Tomathee

The Bachmann C1 Atlantic in GNR or LNER green is on flash sale at rails for £149.99

Also a thanks to the people that post these bargains, I don't think I've bought anything directly but it's shown me to some sites I wouldn't have known about that I have bought from at a later date. Personally I'd prefer everything in one thread, having a new thread for each bargain or shop would add a lot more browsing time in entering each updated thread since the last visit to check, as the same occasional non-bargain posting would occur, however scattered over all the separate threads that it relates to. In comparison I find it's a few seconds scrolling through some of the non-bargain related posts that come up here as currently. Also I find relative to some other threads here and elsewhere there's not too much fluff, some of which does turn out to be valuable discussion if not a direct bargain. Finally I'd imagine one thread puts less burden on our fine moderators than having to check in on a few/dozen(s) as may crop up with another method. Should end with an apology for adding my own non-bargain post to the thread.

1 in stock as I passed the page, £114.99

One for £99 on bure valley, did a full sweep last night for birthday ideas

Cheers, some tempting, can't remember seeing this anywhere close to that price - http://herefordmodels.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=340_350_355_356&products_id=11541

I recently bought the starter selection pack from CM3models ebay shop. Was going to buy in bulk but I haven't done scalescenes before and wanted to try something before committing further, this was the cheapest way I found to get everything needed. Looks like there's enough to do a couple of the free downloads, if I'm capable enough of building them this will be much cheaper for the end aim (retaining walls) and I imagine for other things you might use lots of such as platforms. Ordered before Easter and it duly arrived on the estimated date, well packaged with cardboard to protect the corners.

Thanks for the second lot of replies, I do check in more often on my phone but it's easier to reply when I can get to a desk. Someone mentioned gauge, I'm using 00. I get the point about using wires of the same size, so I think I'll use the 1.5mm2 for the bus and the droppers where I'm going to use the scotchlok connectors, and use the 7/0.2 for any droppers that I solder to the bus. Hopefully this will be the best plan to not waste the 7/0.2 and not need to buy any extra wire I don't already have. Many thanks again for everyone's input and help

Thank you all very much for the replies, didn't expect so many. I had a quick look at scotchloks (helpful to have the correct name now) and these seem quite cheap and easy to install, which is over-riding my previous apprehension. Do you have a link to a specific example please? Those I saw had a drop down for colour without indicating any other difference, if 'red' is to do with the size of the wire that will pass through etc. These Scotch Locks (ebay) are an example I came across, is it just wire cross section I should be interested in or are there other considerations such as maximum amp/volts (sorry, electricity is not my strong point). I have come across these Wago connectors although under a different name somewhere, the drawback I came up with was that the dropper wires would have to be quite longer if three are to meet up at one block, again correct me if I'm wrong. Similar to the terminal blocks mentioned that I've also seen in model shops and at shows, if I had it in the middle of the board the bus wire to it would be quite short rather than following a rough shadow of the loop, however the droppers would be longer to join in the middle (like a spiders web in my mind). I did buy some terminal blocks which joined together via pins, which I thought would be useful for keeping the boards able to be separated when needed (rarely, for decorating or other major work). I think in the name of putting to use things I've paid for and developing skills, I'll have a go at soldering some of the droppers to the bus on the easier and more accessible areas. Not sure how that will go being underneath and everything being in a different place and angle to doing it on a desk with a helping hand so if it fails I'll likely go with the scotchloks, as with the harder to reach places. One other thing that has come up while thinking earlier, I'll only be able to wire up one loop under DC, unless I did two completely separate bus wires, so that I can keep each loop under a separate controller. With DCC that won't matter, question was does one loop of bus wire carry enough to power both track loops and whatever is running on them? Or is my layout a long way smaller then the point of needing to think about that? Thanks again

Hi guys, sorry about this, I've searched here and google, and watched several Youtube videos but still un-sure. Happy to be directed to relevant thread/video for dummies that I've not yet come across. I want to do a bus underneath the baseboard to aid running, at the moment it's a 5'x4' loop. I plan on doing it initially for DC, only the loops and leaving sidings out for now and relying on point blade contact, to allow opportunity for swapping locos out of sidings etc, not doing isolating sections at this stage or ever if I can help it. Eventually I'm all but sure I'll go to DCC, at which point I can add in the sidings to the bus wire to make everywhere live all the time (correct me if I'm wrong on the last couple of sentences). So far what I've bought is some 7x0.2mm (IIRC) wire for the droppers from each piece of track, and some flex cable (3x 1.5mm2, says suitable for electric fan ovens etc, so assume similar to mains cable as mentioned in several places). Unless I've made some mistake so far that would lead to disaster, I moved on to looking at how to join it all up, which is where confusion set it. I came across a number of methods and from my non-electrician mind none seemed ideal. Cable lock connectors came up, these are easy to use however seem like you're cutting into the wire you join on to. Female/male spade connectors, I have a suitable crimping tool but I can't picture how a circuit works in practice e.g. droppers have male connectors on, do you end up with a separate wire to each with a female connector, which are all combined into a single wire into the controller? Or do you wire one dropper to the next and in effect not have a separate wire that they join on to. I looked at soldering although nobody seemed to do this in videos, I would have assumed you strip the bus, solder the dropper, move on to the next one. I've tried soldering to the bottom of rails which I was fine with and I'd have a go at joining the other end to the bus, just wondered why it doesn't seem the method of choice with the youtubers? So there it is, recently I've started just trying things out and learning from mistakes rather than coming here with any little query, but with electrics I thought better of it. Some of the videos are helpful but none seem to give a full picture, last night I watched two or three of Chadwick Valley to do with wiring which were all one or two stages of complexity upwards, looking at various boxes and circuit boards. A couple of others showed the connectors that you just squash a blade through with pliers but as mentioned, to me that seems like it is cutting through the wire and weakening it or not giving a completely reliable connection, although it's simplicity does appeal. I'm also unsure on my initial perception where the bus wire is continuous and the droppers join it periodically, or is it just as effective to be cut into sections and wire it from one dropper to another in effect (daisy chain?). Many thanks, if what I've said isn't a full picture then apologies I'll gladly update

Seems that rails have caught up with some of the bargains previously detailed from Kernow, e.g. Off my wishlist Hornby B1 at £99.99

Thanks very much for all the replies, I left some thanks earlier planning to come back and write a reply when I had the ease of a PC and there's been a few more since. Good picture @r12477, wouldn't have realised that was the reason behind it. @DavidCBroad it was small radius streamline, all I had spare (discounting set track). Next time I have a play around I'll see what moving up to medium with the paper templates would do in terms of pushing the overall length as it's a bit of a tight spot. Also found similar to you with a loco being worse going one way over the other. @The Johnster I had been thinking particularly with this side I want to get placed first, when there's a train in it will block most of the view and unless you're standing helicopter view a slightly bigger gap would probably go unnoticed. Thanks again, I will update once I've made some progress

Evening, apologies if this has been asked but I couldn't find anything in search using what I thought was correct terminology. I'm planning my station area and one idea includes a crossover for a loco to run around, using the empty platform opposite as part of a terminus. I only have small radius points spare to play with alongside paper templates and it seems that in using these the front of the loco swings out too far and contacts the platform edge. For the time being I'm sticking to arrow straight platforms for the majority of the length and streamline track spacing, the gap from coach to platform I've done by sight to something that seems reasonable, though if there's a scientific way of measuring I might find I'm too close and solve the problem that way. I figured this is a situation not too unique that nobody will have encountered it and wondered if medium radius offers enough to avoid this or if I'll have to go up to large, not a problem in space but from arranging paper it seems they take up a relatively long length of the station. Many thanks

These bargains are being pushed hard, regularly on Facebook and emails as separate offers, and recently combined to the Spring bargains as mentioned and I think Eastern Region bargains. That being said, the four or five I was interested in were all cheaper around Christmas or today from elsewhere and in some cases significantly so.

Hi Nick, have just caught up on all 27 pages since visiting the mk show a couple of weeks ago. Always nice when you pick a favourite and find it has an online presence to look over the development and history. I wonder if you have a track plan that I've missed in the thread, or if not the rough dimensions overall and of your platforms. This is eventually the type of layout I have in mind for a wall along the spare room and it's hard to scale how it looks in an exhibition hall down to a currently clutter filled room. Thanks, definitely one I'd revisit although I'm sure a replacement would be equal in quality if you did decide to take the plunge.

-

Great show, a bit busy in places but I don't have many other shows to compare against so it might be the norm and it's all good for the hobby. Haven't seen anyone mention the wavy floor covering in the second hall, might be protecting whatever is underneath. Took my five year old who loved it, great idea with the 50p ride-on upstairs, I wonder if in better weather days that could do part of the journey between the two halls? Restrained myself with the trade stalls as I have plenty to get on with already however we did treat ourselves to a loco from Cheltenham Model Centre which seemed better priced than any I saw online during recent sales. I would like to add thanks to all of the layout exhibitors that were so accommodating and patient with my talkative son as well. The Peppa Pig and Minion layouts were great and he likes pressing the animation buttons etc but I think he really enjoyed the 'regular' layouts where the guys exhibiting would take the time to answer his questions or show him around the back to where the fiddle yard or point switches are and so on. Of particular note Nick above from Much Murkle, Abbey Park, Elmwood Yard and the two GMRC layouts, cheers guys I think you made his day

Drove out an hour with my son between Christmas and New Year to have a look. Well worth it, the range is excellent and the shop is very spacious and un-cramped, as are the displays with everything easy to browse, which seems to have improved even further now. Left with several things, some planned others not, again helped by ease of browsing and the helpful staff. Probably be back in the next school holiday to get a few more bits... Well done & good luck for the future!

Spent a few hours today, first time taking my five year old to a show. He had a great time, not too busy so he could get a look at everything with the hired footstool. Personally found the fences good as it took away the worry of him leaning or knocking something. Thanks to the people that took time to speak with him as well, apart from the kid-oriented layouts he was very interested in the live steam one and was talking to one of the guys for some time. Was rushed for an afternoon booking so didn't get to do any proper shopping, sure I saw the newish Hornby City of Edinburgh at £100 somewhere, if only I hadn't already spent my Christmas money....

I can't seem to find when it is open till, also the advance tickets are all sold out so will I be able to buy on the day (presumably a few more £). Thanks

Thanks Nick and apologies, I hadn't noticed your reply until now. That's 95% as it currently is, have been doing several other things with locos etc that I need to update on if I can drag myself to sort out and upload photos etc. Take your point on beading so thanks for that. I can see the merits but I'm going to surprise possibly myself more than anyone else and say I trust him not to drive too fast around the corners. Also the more likely outcome I can foresee is that the bead would need constant repair from him reaching over it and knocking it and so on. Work is currently apace (in mind at least) to swap his bedroom into this room, once that is all in place I'll have a confirmed outlook for expansion and I can improve on the vague and woolly thread I started asking for help with board and layout design, hopefully leading to a more generous space between track and cliff edge.

Hi, I’ve always had in mind to extend our layout and I want to move forward at least the planning stage, so that I can firm up some other ideas that follow on. I've only come with basic ideas and wants to hand, as I’m struggling to picture it in my head in the room and hopefully with a few responses and ideas I'll be able to drop some thoughts and focus more on what is left. At the moment I think I’ll leave exact track plans out until I’m more settled on a plan for the boards. Some early specs are; must have two continuous loops and will largely be steam, however is likely that diesel and electric will appear (until my 4 year old passes his Level 1 exam in prototyping). Other things such as station, yards and so on I’d hoped to decide on later once I know what I have to play with. The maximum area available is somewhat fluid, it can essentially cover almost half of the room but I don’t want to push my luck too far. One issue I have that I've not seen in many threads I've looked through for ideas is the shape of our room not being square, I'll explain below but it does cause issues in having a standard four sided starting point. I’ve had a go at drawing out the room in AnyRail to try and get an idea of the minimums I need for corners and made a couple of loose plans based on that. I’ve done it as boards but I’m willing to try an open frame type, as long as I can find a decent construction guide. There’s a few factors at play which I’m juggling, namely; Operating well – I want to include one based on experience with our current layout and it’s almost essential for any extension that I’ve considered, the reach is just too far. Board width – as you’ll see I did examples of 2ft, 1ft and 1.5ft to see how it would look for size and the above well. Early observations are that all in 2ft limits the well and to be honest wouldn’t add much value to him (I don’t believe more than 2 loops is necessary but please correct me), and to me (lots more scenery work for me to do). Also that 1ft all around seems too narrow. So I’m left with options of 1.5ft all around or a mixture of board widths. Further opinion is that if I can (hopefully) include a fiddle yard this would only need a narrow 1ft wide section. So the question here is have a narrow board along a wall, or across the middle of the room. Viewing angle – whilst I think the well would be the natural habitat, I can equally imagine occasions of watching from the outside, so would that play into the choice or fiddle yard location and width of the ‘central’ board? If scenic section across the middle of the room presumably would require backscene along both sides, not sure how that would work in practice across a max 2ft wide board. On to something more visual to explain my gobbledegook. Example of 2ft wide boards all around, aka the lined area. To explain this and things which appear in subsequent photos. The grid is 1ft/30cm squares. The walls follow the top of the page and the two outermost diagonal lines going down to the left (one marked 40cm and window, the other 135 then 80cm). The light grey box shows where the current 5x4ft layout sits, the other boxes were either to help in measuring out other things or as templates of some standard baseboard sizes. The small grey box top left marks out the wall up to the beginning of the window, the layout would sit above the window sill and potentially go all the way to the wall, however I'd rather it move in a bit to allow for curtains. The line with 280cm at the bottom isn't the fourth wall, just used to show the width of the room. Bottom right corner is an exercise bike and the furthest anything could go towards it. I've used boards at what I think is the maximum acceptable distance into the middle of the room I could get away with. I've measured the operating well (triangle), as mentioned it's not much space and pretty useless on the left hand side. Also there is a long way to reach the far top right, whatever I end up doing with that area. As a minimum for growing from the current layout I'd want to be able to use the triangle in the top right (shown as 50x122x135cm), and the triangle starting from the bottom left of the current layout, to the wall next to where the bike is, and along the 80cm line to the bottom right of the current layout. This would give me nearly all curves however, which is why I'm interested in building to the left as well. I've put some 3rd radius curves for illustration, as I'd want the top right and left to get around as sharply as possible, opening out with wider or flex curves further around. Those sharper areas would most likely be covered up eventually. Example of 1ft wide boards all around. Same background sheet. Obviously great size operating well, not sure if it cuts too far into potential scenery options however. Example of 1.5ft wide boards all around. A good compromise I think, bearing in mind the possibility of moving the left side inwards to avoid window/curtain issues and the bottom run upwards if planning permission demands such. What I then did was cut out some templates of baseboards at a few 'standard' sizes - 4x2ft, 4x1.5ft, and some 2x1ft, to see if any combination of board widths stood out. This first one has much more a triangle (ignoring the curve to the far left) feel to it and was the smallest I could come up with that had a well and in theory decent run, however could be too many corners in reality so I don't think I'd pursue. Next was the below, moving to four sided, this gives back a fair bit of space to the room (brownie points, there would be clothes airers and desk/workbench towards the bottom left of the page). There's a bit of a straight run along the top but I'm not sure it gives enough overall, haven't discounted it yet. In this example I used 1.5ft apart from one side which is 1ft width, as an example where any sort of fiddle yard would mostly sit. It's got a couple of long straight sections although I'm not sure how wider boards in the middle of the room will appear, nor how I would eventually scenic it to be viewable from both sides. Finally an example with 1ft width along the middle of the room, whether scenery or storage yard. It could work, feels a bit of a waste of a long stretch on storage relative to how much area I have in total to use. On reflection the fiddle yard would probably work better if it included one of the sharp corners as they'll be hidden or covered in some way already. So I felt at a bit of an impasse after a couple of hours shuffling paper rectangles around. Any critique on what I've come up with so far would go some way in narrowing down my thoughts. Feel free to undo everything I thought I knew if I'm going about this in completely the wrong way, I just didn't want to appear lazy and turn up with nothing to show other than a vague notion. Thanks for taking the time to read and reply to clear some of the fog. I’m not in a particular rush as I’ve plenty of other things to be getting on with, but I don’t want it to stagnate for a few months with no progress. Tom

Thanks very much that's cleared up a lot of queries. I'll report back once I've done the work.

Hi guys, managed to get hold of a blue LNER Mallard (R2339) as per request of my son and it being his favourite since he got into trains beyond Thomas & Friends. Went to ebay and struck lucky on a detailed version within collection distance, saw it running there and I've run it at home however there's a few of the delicate fiddly/dangly bits missing that I've now come to addressing. Granted it's for a 4 year old so a fair chance of further rough handling but I'm happy to replace what I can for now as part of my enjoyment whilst we have a joint hobby. So I've taken some pics of where the obvious issues are and I also have some photos from a review to go on, along with the Hornby service sheet and general instructions for an A4, but being far from expert please add anything else I've missed.... First the tender, I've learned that these are brake rods, one side is missing and one is partly detached. I'm not sure if the tabs can be glued back into the holes and are too fragile to take much trying so I've looked into replacements, which come as a set for each side along with the chassis bottom, so if I replace I might as well just replace the lot instead of gluing. Only issue there is with the chassis bottom there is a wire that threads through a hole that presumably I'd have to cut to remove the old one, and solder once threaded back through the new one, which would be a pain as I don't have an iron as yet. On here I had to straighten the bottom most handle, and I've straightened the second from bottom as far as I dare without breaking, assuming the similar looking one at the top is to aim for, everything else seems in order? Finally at the other end it's missing the coupler, I believe it's an NEM type, and the slot was there but the actual hook etc not so. I've seen what look like the correct replacements in the local shop but by Bachmann, are they all interchangeable? (Could be a stupid question if NEM as I understand is a universal idea). At the front, I thought the hook(?) on the left should be vertically straight rather than diagonal, fortunately I looked at the review photos and it seems that is correct as appears. The decorative coupling seems ok but I'm not sure what the thing above covering the number 4 is, doesn't appear on the photos I looked at, maybe should be hanging down attached to the coupler? Seems like there should be something mounted above the same number 4 however it's missing and I believe not an individual part I could replace. Similarly on the left and right in the blue areas there are tabs where something was, or a detail part should go but I can't find anything, might be a headlight but no info on parts, is this where a better third party version might come in? The little black thing in front of the whistle I believe is straightened out correctly now. Again brake rods are missing, there's a stray bit of plastic hanging near a wheel which I can't tell where it should be. Hopefully come out if I get replacement rods. There's a lubricator/speedo referred to on the service sheet which I'd never heard of before. Seems there should be a long rod from the steps to the back wheel which is missing and something on the wheel, as for the lubricator(?) I can't figure out where it should be. The part that is there, horizontal under the valance seems to sit more under it than the review photos I saw? One final somewhat odd issue, not related to missing parts, is occasionally when I pick it up to look at and put back down, the front drive wheels don't sit on the track. There's a spring on the bogie which may be lifting it up? Hesitant to mess with it as sometimes it sits down fine, hard to see in the pics but it has a definite movement when pressing on the roof. Apart from that any other issues you notice on the pics let me know, or anything else to look out for. So far in my basket I'm looking at; Tender chassis bottom (X9331) Loco chassis bottom (X9326) NEM Couplings (X9289) - subject to Bachmann ones being incompatible, can get those from the local shop and do my bit Assembly bag for drain cocks (X5180) Speedo cable (X9338) Lubricator (X5275) Screw link coupler (X5069) Appreciate any advice or help, once I get all the parts together that I'm going to have it to bits for replacing, I also have this to clean out. I'm not sure if it been part of a 'loco stored in a field' diorama or poor effort with the scatter.... Many thanks Tom

First railway show I've attended although I've done several plastic modelling shows which are similar in nature. Many fantastic layouts and even those outside the 00 I've started in I could appreciate the work and take inspiration from them. I'd like to mention Burnham as it's so close to what I'd aspire to achieve even half of with an end to end layout of my own - era/trackplan/scenery/buildings/operation and so on. Being new I could have maxxed credit cards and alsorts on locos and all but I changed approach to only getting stuff that I couldn't get from the local shop when I need it, and only bits that will definitely get used. That and the fact I haven't fully committed to an era yet meant an engine shed kit from Freestone models was my only main buy, looking forward to try a different brand of card kit out. One area to comment on would be the food, the burger seemed to be choice of the day and when I was in the area around lunchtime and queuing the kitchen seemed to struggle with keeping up, by the time they had caught up with everybody waiting it was nearly empty again. Otherwise excellent and going by the leaflets it will be back next year.

Well done for making the trip, the layout looked great!