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From Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-modelrailw/full-steam-ahead-for-uk-model-railway-buffs-despite-coronavirus-idUSKBN21B39P)


From Yahoo! (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/dad-two-uses-lockdown-build-120852062.html)


From The BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-sussex-52487203/eastbourne-man-builds-railway-in-his-garden)


Do members have model railways at home, or perhaps something a bit more unusual?

I have a live steam 16mm Narrow Gauge SM32 railway in my garden, where 16mm to the foot is the scale and the track gauge is 32mm.
I don't have many videos of my garden, but these are some videos of our local 16mm group https://www.youtube.com/user/ray951 (https://www.youtube.com/user/ray951)

My mum has a G Scale line doing a loop of her garden which, since mum got ill, is currently my garden too as I have become her full time carer. It was built by my Dad, who unfortunately passed away just before mum got ill a couple of years back. It is an unusual layout as the garden is quite steeply sloped, meaning it is at ground level along the back of the house then elevated on wooden viaducts around the rest of the garden. Joining the ground level and elevated sections are two bridges, one of which is a replica of the bridge crossing the Thames on the GWR Windsor and Eton Branch made out of copper piping. The track is electrified, scales and motive power are varied. There is a large American steam locomotive, a class 66, the American equivalent of a class 66, a narrow gauge steam loco, a steam tram, a Chicago streetcar and various other stuff. Since I've moved in I am now in charge of permanent way and making sure it continues to work, although there isn't often the time to fully make use of it. Me and mum have been discussing selling the locomotives and other stock, as we would rather see them made use of by people, than sit gathering dust, we will probably keep the two trams to run on the line. Control of the line is done remotely, it has a passing loop in a small station built on a sharp bend, a siding down the back of the house and a level crossing over the path complete with flashing lights and warning sound. It's very enjoyable to sit back and watch something running round on a nice warm day but trust me, Permanent way is constantly required as the ground moves and things grow, much like the real thing.

Photos please Mr General ...

I have a number of models - both contemporary and from past eras - and some track.  However I haven't yet found the room to put the two together.

Also apart from a 5 car IET, I have only one passenger coach (A FGW MK3 buffet car with a full kitchen).

A G-scale Bachmann - mainly D&RGW - that I acquired in our American days. It was for the kids, honest!  ;)

At its last outing (2013  :( ) in the village sports hall. UK house, way too small ...

Hmmm... could you not insert that Mk3 buffet into the IET formation?  I know someone who’d be happy. :D

I was into metrication very, very early ... with a TT (1:100, 3mm/foot) model in my young days, moving on to a more fixed N gauge layout with follow ons from that for the first half of my life. Stations at Ullapool, Gairloch and Lulworth were carefully planned, timetabled and built (to test the concept, you'll understand  ;D ). At my school's pioneering technical centre, I learned some automated train control principles using relays and even appeared on Blue Peter to show it off.  For current readers, I will point out that starting and stopping trains by turning the power to the track on and off should not be scaled up to full sized trains, and additional safety factors are required to ensure collisions are prevented on all the various diamond crossings on the line.  The absolute block sections keeping multiple trains apart on a long loop track with just two relays per section was strong on economy and weak on fail-safe measures if anything went wrong.

It must be 30 years now since I did any serious railway modelling - and I was pretty awful at it anyway, having two left hands, and far lees patients than a doctor has in a day. An attempt to encourage (but no heavy pressure) an interest in my children concluded they were more attune to other hobbies.  Come 2005 - a decade after anything to do with models - I found myself getting involved with railways at a 1:1 scale, and the nearest I've come to smaller since then has been a 1:76 class 153 that sits on a piece of track with a livery very familiar to RichardB, and an admiration for all the time put into the hobby when visiting shows like the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition where I helped a bit on the ... full size ... RailFuture stand for a couple of hours.

I am ... tempted ... to set up something again. Very simple, very small, hobby. But tempted.   And Lisa, having seen what can be done in a garden in Eastbourne, has made it clear that she would not be averse to ... (though I do not want to go this way!) ...

Grahame,
if you really do have two left hands then I would recommend you seriously take a look at a 16mm or G scale railway in the Garden.
It has several advantages over OO or N in that:

1) there is no scenery to build, although you can have buildings, etc.
2) With the stock and buildings being so big it makes them much easier to build, paint and handle.
2) If you go Narrow Gauge you can run what you like in whatever liveries you like, as that is what the full size railways did. No corporate colour schemes here.
3) If you or your partner like gardenining then you can work together (of course that maybe a disadvantage to some!)
4) You don't need masses of stock, so it keeps the costs down.
5) Start with electric, either battery or track powered and move to live steam at a later date
6) Garden modellers are more laid back than those running smaller gauges. We dont count rivets!

For more information start here https://www.16mm.org.uk/ (https://www.16mm.org.uk/) and there are two groups local to you, one in West Wiltshire and another in North Wiltshire, not sure which one covers Melksham.

Seriously ... short of time.


How did we end up with 2 no. 2's

Hmm ... let me compare with current life, 305mm scale
1, 2. No scenery, and others are doing those for us which makes it REALLY easy for us
2. Rather than ignore colour schemes, we can help set the trend
3. We both like helping and setting things up the letting others run them day to day
4. Yeah - start with a single carriage and if it works well, double up
5. Start with the electricity supplied on board from a Diesel engine.  Add track power later, yes, good idea
6. We celebrate the little differences; forget not counting rivets - rather appreciate the differences.

Comparison to N or OO not really relevant these days ... if I find myself stuck at home I might take a look at ...
... oh, wait, I am stuck at home!

I’m in the same boat. I have an IET, HST + 3 mk3s and some other bits and bobs but no feasible space at the moment.

Reading/browsing the catalogues is helping to pass the time though.  :)

That's my problem - I read and browse and end up ordering....


Being Hornby you would have thought so but as in real life, the couplings don't match   ;D

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/twolefthands.jpg)

Which leads to the next question.  Did you get a badge?

I will once I've figured out why the forum sends me to a new thread page each time I try to post them.

Has anyone ever built a large model railway/garden railway with a WORKING overhead electrification scheme ? It should be entirely doable using a non dangerous voltage a bit higher than a table top model layout.
50 volts DC perhaps ?
10 amps at 50 volts is over half a horsepower which sounds enough for large models.

Up to 120 volts of smooth DC is in theory regarded as safety extra low voltage, but I would be a bit wary of more than about 50 volts if within easy reach.