Chris116

Overscale!

My wife reports that New Look only have the same old stuff!

Sorry about the lack of updates but progress is held up until after the New Year for a number of reasons. I now have two very nice Wisconsin Central hopper wagons, thank you DelawareAndHudson. There have been a number of shunting puzzle/timesaver layouts being discussed here and I have been watching how they progress so I can avoid problems that others have already found out about! Happy Christmas to all who follow this topic.

Some great photos once again. Hope you have a great time on annual leave. I am sure we all look forward to seeing more of your travels on your return. Have a very happy Christmas Jim.

Interesting that everyone, including the review in BRM, is talking about the lack of daylight under the boiler but one photo in the RM review shows what looks like daylight!

Well I got the sheet of MDF for the baseboard. I cannot understand why a 4 x 1 sheet is more expensive than a 4 x 2 sheet! Still I can cut the sheet I have into two and that means I will be able to build another 4 x 1 later on! Looking at a possible layout I am still trying to decide on either Iota which DelawareAndHudson gave a link to above or the plan above that which the original had the same five points as Iota. I think the final plan will be somewhere between the two. I will visit a few shops and eBay to get a few suitable small buildings to set the scene as somewhere in the Mid West. Peco code 83 track and points have been ordered which will suit both plans. Points will be hand operated to start with but suitable holes will be put into the board so that fitting motors for the points will be a simple job if I want to. I will also start with a stick to uncouple the stock but the second layout may well have magnetic uncoupling fitted, it all depends on how things work out on this first layout. Once again many thanks to everyone who has given me advice and encouragement on this project.

The Wisconsin Central ownership of EWS and the fact that my wife comes from Wisconsin were the reason for starting my adventure in American Railroading. I liked the EWS livery long before I saw it in the USA and now sadly it is being replaced by DB red which while nice is not as good as the maroon and gold of WC/EWS. The other sad thing is that DB do not appear to know how to clean a loco anymore. Most of the EWS livery locos coming through West Brompton, where I work, are so dirty they make BR steam in the 60's look sparkling! Thank you for the link DanielB I will be making a lot of use of that.

I have been thinking about what I have bought and what I need to make it prototypical. I want a Wisconsin Central set so the current loco will need to be joined by some new stock which I am in the process of getting. That leaves the problem of the freight stock I have and how I can make use of it by getting another loco. It would be nice if the new loco was from a railroad in the Wisconsin area so can any of you suggest what type would be right and which railroads should I be looking for. Once again many thanks for the help you have so far given me.

I can get the message writing box up on the mobile but cannot move it across the screen so cannot send the message!

Scottish Modeller. My phone will not let me PM anyone. Will PM when I get home around 9pm but definitely interested.

Thank you all once again. So now I just have to build the layout and have some fun. Get another loco to go with my stock and some more stock to go with my loco and before I know it I will have three six times the amount of locos and stock that I need but should be having fun which is after all why we all like railways and model railways.

I have looked at the web site for Model Junction, Slough and I am starting to feel more stupid by the minute. They (and Hattons) do not appear to have any freight cars in Wisconsin Central livery and my shortage of knowledge means I do not know which railroads would be operating at the same time and in the same area as Wisconsin Central did. Would stock from BNSF and CN be suitable with my GP38-2?

Well I am certainly learning a lot, as I expected to when I posted my first request for assistance. RMweb proves how useful it is and how helpful most of the members are. Take a collective bow and please accept my thanks for all the help so far. Now all I have to do is check out some suppliers of the stock mentioned above, finalise a suitable track plan and get some code 83 track which I assume (dangerous thing to do!) is the best for US layouts.

Thank you F-UnitMad for your helpful comments. When I got married and visited my wife's home state I looked into the history of Wisconsin Central and Soo Line. Sadly I did not pay a lot of attention to the stock that was behind the locos! While I would like to have more than a shunting puzzle I do not see what else I can do in 4' by 1'. To answer an earlier question, the flat car is 50'.

Everyone knows London is Paddington! Having worked in London Underground ticket offices for twelve years you would not believe what some people can ask for. Best one recently was a customer who had checked the price online a month earlier and could not understand why the advance fare he claimed he had seen was not available ten minutes before the train departed. The interesting thing is that the route concerned does not have advance fares!

Many thanks for the replies. That is a great video and it reminds me that I have a DVD or video of the Wisconsin Central somewhere. I must look it out I might learn something! Given that I want to use the GP38-2 on the layout which will be rather small what stock should I have purchased and of the items I already have which are reasonable to make use of and which should be sold to someone who knows a bit more than I do!

There it was on the Bachmann stand at Warley last Saturday. A Wisconsin Central GP38-2. I resisted the first time I saw it but two hours later it was still looking lonely and somehow it landed in my bag with five freight wagons. I think it was the cash in my hand that caused that bit! Anyway I now own the GP38-2 plus 55 ton 2 bay outside braced Hopper with coal load - Erie Railroad 40' Box Car - Great Northern 40' Three Dome Tank Car - Cook Paint & Varnish Co 40' Single Dome Tank Car - Shell Flat Car with three log load - Louisville & Nashville Having got these items I need to build a 4 or 5 foot long by 10 inch wide shunting puzzle that looks like a USA based layout. Having only really studied British railways throughout my life I know that there are many pitfalls in building something that would look nice but be totally wrong to anyone who knows US Railroading so I am hoping those with a lot more knowledge can point me in the right direction. The loco interested me due to my wife coming from Wisconsin but I do not know if the stock I have would have ever run behind the GP38-2 so any pointers on that would be helpful. I also need a few pointers to a track layout that is prototypical for US Railroading. Basically a shunting puzzle with a maximum of five points is all I can think of but you may be able to come up with something else. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

It is to be hoped that the Judge or magistrates throw the case out and tell the CPS how stupid they have been.

As an over 60 "fogey" I buy new and secondhand items from shops, exhibitions and on the net. I know what is going on in the hobby through reading magazines and the net. Those who do not use the net could miss out on Hornby items due to not knowing about them. That is Hornsby's loss and possibly other manufacturers gain. I think Hornby are right to use the net to the maximum but the 'fogeys' are still a large part of the market who they should also be encouraging. Most young people are guided into the hobby by an adult so upsetting those adults could be a bad idea!

The discussion regarding how many of Hornby's customers use the internet is one that applies to a wide range of other companies in many different parts of the business world. My late father was a very forward looking person who liked many modern things but he never understood computers in any way and was very determined not to find out how they worked! The fact that many modellers are in the over 60's age range (myself included) means that there must be a fair number who will never see Hornby's new method of communicating with their customers which must be bad news for any firm.

For those of us who visit the GCR by rail from London and walk between the two Loughborough stations it seems we could be facing an even longer walk if we are to travel on the branch which is a shame. Is it even possible to walk from a station in less than 40 minutes?

I have Calbourne ordered. Really looking forward to it arriving.

Tornado was very good last Saturday when I was enjoying a day on the SVR. Hope both Tornado and Royal Scot are as good this weekend.

I ordered the Calbourne model because I like the real thing. If it looks better than the real thing that will be a bonus!

I have just checked the ehattons web site and the green 121 is listed as due in April 2015! The calendar seems to have overtaken them.