be argued that 2818 remains in public ownership. It will fit well into that museum. I am sure it will be cosmetically restored and kept nice and clean on display under cover. Better there left on some siding out of public view. And we can all get to see it at the annual Steam model railway exhibition.

I also double head out in the garden using dc. Here speed matching isn't important because the load is so heavy that both locos will be pulling hard. In this case the issue is having sufficient amps and a controller that can cope with the amps being used. These two will be pulling circa 6 amps. This video doesn't become relevant until about 50 seconds through.

I have posted this clip before but it does show double headed steamers running quite happily together. In fact this whole layout is run from just two basic Gaugemaster controllers. One hand held and one panel mounted. All the trains running in the same direction are just powered by one controller.

JohnR makes a valid point. I know what stock fits in with my layouts so I know what stock I want when it is announced. We know that everything is batch made nowadays so if something that I want is released I will buy it fairly soon after release. If there is something you really want don't wait in hope of the price dropping as you might lose the chance. If a bargain appears that I haven't got and fits my needs then that's a nice bonus. Hasn't happened yet though.