Keith Addenbrooke

Thank you for these ideas and kind comments. A South American line could be fascinating, but I’m afraid I know very little about South America and hardly anything about its railways, so I don’t have a personal connection to really stimulate sustained layout building. Swiss railways perhaps give me a similar challenge. I’ve never actually visited Switzerland, so even though their mainline Narrow Gauge network looks ideal for someone with my range of interests - and I’m clearly taken with their trains, I have stronger personal connections with Austria, Germany and North America (in particular). While I think about how best to focus my thinking, I’ve quickly redone the end pieces for the Depot / Station I’ve started, using a bit of free time to see if I could easily smarten them up. I’m also redesigning the Station so it will look a bit less like Skagway in Alaska and a bit more European. The photo highlights the minor flaws and reveals the limit of my skills, even with the new version on the right. I am however hopeful though that, by the time I’ve covered the edges, I ought to be able to do a passable job of a building in better condition, which is helpful to know. I’ve also rescued the chassis from beneath my undersized passenger car for reuse: I’ve kept the roof as well - I expect it will reappear at some future point too.

Thank you - happy to endorse Contikits as a satisfied customer (no other connection) - it is where I got the Ge 4/4 i from 😀

Ooh, that’s interesting! Like yourself, I really enjoy catching up with this thread - always entertaining, informative and good natured (even though my own models aren’t themselves Deliberately Old-Fashioned 0 Scale). So… …I’ve just posted an update in my own current layout thread about several things, including how best to integrate my latest purchase, and then I turn to here and see your photo. And what is it I’ve bought? Yup - the green Swiss electrics got me too 😀.

As it’s a couple of months since I began this thread, I thought it would be good to take stock of where I’ve got to (I read through the parallel thread I have on the NGRM Online Forum yesterday, and an earlier version of this post appears there too): I was more than happy with the momentum I was able to build during April - as noted by @Woody C here at the time. I was able to finalise a simple layout design I like and build my sub-frame baseboards. But three things since then have rather derailed progress on the layout. I’ve had plenty of fun trying new ideas and practicing some modelling, and received much helpful advice and encouragement - thank you @JZ, @BernardTPM and all, but I’ve realised more of this thread has been about aspects of my modelling not directly related to building the layout, and it may help if I get myself back ‘on track’ now. What’s happened is this: 1. Wet weather in May prevented me from moving on to paint the baseboards as that’s an outside activity here. As the layout will be portable (resting on tables), I need to paint the subframes and boards before moving on to tracklaying. 2. I had some clearing out to do. A collection of bags had built up on the way to the attic room where the layout will go, waiting to go to local charity shops once they were able to take donations again (after their re-opening rush). Additionally, the outbuilding / store I can use to keep boards while paint (etc) dries had become stuffed full of rubbish and recycling waiting to go to the local tip - again, once the re-opening queues subsided. A third pile, this time of mouldy old carpets and Lino removed from our cellar last Summer, was being kept in a second outbuilding - formerly the outside toilet - and also needed disposing of. There is an unbuilt layout story behind this, which is discussed elsewhere on RMweb (GW Branch Line - A Cellar Layout?). I’m happy to say all three piles have been now been cleared. 3. The third thing however is that the room I can use is now needed over the Summer and won’t be available for the next three months. We have no other spare rooms, so it means slowing down anyway. However, my enthusiasm has not been affected, and my ideas have continued to race ahead of me, accelerating way beyond even where I’d hoped to have got to by now. It’s all good stuff but I can see I’ve gone several steps beyond my first layout in my thinking. I tried not to plan too much - as I’ve spent the past two years falling over every time I make a plan - but maybe a little ‘project plan’ would now be helpful. So that’s what I’m thinking about: I’ve been reminded of a quote from German modeller Karl Gebele I read when designing this layout: “The overall visual appearance of a model railway layout, regardless of its size, should be to look consistent and balanced.” Very wise! But if I bring together the different bits I’ve bought or made so far, that’s not the picture I’ll get: for example, look closely at this photo of my first attempt in card: The purpose of the photo was to highlight the difference in coupler heights - but I completely missed the basic beginner’s mistake I made with the height of the doors on my Combine (the dimensions of the later plasticard version below are the same); the taller clerestory roof I added initially ‘hid’ my error: It was good experience scratchbuilding my first passenger car, but I’ve a way still to go yet. And how will my wonderful Bemo overhead electric actually look alongside the intentionally rough backwoods American Depot I’ve started (even putting to one side the geographical anachronism)? So I’m thinking I need to work on my consistency, and make a distinction between those things I’m building for this layout, and those things I’m trying out for later. Hopefully that will make a bit of sense, and help me move towards the goal of an operating layout, even if progress is slow. As always, advice from those who’ve done this (in some cases many times over) is welcome. Thanks, Keith.

Credit where credit is due: I’m a long-standing customer of Hattons, going back to the days of their original Smithdown Road shop near where I was working in Liverpool at the time. I phoned them on Saturday morning, having discovered two small but essential components were missing from a Peco 00-9 bogie kit I’d purchased a couple of weeks back but not previously opened. No problem at all - this morning the missing bits arrived in the post. Prompt attention and Customer Service for a small value item is appreciated, and worth noting. Thank you.

In our case it was the Chemistry teacher, who was also the head of Science, who dropped the white phosphorous - onto the old wooden lab floor - that started the fire… …it is one lesson I can still remember .

Thanks for this. So far I’m finding I’m having fewer problems with the H0e couplers than I have done in the past with couplers in the other scales I’ve used. The Peco GR-106 bogie / coupling comes as a simple kit, so they can be assembled with or without the loops - you can therefore have a rake with loops just on one end. Conversely, some H0e locos come with just the hooks, including the Bemo electric I have (June 4th post above) and - I think - the Minitrains range. I’m not sure I’ve ever come across a coupling solution (in any scale) that has met with universal approval: it does seem to be a bugbear in our railway modelling world.

Just a little bit of free time at the end of this afternoon: I repeated the exercise in HOn30 so I could do a comparison between the 1/4” scale car side and a quick HOn30 version. After yesterday’s experiment, the HOn30 did feel a bit small again! As with the Depot I’m building, each coffee stirrer was split in two (or three) width wise before gluing in place. The door was actually a separate sub-assembly.

A bit more time at the end of yesterday saw me get a bit further. I did like the look and feel of the model - and the attraction of a larger scale is immediately obvious. I was still cutting quite a lot of coffee stirrers to fit, though it would be easier on a building. I certainly found I liked working with the wood more. Realistically, I can’t see me moving up to 1/4” wholescale, so the question this exercise asks me is to see if I can achieve the same easy results in HOn30, both for buildings and rolling stock? Can I make things I find as attractive?

Hi Liam, nice to see the update - afraid I know nothing about DCC so can’t offer any help there. With regards to the other questions, there are some really good photos of Ardmore, OK posted by @dave1905 on pages 8 and 9 of my layout thread: “Modelling the ATSF in 1970 in HO” (link in my signature below) that may be useful, particularly with regards to grain unloading operations. Hope they help, Keith.

Not yet having the layout up and running, I guess I’m quite easily distracted - so I took some time out for a bit of fun: Most of the examples of coffee stirrer technology I’ve seen have been in O Scale / On30 Narrow Gauge, so I thought it’d be interesting to do a simple build in the larger scale, just for a break from splitting coffee stirrers into two. Using American O-Scale (1/4” or 1:48), 9mm track would give me a gauge of 17.0” - taking me into the realms of Minimum Gauge / Miniature Railways. But what if it had been used for some long-forgotten narrow gauge backwoods railroad? Passenger cars on the Maine 2’ varied in width between around 6’ and 6’6”, so I first made some templates 6’3” wide to check for clearance on my tight curves and using standard Peco GR-106 bogies (trucks). I went for a ‘shortie’ 20’ car length, being half the scale length of the maximum I’ve allowed myself for HOn30 (so about the same length). Five79 have also announced some 20’ cars, though I’ve not seen any pictures (if not new, they may be former Chivers kits?). I drew out some templates in card, for a combination Passenger Combine and Caboose with a cupola rather than a clerestory: As usual, I’ve either underestimated how long it will take, or overestimated how much free time I have, so I only finished the wood pieces for one door and side!

Thank you - I’m happy it’s worth continuing so I can see what I can come up with. The next stage looks like this: I’ll be transferring further progress on this to my layout thread in the Narrow Gauge Modelling Forum (A Narrow Gauge Misadventure - a first layout in H0e). Thanks, Keith.

Having satisfied myself I can work with coffee stirrers, I’ve made a start on my first wooden building. I’m beginning with the same the cereal-packet card approach I found worked OK with “Home Depot” that I scratchbuilt for the Spring 2021 RMweb cakebox competition, and pictures of my design and first test pieces were posted in that thread (June 5th posts onwards, page 3 of: Home Depot - a Lockdown Cakebox). I’m building another Depot, this time based on a US Narrow Gauge prototype that’s a bit different and caught my eye. I’ve started with the end pieces (note: they are supposed to be different heights): Although coffee stirrers are perfect for On30 (and equivalent) modelling, I found them to be too wide for H0n30, so each one has to be split in two first (weirdly, the oversize ones seem to be OK for inside the building though!). I also found that the card template behind them warped after they were glued on, hence the stiffeners and L-beams for the corners. The window frames are just a lattice of painted cereal packet card strips glued in place, with glazing from an offcut of office laminating sheet. I can see why commercial windows are popular amongst scratch builders - they are a bit fiddly and I’ve only done three so far! I think this build will take a while - but I can make it in stages, and for the cost of a packet of coffee stirrers (less than £5 for 1000) and a bit more time I’m hoping to produce a model of a station I saw as a laser cut kit on sale for about £100. Keith.

A productive day’s work and an unexpected free evening have given me some rare ‘Monday modelling time’ - enough to quickly put together a second test piece using split coffee stirrers. Making the components was the longest part of the job, but I simplified the assembly process by cutting out the card template to fix the wood before final trimming to size: Comparing the two pieces tells its own story: It looks like I’ve given myself a lot more work to do. I suppose it reminds me why we get three months to build a cakebox model! A few more preparatory posts here than I’d expected, but I think I can say with more confidence now that I’ve got all the information I need. It just remains to say thank you for reading on to this additional end point. Take care, Keith.

Hi Jim, thank you for this - a perfect answer, much appreciated. I really enjoy videos of Swiss railways (prototype and model) but have never had the chance to visit the country myself. I’ve only recently made an intentional start with H0e modelling, which has opened up a whole new world of possibilities I’m really enjoying. Thanks again, Keith.

Hi there. I’m wondering if I might tap into the knowledge and experience of the Swiss Modelling Forum for some advice. I’ve gone and bought myself a second-hand green-liveried Bemo RhB Ge 4/4i 605 - Silvretta for my H0e layout because, well, I really liked it 😀: It’s an incredibly detailed model, and not something I’d ever normally expect to be able to afford, so I’m very happy. But I must confess to knowing very little about Swiss Railways, or about how to look after my new purchase. So I have a number of questions: Prototype 1. I think the RhB introduced the Ge 4/4i class from 1947 onwards, and the green livery with full-width ‘running-boards’ across the ends represents the initial version as delivered. Is that correct? (I think there were slightly later green versions with a small, drop-down running plate just in front of the central front door, but I may be mis-reading photos). If I’m right, then it fits Epoch III, which is perfect for me. I think the later, full rebuild without the front door and red livery would be too modern for me: I think that’s 1980s onwards? 2. The model has the original twin pantographs. I think most overhead electrics run with one or the other raised rather than both, but I’m not sure if there is / was a convention as to whether the leading or trailing pantograph would normally be raised? Model Starting with the obvious, this is an H0e version rather than H0m. It looks to have been made as H0e rather than re-gauged and runs well, so I have no concerns there. It is however quite an old model, as it came in an orange box (c. 1990 or before?) and came without instructions (fair enough). I’m therefore wondering: 1. When the pantographs are lowered (as here), should the ‘clips’ that hold it in place be engaged on both sides, or just one side? I don’t want to force / break anything? Apologies for the bad photo - the green side is engaged, the blue side is loose in this shot: For a model of this vintage, it’s be understandable if a metal clip had become bent through use, hence my question. 2. Is there any advice on lubrication to keep the motor / wheels in good working order? The seller suggested the only problems they’d had with Bemo products was people over-lubricating them (easily done). Related to this, is there a technique for removing the body so I don’t break or damage anything? I’m hoping the loco will continue to run well for a number of years. I was advised by members of the NGRM Online Forum before I made the purchase that finding matching rolling stock to run on my tight H0e curves could be difficult, so no complaints on my part there - in that respect I’m a freelancer anyway. Any advice will be gratefully received. Thanks, Keith.

Having slept on it, the thought crossed my mind that I could compare my planking sample against other HO buildings I already have, not just next to a person: Against the bricks in particular, I think the wood does look too big. Even if I don’t incorporate these particular buildings on this layout, it equally may not make sense to rule out the possibility of using brick at all. I should probably make a second test piece with narrower planks and see how that looks next time I do some modelling. (The absence of an interior in the restaurant is very obvious at this angle, but this isn’t the normal view).

Just had a catch-up: very enjoyable. As others have said, thanks for sharing the journey, Keith.

Thank you - that’s what I’m hoping 😀. As for the outside, I’ve done a test with a small end wall section to see how it looks if I don’t split the coffee stirrers: To me - and this is my subjective opinion - the oversize planks are only noticeably far too big when I focus on those bits above the door and window. I’m going to ponder this for a couple of days to see if it bothers me enough to start splitting the planks. The main trackside wall will be largely obscured by a canopy when viewed from the proposed operating position in the planned layout, so I may get away with it. But I have at least three more buildings to do after this one, so I’m committing myself to a lot of extra work if I go for it. My planks are also 20’ long (70mm in 3.5mm scale), but the proportions look reasonable to me, which I think helps hide this anomaly - but I’ve been looking at them all afternoon, so I may be fooling myself! The ‘quick win’ appears to be with the door panels. It is actually just one piece of painted cereal packet card stuck behind the doorframe. I deliberately tried not to be too smooth with the paint, and to me it does look as wooden as the desk: The half-term break is now over, but I’ve managed to make enough progress over the weekend to give me a feel for what I’m doing with this one - which probably means it’s a good time to pause anyway. Take care and stay safe, Keith.

I thought this might be worth sharing as well before moving on - even if this photo is perhaps the least inspiring thing being posted to RMweb today: Mindful that this building has bigger windows (and a glass-fronted door to the tracks), I need at least a proper base inside. So here are my first 40 coffee stirrers. Even using fast acting Roket Card Glue it’s taken a while to lay the wooden floor, as each piece needed to have one rounded end cut off before it was trimmed to size. This is going to be the disadvantage of working with individual pieces! I therefore decided to live with the oversize dimensions noted by @ManofKent, as it would have taken even longer to split each plank. On the plus side however, it does look like wood 😀.

I’ve been experimenting (successfully) with a couple of scratchbuilt pieces of rolling stock, producing a finished version of the Combine pictured above and a simple wood-sided open freight car - which I built to see how I got on with coffee stirrer technology. I’m now making a start on another Depot model, which I’m hoping will end up with proper wooden planking sides made from the coffee stirrers. To help get me started, I’m also using some of the techniques I tried first with Home Depot, as I’ll be building around a card inner structure made out of cereal packet card (hence the post here). I’m not sticking quite as closely to a prototype this time. A Busch laser-cut wood-sided American Depot kit caught my eye, which is based on the White Pass and Yukon Depot at Skagway. As I want it for my Narrow Gauge layout, the Depot at Skagway fits the bill for this scratchbuild (the WP&Y is a 3’ gauge railroad). It’s not a typical American Depot - but of course I’ve already got one of those . The Busch model has been narrowed front-to-back, and does not include the adjacent tourist shop. After looking at photos and taking a Google Streetmap tour of the area to check out the prototype, I’ll be taking the same approach to fit my space. I’ve also shortened the trackside dimensions a bit and taken out one window on each side. This means my first stage was to draw a plan to work to using my dimensions: I’ve then transferred these dimensions onto the card and cut out the windows and door panels so I can paint the edges: I’ve made life a bit easier for myself this time by leaving the window frames as part of this inner structure - when I overlay the card with coffee stirrers, they should look like proper window frames. I’ll probably post updates in my Narrow Gauge Layout thread when the building starts to take shape (link in my signature below), but as the build is beginning where I left off with my cakebox scratchbuild, I thought it would be nice to start here. Keith.

Thanks Johnny - I’d forgotten about that one: thanks for the reminder. It was a really nice layout, Keith.

Thanks for the clarification - I’ve edited the title and my opening post to acknowledge this. Thanks, Keith.

I don't plan on posting videos on a regular basis, but with today being a day for test running, it was the best way to record things. I set up a simple Setrack test track which deliberately included S-curves through crossovers (which I avoided in my layout plan). The first thing I wanted to test was the slow running possible with a Gaugemaster Combi controller I've bought to replace my 1970s H&M Powermaster. The second thing was to see how well my scratchbuilt rolling stock would run. So, if you want to spend a couple of minutes: Needless to say, I'm more than happy with the results of the test (the controller can run even slower than shown in the video). The 'bump' in the track on the right hand end is from a badly laid track joint (You can actually see where I missed the fishplate!). The roof on the Combine is not stuck on yet, so doesn't quite fit right. Apart from that, it's all good. I've also bought a second locomotive - a Bemo electric: It should be an H0m model as it's of a Swiss metre-gauge prototype (Bemo have offered it in both), but it was the locomotive I liked and it runs well. It doesn't change my layout plans, but means I can concentrate on other things now over the summer, as I won't be looking at locomotives again for a good while. Have a good weekend, Keith.

It seems a shame to hide this conversation on contractors' narrow gauges in the UK here on page 3 of this conversation, so I've posted a separate topic in the Narrow Gauge Prototype section of the Forum with a link to the top of this page. Hope that's OK - thank you for the contributions, interesting reading (it's an area I don't think I've ever thought about before). Keith.