Model railway train set. A huge layout 1,500 feet long, 14 tracks that can run 26 trains at the same time with 106 trucks and 187 coaches all going simultaneously. OO gauge with some HO gauge trains. 105 buildings and hundreds of trees and animals. There is 3 km of wiring with automated signalling. I am not a highly skilled modeler or have a good knowledge of trains, but enjoy making things and driving as many trains as possible at the same time as realistic train speeds. Trains were built to get passengers from A to B as quickly as possible.
Philip, congratulation on entering retirement (not that it'll free up lots of time of course). Pleased to see you had a means for easy replacement of the boiler - Colin.
It's a shame Network Rail's concerns with its flanges (or lack of them) preclude the 9Fs use of the national network. We'll just have to be content with enjoying them on heritage - and model railway - lines.
@model.train.railway. Yes, NR fear they'll derail on modern points. The flanges on the axles adjacent to the flangless centre axle are also smaller than the standard.
@2.00 Lead weights on a Conflat A. A tip Philip - if you have a problem then try some wheel-balance weights (from your nearest Tyre & Exhaust centre) painted black and affixed to the underside of the wagons.... _Do the barrier wagons derail upon a sudden start as it may be caused by snatching?_ _When loose-coupled freight trains used to restart the driver would sometimes first set back to compress the couplings. As the train pulled away wagons were picked up one by one rather than the sudden weight of the entire train._
I have green Mk1's, blood and custard Mk1's and maroon Mk1's. And I run them between 11 and 13 coaches long. I run 2 freight trains, each of over 40 wagons, truck, flats, boxes, and tankers. They look so much better at real, prototype lengths, than the 6-9 freights that dash around smaller layouts. And the sound is great. It will be a long "about 6-weeks". Thanks for this.
You should film your trains and put it on your youtube account, I would like to see. And if/when you do tell me so I can watch. Long trains are the best way. Kind regards, Philip
Vi Trains were born out of the bankrupt Lima company. Most of the tooling etc was sold to Hornby, but a small group of Lima employees created a limited number of popular classes. They seem to have very positive reviews. What was wrong with yours, and what did you have to do in order to repair it? Loved the "driver cam" footage.
Started really nicely, but wheels have become pitted. It did not go well over points because the unpowered wheels had too much lateral movement so I had to put small plastic spacer pieces on to reduce the lateral movement. The snow plough did not have enough free board and kept coming off. It looks nice and is powerful and easily pulls 11 coaches up a steep hill.
My favourite diesel loco! Great video. I have a few, from an R751 Triang model to a Orange, HNRC Rail livered Accurascale example. One can never have enough 37s.... Given the length of trains you run, your track must be very well laid. Is there a video showing how you did it?
Thats one thing my track is not. Difficult to build on a raised level, not so good workman ship and so much subsidance. I built the track a decade before I ever had a digital camera. It ould have been nice, kind regards, Philip
Worst metal wheels for collecting dirt are Lima in my experience. A tip learned from OOBill & DansModelRailways is to use either a Dremel-type tool with a brass wheel, or a fibreglass pencil. Then use some IPA etc to remove any micro-debris.
"Power" is an interesting topic. Richard Higgins did a 2-Parter on the subjext on his YT channel. I don't have any Peaks, which is kind of odd, as I lived in Derby during the final years of the class and they were quite a common sight. Yours looks superb in its green livery with SYPs. I agree with you regarding research. However, what it does do is provide re-assurance that there were no (or very few) hard & fast rules or definitve cut-off dates in the real world. All that mattered was to keep the show on the road for passemgers and freight customers alike. The changeover from CLC to Crimson provides an opportunity to run a variety of coaches on the same train. Also, there are photos of BR blue & grey coaches running with both CLC & Crimson livered units, mainly - I guess - on charter or summer special trains in the late 1960s.
I will have a look at that video. I was going to mention that in reality any Crimson coaches left unchanged were very dirty before the new livery. Looking at photos of the time, almost anything goes. kind regards, Philip
The Peppercorn A1s & A2s are amongst my favourite locos. Peppercorn was the true "spiritual successor" to Sir Nigel. I hope Bachmann (or someone) will release an A2 in Express Blue livery, as Blue Peter is currently wearing. Trouble is Bachmann will probably want £300 for it. I have a couple of Hornby Tornados, which are fabulous runners (once I'd fixed the front bogie problem). They have no problem in hauling long rakes. I also have a Bachmann A1 & an A2. They're not as powerful as the Hornby Tornados.
My Dad only bought the correct liveries for the time, but was so expensive and with so much stock there is no way I can afford it, kind regards, Philip
I like to run long trains too. Although I'm no "rivet counter", half the enjoyment is sourcing the right coaches / wagons to build a reasonably realistic train. The inclusion of more than 2 brake coaches is no big deal, as many trains used to split at some point and therefore require extra brakes. Also, if additional capacity was needed for passengers or light goods (or both), and full or composite brakes were all that was available, then that's what got used. I also tend to replace plastic wheelsets with metal sets, or at least with metal axles, as this really does reduce friction and improves running. The biggest challenge is when running with different types of tension lock couplings. Nightmare! However, often just turning a vehicle around seems to cure the problem. I also check the wheel gauging, as this can be way out, even on new rolling stock. I used to worry about ensuring the colour of the livery on each coach rake was identical, but apparently in real life this was not the case, due to both sun bleaching & variarions in the paint used, so that no longer bothers me. I find Yaslow & Chadwick good sources of info for such things. Regarding wagons, I do put Bauxtie coloured units close to the loco, as in real life, so they could take advantage of vacuum braking. I also fit appropriate lamp codes to the locos, when I remember to do so! My current favourite train is a rake of almost 30 HAA coal hoppers, hauled by a variety of diesel locos (37s, 20s in tandem, 56s, 58s, 60s & 47s). There was a coal flow close to where I used to live in South Wales that double - or sometimes triple - headed such trains, so replicating that is fun. Happy modelling.
My big problem is that I have so much stock running at the same time that its prohibatively too expensive to be a rivet counter even if I have that urge. So you have link for Yaslow & Chadwick, as I could not find it? In the 70 and 80s taking a bike on the train, often the baggage coach would be in the centre so staff did not have to walk far. My brother told me how it should not happen. Reality was often different to what should happen. Double heading is fun, a good idea for a future video. kind regards, Philip
@model.train.railway. Did you get the links? Yarslow has a video on the subject of brake coach positioning, too. Apparently, the "rules" were different for local trains.
Whilst on holiday in Santorini, the YT algorithm has just proposed a video of yours, and wow - what a layout! Enjoying your trains is the most important thing. The detail looks fine to me. I too like to run long trains (freight & passenger), so this is right up my street. Ill6be subscribing & catching up with all your content. Cheers.
Hi. Nice big layout. All of that damage because of a boiler. But you will need some heat during the winter,thats more important. Good luck with the reconstruction.
Good old ebay, half of my trains are from there, and usually there are a good buy, but I bought a Britania which was not a too good runner and I think I should have bough new.
This was greatly appreciated. I just want to be able to swap trains between main track and and side parking track. I was wondering if it would give the controller a hernia. Many thanks.
I find that Hammond controllers can do 3 trains no problem, just a bit slower and that if you park one train the other two excellerate. If you do not mind this, then they are perfect, kind regards, Philip
Well done Philip - placement of OHLE can be a tricky task particularly if junctions and crossovers are wired. Undertstand the need to trim the gantrys - like the 12"=1' railway, obtaining clearances can be an issue! - Colin PS - have you got the pans running against the contact wire?
The pans are plastic unsprung so can never work up. They are just for looks set down. I did hit several problems because of the way the track is built against the wall so there is no clearance. Something I would do differently if I started all over again. Like most of my work, it looks nice at the distance, but not so good close up. Kind regards. Philip
@@model.train.railway. Happy to start by meeting up at the Tonbridge show (if my health remainss up to it). _In terms of models running on Ewhurst Green, many need to be equipped finescale wheelsets and with a 14.6mm back-to-back. Even new Hornby coaches get re-wheeled._
@@model.train.railway. The pantographs are a shame as it is so nice to seem them operating. _A friend even has fully operational overhead right down the section breaks - lot of work involved though._ Realised the issue with the gantrys - it looks as though you've provided a grey strip down the wall which looks good.... You layout looks excellent and to so be much fun - that is what really matters! 🙂
The catenary system looks great, and I admire you for putting in the work. I have reluctantly stayed clear of the wires because of the difficulty with track cleaning. The Peco system looks very impressive. Great sound of those Pendolinos, in DC.
They are only decorative and very fragile. My brother tried to make working ones, but it was too difficult. It would be nice to have working overhead lines. Probably easier with DCC as it runs at 14.5 V and not suffer with lower voltage connection problems
@@model.train.railway. I have a Triang EM2 which used to work well on the catenary but I found that the track was too difficult to maintain so, at least for the moment, the EM2 is an ornament...
My brother had one of those and it was so difficult to get it to work. In the end the cat got jammed under the catenary, (and this is not joking ) and the catenary was too damaged. Ii actually happened. I had a Thomas the rank engine train set on the floor and the kittens used to go into the box bridge sections and get stuck.
Thankyou. A big improvement. I think I will do another similar video when I finally complete them. Its one of my retirement projects kind regards, Philip
Thankyou. I do love the sound of the Pendolinos over the points. A big improvement. I think I will do another similar video when I finally complete them. Its one of my retirement projects kind regards, Philip
Thankyou. Such lovely comments keeps me making videos. I do love the sound of the Pendolinos over the points. A big improvement. I think I will do another similar video when I finally complete them. Its one of my retirement projects kind regards, Philip
Wow , the catenary completes the view of your pendolino trains Philip . You must be chuffed to bits. Be lovely to see the video cam running through them and the music, all the best bob .
Thankyou. That was one thing I was going to do with the video cam, but run short of time and then forgot. October for that one. A big improvement. I think I will do another similar video when I finally complete them. Its one of my retirement projects kind regards, Philip
The 2 lines can be connected so that they join part of 6 lines that form a large single circuit, but because the way I built the train set, the trains run incorrectly to make the large circuit work. There is nothing that i can do about it, kind regards, Philip
