fezza

Oh yes, I should have mentioned @Peter Kazmierczak great book on modern traction. It was so inspirational and I drooled over every image. I couldn't afford to buy it so had it out on loan from the library for most of my early teens. I was eventually bought a copy and still read it on a regular basis. If Peter is still on here: thank you so much!

Yes, nostalgia and personal connections to models are so important. Sometimes it's almost too much. When I was about 11 my grandmother gave me a J72 for Christmas "so you'll remember me when I'm not here". It's still my favourite loco but I can't run it without feeling sad for the loss of my dear grandparents even after all these years. Happily my HST, 37, Hymek and Royal Scot are still running from birthdays and Christmases long past. They should get a new lease of life now with the new project. And they'll always be better than any new £300 toy, however great Bachmann's latest products are....

For me a system is a layout of two or more stations where operations between the two are purposeful and as realistic as possible. I think fiddle yards are allowed as most of the great US systems still have an offstage area. So Buckingham Central and Fisher St/Victoria Bridge would both be systems, even if they are / were rather compact. Another reason why systems have gone out of fashion is that the focus in the UK has moved to exhibitions where people can show off their skills to a wider audience. These tend to focus on the visual WOW factor and the scenery rather than realistic operations between several places. Systems are probably thought to be too large and difficult to exhibit, requiring complex routing systems and shunting that would slow down the procession of trains for the visitor. For me, however, the best exhibition layouts are still those that try to operate realistically, even if they aren't actually systems - Ronsthorpe being one example. Ronsthorpe was not 2mm finescale and used fairly basic scenery (lichen for bushes and cardboard for some buildings) but it always seemed more "realistic" than some 2mm finescale layouts where not much happened. It was certainly one of the layouts that set me off in N gauge for about 20 years.

Yes, irs interesting to think about what are the elements of railway atmosphere. For me in the BR blue era it's T shaped station lamps, blue BRUTE trolleys, engineers blue brick walls, brown discoloured ballast, bus stop station buildings, overgrown freight sidings with a random bauxite freight van, yellow BR road vans, station staff in BR peaked caps... And of course the colour palette is very subdued... browns and greys... the only red being the BR sign outside the station. All this is actually quite easy to model with simple materials.

So does this mean the much requested RES and Virgin 47s will be DCC sound only?

Interestingly when Buckingham Central was being built in the 1950s it was modelling the golden age of 40 years previous! So I suppose the golden age is always about 40years ago, when we were young! I do, however, think there was a much greater variety of freight operation and freight vehicles in the late 70s- and far more loco hauled trains. I recently looked at a working timetable for Taunton in 1975 - over 90 per cent of passenger trains were loco hauled! There were even milk trains. That's good enough for me!

Yes, it's odd in a way because in the US operation is still a big thing. Perhaps that's because shortlines and wagonload traffic are still prevalent there. However accurate operation is probably easier than ever now in the UK given almost every major mainline loco or DMU is available in some form or other. I wonder if the lack of operational potential is one reason why many layouts have a short life in the UK. The exceptions, like Ronsthorpe seem to be the ones with the greatest operational potential. The late 1970s and early 1980s was a golden era for operation - block freight, wagonload freight, containerised freight, newspaper traffic and mail - often passing through traditional track layouts and semaphore signals. And sprinterisation hadn't been thought of!

Yes, I find it odd that people produce beautifully scenery, but then have unrealistic track layouts and run very random trains! Each to their own, but I'd rather have more impressionistic scenery and trains that reflect the period running to a timetable. Perhaps this is because I grew up on Cyril Freezer track plans and essays on operation from the early 1980s. There seem to be very few essays on operation in railway modelling magazines these days. Was operation was more of a 'thing' in the past? I particularly remember the Fisher Street to Victoria Bridge layout (around 1985?) that was nothing special scenically but had realistic catenary and interlocked signalling based on contemporary BR practice, together with clear purposeful operation. Does anyone else remember this? The simple engineers blue brick-paper walls seemed to ooze atmosphere (Kings Cross loco, southern approach to Leicester London Road or BNS) without any great scenic elaboration. I suppose I'm also a bit uncomfortable with the sort of modelling where there is a rush to buy the latest expensive thing. Of course, people are perfectly entitled to spend their hard-earned money in any way they wish. But I don't think it is for me anymore. I'm now in search of something a bit different - something that creates a different impression and brings back memories of older products that we loved many years ago, while still producing an interesting, operational model railway.

I've actually got piles of mice- nibbled RMs in the depths of the garage. Time to dig them out! Thanks I remember Eckon - I was trying to remember their name. I'm sure I've got some in deep store somewhere. They are quite chunky and just the thing for this project

I'll have a look at TCS - sounds interesting. I'm hoping to pick up a few bits at Warley, although last time I went I felt most stalls were catering for the premium end of the market, which is understandable I suppose. Anyone have any recommendations for "retro signals"? I've got some Hornby, but would like some variety.

Yes, I also think there's a lot of pleasure to be had in "rescuing" (preserving?) old models from the 1980s. So many unboxed items seem to be regarded as landfill by modellers and dealers alike so they are readily available everywhere. It's nice to give these once-treasured items new life. Somehow seeing my badly-weathered Hornby Rat wobbling around brings back childhood memories of both the real thing and my youth, a time when I first discovered the magic of modelling. And it only cost me £25...

I've lost my modelling mojo recently and started to think about a new approach. I picked up a few old blue diesels– a Lima 47, a Hornby 25 and a Mainline Peak. After a bit of cleaning I started to run them and began to think these were somehow more “realistic” and evocative of the early 1980s than my high fidelity DCC sound-fitted modern Bachmann version. There’s something about running locos made in the 1980s that bring back memories of the period better than any modern version can. I could also repair, weather and personalise them without worrying about damaging a £300 loco – I was actually doing some modelling, not just plonking it on the track and then spending hours fiddling with CV settings… That made me think about a new project and a new modelling philosophy – using retro items to build a simple layout set in the 1980s. That would mean using old fashioned materials such as brickpaper and cast metal parts for stations and fittings, together with classic materials from the old Peco range. All rolling stock would be only lightly modified so that the spirit of the original was not lost. There would be no Bachmann – only pre-2000 stock. The aim would be to present an impressionistic view of what BR was like in the 1980s and what a a good modern image model railway would look like around 1985. Am I mad? Or is there merit in this idea? Has anyone else considered this or done something similar? There is a lot of old and very affordable diesel-era stock out there so I think it is worth the experiment for anyone who grew up in the period.

Tip for Warley - Just park at the station for the NEC - cheaper and next to the venue. I think it's a real shame that GETS is blighted by the venue. It's potentially a great showcase for the hobby this year. I think I'll swerve it too - waiting for park and ride and getting caught up in stationary football traffic is not my idea of fun.

You're probably right mate - but the fact it's a lottery doesn't make it a great venue in my view. I lot of people I know are going to this as their one show of the year and it's a shame if it ends up being all a bit chaotic.

Yes, the whole thing seems a bit of a cock-up. With Pete Waterman's layout, this is the most anticipated event of the year yet there is nowhere to park nearby and it is very doubtful a vintage bus service will be able to cope with the numbers who want to attend. (And not everyone can walk -the average age of modellers is probably over 60 these days!) Even when there is no football it's a battle with weekend shoppers to get to and from the venue. Maybe they should look to the NEC next year if they want to put on a major national event?

How many vintage buses have they got? Not sure how they'll get everyone from the free car park to the venue at 10am as this is likely to be a very busy show.... Can you park elsewhere nearby and walk to the venue?

Transit grease seems a particular problem on small steam and diesel locos. It seems to become sticky under certain conditions and damages electrical connectivity. Too much grease/ oil seems more of a problem than too little in N gauge. All my n gauge short wheelbase stock seems to run better on Kato than Peco and Kato generally needs less cleaning. Kato track is a bit ugly but it's very good if you are a newcomer or not too obsessed with scale fidelity. I don't use Kato controllers though - it has to be Gaugemaster.

Yes at around £220 it will be significantly more expensive than the excellent Farish N class. I am going to expect something really exceptional for that price. After years of poor Dapol quality control in N, I will wait for the reviews

Possibly, although it may just be queued production schedules. After a famine there is often a feast in N gauge. That can cause its own problems as I know I can't afford all the stuff at the same time.so sales may suffer. I think TT is dead in the water. There is very little available, you can't see it in shops and it runs poorly compared to 00 and N. Hornby have spilt it very badly.

The 158s are very welcome - the GWR one looks particularly superb (Although whether it is good value is a moot point when the excellent but very niche Arnold FS Aln 668 has just come out at £212... and a lot of Farish 150s are still stuck to the shelves.) I would also welcome more news on the Peak as well as the Virgin 47 - the latter seems to have been in the catalogue forever.

I'd love to see more pictures of progress if you are willing to share. This is on my list of all-time favourite layouts and it is great to see some of Iain Rice's inspirational work being preserved and reused.

Please no! I still have PTSD from all my efforts to get the original 14xxx to run half decently... There must be a good market for small tank engines in N so why don't manufacturers make the effort? A good small prairie, 14xx, Buckjumper, O2, J72 would surely fly off the shelves. The technology for really good small chassis in N is there.

I suspect Dapol realise that trying to fix the whole batch in the UK will be incredibly labour intensive so they would prefer people just returned them for refund. Anyone who reads forums (or just has eyes) knows about these problems and how widespread they are. It begs the question why were they ever released for retail sale? The whole lot should have been returned to the factory.

Serious question then - does anyone have one that is properly decorated, doesn't slope and will crawl properly through points? If not Dapol should do the decent thing and recall them.

If you want to run a genuinely successful small shop or business you don't get leisure time. Been there, done that! You only really get significant time off when you are well established and can afford to delegate or employ extra staff. That sounds harsh, but it is true for most of the successful small business people I know.