F-UnitMad

Ok, I had to google that...!! But no, my layout is supposed to be set in Minnesota. The land of 10,000 lakes. Or alternatively, where the prairie is so flat you can watch your dog run away from home for 3 days.....

I might as well repeat the opening line from my last post on this Thread!! "Northroader Bob" has proved to be a very addictive little loco - I can't stop running Ops with it!! Often it's lashed up with one or two of my other Plymouths, but it always has place of honour on the point! 🤩 However - I have to report that I am not at all well. I seem to have been bitten by a rather contagious bug of some sort 😱. It's highly infectious, and has caused serious itching 😷 No, it's not one of 'those' diseases 😝 ..... .... It's one of these...... I thought 'Northroader Bob' was small...!!!! What a character, eh??!! Interestingly, the On30 caboose is almost as big as the standard gauge Bobber!!!

Will people never learn??!! What do you expect, if you will go & use Kitty Litter for ballast.???..... 🙄🙄🙄😱😱🤣🤣🤣🤣

You're right, but green did suit them, though. 👍 Not for B.R. they didn't. Buffer beams were plain yellow. Being Type 1 rather than Shunters, technically they didn't need wasp stripes at all.

Trouble is, it's just not realistic, is it? The ground above the tunnel doesn't look high enough to justify it - but putting a tunnel halfway inside a cutting is even worse!! It's like the modeller couldn't decide which he wanted - tunnel or cutting - so had both!!

You can do as per the tradition at the old all-American TVNAM shows in Armitage, Staffs, where the "Do not touch" signs were not because the models were delicate or expensive, but usually because paint & glue on certain layouts was still drying..... 😱 🤣🤣🤣

Undoubtedly. You've absolutely nailed it mate - without any trains in view, as well - the 'acid test' of modelling based on any real location.

While I'm at it, I'll submit Exhibit B from my Unrealistic modelling photos...

Indeed!! I was going to comment on the neat spray job, until I read down your post!! Some Westerns were maroon, it's always begged the question 'why not any Hymeks?' I think the answer is to do with them being mixed traffic, not express engines?

It's got atmosphere in spades. That elusive quality that can't be bought in a model shop or glued on. I can feel the humidity just looking at this layout - fortunately not the mosquito bites I know I'd get if I was in the real place!! 😁👍

Just needs an original Airfix slimline coupler to complete the authentic look. 😉👍 That coupler itself was a revelation back in the day. Incredible how long it took to become as established standard for OO now. 🙄🤔

I like the subtle indoctrination going on there. If Mr Sheep Bloke won't take the 7mm Standard Gauge bait just yet, ply him with doses of narrow gauge. Same 16.5mm gauge as he's used to, but nice bigger models.... 😉👍🤣

Never mind his offer, it's how much he'll want to sell it for that will cause all the comments!! 🤔 😉 🤣

An evening Transfer Run was brought to an unexpected halt on my American O Scale layout last summer. "Someone should do something about the bugs around here" grumbled Tiny the Engineer as he and his Conductor inspected the dead moth....

Ah, yes, that is true. ...and, unlikely. 🤔 😁

That's both of us crossed off a certain member's xmas card list.... 🤣 2manytincans, I think his name is..? 🤔😁😉

How come it didn't explode in a massive fireball, like the locos in the film "Unstoppable"..??!! 😱🤣🤣👍 Don't worry, British humour again - I tend to count "Unstoppable" as a comedy.

What Era are you modelling? It has a build date on it of Jan 1967. For the 70s it needs touching in as suggested. In the '80s it would be well weathered, but not really have graffiti, which seems to have proliferated post-2000. Sant Fe merged with Burlington Northern in 1996, to create BNSF, so for late 1990s on I'd suggest 'patching out' the logo & markings and renumber for a leasing company, this does not have to be neat, or colour matched! Then 'enhance' it with more weathering, & graffiti if you must.

Don't forget to plan your fiddleyard to be able to hold similar length trains. The non-scenic curves look very tight in relation to everything else. Long time since I've been in OO, but from what I read Radius 1 (about 15") seems to be considered a no-no for modern locos & rolling stock. Those curves will also dictate train lengths, as haulage capability - tractive effort - diminishes the tighter the radius.

Absolutely agree with every single word of Andy's (Dagworth) post. We all have dreams of large, instant and effortless layouts when just setting out in the hobby. Then reality soon strikes!! As well as questions of space & cost, a more fundamental question is that of time. Not just time to build a magnum opus - when, or more likely IF, it got completed, how much time would you have for maintenance? How much time to spend operating it? Simply put, if you only have a few hours at the weekend to operate a layout, then why bother building a big one? These questions are just the start. There are plenty more that need answering, well before anything like track planning, or actual construction starts.

Now that's a Ben Ashworth photo - taken from up in the trees!! 👍😁

I had an Airfix 31 back in the day. Detailed it up following an article by Chris Ellis in Airfix Model Trains magazine. It was finished as 31 415, blue with the white stripe as per Finsbury Park 31s, although 415 was an Old Oak Common machine. I didn't like the look of the power bogie at all, that and the short side fairings did spoil it a bit, but hey ho it's what we had at the time. I still have 'white stripe' 31 415, but nowadays it's a Heljan O Scale model. Yes I know the nose doors aren't strictly accurate, & should be welded up, but I chickened out of a full nose repaint job!!

I use DCC on my main layout, a 17ft x 8ft American O scale affair, & the DCC has distinct advantages over 12vDC for operations. Sound is nice to have, but not essential, and can get irritating if too loud, or overdone - prototypical & prolific use of a warning bell on US Railroads is rather more restrained on my layout!! The DCC purely powers the trains. Switches (points) are hand thrown. But for my two British O layouts I've stuck with 12v DC. Partly due to cost, partly for simplicity (just shunty-planks), and partly because I have a couple of steam locos, and as good & immersive as sound can be, to my mind it emphasises the lack of accompanying smoke & steam in those engines.

Available in model form, too. At least in 1:48th scale. "American Switch & Signal" cast nickel-silver transition joint bars between the Code 125 & Code 100 rails in places on my layout....

Is Xmas coming already..???!!! 😱