Jaggzuk

Interesting article on the way of toys, children and play in a modern tech and media focused world.  The inclusion of technology and links to the entertainment industry being key to toys success.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2016/feb/15/lego-up-and-Hornby-down-whats-what-in-the-world-of-toys

Here are just few thoughts on tech to build into model railways to grab today's childrens attention and yes I know some do already exits

DCC, of course

Sound, yes, but has to be so much cheaper

Driver's eye camera view

More integration with tablets and smartphones

Record and playback

Role play, driver/signalman

Love the layout your have created a very nice look and feel with great atmosphere. I especially like the semaphore to colour light transition.  

Out on my work travels a while back I came across this signal at Shildon.  A brand new semaphore, but to modern access standards.  All the signals at Shildon were new semaphore and can easily be see in daylight from the NRM museum and the station.

I posted a more detailed description here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/9796-a-modern-semaphore-signal/?p=577607

Hi Rumblestripe

Great review and some really useful pointers and how-tos.  

I am seriously considering one of these kits, however I notice that there are quite a few variations of the kit and what model of airbrush you can get.  So can you offer any review/details as to how well the airbrushes you got with your kit have performed?  I am particularly interested in the how each unit feels in the hand, easy of use, trigger control, quality of spray and how easy you found to clean and dismantle them.

Any advice much appreciated.

It is interesting to read a lot of comments on this topic about demographics and who the model railway manufactures audience (paying punters) is.  This has got me thinking about my own kids and what they play with.  Railways (toys trains) actually exist in many guises and in fact there are lot of train toys out there being played with; the Lego City theme, Brio, Tomy Trackmaster, Chuggington, Thomas, all of which have trains and track, none of which is OO and are not a representation of real railways, locos or stock..

What is fundamental is the play ability of the toy and how easily the initial train set can be expanded whether it be through brand new purchases or second hand.  Our set of brio is now huge thanks to various car boot purchases, freebie hand me downs and new Christmas/birthday presents.  So we need to realise that kids are actually playing with trains (and watching on TV) in many forms, not just OO ones and therefore there is a huge potential market out there which has the ability to capture the railway mind.

What this all leads to is the kids building a layout in what every brand form it is, playing and using their imagination in creative play.  Now as mine have gotten older we are building a OO model railway 8x4 layout and from the age of 2 1/2 to 46 we are all having fun.  I get to run my supper detailed stock and the boys get to run their Railroad and lots of second hand stock.  But we are also slowly buying new stock typically both the less super detailed stuff (cheaper and robust) as well as from the higher spec end.

What I am thinking is that for the younger generation to get in to trains and general modelling, there could be a considerable expansion of the generic OO trains offering with robust bodies but keeping the development of DCC, TTS Sound and new good quality motors.  And this does not just have to be models of real trains but anything that offer a great playing experience with expandability that keeps the kids happy and involved.  Using a common OO track base would also allow for crossover between themes.

I still remember the Yellow Pages advert for a Hornby R186 signal box and the Dad's huge layout in the attic with very fond memories.  I have discovered the fun to be had just playing and watching trains with the boys and not worrying too much about the super fine realistic detail.

Most of hornbys income is from men aged between 45-105 I'd wager, not through new entrants. I go to toys r us a lot as I have two kids - sadly the pile of train sets doesn't diminish much. And I know of NO kids my kids know that have or want a train set , and I bet 99.9% have never heard of Hornby.

 

I think people enter this hobby through older relatives with an interest or through having an interest in the real size trains of today ( which is why contemporary stuff is still popular ). Other than that I'm afraid you won't compete with ' minecraft ' on the iPad.

 

It's not 1980 anymore I'm afraid.

Sure the 40+ could be seen as the big spenders, but the reason 40+ get in to modelling is that we are more likely to be getting 'back' in to modelling.  We are of the generation of pre-computers and we did modelling as a child hobby, be it railways, aircraft, cars etc,  So some of 40+ now have more time, money etc. as the kids start to grow up and leave home.  We need a hobby.

Sure there is much to grab a child’s attention these day, in fact too much probably.  But it is down to us parents with an interest in model railways to share it with our kids/grandkids and hopefully show the virtues of modelling' as a hobby/past-time.  And in turn set the next modelling generation on the right course.

But lets look at Hornby as a whole, my 5 year old son thoroughly enjoyed making one of the new Airfix ‘Lego styled’ kits at Christmas; the Spitfire looked just superb!, I think that was a fantastic development for the range and moves it on.  But why stop there, Lego now has a Minecraft range, we can control our trains using Smartphone, so the cross-over in to today modern tech and gaming is there for the exploitation and keep the younger generation interested.  Take Lego they always produce new ranges to tie in with big block buster films.  So the likes of Hornby and others need to diversify and be creative to keep their brand alive, especially in a child’s mind.  Mine DO know who Hornby is and that is because I have shown them; the 5 year old knows the different between a Red box and a Blue box

As for not know any other kids who are into trains, well that should not a blanket situation I feel, I live in a small village and there is at least one other family with a model trainset and trains are quite often run on each other loops of track.  Maybe we are just lucky, but the seed is hopefully sown.

No it' not 1980 anymore, but boy do I wish there was more BR Blue being sold in the Red box and Blue box ranges!!  I would buy a lot more stock if there was.  The manufactures need to know who is coming into the hobby with spare cash, the 70’s and 80’s child and that was a great time to be a diesel/electric Train Spotter.  Now I want as a 40+ to model a layout full of BR Blue and Sectorisation stock.

I only hope things are not a brick wall at the end of the tunnel.

We have a name at last for the layout! After some consultation with son number 1, the Station is to be called Fox Wood Park.

Basically I asked him what his favourite animal was and where does he like to play and this is what we ended up with. Mind you we did have a couple of false starts one being Guinea Pig Attic.

Next is to find names for the two tunnels and the junction under the flyover.

Very valid point and as the layout is in our converted attic it does get a bit hot up there. So I will not solder any more joints. Fortunately I have only soldered a handful of joints so far.

A quick update of the track plan to show all the dropper locations.  This was quite a good exercise as I have found one dropper which is the wrong side of a fish plate joint for the toe of a point.  A quick solder of the joint should rectify this.

I have applied the following "rules" for dropper locations:

1. At the toe of every point, if not at the toe, then the point fish plates are soldered to the joining track with a dropper feed.
2. A feed to every line that ends at a buffer stop.
3. A feed to every section of track at approx 3 foot intervals.
4. And as I have used quite a bit of Setrack for my curves, I have added a feed to make sure there is no single piece of track without a soldered connection either from a dropper or by soldering fish-plate joints to adjacent dropper fed track.

My new home for the next couple of nights.

Not being able to flip the layout on to its' side, for fear of bending it along the joints, I am going to have to solder all the droppers to the DCC Bus on my back!!

I have completed the soldering of 35 pairs of droppers to the track around the layout and installed the Bus. So far I have connected 15 pairs to the Bus.

Station droppers

Droppers soldered to the DCC Bus

We also had a great time testing all the laid track today on DCC; surprisingly I am able to electrify the whole layout (excluding the engine shed and headshunt) with just three track connections! Testing took the form of slow and fast running the shorted loco, a Hornby 0-4-0 Southern steam and the longest, a Hornby Railroad Class 66. There we no derailments and only one dead section of track was found leading in to the lower good yards. This was solved by temporally connecting the adjacent droppers.

I am really pleased that my track laying is up to scratch and the curved radii and the Settrack insulfrog points have not caused me any problems

A quick question to end with, DCC Bus, should I go a fully connected loop or a single radial bus with dead end? Any advice?

After get one more length of concrete sleeper track, last night I managed to complete all the track laying,  which I am really please with. 

The other event today was the postman delivered a rather nice blue box containing a superb Class 20 in red stripe Railfreight livery.  This was quite a bargain from Train Shack, me thinks, at £81 with free postage! http://www.track-shack.com/acatalog/Bachmann-32-045-Class-20-20118-Saltburn-by-the-Sea-BR-Railfreight-Red-Stripe-Bachmann-32-045.html    Some £16 cheaper than others on-line. So now with my other BR Blue 20, I can now run some rather nice double header MGRs or Speedlink services; one of my real days-gone-by passions.

Back to the track,  everything appears to run OK round all the loops, but is is obvious I need to get some practice at being a signalman - two trains, one DC controller and conflicting set routes equals an oops! It does make me think about the possibility of creating some form of simple route setting protection.  Perhaps a simple dead section of track which is energised when the point is changed?  Any suggestions? 

I am now going to focus on all the electrics and getting the points motored up and linked with a control panel,  yet to be made.

Class 20 double head on MGRs, running on new concrete sleepered track.

Back in 2012 George Dent did a rather nice detail upgrade to a Railroad Class 31.  

http://georgedentmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/brushing-up-gronk.html (note, the web link refers to a Gronk, but will actually be the Class 31)

In part 3 you can see the washer jet "ears" have been added.

I have only pined the track so far and left the heads slightly proud until I have done all the wiring and checked there are no derailments areas. Then I shall do all the ballasting after which I will remove all the pins as the PVA glue and ballast should hold all the track in placd. The only exception will be where I have curved joints in the flexi track I will leave the pins in just to ensure the fish plate joints all stay true.

In the main this is because I either end up bending the sleepers down by over hammering or you have unsightly pin heads everywhere.

Agree that the 31s do respond well to basic detailing parts and adding those little ears on the front either side of the centre window (what are they actually?!).

Windscreen washer jets cowlings I think.

Three great locos there and a good base for adding extra details at a later date. I keep thinking about the Hornby Railroad Class 31 in BR Blue as it is such a good price now. They were as you say such a common sight in blue. Just curious what make is your 31?

If you get any sluggish running problems with older stock, I have found a bit of an oil to all the running bearing etc makes a positive difference.

A few productive evenings and one full day has allowed me to get most of the track laid!!

I started by laying the track at the station area first, as this alignment would dictate the actual position of the curved loops.  I printed out the track plan (again) and taped this to the baseboard.  I then cut and pinned all the flexi-track and points on top of the plan.  Once happy, I then pulled the plan out from underneath the track tearing it round all the track pins.  I was then free to set out all the gradient curves from the station approaches and this did not need any plans, just a mix of setrack 2nd and 3rd radius and a bit of flexi over the flyover.  Best tool used so far, Xuron Track Cutters, well worth the money and have made track laying much more of a pleasure!!  http://xuron.com/index.php/main/consumer_products/3/13

Once all the cures were in, I then finished off with the low level junction and then finally the lower goods yard.

All that is now left is the outer loop which I have decided to do in concrete sleeper, which I now need to buy.

I am really pleased with the station curves and the approach curves to the flyover.

Next, I have made a start with wiring.  Started with the station area droppers and also had a bit of a production line pre-wiring up all the Seep point motors.  These will be fed up through holes pre cut in the original baseboard which is 40mm under the station level.  Next best tool used, Knipex wire strippers. http://www.knipex.com/index.php?id=1216&L=1&page=group_detail&parentID=1363&groupID=1383

We now have full DC power to the loops and a bit of temp track on the outer loop means the boys (and me) can play trains again.

General view of laid track on rubberised cork underlay.  All the underlay has been stuck down with PVA glue.

Mix of concrete and wooden sleeper track.  I was not sure on using concrete sleeper track, but with the right weathering I hope it will look the part.

Point motor holes and DCC track droppers.

Point motor pre-wiring.  The two motors with less wires will be paired up with a 6 wired version for the two ladders either side of the station.  As all my points are insulfrog, I will be using the switch on the point motor for LED routing indication on a mimic control panel.

Next task is to carry on with track droppers and start to connect them to the DCC Bus.  This will then mean I can test all the track for electrical connections in DCC before I start with ballasting; mmm need to find some smart ballasting tools me thinks for that job!

A bit of an update is due I think.  

Have now finished all the track land form and have glued the card underlay and cut all the rubberised cork track underlay.  Next task is to fix the cork and then track laying can commence, which will be great.  The very temporary single loop track we have is a bit limiting 

Had some help today in painting the plasterwork green, using Woodland Scenics Earth Colours; Green Undercoat pigment,  The brown areas was just kids poster paint.  Makes such a difference a bit of colour!

I have now added a ditch to the side of the lower goods yard (the white channel in the green).  This was never on the plan, but sort of just happen as I realised I had no areas on the layout to practice creating water.  So an unforgotten industrial/urban ditch should be challenging enough.  It will run between culverts at each end.  It will I hope create a bit of a scenic break between the goods yard and the loop line.

Still making retaining walls from Metcalfe kits, a bit time consuming...

I am quite pleased now things have being give a coat of colour even though it is just undercoat, but it has really helped to create the feel of where the build is going.

One thing I noticed today, whilst playing trains and taking some photos, is that I am starting to find those places where if one gets down nice and low, there is a real pleasure in just watching trains go past and getting immersed in to the landscape.

Sorry the photos are not wonderful, I was limited to just the flash on the camera rather than natural daylight.

Helping hands with the painting

General view from country end over Foxhill Farm

General view from urban end which will be a small town called Foxwood

View over lower goods yard

A Class 20 on empties return working, ok so I forgot to remove all the coal loads!

View along the lower Junction, which will be called Pendip East Junction.

Great looking layout. I really like the rationalised feel, the mix of signal types and the sort of back to life from the brink atmosphere.

Great to see some more photos of all the details sometime.

Would love to see in real life, what's your typical exhibition circut?

Fantastic layout and I love the look and feel of the various zones. Looks like a great layout to both play trains and watch them go by. Also fab to have the young lad involved!

Very impressed with your rock face and how life like it looks.

Unless I have missed it what is the layout size and what type of track have you used as it looks like Setrack in places ?

I shall be following with great interest.

Ps what tunnel make are you using, I'm trying to find a double track one that's fairly narrow with not much height to it as the trains will go under a second tier,

Our old layout used a Metcalfe kit stone tunnel portal http://www.metcalfemodels.com/00-double-track-tunnel-entrances, which has the bore dimension of 4.5" wide and a max height of 4".  As a kit it is fine, quick to build and customisable.  You could very easily reduce the overall height.  As I no longer needed it, I have now converted the two bores it into my rail over road arch bridge.

I would also recommend the Scalesenes tunnel http://scalescenes.com/product/r014-tunnel-portal/ as you get a choice of 7 brick and stone renders and infinite print runs as you buy the PDF files.  These are a  bit more time consuming as you have to glue all the printed papers to card, but the overall printed effect is very good and much more realistic.  Again you can modify to change the height to suit your upper boards.

First great to hear from you John, I was just about to post on your topic to see how your layout was progressing.

This works out as:

2% = 1:48 = 1.2 deg. gives a 4" rise over  192" (16 foot)

3% = 1:32 = 1.8 deg. gives a 4.5" rise over  144" (12 foot)

4% = 1:24 = 2.4 deg. gives a 4" rise over  96" (8')

However, the maximum gradient for any given layout is more dictated by the capability of your locos and the max length (weight) of any train they will have haul up the gradient.

As my eldest was desperate to run a second hand Hornby HST set we bought at a post Christmas Toy fair, I manged to set up a loop on the layout.  This was on the flyover line, so included a full 180 deg 2% gradient around 3rd radius curves.  I was a bit shocked at what the HST could achieve , or more precise what it could not.  With only one powered car (single drive bogie with 2No. traction tyres) it ended up wheel spinning with just 3 coaches and the dummy power car.  Now I think one problem was old traction tyres which feel a bit loose so need replacing and I need to add some extra weight to hope improve things.

I then tried a new DCC Bachmann Class 47 with a Back EMF chip and wow what a difference!  No issue with the gradient and with the Back EMF, the loco maintained the same speed from level to the gradient haul.

So I guess what I am saying is before you commit to the 4% try out your stock on say a straight line incline and see what you can achieve.  Personally, I would not go steeper than 2% now, old stock just done not like it.

Another quiet night, so I have manage to complete my first ballast trial.  I have never got to this point before, laying and weathering ballast having only every used quite course pure grey granite in the past, some 20 years ago to boot.  So quite happy with my first effort.

The trail includes from the left hand side a home blend of grey and light grey real granite N gauge ballast, the middle part is Woodland Scenics Medium Brown with Guagemaster mixed grey granite laid on top as if a fresh ballast drop has been done and finally on the right, pure Woodland Scenics Medium Brown. Weathering is just semi dry brushing with a mix of black and brown kids paint.

The formation bed along the cess is yellow builders sand glued with neat PVA and then over washed with black/brown paint.  I have also then had a go with some Woodland Scenics Course Turf (Yellow and Burnt Grass) topped with some 2mm and 4.5mm static grass.  

Of the three types I really like this one

The next trial will be to try a home blend of some buff and light grey Woodland Scenics ballast.  I have also mange to pick up today some Guagemaster brown (pink) granite ballast, which it the type I see a lot of on my work trackside.  Also manage to get some Surgical Spirit for the wetting agent as recommended by Captain Kernow.

Overall I feel quite excited having a play with ballast.and weathering, really boosted my confidence that I will be happy with the outcome and Peco track.

Wow, thanks for all the comments and advise on ballast, the next trial is well underway.  Just need some extra colours of ballast to try out a blend with.

So this will be the final update from the Christmas Engineering Blockage, here on after it will be evening Possessions only, with the odd full weekend engineering works.  But I will keep the updates coming as quick as I can.

Today we had a go at getting the land form ready for future scenics. I mixed up some white, black and brown kids paint to a good soil colour and my little helper duly slapped it on as fast as I could mix the next pot full.  Quite a transformation from white plaster to soil.

Next, while the house was quiet, I have got on with fixing the track bed.  Not so sure about the card underlay.  It was recommended by a local model shop, but it does not like getting wet with PVA glue and buckles a bit.  I need to create the formation on top of the polystyrene and then a cork layer which helps to create the ballast shoulder, so i might go for two layers of the 1mm rubberised cork instead.  Suggestions?

The freezer bags of sand are my idea for applying equal pressure to the whole area of the underlay while it dries.  The bags form themselves to any shape you drop them over.  So far so good.

Next update will hopeful be the ballast trail.

Oh yes before I forget, we now have a name for the Station as suggested by the eldest: Fox Wood Park, A cross between his favourite wild animal (of the day) and two of the places he likes to play,

A few more progress photos:

I think that you can get the results you need by keeping with a variety of Woodland Scenics... I'd avoid anything that is actually real crushed granite, as I've found you rarely get the colour that you want.

Cheers, yep the real granite stuff I have was just too grey and does not look right, might use it to simulate new ballast drops along the track haunch on some parts .  I did try mixing Woodland Scenics and the granite chippings, but I could not get it to mix, it was like oil and water.  It was not until I read the packet label that I discovered the WS stuff is actually crushed nuts shells. Well, I was not expecting that!

I need to get some lighter shades, probably buff to mix with all the dark browns I already have.  The  some more trials.

A great start.  I like the incline and I also like the Metcalfe kits.  What kind of locos and era are you planning on?  What I like best is that it is a family project that you can all enjoy together during its construction and then the running of the trains.

The inclines were a necessity, as I was told the new layout had to have bridges for cars and trains to go under!

As for locos and era, well if it were just my layout I was building, then it would be BR Blue 1970 onwards with a strong leaning towards Speedlink and a hint of Network SouthEast all under semaphore signalling, deep sigh.  It was the time I remember so well from my formative railway years.  And this would be my layout when it gets built; North Marsh Road - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/gallery/album_2706/gallery_4412_2706_328042.jpg & http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/469-north-marsh-road-eastern-region-br-blue-oo/

However, apart from my collection of BR Blue, we have an eclectic mix of other rolling stock, from SR steam to to modem Class 66 and ranging age from old (gifts my Dads collection) to current top spec Bachmann and Hornby.  I buy both new and second-hand plus we have a couple of re-sprays on the go, NWR Yellow coaches to go with the Hornby Railroad yellow sound Class 37.

The aim will be to convert all locos to run under DCC power, but in reality I think some will remain DC and so the the layout will have to be dual power control.  This will allow guest non DCC locos to visit us.

So what ere? Well I think it will be 1970 to 2016, with steam specials thrown in.  At the end of the day the boys want to play/run with what they see for real.

I think I’ve over done it with the whiskey!  Time to open the next bottle, Jura Elixir….  

Quite excited if not slightly apprehensive at the amount of card I now have to stick together!  So this amounts to all the kits needed to create all the embankments, cuttings and bridge substructures; having already done the four tunnel portals and used up one stone retaining wall kit so far.

These are curtesy of www.track-shack.com a company I have only just found and they are really good.  Great price, the cheapest I could find on the web and very fast postal turnaround.

We have had a go at some trial track weathering and ballasting samples.  Ballasting and track weathering to me is one of the most significant aspects to get right, as it form such a visual part of the finished railway, that if you get it wrong it is like a really bad splinter. 

So I knocked up a couple of bits of underplayed track and then got some help with the gluing task and was really surprised at how good his hand/finger skill was slowly squeezing one drop of glue at a time out of the syringe and not missing a single piece of ballast!!  In fact he told me to let him do it all… Mmmm, just wonder how much free labour I will get on the main ballast work before some form of bribe comes in to play 

Not too convinced by the colour of the ballast I have used; Woodland Scenics Medium Brown and Guagemaster Granite ballast.   To me it is too uniform in colour, so I think I will have to create a home blend of colours.  More trials required I think, any advice on mixing ballast (makes / colour) to get a better real life look?

The other big effort has been in creating the country end landscape using real stone in the form of rock outcrops, cutting and embankment.  I used thin layers of stone from old laminated sandstone roofing slate that I had left over from our house re-roof.  Slightly surprised myself how satisfying this was fitting it all together.  I used fairly liquid plaster to stick it all together and to create the soil overlay. I hope once all the grass, bushed etc. are added it should look the part.

General view of the country end

Cutting down to the tunnel

Embankment up to the flyover with some temp play track in place

Thanks for all the positive and supportive comments so far, much appreciated, I hope I keep you up to date with regular posts, but the dreaded back to work after the holiday day is looming on Monday.