Category Archives: Scales

All scale information

1. Small, 1:43.5 (7mm Scale), Australia, Exhibition, Layout Design, Layouts, O Scale, Operations, Site seeing, Sites of interest, UK, Web

Site Seeing – April 7 – Small O scale layouts 4

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Ian Futers’ layouts seem to get around more than the builder himself. Probably because he manages to build great small layouts with plenty of operating potential that remain popular year after year.

Site 1: Glen Bogle

Ian Atkinson and Chris Towers’ of Broadford Model Railway Club own the layout presently. The layout, built originally in basic form by Ian Futers, is in the process of being enhanced by the present owners. A Scottish 1950-1970s era layout with a station, goods facilities and just four turnouts comprises two 4′ 6″ scenic boards and a 4′ 6″ fiddle yard with a three road traverser board.

Operation of the line is in the late steam early diesel period. Coal, Timber and fish traffic somehow still survive along with a mediocre passenger service.

Glen Bogle - as designed by Ian Futers
Glen Bogle – as designed by Ian Futers

You can gather further information on this layout from the club’s website as a PDF download.

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1. Small, 1:43.5 (7mm Scale), Exhibition, Inglenook, Layout Design, Layouts, O Scale, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Switching, UK, Web

Site Seeing – April 5 – Small O scale layouts 3

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With many thanks to David Bromage for sharing photos of his visit to the 2016 Bendigo Model Railway exhibition let’s take a look at a new O scale layout on the Australian exhibition circuit: Filching Road Yard.

Site 1: Filching Road Yard (courtesy of David Bromage)

Photo courtesy of David Bromage
Photo courtesy of David Bromage

New on the Victoria model railway scene is Filching Road Yard. A simple and not overly large O scale of 8 feet (2400mm) by 18″(450mm) wide. The layout is a budget build and was designed to fit into the back of the owner’s car (a station wagon).

With only two turnouts and a cassette fiddle yard this could be the ideal O scale starter layout. To keep your costs down you could also build your own trackwork, a project that I’ll be undertaking later this year as I attempt to increase my modelling skills into trackwork.

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1. Small, 1:43.5 (7mm Scale), Inglenook, Layout Design, O Scale, Operations, Scales, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Web, YouTube

Site Seeing – April 3 – Small O scale layouts 2

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In this continuing series during April I want to visit one of my favourite exhibition switching layouts: Ingleton Sidings.

Site 1: Ingleton Sidings

nevard_110330_ingleton-sdgs_DSC_1821_02_web1-400x267[1]Paul Allen’s masterpiece Inglenook, built in OO scale,  shows what can be scaled up very simply to British O scale (1:43) with the use of commercially available kits, RTR trucks and loco’s available now or in the very near future. The entire aim is to keep cars and loco’s short to keep the visible part of the layout within the 8′ (2400mm) maximum. Giving enough run and movement without taking up the entire house.

Ingleton Sidings, designed to sit on a standard home window sill or ironing board, illustrates what can be achieved in a minimum with RTR products and basic scratchbuilding techniques. The location as modelled is fictional and represents a small BR sorting siding during the late 1950s through to the early 1960s. The layout features point motors, 16v lighting, line side CCTV and Kadee automatic coupling. With the layout detailed and weathered to represent the last days of steam.

If you are thinking of going British O at minimum cost and personal commitment then Ingleton Sidings might be the place where you start.

Now see it in action:

First up an overview of the layout and features:

Next, from February 2014 – the initial running of DCC and Sound on the layout at the Milton Keynes model railway exhibition:

1:43.5 (7mm Scale), Layouts, O Scale, Site seeing, Sites of interest, UK, Web, YouTube

Site Seeing – April 1 – Small O scale layouts 1

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O scale, whether 1:48 US scale or UK scale 1:43, are outstanding in small spaces. With DCC operation, and the ability to run locomotives with sound has made a complete difference to the displaying and exhibition of layouts in recent years. In this first post in this unfortunately short series we’ll look at one of my favourite small UK O scale layouts: Oldham King Street

Now owned by David Hampson the layout was originally built as Percy Street by Ian Futers.It was later modified by David to become Oldham King Street.

Image 1: In its original guise as Percy Street

Enjoy the videos of the operation of Oldham King Street. I hope they give you ideas for your own small layout. Don’t forget to visit the layout pages on this site too. There are many small layout designs there for you to use.

In this video note the smoke generators (which first attracted me to the layout many years ago:

In this second video, an open wagon has split the points and needs re-railing…

Finally watch this video for ideas of the operation available in this small space…

There are plenty more on YouTube, just search “Oldham King Street”.

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1. Small, 1:43.5 (7mm Scale), 1:48 (US O Scale 1/4"), About, Australia, Layout Design, O Scale, Operations, Proto 48, Sites of interest, Switching, This Site, UK, Web

Heads Up!

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April is now and forever more deemed to be the ‘O scale’ small layout month.

Overall layout - outstanding

Throughout April I’ll be posting layout plans, and information, on small and achievable layouts that have already been built in O scale, or that could be up-sized from the smaller scales to fit in a maximum visible space of 8 feet x 2 feet (2400 x 600 mm).

The only requirement is that it must be based on the recognised scales of:

  • 1:43.5 (UK & Australian Standard gauge)
  • 1:45 (European)
  • 1:48 (US & Australian Broad gauge)

So this includes 0n30, Metre gauge, standard, broad, and anything else that you can imagine. Traction can be steam, diesel and, or electric. If you have an industrial track plan or layout that is small in nature I’d be really interested in seeing more information or links to your website especially.

I’ll still be posting the usual informative and layout focused information as normal, this is simply something special I’ve wanted to do for some time.

If you have any ideas or layouts that you’d like to share during April drop me a line through the comment field and I’ll work with you to get that information into a post!

Don’t forget to ‘Like‘ this post and ‘Comment‘ if you find it useful or would like to offer or need further information. If you’ve not already subscribed to keep up to date you can do so now using the link at the top of this or any post or page.

1. Small, HO Scale, Inglenook, Layouts, Scales, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Timesaver, Web

Site seeing – March 29 (Trackmobile layout edition)

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The BLI HO Scale Trackmobile
The BLI HO Scale Trackmobile (image courtesy of BLI)

One of the better small locos to have come out in the last 10 years is the HO scale Trackmobile available from Broadway Limited Imports. I’m working on my unit to weather it into a loved if hard worked unit. There’ll be an article in April about how I weathered it and how you can do so too. The only drawback with this model is the dummy coupler on the front end. Somewhere on the internet I read about a change to the Trackmobile front where you add a shortened Kadee #58 coupler directly under the dummy coupler. Essentially the change was drilling and tapping a 2-56 hole in the bottom centre of the dummy coupler, shortening a #58 coupler and then drilling a hole in that for the 2-56 screw before screwing the two of them together. While not perfect it falls within the Kadee coupler height gauge requirements and allows the Trackmobile to be double ended. Saving the Hand from the sky (the 0-5-0 hand of god) traverser. Now, onto today’s site.

Site 1: RÜGENSHAVEN (Carendt.com)

Thomas Van Hare's Rugenshaven Layout
Thomas Van Hare’s Rugenshaven Layout

Thomas Van Hare of Ashburn, Virginia, USA put this layout in the Carendt.com First layout design contest in May 2008. While the layout location is imaginary this HO Scale German fishing harbor corner layout Thomas says “involves a Timesaver (with eleven destinations), plus dual opposing Inglenooks, competitively running two DCC ‘Little Cow’ Trackmobiles”.

The layout features small fishing warehouses, boat maintenance facilities, fueling and supply shops, a fishing net manufacturer and marine diesel repair shop. At center is the harbor’s main canning smokehouse business, with two loading platforms.

You can find out more about the layout design challenge and the entries from the 2008 challenge on the Carendt.com site.

 

1. Small, HO Scale, Layout Design, Layouts, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Switching, Web

Site seeing – March 28 – Layout presentation ideas

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Layout presentation is something that I care greatly about. Today’s post, from The Small Urban Rails site takes you through a comprehensive review of proscenium arch and other presentation styles useful to model railroaders. Enjoy.

Site 1: Small Urban Rails

This insightful article about the author’s Southside Industrial District, originally housed in a 28” x 88” closet (thus its dimensions) and his discovery of the beauty of presentation after leaving the closet light on one afternoon before returning later in the evening to a darkened room and the image of the HO scale skyline of the Southside standing out from the room darkness.

Discussing styles of presentation and moving onto how he framed the Southside Industrial District this post is well worth the time to read and understand how your layout can really pop out of the background with simple framing techniques.

Like this post and comment if you find it useful or would like further information; if you’ve not already subscribed to keep up to date you can do so now using the link at the top of the post.

HO Scale, Scales, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Web

Claremont Concord decals in HO

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Over on Chris Meer’s Prince Street blog a recent post points to a new supplier of decals for the Claremont and Concord RR (yes that is the Railway that MR did a G scale layout of some time ago).

The C&C is a great prototype for the small layout builder (especially in HO) and these decals are in HO scale and at first glance appear to be crisp and match the prototype exactly.

While there are no guarantees, and Chris points out that he has not received them at the time of this post, these look very nice and here’s hoping that the seller’s customer service and the product meet expectations.

Chris Mears's avatarPrince Street

A quick cruise in eBay led me to this listing:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/CLAREMONT-AND-CONCORD-44-TON-HO-SCALE-DECAL-SET-/141937362595?hash=item210c2046a3:g:xQAAAOSwP~tW6qy0

I have no connection to the seller and I haven’t seen the decals. Regardless, I’m excited and I’ve ordered a couple of sets of these to have a look at them. I’m a fan of the Claremont-Concord Railroad (my interest lies during the LaValley ownership period) and this decal set would be perfect for use on a model of the CCRR’s #30.

While I have no connection to the seller, I did exchange a few messages with him and each has been pleasant. I’m impressed with the service so far. I’m looking forward to seeing the decals and I’m thrilled to shine a light on a product that I haven’t seen produced before.

Frankly I’m surprised, constantly, by the lack of models or even just decals, for those with an interest in any of the shortlines owned or run by Samuel…

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1:48 (US O Scale 1/4"), O Scale, Proto 48, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Web

Site seeing – February 26 – diesel parts arrived edition

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For those of you who’ve been following the blog for a while you may know that I am rebuilding two Weaver GP38-2s. In the process of rebuilding I had come to the conclusion, due to the difficulty of getting parts help from several of the USA suppliers, that I would have to build a lot of O scale parts. Then Lo and Behold – American Scale Model Professional Services comes on the scene on eBay; more in a second.

Site 1: American Scale Model Professional Services (eBay Store – page 2)

So here’s what I bought:

GladHands

When I saw these little babies on Flea Bay I thought all my Christmas’ has come at once. Because these parts were going to be a Royal Pain in Diaz to manufacture. I can do it, but with dragging feet, toes in the dust and all, I just “din wanna”.

Not only are they better than I thought they’d be in the flesh, they appear to be far better than I’d hoped.

In addition the shipping costs were pretty good and the service was outstanding. Ordered the 8th of February they arrived the 24th February. I got gouged by the fallen Australian dollar – but that was not the owner Bill’s fault. I blame the bloody Chinese economy for that! I’m going to keep Bill’s details in my diary and contact him again when I need more parts. Hear that Bill? Done in my best Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator voice – I’ll be back.

And yes, those are decals in there. I’ll be putting on the magnifier and taking a look at these later on. Later gator.

1. Small, HO Scale, Layout Design, Layouts, Liked off site, Operations, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Switching, Web

Site seeing – February 13 (the behind the scenes edition)

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Site 1: Switching/Shunting/Shelf “Small Model Train Layouts” (Facebook group)

Glenn Sanders runs a very tight-knit and helpful group over on Facebook. I’m pretty sure that you need to be a member of Facebook to view the group, and you have to be added by Glenn, but since joining I have found some of the best modellers on there. Ray O’Neill of HELM and 59th and Rust fame is just one of the great modellers on the group. It is also a great place to share ideas and plans for your industrial switching layout (ISL) too. If you get a chance drop by and see what’s going on. Very layout focused.

Site 2: End of the spur!

For those of you who might know Ray O’Neill through his 59th and Rust layout, he has another underway at the moment that I wanted to share with you. End of the spur is an industrial switching layout (ISL) set in an inner city industrial area, using combined motive power moved because there is no run-around as in the image left, there is a lot of switching to do and surprisingly a lot of space to get it done in with 12′ (feet) of run and 14″ (inches) of depth. There are some great ideas that I’ve seen in this build that I’ll be using on my layout too. Among them the switch frog polarity controller – which is genius.

Have a great Saturday.