Helmdon

Very much looking forward to one running on the GC extension in my house soon...

Exactly - my stud is an unashamed mix of top end high price (currently got the A2/3 and Precedent on order) and second hand where I’m happy with the tooling for about £100. And will continue to be. Horses for courses.

Not for my model of the GC extension in the 1950s..... not that it has stopped me, but it’ll be Lucknow and Genesis for me (both ordered)

Given we're not exactly swimming in vast numbers of LNWR models, I think you have to accept that joke being bashed to fit the situation, rather than us all sitting around waiting for the stars to align!

I think to be strictly accurate two of them will...

Lucknow going on pre-order imminently. Not my period, not my railway, but she just looks right. Destined to spend a lot of time in a display case at this address. Probably the only buy to date that I can say that for. Edited: now pre-ordered. Good job it's my 40th next week - can just about slip this in as a present to myself

As someone who doesn't even like football, it hasn't stopped me owning Leeds Utd and Leicester City. Although I must confess I am considering renumbering/naming LU as 61674 Moseley, to reflect my own season ticket! Just got to work out how to file down the ball to the right shape...

thanks - close enough for my my purposes. Helmdon was a standard LE island station so the platform ends under the bridge!

I had some drawings somewhere but can’t find them... can anyone please let me know (preferably in mm) how long a London extension platform should be in OO - Helmdon for preference? Nearly went and measured it myself earlier today but it’s vanishing rapidly under tree cover! thanks to anyone that can help

No, track level

staying away from any speculation pre-order or out of stock sounds much more final than that - I read it as no further deliveries from Hornby

To clarify I don’t mean just staying in the Aylesbury area so much as leaving the GW/GC Joint line at Princes Risborough to then go north to Woodford etc? guessing it wouldn’t have been the preferred option as a lot of unnecessary inter-regional running, but did it happen?

Morning, sure someone will know the answer... I’m modelling roughly Helmdon to Woodford Halse on the London Extension (deleting Culworth). I’m pretty happy with what GW locos worked over from Banbury to Leicester etc, but did any work south of Culworth Junction? Ie coming onto the extension metals (or leaving them) via the Princes Risborough spur? Not turning up much at the moment, although I’d be fine if I wanted LNER locos on the GW as I’ve found loads of those!

certainly do - I've just pre-ordered Steady Aim in BR e/e. not even right for my area (GC extension) but in for period so it'll have to be on a diversion... notwithstanding rule 1 I'm only allowing myself one "wrong" engine in the entire stud* and this is it. *call it rule 1a...

If someone did a RTR Thunderbolt in OO I'd bite their arm off but, yes not bothered by the rest of the early stuff

just waded through that... on the one hand, can’t believe they’ve not sorted that before they even got to market (unless It’s quality control so not affecting every unit, which feels likely). on the other, keeping fingers crossed because 1) I’m an L&B fan so wouldn’t be doing anything other than L&B in OO9 2) given the criteria in the first post it might end up being more of a diorama anyway and (though an expensive way of doing it) I’d be happy with that 3) given I’m starting from scratch and L&B specific, I can go with the right track work and radii to give myself a fighting chance! They’re long wheelbase locos and the L&B was more mainline anyway so thankfully wasn’t envisaging tight curves. Essentially I’m not trying to retrofit this loco onto an existing set up so much as starting with it and building outwards. Hopefully that will make things a bit easier. Famous last words. Anyway, all advice continues to be gratefully accepted!

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts. I know where I am (ish) with OO as I’ve been messing around with it since the the age of four! OO9 is new....

I have now... never been that far down before!

coreless with all wheel pick-up I think (from memory) thanks for the controller suggestion (although I don't know if the coreless motor changes that?) Any more stock would be of the order of a couple of wagons (L&B only really ran mixed trains, and then the train engine shunted the wagons on and off at intermediate stations!). Prototype is probably Bratton Fleming before it was rationalised at the start of the 30s - i.e. platform line, loop and 2 sidings off the loop. Then I can do a bit of shunting for interest. Almost certainly leaving it at one locomotive too, so no point in DCC.

Brand new Heljan Taw (everything else is on a budget, but the loco and coaches are straight out of the box)

Hi all, house move still on hold so the GC 1950s magnum opus remains in its boxes.... deep breath.... however, after saving money through not going to the pub for 4 months (or indeed anywhere else) I've accidentally indulged the other great railway passion of mine, the Lynton and Barnstaple, with the purchase of a locomotive and a couple of coaches. Initially this was with the intention of just having something nice to look at, but I was surprised that my wife is actively encouraging me to get on with building a small layout because (presumably) - she's worried about me getting cabin fever - she knows that all my stock and ancillaries for building a 16' x 12' GC magnum opus being in boxes is getting me down, and thinks I could work off some frustration on a small layout/diorama. The issue is that I know literally nothing about 009 so, if you were going to knock up something say 4'x2' - end to end as potentially modelling a yard so not chasing its tail, but wanted to use cheap and cheerful track, controller, etc what would you buy?* At the moment as I say I've got a loco and 2 coaches so this really is starting at the bottom and doing it on the cheap. Feel a bit out of my depth really but at least it's keeping me occupied outside work! thanks for any thoughts. *this is going to get knocked up relatively quickly ideally -I don't want to make it disposable exactly, but at the same time if we move before Christmas(!) then I'll be straight onto the bigger project so it really is filling in time more than anything.

Thanks - the "Celebration of Steam" is a new one on me, I've got the other 2 - will search it out. Unfortunately I'm focused on Woodford Halse as my MPD (condensed down to 4 road shed for reasons of space) but with the turning triangle, cenotaph, etc, with the line south from there as far as Helmdon viaduct (editing out Culworth) so little scope for any of the top link passenger stuff to be on shed. My loco list above is right for Woodford in the 50s (minus the D11/1 but that's a bit of GC mascot for me even though it would have been rarely south of Nottingham (and occasionally Leicester) by then). Annesley is a location I'm dimly aware of by comparison to near total immersion in the stretch roughly Woodford Halse to Calvert!

thanks - I think I'll just crowbar it in somehow. I'm a bit of Thompson fan so it would be good to do it - and the smart GC timings would have given them an opportunity to show what they could do, although the lighter loadings wouldn't have needed it. Even when the A3s came onto the London Extension I think the V2s were coping...

yes if all else fails (pun intended) - the other obvious gap for the route is the A3 but I've never liked them so it can stay a gap.

thanks, that's what I think too sadly, unless anyone out there knows different. such a shame, when I've managed to turn up pretty well everything else* interesting from the big 4 (and the GT3) - oh well. I'm strictly LNER with the odd GW interloper though, no interest in Duchesses or Bulleid pacifics (both of which *are* ok for the route) Current stud: L1 O1 O4 O7 D11/1 Modified Hall K3 B1 B17 J11 V2 coming when the new one is released then that's me done I think (until someone does a B16). Just got to find a way of crowbarring in the A2/3...