Hello from Telford, father and son building a layout

[Bassios]

Hi folks!

My dear old dad has decided in his retirement to take up the hobby after years of racing radio controlled cars. Neither of us have any real experience with model railway stuff, though I play Warhammer so I've got a bit of experience painting and stuff.

Dad isn't very technically minded, so the responsibility of figuring out the electronics and control software/hardware falls to me. Thankfully, I'm a software developer so working with code isn't an issue. I think I'm going to have to spend a while managing his expectations on what he wants to be able to do with the layout!

Dad's currently working on frankensteining together a layout from a bunch of track bits he bought from a local hobby shop, with a fairly old looking steam loco he bought off eBay and complimented by a carriage I bought him.

Looking forward to sharing our progress with you, and learing from you all

[Dad-1]

Welcome aboard,

I'd suggest keeping it simple to start with.
Buying second-hand can work, but there are changes to 'standards', in fact the use
of Standards is misleading. Some older stuff doesn't like modern track and vica-versa.

Old dad's can do stuff - I didn't return until I was 65 !!

Geoff T.

[Bufferstop]

Hi
I've got a rough and ready guide to what runs and what don't. It's useful for deciding whether or not to bother trying, beyond that you have to take each example and test it.
Old Triang (pre Triang Hornby) - bounces along the sleepers on code 100. Originally ran on code 124 which is no longer available.
Triang Hornby, Hornby-Dublo two rail, OK on Code 100, some OK on code 75. Some rolling stock needs re wheeling particularly metal rims on plastic centres.
Wrenn as per Hornby Dublo, later releases OK on Code 75
Trix Twin as per Triang only some items worse. Later Trix about the same as H-D.
Hornby Dublo three rail. If you have the old tinplate track and a controller with at least 1.0A output it will probably run OK. Possible to convert to 2 rail by replacing wheels and axles with Romford parts but not comparable with modern products. (buy a Display Cabinet).
Some of the Hornby Dublo Super Detail plastic wagons are comparable to recent models and some of Dapol's range are produced from the old HD tools with a modern plastic chassis. The old Triang Rolling stock can be converted to modern standards by removing the pin that goes through the centre of the axle, putting brass bearing cups into the axle holes and fitting modern pinpoint axles. Or in the case of the coaches cutting through the hollow rivet which holds the bogies on and fitting modern bogies in their place, I use Bachmann spares which come as a pair of bogies with metal wheels and mini Tensionlock coupler.
I hope that may be some help. The oldest loco I have running is a 1964-5 Triang Dock Shunter with It's wheelsets replaced by modern Ultrascale ones (cost more than the loco) Its original Triang wheels complete with knurled treads bounced along on the sleepers and slammed into the ends of the check rails. On my Gaugemaster controllers it moves at typical dock shunter speeds.

[Phred]

Welcome Bassios.
Do post some photos so we can follow your progress.

[captrees]

Welcome Bassios.
Do post some photos so we can follow your progress.

ditto.

Especially the Frankensteining stuff.

[heda]

There's a lot of helpful people on here who have a lot of knowledge, don't be afraid to ask questions it's better to ask first than to get it wrong and then ask why it's not working properly.
Looking forward to seeing your progress.
Dave