Half an hour of activity at “Much Murkle”, a 1930’s era Great Western Railway branchline terminus. The entire layout is 8x2 and has a total of 8 turnouts. While I’m not a big fan of GWR Pannier tanks, this does illustrate how much operation can take place in a small space. I first became aware of this layout via an article in “Hornby” magazine in the summer of 2012.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WAJ60BZMRXE#fauxfullscreen
Track plan can be found here:
https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/images/files/5.pdf
Andre
As long as we're talking buying and LHS's,
Does anyone know of a international Hobby store in MN, preferably south of Theif River Falls?
You need to be carefull about mixing UK and continental models on the same layout. There is a very noticible difference in size between HO and OO which becomes obvious when you place them side by side on the same layout. If you go UK I advise you to check out the Bachmann UK range which in the opinion of many people, myself included is superior to Hornby. They have a very extensive range of locos, carriages and freight vehicles of all the popular eras. You may be able to order these direct from the Bachmann US site.
Brian Deasy (Ireland)
Virtually all European HO gauge equipment will run on code 83 track.
Hornby and Bachmann and the major players in the British market but there are several niche manufactures that can be found. If you have a real interest in the British scene the British Railway Modelers of North America would be worth checking out. There is a large show on the even years in a Toronto Suburbs. For European modeling the European Train Enthusiasts is available.
For ordering Reynaulds is a good place for the European stuff domestically. There really isn't much domestically for a dedicated British store, I know many people have ordered through Hattons in the UK with no issues. They are one of the largest hobby/order shops in the UK, good used selection as well. Again some work on the internet will fine many more places.
If you want something really different but relatively easy to source look at Japanese trains in N scale. The market is very large in Japan so there is a lot of equipment that can be had for very reasonable amounts and quick shipping for most of it. Kato and Tomix are the biggest brands but as always there are many more. N scale is the primary scale there so the selection of items is vast and comprehensive.
As far as track goes HO/OO/4mm/3.5mm use the same track, there is a whole rabbit hole to go down when it comes to scale width track for UK/Ireland. almost all recent (~20 years) production will run on code 83. The older equipment will definitely require code 100. DC locomotives work on 12 vdc so American power packs will work fine. Any of the AC locomotives will require their own proprietary control system. I am pretty sure that equipment tagged as DCC is DCC and will run on American DCC systems.
Keep in mind that there is a market (although much smaller then US, UK, Germany) for models from many places including Australia, France, Switzerland, Ireland, China, Italy, etc. It may take some digging and close enough modeling but the international model railroad sphere is bigger than many people realize.
International Hobbies in Auburn, California, carries British model railway equipment. Here’s a link to their page. According to the blurb at the bottom, their inventory is more extensive than what’s shown.
http://www.interhobmodels.com/id14.html
This sounds like great fun! Though I model US prototypes, I'm a big fan of British railroad and have many books and many, many hours of documentaries. They love and respect their trains over there.
A fellow club member and I have talked about adding some British trains to our layout. The biggest issue, as I see it, is the OO vs HO thing. OO trains look fine, but you don't really get how small their trains are (60' coaches!) unless you have HO stuff.
Lima did make true HO-scale BR coaches (Mark 1s) and I own one -- bought it used at a hobby shop in London (Janes Trains in Tooting Broadway, I highly recommend a visit) for 7 pounds, about eleven bucks. The biggest problem is finding HO scale locomotives... Lima made some back in the day but they are crap for detail. If I get serious about this, I'll probably have to suck it up and go OO.
Plenty of stuff on eBay to be sure, but if I was serious about this I'd probably wait for a European trip (I do those from time to time) and arrange a stopover in London. My one shopping experience yielded some great prices.
Agree that Bachmann is well regarded over there -- the hobby shop owner said he was surprised when he brings up Bachmann to Americans and they go "Ugh". (For the record, I like my Bachmann locos.) I was never impressed by Hornby in the 80s, but I recently bought some Rivarossi-by-Hornby U25Cs and they are among the best locomotives I own.
I really want a Class 37 -- one of my favorite (er, favourite) locomotives. But if I get one of those, I'll need a Western... and a Deltic... oh, and definitely a Class 31... talk about falling down the rabbit hole.
Midwest Northern R.R Hi Y'all, After years of small township modeling, I'm starting to consider starting some International modeling. What I had in mind, was starting with some british trains, later moving to German Steam trains. Has anyone else tried this, or should I lean more towards the "Don't Do It" side? This is probably an idea that would end my compatibility....
Hi Y'all,
After years of small township modeling, I'm starting to consider starting some International modeling. What I had in mind, was starting with some british trains, later moving to German Steam trains.
Has anyone else tried this, or should I lean more towards the "Don't Do It" side? This is probably an idea that would end my compatibility....
I'm a Belgian.
One of the most frustating thing about European trains is the complete lack of good couplers.
Most are still on the horn hook line, and the couplers which offer delayed action when they are working, are clearly out of scale, need a actuator in the track and absolutely not realistic and clearly largely out of scale; in fact none are really working even for a sweet coupling.
This is a complaint of all the "real" modeler in Europe.
The possibility to put Kadee couplers on European trains is difficult even if you use the "Nem" couplers of Kadee.
Putting Kaddees couplers is all the time tricky knowing European trains are all equiped with bumpers; most to not say all models need good chirurgical work for changing the original couplers.
And about the flanges, most are out of size from the pizza cutter age even on models offered today.
Excepting Tillig and Peco, most of the track offered is out of scale with turnouts radius extremly sharp.
This is the reason I switched on american N scale train 45 years ago with surely no any regrets
Just a review and my opinion