I never had a train set as a lad, and I always wanted one. So in common with a lot of other middle-aged middle-income blokes, I have bought myself a trainset. Well, not really a train set - a kit of parts for a train set. Track, timber, board, glue, that sort of thing. Thanks to all on uk.rec.models.rail for valuable input.
I have even started scratch-building some things (diamond crossings, mainly) and am learning all sorts of things. Mk II will be better than Mk I, althoguh since Mk. 1 is still unfinished, who knows when that might happen?
I sterted out trying to model a viaduct ont he East Coast Main Line. Michael was born the day Oxford Molecular floated, and Tony Marchington made the money to buy The Flying Scotsman. Coupled with having spent my first year at school in the shadow of Digswell Viaduct, and having seen the Scotsman on one of tis last runs pre-restoration steaming across it, LNER and specifically the ECML seemed right. Michael asked for the Scotsman for Christmas a couple of years back, and it's all taken off from there.
Our first priority is playing trains. We make things look good when we can, but interest i operation is more important to us now than prototypical accuracy.
eBayAs part of this I have started using eBay, and learned a few things. First of which is: always check the new price first - I saw many items bid up to well over the new price! I tend to set a price I'm prepared to pay, bid that and forget about it. You win some, you lose some. For pointwork I usually bid about half the new price, for trucks I bid a maximum of £2 each (usually less), and these days never on lots of less than 3 trucks. I bought a couple of second-hand locos but these were all unsatisfactory - modern locos are so much better that in my view the economy is a false one unless you definitely need a specific discontinued model.
DCCI took the decision early on to go for DCC. It makes wiring dramatically easier, and allows me to put pointwork in and motorise it later. I bought a Lenz Set100 (with the numerical handset) and an additional LH90 analogue handset. With sockets around the baseboard to allow operation from various points, it makes for flexible operation. Converting the locos is a minor matter, although fitting the decoder into the available space often is not!
LocosWe now have a fair seleciton of locos:
- Hornby Flying Scotsman, the tender-drive A3. Not a great model, tender drive is hopeless, but converted well enough to DCC and has very good slow running. Can't pull scale trains due to traction problems with the tender drive, and has a tendency to derail because locos do not like being pushed through points. But it does run at good prototypical speeds, and looks the part (save for the tender's lamentable tendency to crab, again a tendeder-drive issue). We might convert this to loco drive (a big project) or we might replace it with the new loco-drive A3, which by all accounts is superb.
- Hornby Stanier 8F. A fabulous model let down only by slightly indifferent slow running (and that might be down to the DCC chip, which is necessarily a very small one to fit the loco profile; I haven't yet bitten the bullet and gone for tender-mounted DCC). Good prototypical speeds (i.e. not too fast) and I have yet to meet a load it won't pull, given sufficient lead over the driving wheels. The front bogie is a bit inclined to float and derail on sharp points, but that's just nit-picking. Detail is excellent, including plenty of optional superdetail parts. We love this loco.
- Hornby N2. Another cracker. Smooth, quiet, versatile, fairly powerful and nice progressive control throughout the speed range. This is the loco I use for track tests as non-tender locos are often fussy about levels on points. It also complains about dirty track or wheels, so cleanliness is of the essence.
- Hornby Class 08 shunter, just about within spec for the period and a reliable slow-running shunter. A bit fussy about points and problematic in reverse at more than walking pace, but has incredible slow running, down to a scale 1mph or less. I see real shunters working around Didcot and this runs just like the real thing!
Rolling stockOur colleciton of rolling stock has been augmented by eBay purchases and now includes six Gresley coaches of various types (old-pattern, not the gorgeous new Hornby offering), four Grafar Thompson coaches, some Mk1 and Mk2 BR stock, and a vast range of trucks. Some rationalisation is needed, and we're in the process of rewheeling all the trucks with new narrow metal wheels (again Hornby) as these run better than the plastic or wide metal wheels some of them came with.
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