Hello everyone Just posted in the 'new members' section, but I'll repeat my intro here too....
I’m Chris, a new member here. I've been reading the forum on an off for a while now and I'm regularly amazed at the skills and experience on display, so I thought I’d better join up and bring the average down a bit!
I’m a returnee to the hobby, having been out for some 15-20 years (that does make me feel old, I’m only 35!) as life (Uni, jobs, classic cars, houses and now kids) have got in the way. However, my two little ones are now old enough to enjoy a good ‘momel railway’ (as my 2.5yr old son calls it) so a while back we paid a visit to Grandad’s house to dig out my old layout….🚂
As my son had a few of his wooden engines with him from the Brio layout, he immediately discovered that OO gauge is a perfect fit for them (on the outside of the rails at least!)
After a lot of pestering and a bit of clearing out of my own garage over summer, a van was hired and it arrived home one evening, covered in cobwebs and dust from the last 20 or so years on its side in the garage the poor thing!
So what have we got? A pretty classic 'roundy roundy' from the late 1980s, with loads of classic Hornby features, Peco Code 100 trackwork (flexitrack with a variety of streamline and setrack points) and some scratch built scenic stuff from my younger years. I also brought back the big box of engines, coaches, trucks and other scenic stuff. Here are some photos from it's first night in it's new home:
The overall view - it's an 8x4 board and there's lots going on!
One of the first problems I found was the old Peco foam underlay had turned to a horrible sticky dust and crumbled away with the slightest touch:
This has all now been hoovered up as it leaves a horrible sticky mess behind on the track and wheels (I found WD40 was an effective solvent):
A view into the yard towards the engine shed:
Looking back down the yard the other way:
You can spot what shares the garage in this photo - I was going to give a brownie point to the first person to identify the car but you can see it in my avatar now:
Into the tunnel:
A lot of the old scenic stuff has suffered (and the big scenic board that was on the upper level has gone missing). The paper/card used for walls is looking very sorry:
This poor man has been trying to hose down the yard for the last 20 years, I'm surprised the puddle isn't bigger:
The lady in green appears visibly shocked at the state of the ballast:
'The Fat Controller' as the kids have christened it (Made by my Dad back in the day along with the baseboards and wiring etc):
So will anything work at all? What's in the stock box? What are my plans to resurect the railway? Stay tuned to find out!
Cheers,
Chris
