Allegheny1600

An interesting thought!

Wood and wood products warp and rot - if allowed to get damp.

Steel will rust likewise.

Even concrete can suffer fatigue or ‘concrete rot’. Not suggesting a layout might be made of concrete and steel but the building housing it can be!

Scenic materials will fade in sunlight, plastic can go brittle. 
Nickle Silver (rails) will tarnish over quite a short time period.

Insulation can break down (wiring).

All of the above supposes no maintenance or care and attention. However, given appropriate levels of the same, a layout - like more or less anything ‘man-made’ could potentially last for a hundred years or more with no problem.

Taking the above into account, were one to construct a suitably strong and long lasting building equipped with UV light stopping windows and a moisture controlled environment within, the only problem I can foresee is the probable breakdown of the insulation in the wiring. Both in the layout wiring and within the locos and any such stock.

 I understand that modern insulation materials are good but they have clearly not yet withstood the true test of time.

Another potential problem is obsolescence!

Suppose one were to build an analog layout in 00 gauge? One might presume that this avoids the potential problem of today’s DCC being superseded in the future. Also, DCC is backwards compatible by the simple expedient of removing the electronic elements.

Maybe a future system comes into being that does away with power being supplied through the rails (the so-called dead rail system?) and everyone uses all plastic tracks. This shouldn’t bother our builder as s/he has presumably already got enough equipment.

Maybe the commonly used gauge and scale combination changes? Everyone switches to RTR EM, N or TT? Or even the worldwide scale of H0 (dream on, me!).

That being said, there is such a reservoir of 00 models about now, they cannot simply disappear within 100 years, surely?

With care, it should be perfectly possible!

Cheers,

 John 

Class one model works announce a GSC heavy duty 6 axle flat car.

https://classonemodelworks.com/product-category/model-type/flat-cars/

Nice!

17 hours ago, Magna Junction said:

Heljan have been known to re-visit locos a few years down the line and give them a re-tool so you never know.

This is something that really annoys me!

It’s like there’re saying “we’ll sell you a crude model for as long as we can get away with, then when enough demand it, we’ll do a better version and sell to you again”

Bachmann are also (more?) guilty of this.

Far better to just get the shape right in the first place, Heljan can do it when they want to otherwise someone might have wanted to tackle the Hymek but there’s no need because it’s great. So many other locos keep having such basic errors though.

Still cute though!*

What sort of dog is he/she, please?

* I am an animal lover so dogs, horses, tortoises, goats, mice etc are all lovely to me but cats are far away my favourites.

4 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

In terms of take home pay £80 an hour as a cost centre rate would put you somewhere between the average income and that of a train driver. Hardly wealthy. To  put things in perspective the starting pay of a solicitor in London is now over £100k. 

Bernard

Huh!

Some of us aren’t earning that much a bloomin day.

And yes, I have an education, it’s just that circumstances change and you have to take what you can get.

John

2 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

I also feel we are guilty is supposing that when Putin goes (hopefully soon) he is going to be replaced by some more reasonable person.  There are plenty of extreme Russian nationalists just ready to take over the baton.

Quite.

We don’t want someone who is actually worse!

 I believe that plenty of people in Russia (just like in UK, USA and many other countries) are so fired up by their own media, they would happily press the big red button just because it would hurt the “other side” first.

They seem to have forgotten the MAD principle and that is extremely dangerous.

Hi Michael,

Try Marno - still in the UK but cheaper than Rails (who are usually very overpriced on their H0 stuff).

http://www.marnoltd.co.uk/stocklist_Secondhand.pdf

Good luck,

 John 

Roco 62699 £125

Yes, I believe it came out around 2009 so there are unlikely to be many hiding away in the dark cupboards of model shops across S, D, A, EU.

 I have to ask, if it’s for your display cabinet, does the newer mechanism really add anything? Was it a simple bodyshell change or was it more involved?

Finally, I have seen the prices asked for the HAG models - OUCH!! Having seen a couple of HAG models up close - really?? They might be all metal but they’re pretty crude.

11 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Anyone found anything truly cr@p or extortionate on eBay? 

 

Sorry about the thread drift! 🤪

I’d say that Rails of Sheffield have outdone their usually “enthusiastic” pricing with this one;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134241628758?hash=item1f416cb256:g:q68AAOSwBM5jKYDJ&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAsJ0YSYSgvCSR7f2PtqWY1iDkQGquiJapZLeC4e6MGmNhFDQfES2wZIgKQqshMSCBrleNU22dlu2VRlFGrw1VZN4tNQhATiJCYMVOms0Yuw8yRmNmtVnw0lNVU2Cpho8TW3qiXVSrvWy6eJZFZ9z1I8RDWfgyRCx%2BMka%2BrGAHEUeFxC0j%2B85HuACvL1BmQdw77AXQArKzHTz3n%2FkfRh16tFohs0KOfHh7leKlify0cL%2FL|tkp%3ABk9SR-7z3aXrYA

C’mon, really?

Definitely NOT!

For that sort of money, I would expect Sound to be fitted at least.

Also, be extremely wary of people who claim the thing they are selling is rare - they almost never are truly rare as most model trains are made in their thousands.

I’m quite sure my local British dealer wouldn’t charge much more than this for a brand new Roco model, complete with sound.

Sounds to me like this guy is trying to take advantage of you.

Just be patient and save a search on eBay, one will come along in a while.

Cheers,

 John 

Hi mate,

That’s brilliant! It may have cost more than a Heljan diesel but I bet you’ll have much more than twice as much fun with it!

Enjoy,

 John 

Thanks for the heads up on which H0 version is better - I’ve been drooling over these for some time now and felt the Tomix version may be better.

For someone who has done US railroading for over thirty years, it sounds incredible to say that!

Sadly, I don’t know if I’ll ever manage to get one.

John

Hello Dave,

What a stunning layout, you have captured the feel of that time period very well for me. Bravo!

Following happily,

John

I’m sure my very first train ride was on one of these, mid 1970s, from Whatstandwell (Derbyshire, on the Matlock line) to Derby.

Later spotting days revealed they were regular’s on the Derby to Nottingham line, probably on Crewe to Nottingham or even Grantham services. I didn’t get much beyond those places in them there days.

Hmmm, memories.

Good grief!

This is awesome. I once scratch built one of these in my N scale days, I was quite happy with the body but I never did get any bogies for it and it remained the only one!

I’ll get one for nostalgia reasons.

Possibly the greatest and certainly the longest serving monarch this country has ever had.

RIP your majesty.

Long live King Charles.

Believe it or not but the guy on the right has been told about this kind of thing - for many years!

He’s one of those who simply doesn’t listen so again, what would you do?

It may be “only” grass he’s leaning on but it’s still damaged by his actions.

A solid barrier appears to be the only way of controlling such types OR Perspex.

Personally I prefer Perspex in principle although I haven’t fitted it to the layout in my signature. Yet.

Never mind being at an exhibition, what do you do when this goes on in the club room?

At right!

Just to even things up!

It seems I have spent a lifetime of mouthing mechanically, “Say thank you. Sit up straight. Use your napkin. Close your mouth when you chew. Don’t lean back in your chair.” Just when I finally got my husband squared away, the kids came along.

At a party, a young wife admonished her husband, “That’s the fourth time you’ve gone back for ice cream and cake. Doesn’t it embarrass you?”

“Why should it?” answered her spouse. “I keep telling them it’s for you.”

Hi David,

Long time no see! I hope you are well.
This is an interesting project, I shall follow with interest.

 I saw a similar project on an older Roco 03.10 (I think!) that must have been done before Roco did it, for sale at a GRS meet once but it wasn’t quite good enough to tempt me, funnily enough, a year or so later, Trix made their version and that did tempt me! That was before Trix prices went completely ridiculous.

Looking forward to the next instalment.

Cheers,

 John 

Good luck, Bill.

 I wish you well with it.

Cheers,

 John 

2 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

Take a common or garden 3-rail diesel and photograph it from a higher 3/4 viewpoint. It is nothing more than a toy.

Hear, hear!

 I used to “do” some US 0 scale and had some lovely models, Sunset etc but I did fall prey to at least one of the 3 rail models, I think it may have been Lionel? It was in a mostly purple box iirc.  While the body was reasonable, the underworks was truly awful! I swapped out the original bogies and wheels and still have them somewhere, they are hideous.

I’m amazed at the American market that thrives on such things but then look at the European market in H0 with Maerklin! That’s surely even larger but at least there is almost always a two rail alternative there.

 I suspect that eventually, the generation that supports US 3 rail may well die off but what happens then?

Is the US 2 rail fraternity sufficiently young enough to take over or are they a similar age?

Could a resurgent US 2 rail attract many H0 scalers?

It has happened in Britain and to a smaller degree, in Europe thanks to Bernd Lenz and a few others so it’s theoretically possible in the USA - in my humble opinion of course.

Cheers,

 John 

Bonjour Andy!

Thanks for starting this thread, it’s good to see. Like you, I was much enamoured of Chlochemerle in the good old MRC back when? Mid 1970s or so.

They were magazines I actually picked up in the UK in later years as I was living in France then. Hence the interest.

 I don’t keep up with all French happenings but I believe that REE have done some exquisite PLM coaches at some point, will we see these, perhaps?

Cheers,

 John