New Railway Modellers Forums

Trakmat-type plans are great for kids to watch a train going round in circles. I think you'll get very bored of such a layout. Lots of people build a 'slab of board in the middle of a room' for their first layout, but far fewer build a second. Consider what it is you actually want from a model railw...

I've seen this done before in narrow gauge- with an O or G-scale body built over the hornby chassis. Best conversion I can remember was a Bachmann 08 converted into a O-16.5 centre-cab diesel, using much of the bodywork and a scratch-built cab. Would be a good use for the old Hornby model which used...

Those connectors work great for all sorts of uses. It's worth getting a supply of the pins and the correct crimp tool if you are going to be using a lot. Then you can wire them yourself using the colours you want.

You don't have to control point motors with the DCC system- there's nothing wrong with controlling them from a switchboard in the traditional way.

Automotive connectors are your friend. Not overly cheap, but a good, reliable connection capable of taking several amps. Unlike ethernet sockets, aerial plugs and suchlike. Try a 13-way econoseal connector. You'll need male and female plugs, plus the individual pins which are crimped to the wire end...

Personally, I think 3 concentric loops is one of those things which jumps out immediately and says "train set". Particularly as they are almost never laid with the correctly widened spacing between the second and third lines. As an alternative, consider a double-track main line (simpler an...

I built a ratio kit a few years ago which came with enough parts for several signals. They can be made to work but are very fiddly (use a magnifier while working or you'll get a headache!) and the pivots and levers are fragile. I managed to get a home signal and a home/distant combination working bu...

Would I be considered mad for building a layout with it these days? I know nickel-silver is considered superior but I just don't like the yellow-ish tinge to the rail. We've been exposed to it for long enough that everyone's used to it but it's not prototypical at all and just shouts 'model' to me. ...

A few clunky toggle switches thrown..., turn the knob on the controller and bliss! Simple. :) Although arguably, "choose a locomotive and turn the knob" is just as simple! That said, I don't like how difficult it is with DCC to set up a direct relationship between speed and controller pos...

I like DC more then I like DCC just because I prefer clunky switches and the satisfaction of wiring them. I find DC is easier to understand in regards to the internal workings (Not that I know a lot). I have both a Lenz Compact (With a slave lead), a set 01, a pair of extra hand controllers (The on...

I've tinkered with DCC in the past- mostly on snaller layouts. I'm building a "Minories to continuous run to fiddle yard" layout in the loft and I'm questioning whether or not to go back to DC. My situation is thus: - Lots of older stock: mostly 1990s or early 2000s. A significant expense ...

Code 75 is 75 thousandths of an inch, or 1.9mm. Code 100 is 100 thousandths of an inch, or 2.5mm. So there's around 0.6mm between them. As for joining them together, one solution for plain track is to file the 0.6mm off the bottom of the code 100 rail end, so it is the same height as code 75. Solder...

I'll chime in with the usual "don't build an 8x4" post. If the layout is intended to be portable, an 8x4 slab is simply too heavy and unwieldy. For a permanent layout, once you consider the minimum 10x8 space you need (the layout plus access to three sides) the use of space is poor. Consid...

This is my thinking behind using soldered points as there's some flexibility in the flangeway geometry, which should allow for older stock to be run. In the fiddle yard I'll probably use up some older code 100 stuff I have from a previous build.

I have an old Hornby plans book from before 4th radius track existed. The example used in the flexitrack guide details how to lay flexible track outside a 3rd radius curve as a 4th radius. So no problems there. Peco make a handy tool which has parallel track spacings for setrack and streamline which...