ajgraham

I let the models breathe for a couple of hours and the smell is virtually gone, probably 10% of what it was before. I can only smell it if I hold it close to my face. I hadn’t thought about tobacco, but thinking about it I’m surprised nothing I’ve received used has smelt like tobacco yet. I’m glad though as that would be harder to get rid of.

I buy a lot of my train related stuff used, mainly using Hattons trunk service as I live in the US. I’ve received at least a couple of locos that smell of mold, no visual signs but definitely a strong mold smell to both the model and packaging. So much so that they make a large room smell, although it does seem to dissipate. I happen to have an o-zone generator and have used it to nuke ants in a truck I used to own. I’ve read it works well on mold so I’m going to try it now. I did search here for any related discussions but didn’t see any so thought I’d mention it in case others run into the same issue.

Hi everybody, I'm in the process of building my layout based on 1980's Edinburgh and central Scotland, including Rannoch, Mossmorran, etc. in a 12' x 10' board. I've built the structure, and finishing the track and layout now. For the Anyrail image I've included the red lines are the different section boards, with the small lower right section either a lift-out or hinged section. I live close to Houston in Texas but will likely be moving in a couple of years so have designed this so it can be moved fairly easily. Will use Peco finescale track with DCC. It's mainly 3 loops with the inner being a rural branchline to Rannoch, middle line being suited towards HST/DMU, and outer being industrial for Petroleum (including refinery depot at Mossmorran) or Coal. I've added in Haymarket TMD as the layout will be diesel centric, but also added a small Steam siding close to Rannoch because I wanted a way to include both. The top half will be mainly urban and bottom half rural. The right side will have some sort of body of water, perhaps with some elevation for a bridge but I know that will be difficult depending on the incline. Stations aren't exact at the moment, they'll change at least a bit with Rannoch probably being wider so it's more realistic and Waverley changing so its less spartan. I know I'm cramming a lot in for the area and taking liberties in order to do this, but my aim was to balance location aesthetics, different scenery, and an interesting mix of rural, urban and industrial for entertainment when being used. Depending on where we end up moving house to I might have space for a truncated Forth Road Rail bridge, Leith terminal, etc. Any advice or improvements, particularly for the point work around Waverley (the crossing looks a little wonky), is appreciated.

Thanks for the comments, good to know I should have enough juice for the locos. I should have mentioned the layout image was a work in progress and I've changed some parts, although from a wiring perspective it's the same. My Windows computer isn't directly connected to the internet so getting images from Anyrail is a bit of a pain so I used an older version of the layout. I'll make a separate thread with more info on that.

Hi all, I'm just about to start laying track after having finally completed the structure woodworking. It's a fairly simple 12' x 8' OO gauge layout with 3 loops (each approx 30' in length), with only 1 decent sized siding. I've uploaded a layout plan, please ignore the loose track in the middle. I own a Digitrax DCC DCS52 Zephyr Express controller which supplies 3A power. I've been reading Larry Pucketts book on wiring layouts but I'm not sure if I'm looking at my layout too simplistically? Should I just wire 4 zones (3 loops and the siding marked Haymarket Depot). If I only run a maximum of 3 DCC Sound enabled locos at once am I likely to go over the 3A of the Digitrax controller? Any help is appreciated, Alex

After spending a small fortune in the last year with Hattons Trunk I got probably bargain of the year from them last week on a Scotrail DBSO: (That price excludes VAT as I’m in the U.S.) Never thought I’d see one for below £200 and I refused to pay that. “Ya Dancer” did get muttered several times after I snagged it.

Hi everyone, I joined a while ago but never got around to saying hello. I'm a British expat living just outside Houston, Texas. Used to play with Hornby sets as a youngster but got back into it seriously in the last 6 months. I'm building a 9 x 12 foot 1980's Scottish layout which will have versions of Waverley, Rannoch, Haymarket depot, Mossmoran refinery and some of the landmarks of those areas. My dad worked for Shell and my wife works for Exxon (Esso) so Mossmoran is a perfect amalgamation of that. It'll mainly feature the usual Class 37, 47, HST's, etc but I do love some other locos which aren't period correct so I'll throw in a Deltic, Class 66, and some steam locos. I've spent a fortune on trains and rolling stock already in the last 6 months with some rare models and I've designed the structure and plan to buy the framing Lumber tomorrow. If anyone lives around Houston feel free to message me.