New Railway Modellers Forums

Hi all, I posted a few months back about my son getting a Thomas the tank set for Christmas, and designing a layout for him. Now Christmas has come and gone, he's got his set, got all my old track, and got a few extra bits from other family members, and I've made the board for him to put it all on a...

Quick thread revival. I finally got around to making the base board on little castors for him to pull out from under the bed. Unfortunately I had to make it a little smaller than planned, as I'd not actually measured how much room is between his bed and the chest of drawers on the opposite wall, and...

Thanks for the ideas, I'll see what I can find locally tomorrow. I also work at a chemical plant so I'll have a look around and see if any of the other plants use any IPA, and if theres any electricians in I'll see if they've got a spare can of contact cleaner. A bloke at work who has a railway reco...

Sorry if this is the wrong section, wasn't sure where to post. I asked someone at work and he just said to have a look on google, which I've done, and all I can see is powered brushes and things. I'm looking for some sort of fluid I can use to clean up the wheels, and possibly the electrical contact...

I'm using Anyrail: i found, for me, it was the easiest to learn, the most instinctive. After a few plays I invested in the paid version, and have never regretted it. Chronically ill, sometimes it's the only playing with trains that I can do, and I seem to have an eye for it. The colour is only sugg...

Just had a look and the track in the Thomas set is 8 sections of R609, which I think is 3rd radius isn't it? Can I ask what program it is you're using to design the layouts? Showed my son the final design this morning and he still wanted the original I'd done, so I was trying to persuade him otherwi...

Thanks, that layout looks great, I'll show him in the morning and see what he thinks. I'm not too sure what radius the track in the Thomas set is, I'll have to get it out again and have a look. Thanks for all your help. Now it's on to gathering the bits together to make the base board.

To simplify the reason for a switch and isolating sections. Each rail carries an electrical current to the train. Think of it as a positive and negative (In model railways we call them feed and return). Now with a reverse loop, the rails align themselves in such a way that the positives and negativ...

Information above absorbed, I think. I'll take it in order. " the curved points are what I've already got " I've worked them into the last sketch, but had to flip it as you only showed one right-hand curved point. I thought I could use them on the end passing loop but they make the curves...

Thanks for the replies, I'll try and answer in order: Thanks, the curved points are what I've already got though, so would save a fair few £'s and most of the engine that'll get run are my old ones, and they all (except the flying scotsman) ran ok over the curved points. I can't remember what brand ...

Hi all, I've just joined as my son wants a Hornby Thomas set for Christmas, so I'm now trying to plan a layout for him. My son has limited space, approximately 100cm x 190cm, the space under his bed, and I've found and used a programme called Anyrail to draw up some plans, which shows that with some...