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Another old toy picked up cheaply. Dinky Pontiac Parisienne. I’ve got a really nice one of these still in its box somewhere and always liked this model. This one was awful when I got it! Someone had painted in satin black (badly!), the retractable aerials were missing and the suspension on the back had collapsed. Annoyingly I’ve lost the before photos of this one. Stripped it to bare metal, filled the holes where the aerials used to be then primed, wet flatted back and sprayed a nice period colour! In this case Ford Onyx green. Hand painted in some bright trims. The suspension was actually a snapped rear axle and it’s a funny shaped wire type jobbie on these, so I ‘fixed’ it by using some chemical metal putty to glue the axle down to the chassis plate. Only problem with this one was the original glazing unit was cracked. Not much you can do about that though. New ones aren’t available.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here! I’ve dipped in now & again for a read of various things but the last few years I’ve done very little in the way of modelling. I no longer have a model railway, although I’ve still got all my rolling stock, track etc etc ready for when the time is right. I’ll be moving house soon (hopefully!) so once settled in the new place who knows. The past few months though I’ve started doing a bit of modelling again, but this time road vehicles, which is another big passion of mine. I started practicing really on various old toys and models to see how it went then moved on to much newer models. If there’s interest I’ll keep updating here as I start new projects and do bits n bobs to others. To start with here’s a few of the older, more toy style ‘practice’ pieces! This one is a Dinky Ford Transit mk1. Started life as a police van but it was a bit of a mess with various bits broken or missing. In the end I came upon another damaged one cheaply that most of the parts I needs still so I made one good one from the two. This is it after stripping the remains of the original paint, priming and loosely assembling it to make sure it actually all fit together properly! I wanted to try painting something that was a bit beyond just a single colour, since I’ve not done anything for a while it’s good to see if you still can! Masked up and painting in progress. Unmasked. A bit of hand painted detailing. And the finished van. Now, obviously this isn’t by any means a scale model! It’s an old beaten up toy, but it’s come up well and made good practice. Plenty more to come, including more ‘scale’ model style stuff!

Hmmm, interesting! Fast forward to about 07:00 for loading action.

Pretty much this. I see what a few of you are saying but I think I can get what I want from a N&W coal layout. Normally I’m not one for shunting trains on my U.K. layout. For the most part I like to watch trains go by, there’s the option for a bit of shunting of course. On this layout, being end to end, watching trains go by isn’t so easy but I think shuttling coal trains around then back off scene should suit me. At the moment it’s very much in the planning stage anyway so I’ll see what I can get away with and what I can fit.

You star! Brilliant find, and I’ve just ordered them! Thank you very much for posting that. Thats a good site to know too for the future.

I’ll keep an eye out for some of those. I did bag a set of four of the similar Bachmann N&W quad hoppers off eBay. They don’t look to bad to be honest! Though for a coal layout I’ll certainly need far more, of different types. So far I’ve managed to get myself a Rapido N&W Alco RS-11 and a Proto 2000 N&W SD9. These are due to be delivered any time now. Already here are the four Bachmann N&W hoppers, and a Proto 2000 N&W GP9. That should see me good for locomotives for a while. Ive also got a Walthers coal mine kit coming in the post, so I’ll knock that up at some stage and use that as the main feature of the new layout. In the meantime, I’ve cleared the shelf of stuff, added a few extra strengthening supports to it to make it more suitable as a layout baseboard instead of a shelf. One end of it wasn’t perfectly level either so I’ve sorted that now too. Only thing left in this respect is to make up a short section to fill the gap where an old cabinet was in between the two shelf sections. My total available space is 16’ x 2’ down one wall, and around 10’ x 2’ down the other wall, so together they will form an ‘L’ shaped end to end layout. I think that should be plenty big enough. Then I’ll come up with a track design. Ill try to get a few pics in the next few days.

One more question, which appreciate isn’t specific to US outline, but since I’ve got this thread here… If I go for DCC, which points/switches/turnouts would be best? Electrofrog or insulfrog?? On my OO layouts I usually go for insulfrog for simplicity, but with DCC (and a completely fresh start on this layout) would electrofrog be better? I’m just looking at Peco code 83 track to get a rough idea. In other news, I’ve been clearing out the space in my model shed, packing things better to create the required space. It’s turned into a massive job! Three days so far! However, I’m hoping to be able to push the size up to a full length run of 16’, possibly with an additional 10’ section to make an L shape. Hopefully anyway. There’s still some stuff to move and store elsewhere but it’s getting there. Oh, and I’ve tracked down a copy of Model Railroader Jan 12 which has a feature of the Virginian coal layout in one of the above posts. Coming from France so hopefully won’t be too long.

@MarshLane Thanks for the advice! Yes, I think DCC to start this will be best. Probably as you say, no sound at least for now though to keep costs down. Ill have a look into Mech Models. Not somewhere I’m familiar with. Ref the postage. That sounds like a good idea, and someone else actually mentioned similar via a PM so it sounds like plenty of people do it. Might be worth it in the long run, particularly as I can get my models and car parts etc over here that way!

I’ve been having a look around on Flickr and youtube today, just for some ideas and inspiration. Found this video on YouTube, Must be watched with volume up! They sound fantastic, especially for old video! Yeah, ok. I’m never going to fit trains like that into my space am I!? But, it definitely confirms to me Norfolk and Western is the way to go. They seemed to particularly known for coal traffic, aswell as pretty much all the usual freight, so I’m thinking about having a layout based around a coal loading scene/buildings. Walthers Cornerstone do a few very suitable kits for these as luck has it. With maybe something else nearby to allow for box cars on the layout. Of course it’ll never be able to handle big long trains, but it should be passable for a switching style layout, bringing in short rakes of hoppers, splitting them down and passing them through the coal loaders before reforming them for hauling back ‘off scene’. A bit of variety could be added with something to suit some box cars. Does this sound passable? Also, anyone able to advise about suitable hopper wagons? There seem to be a few different types and lengths. I’m guessing for a 60’s era layout older shorter ones would be most numerous?

Thanks. That was something else I didn’t know! Now I do! If I do opt to run two locomotives together, how were they ‘supposed’ to run? Would both locos be the same way round - both long hoods facing forwards or both short hoods facing forwards? Or would they be positioned so the two long hoods faced away from each other? Indeed, did it matter? I must admit, one of the reasons I wanted to stick to the earlier diesel era was because of the two tall hoods on many early diesels. I don’t think they look as good with the cut down short hoods. This might be a stupid question, but what actually was inside the short hoods?

Thanks for the track plans, they do look about what I’ve got in mind. Same for some of those on the links on the first page of this thread. Ive had a quick look in my railway shed/man cave, and I’ve got two potential places to build my little corner of the USA. Both are currently being used as storage shelves for my OO stock. 1: measures just under 14’, this is the place mentioned in my first post. It’s a simple straight 2’ x just under 14’ plank. 2: measures about 12’ x 10’ but is an L shape. Obviously this could mean a bigger available space for scenic area and off scene storage roads. I think this space ‘might’ be quite a bit more flexible. Of course both options mean finding somewhere else to store everything that’s currently on them! Shouldn’t be too much of a problem though. One downside to both is that because they’re currently shelves, they do both have a couple of timber support legs part way along which support the OO layout above them. I don’t think it’s a big deal however, certainly no worse than some loft layouts have with the roof support timbers in the way. It should be easily ignored and worked around, put it that way. I think my next move should be to clear the spaces off and see how they look and what might fit. One major positive with both locations though is that I built them in exactly the same way I build my layout baseboards, so they should both already be good enough to take track straight away. Ive also spotted something on eBay which I love the look of, so I might possibly have accidentally treated myself to one… A Rapido Alco RS11 in Norfolk & Western colours! Lovely looking model, not cheap, but definitely a nice looker!

So in theory then, there’s nothing wrong with me having a collection of Santa Fe locomotives, and using a mixture of other companies cargo cars behind them? That would be completely normal? Id guess though that in a normal train the majority of freight cars would also be Santa Fe cars, since it’s Santa Fe’s network? Just seems a bit odd coming from British Rail where everything was owned by one company and went pretty much anywhere without changing into other companies networks.

This did cross my mind actually. I’ve never used DCC for my U.K. models, mainly because I’ve got absolutely loads of it and equipping it all with DCC would be eye wateringly expensive. Plus the layout is already wired for DC. Starting this project however means I should probably join the modern age and just design it and build it with DCC in mind from the beginning? Plus, it’s probable that I’ll be having significantly fewer US locomotives to fit DCC decoders into. At least for some time! I guess fitting decoders to most US models is a simple plug & play job similar to U.K. locomotives from the last few decades? Its interesting you mention Bachmann US. I was actually looking at a few of their new locomotives and, though they did look nice, there was something a bit ‘off’ with them. Details seemed a bit basic and lacking and the underframe on their RS2 looked very flat and basic. Are Walthers locomotives good then? The ones I’ve seen so far look superb… Generally, when it comes to rolling stock and locomotives I’m keen to go with the high(er) end of the spectrum. I’ll take quality over quantity I think!

Thanks for everything so far guys! Some great advice and links for some bedtime reading! Just a few things in regards to the above: The total size available is 14’ so the hidden storage area must be incorporated into that. I’m thinking of having a hidden storage area in the rear section of the baseboard, with a scenic feature/freight yard or whatever in front of it to hide it. Perhaps some tall trees/rocky area/big buildings etc used to hide the access road into/out of the storage area. I do like the idea of making the layout a bit generic. From what I gather so far most companies had their own track and routes so different companies using the same track seems less plausible on a small space branch line?? (I might be well off with this of course!). At least going for a more generic look would allow, eventually, a few different companies stock to be used depending on what I fancy running. The Triang diesel… I’m not actually going to use that on this project. Being OO scale it’s not going to look right with HO, plus the couplings are not compatible and I’m not altering the Triang Alco! It’s in lovely condition and still boxed so that more for my collection than to be used. When I said Alco, I’ve actually bought a second one! This is HO Walthers Proto 1000. The GP7 is Proto 2000. Ive got no idea what the difference is? I’m guessing more/less details and extras? On the ‘sourcing items’ front. Ive actually already noticed that US outline stuff isn’t particularly well catered for here. There’s some stuff available but certainly not a comprehensive range like you get with OO. The HO Alco I got was already in the U.K., but the GP7 is actually coming over from Illinois! To be honest, getting stuff from the US isn’t a problem for me. I know it takes a while to get here and the postage can add up but it is what it is. Ive actually got an American car, which I bought in the US and shipped over here so I’m already familiar with getting parts etc etc from the US and so far had no problems. While I think about what exactly I’m going to do, a couple more questions if I may!? I assume HO couplings are all the same and compatible with different manufacturers, in a similar way U.K. outline OO gauge ones do? Track. I’ve seen some specific US style track from various companies and Peco’s normal track should work too, but what’s considered best?

Evening all. I’m brand new to North American railroading so basically I’m looking for advice, ideas and inspiration for a new project, aswell as a bit of info regarding prototype US operation. Ive been into trains forever, but always stuck religiously to U.K. stuff, so I know that pretty well… but North American ‘ways’ seem to be quite different to what goes on here. I recently got myself a lovely Triang OO Alco road switcher, mainly because when I was younger a mate had one that actually originally belonged to his dad. I always remember it because it was such a great looking locomotive with its lights! Anyway, I bought one myself and that made me think about trying out my first US outline layout! Ive probably already gone about things the wrong way to be honest, but having had a read of a few things I decided to buy myself something to start with, then build up from that. So I decided scale-wise it’s going to be HO. And my first US locomotive to use as a starting point? Well, I decided to stick to the good old Alco, so an RS2 in Santa Fe blue & yellow has become my first HO loco. Then I got carried away and decided to get myself a GP7 in the original black and silver ATSF colours. As you do! So, that is my starting point. Santa Fe in HO. But I don’t really know what to do from here! Ive identified a roughly 14’ x 2’ ‘shelf’ in my model shed at home which I can clear off and use as a baseboard. This is actually below one half of my U.K. outline layout. There’s plenty of space, access and light to it though. Obviously that size makes it an end to end type layout and that must include a hidden storage area. My thoughts so far are, because of the size, freight only line with some sort or sorts of rail served industrial site(s). Also because of the size I think shorter trains are the best way to go here. So no long multi locomotive trains! Possibly best sticking to smaller locomotives like the Alco, GP7/9 and switchers? Because of the locomotives I’ve just bought I think I’d be right in saying time period of early to mid 60’s? Rough location, I want to say possibly the Chicago area? Again though, I’m not 100% positive! Where did the two locomotives and Santa Fe operate at this time period. Can I run locomotives from any other companies along side these? What wagons would be suitable? Of course this will depend on specifics about the layout itself! I know there’s potentially an awful lot to go through here! But I’m just after prototype info, general operating info, rolling stock info & suggestions, and some ideas and inspiration for the layout itself. Like I said in the thread title, I’ve got very little knowledge of US railroads so this will be like learning from scratch here! Thanks in advance!

I think (might be wrong?) the D27 32-679DS model was released around 2011/12ish, so it’s getting on for 10 years old now. I wonder if there’s any other sound fitted models from the Bachmann range, at that time that have the same issue?

Thanks everyone for the help and assistance with this. Good to know the decoder does actually work and it’s not a fault. Must admit, it threw me when I tried it and nothing happened. At least now I know for the future!

Thanks chaps! Knew I’d get an answer on here! Thats a new one on me then if they sent them out with DC off. Mind you, I’m far from an expert! As I say, normally I just stick the DCC sound ones on the track and off they go, sound and everything even on DC only. I was a bit concerned when this one didn’t!

Thanks Steve! Thats a bit of a bummer if I can’t change it myself anyhow, I didn’t even know you could turn off the ‘work on DC’ option! Its the first time I’ve encountered this tbh, normally when I try they go ok straight away. The last one was a Hornby 31 which I got in similar circumstances and it was fine. This one was a bit disappointing! This is one of the threads I was reading: It doesn’t mean a huge amount to me though. Anyway, PM replied to!

I recently managed to get hold of a really nice condition Bachmann class 45 second hand, it’s not boxed and has no paperwork whatsoever but the model itself is lovely. The reason I bought it was both because it was cheap and it was in the livery I wanted... But. It’s a factory DCC sound fitted version, I don’t use DCC! So my plan was to buy it regardless and then do what I usually do with these sound fitted models and simply test it works via DC, then strip out the decoder & speaker and sell them on separately. Trouble is, this time I plonked the peak onto my layout to test it and it was absolutely stone dead! No sound, no lights, no movement even. Normally on DC when I’m doing this I get everything, just with limited sound functions. So, I’ve done a bit of reading on the interweb and it turns out the model I bought cheap is actually Bachmann 32-679DS class 45 D27. So question 1: There seems to be a bit of an issue with these from new where the sound files aren’t quite right and therefore they will not work on DC. Is this right? Question 2: Will this affect it on DCC use? Could I sell it on for someone else to use? Question 3: Is there any way I can test it? Bearing in mind I have no DCC control whatsoever to test with. I don’t know anyone with DCC either. From checking the model over after finding it wouldn’t work at all, I can’t find anything at all wrong with any part of it, in fact it would appear to have either never been used or very very little use (it’s spotless inside, wheels etc) so I decided to whip out the sound decoder and stick a spare blanking plug into it instead. Hey presto, it’s now working perfectly via DC! So the problem is clearly the DCC sound decoder. However, I’d love to know for definite if the decoder is dead/damaged or if it’s simply because I was trying to use it on DC and there’s a bit of a cock-up and back story with this particular models decoder. What I really don’t want to do is assume it’s ok, sell it anyway and then upset someone because it turns out the decoder is actually damaged! Obviously if it is sellable it’s going to make this model much cheaper than it was already!! Any thoughts or advice? Here’s a few pics just to make the thread a bit more interesting! Thanks in advance. Dan.

Cheers! The plan for that back corner, is to add some scatter & static grass, and build it up with trees to hide the joint to the wall/what will be backscene, running up along the edge to the bridges. Where the corrugated iron fence is, I plan to do similar but with greenery coming up from behind the fence as if there’s an overgrown yard or something behind, again, to hide the end of the layout a bit. Its actually turned out to be an interesting little area this corner, adding a little bit more operating interest and some more interesting scenery than just a hill! The 31’s... Yeah, I’ve got a few!! By no means all of them have been in this thread yet either. I’ll dig them all out and get some pics. Some are standard models but there’s quite a few modified/repainted ones too. And a good few duplicates I’ve stocked up on for renumbering etc. Funnily enough, I’ve just discovered(!) another red stripe railfreight sound fitted one I’d forgotten I even had. I normally take the sound gubbins out and sell it as I don’t use DCC, I was surprised to get this one running up and down and finding it’s still got sound fitted!! There’s two or three spare bodies laying around somewhere too. Told you I had a thing for them!

Here’s the edge of the metal casting getting chopped! It’s only a very thin slice that’s needed. And with a bit of filing down of the cowlings and chassis the cowlings can be made to fit. The cowlings are held onto the chassis with superglue applied to the sides where they were cut. They seem solid enough so should be ok without their original screws. The next obvious thing is refitting the buffer, and painting them and the buffer beam black. Test runs show it runs very well (it’s brand new underneath so it should!) and all the lights are working too. So, proof that I can do some actual modelling not just buying ready to run! No idea why this was so far up my priority list but there we go! This now gives me back the model I lost ages ago, but with the latest chassis. Ill freely admit I’ve got a thing for 31’s, I’ve got lots more, some of which will be in for work and paint in due course!

Another little job I’ve been doing between waiting for paint and glue to go off... Years ago I had two of the first release versions of the Hornby 31. One was 31110 in Dutch livery, this suffered from the chassis rot issue of the first three versions. Luckily I caught it early, got the body off before it did much damage and got a new chassis from Hornby under warranty. The other was 31270 in blue. This one I did not catch early! When I eventually did check it, the chassis was in a bad way, but the body was destroyed! Hornby had also stopped Sending out new chassis or vouchers by then so it went on eBay for spares and that was that. Ive wanted another though, and given this problem, the early release models must be getting rarer now, so I bagged a really good 31270 body off eBay and a set of buffer beam cowlings to suit. Then kept an eye out for a good chassis or a complete 31 I could take the chassis from. In the end I got a discounted complete brand new 31 in the DCR green livery. This became the chassis donor. Basic fit seems fine, as you’d expect. But, unbeknown to me (until now!) it seems Hornby have changed the 31’s chassis lately! The lighting is now different to early versions being a seperate Lighting unit instead of part of the cab interior unit. The fan is no longer powered either (which I don’t really care about!), and I’d expected the buffer beam cowlings to be a simple screw on part - they’re not! I could have bought the 31102 model (Which already has cowlings) in blue to use as a chassis donor but couldn’t find one cheap enough so had to make do. First job was to carefully remove the lighting unit. Mine came out of the green donor shell easily. 31270 doesn’t have a high intensity headlight so the plastic light lense for that was simply removed. Then the unit was carefully fitted to the old 31270 body, held in with a couple of dabs of superglue. Next task is to offer up the buffer beam cowlings. These very clearly won’t fit! The new chassis is from a refurbished 31 so has the chassis framework. This gets in the way of the plastic cowlings and there’s no screw holes in this chassis version either. So to get them to fit, Ive chopped off the two screw hole lugs on the cowlings, then carefully used a razor saw and files to cut away the outer edges of the chassis buffer beam frames.

Update time! Slowly creeping along, although in my defence I’ve been doing other things! And I got a bit fed up of building scenics so I’ve simply been running trains. I think sometimes it’s easy To keep building, doing scenery, messing about with rolling stock etc etc, sometimes you end up doing all that and never actually using it! Since last time, I’ve smoothed out all the polystyrene blocks that made up the hills at the scenic break end, then got a coat of plaster on them, smoothed out, then once dry given a coat of radioactive green paint! There’s only a few little areas now where I need to use the plaster and green paint to cover the scenic contours, then I’ll be into static grass-ing and laying scatters etc etc. I also need to Finish a few small areas of ballasting then weather The ballast a bit. Ive also painted the big industrial warehouse building. A coat of Halfords primer, then various paints to finish. It’s also had a bit of weathering, paint thinning and rusting added to look a bit more realistic. It’s also had a few other bits added around it to finish that little areas buildings off, and a corrugated iron fence added along where the back scene will eventually go. Some concrete hard standing areas have been added too, these are just card cut, glued and painted and will become the sites car park and loading area for a few vans etc.

Yep, I’ve got a couple of 31’s, a 56 and a 60 that do this to varying degrees. I think your right, it’s the old white grease drying out and clogged things, but also might be the gears running dry. Ive actually just bought a can of GT-85 spray, it’s got ptfe in it and I heard someone on another forum had success with it on squeaky Hornby loco’s so I’ll give it a try.