New Railway Modellers Forums

I have seen some lovely layouts in 6x4. The main difficulty is not to be tempted to cram too much in. The point I was making is that mainline stuff doesn't really suit it... If you can add the extra 2ft and make it 8x4 it is much better! Your second point is key, though, unfortunately the trackplan...

Hornby demo layouts like this are mostly little more than advertising material for their products. The only thought was given to putting something resembling a goods yard to show off scenic parts, plus two ovals so trains can be left running and draw attention. When it comes to actually operating th...

Just looked up the HM3000- looks like it was pinched from Captain Kirk's Enterprise!

I always liked my Lenz Compact as a basic controller. It can be expanded and used as part of a larger system with other Lenz items. Not available new anymore but might be available secondhand.

I've gained a couple of these controllers, which are similar in appearance to the R965 controller, except with a yellow knob, a 240v input rather than a transformer plug and no 16v terminals on the end. Anyone know anything about them? I was thinking they'd work nicely for the station shunt and MPD ...

If you have access to a room this size, I always recommend building the layout around the edges of the room, with a lifting section to bridge the doorway of necessary. The floor is clear, the space under the layout can be used for storage, and you can have larger radius curves as there's no need for...

If you want to motorise the Peco turntable, the simplest method is an old DC controller just for the turntable motor, which can be picked up for next to nothing. Otherwise, use a basic loco decoder connected to the track bus and control it as if it were a loco. I think the best and simplest way to g...

It's a typical train set plan: cram as much track as possible into the space! One thing I can see, as is common with Hornby plans, is that the platform lengths are way too short. You won't be able to get more than one coach in there. I also can't see a way for trains to exit the lower station onto t...

Symmetrical as far as I know. They used to proclaim the advantages that their system gave better contact due to having all wheels available for one side of the circuit, and no special arrangement was needed for reverse loops and such.

Märklin track is designed for the 3-rail system. Usually the running rails are electrically connected, or at least given no particular regard for isolation. So on a 2-rail system would probably mean short circuts aplenty.

There will inevitably have been some crossover during livery transitions. I've seen pictures of intercity power cars hauling blue/grey coaches, so your scenario sounds plausible enough. For a 5-coach train, PC-1st-buffet-2nd-2nd-2nd-PC would be a reasonable formation I think. The HST is an ideal can...

Just attach the last pair of track connections to the end of the bus wires. Job done

GeraldH wrote: The heavy operating ore trains may require double heading.

Sounds like a good reason to assign two of the line's small 0-4-0T locomotives to ore traffic, either double-headed or as top and tail.

Just cut one in half lengthwise and insert plastikard to the correct width for double track running and hey presto . I have done that with my layout and it looks okay to me. When I find out how to insert photos I will post picci of mine Looks like a good idea. I might commandeer the bandsaw at work...

I plan to have a cosmetic overbridge on coventry to represent a short snippet of the WCML crossing my GWR line. In a box of stuff I looted from the in-laws, I found an impressive-looking brick viaduct composed of two Hornby three-arch bridges fixed side-by-side. Because of how the bridge is built, b...