Traintresta

The D&H got rid of its C628’s in 78’. They got rid of all 6 axle power at that time with the exception of some U33C’s, they added more ex-CR U33C’s later on. Are you sure it was 81’? Or could they have been U33’s?

I have mixed my own, baring in mind it sometimes varies on the real thing I try not to get to worried about exact matches.

A wonderful sound! This layout is inspiring.

That’s a real shame. I was saving up to order from them! Plano Models are winding down their range, we are losing a lot of useful suppliers.

Less is more or keep it simple and all that jazz. Either way it’s best to make those changes before you get too far, interesting to see the progress.

Seconded, it would be nice to see a track plan.

Looks interesting. Unfortunately I don’t live anywhere near Farnham anymore but I’d like to see more of this layout.

Don’t think I’ve seen an apparently freshly painted Guildford unit without an orange stripe before, as #213 appears up there.

All of these were the reasons dad brought some athearn and roundhouse equipment back from when on a business trip. As for alco’s, I’m currently putting together a decent fleet of the things.

I think that’s it in a nutshell, it’s still has plausibility. and as such there is ample research material and real life example to feed off of to find the everyday routines the real thing has to go through just to get a car where it needs to go.

It’s true that kicking a few cars around with a loco is one of the major draws of US modelling. Both my dad and I have ping ponged between US and British interests for years but the operation of a US layout is what draws us in each time so we’re both sticking with it.

Nice to hear you’re trying HO NA modelling, eyesight can be a trouble for us all but in my opinion this is the best of scales and topics. Looking forward to seeing some track plan ideas.

It’s a different layout. The Lance mindhiem style layout didn’t really get off the ground for various reasons. I agree on 4’ curves but likewise don’t have that sort of space.

I am currently tracklaying on my HO layout (North American) and have included a 30" radius curve with transitions to negotiate corner at the exit to the staging. It looks much smoother than hitting the full radius curve from the straight but I always find that I'm never satisfied with my curves, I always want a larger radius!

I’ve always enjoyed my locos unpainted, especially with the addition of cannon parts, but there is something about seeing it come together in a coat of paint. what’s the freelance railroad for this one?

It is one of the advantages but it also has many pitfalls, you can easily fall into the 'one of everything' trap and get distracted by unnecessary projects. Speaking from experience so now I stick to a prototype theme but have a wealth of knowledge of things such as chop nosed GP's from researching almost every variable conceived.

The number of times I’ve built a cannon can and forgot the lights! looks like it’s coming on and will look the part when completed. Is this freelanced?

I've been away from DCC for about five years but fully intend to add DCC and sound fitted loco's to the layout I am currently building. I'm currently debating the future of an old Atlas/Kato (Yellowbox) RS-3, as the motor has quite a loud whirring noise and there is a little grinding sound coming from one of the trucks, but I cannot find anything wrong! I have serviced the loco and applied small amounts of silicone grease on the gear and worm screws, and a very tiny touch of oil into the motor bearings but nothing has changed. My question is, how noisy a motor can you hide with DCC sound? I've always admired quieter motors and previous DCC installs were on relatively quiet loco's so I don't suppose I've ever thought about this before, but the question is will that noise be heard over the sound of a decoder? Now I know there's always the choice of volume to factor into this so I'll say that I do not intend to have the loco's particularly loud as I do find lots of noise becomes uncomfortable but I do like prime mover sounds as a loco moves back and forth. Has anyone got any thoughts or experience on this issue?

Makes a bit more sense now and looks good. Keep us posted.

I can’t quite figure out where your helixes are so I’d be interested in seeing construction photos. The completed scene with the pair of U-boats looks great! Wasn’t there a real East Carolina Rwy? The name sounds familiar but I could be confusing it with a subsidiary of Southern.

Early geeps had a longer nose than that of the GP30 onwards. It might have been better to have started with on of the longer noses like the 116” snoot. I think the Canadian 105” nose would be an almost perfect fit but they are hard to find as I think it was Smokey Valley who make them. Several prototypes installed a new electrical cabinet behind the cab that pushed the cab forward, this in turn allowed the new nose to fit perfectly but I think many of these also used a new cab sub base, which, may be more work than you are looking for.

Correct. UP has been storing locos here for years.

They are general electric GEVO locomotives but from that distance it would be hard to tel the specific mode type.

Yes it is, but some scales/gauges require a lot more than others. I will be scratchbuilding most of my structures because of the footprints, but there's a limit to how much I wasn't to do hence there's no appeal in S right now for me. Wasn't aware this was the case, have to admit I've not looked at it that closely. Begs the question why?

I had the opportunity to observe and operate a small S scale switching layout at the NMRA British Region convention in Bournemouth around 10-15 years ago and I was very impressed with the size/scale of it. The one thing that stops me modelling in S is the lack of availability of products to get running. Now, I know what you're going to say: scratchbuild and kitbash. I have scratchbuilt and kitbashed stuff and as enjoyable as it is, I don't want my whole hobby to be about that, I don't want to have to spend all my time doing that just to get up and running. I wouldn't mind hand-laying my track with Peco products or by soldering to copper clad but I'm not wanting to have to build absolutely everything. Anyway, the OP's question is an interesting one given that Peco have just released a range of TT track products to help the 3mm scale modellers along their way. It begs the question (in my mind) do we have too many scales/gauges? Or does the market need to saturate all of the scale/gauges to satisfy everyone in the hobby? Certainly if TT modelling was to become more mainstream people would start to ask the question of why would I make the jump to HO/OO when it's not that much larger? So then S becomes a more attractive proposition but I can't help but feel it's going to take far longer than I have on this earth (I'm not quite 40) before it becomes a realistic possibility. And with that I plod on making models of North American prototypes in HO, in a medium sized bedroom in Yorkshire.