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AndrewC

AndrewC

Mostly Harmless
Hello, I recently found this forum and have been reading through the various threads. Some fantastic modelling by so many of you. :D (need a "we're not worthy" icon)

A bit of introduction: I'm a Canadian now living in London UK. 5 years now. I've modelled British in 4mm scale for the past 30 years. Up to now that is. I've always had a bit of HO stuff but never really caught the bug for modelling a Canadian or American layout. Over the past few months that's changed and now I'm finding the lure of big trains very irresistable.

The plan at the moment is to create a series of modules to Fremo standards which I can link up with a couple other modellers. The opus will be (hopefully) a 24' section of BNSF depicting Essex Montana. Why? Probably because I spent every summer in Glacier Park from the time I was 16 until I moved to the UK.

To start with however, I'll probably create a small time saver or similar, just to cut my teeth on. The one thing I really want to avoid is the Americanized British layout that seems common over here.

Thanks for letting me waffle on.

The first pic is the inspiration. Taken from the foot bridge in Oct 2003. The other 2 images are from my now mothballed BR Southern Region layout.
 
Welcome aboard, Andrew. It sure looks like you've picked a beautiful area to model. Your BR layout look like a nice job so maybe you can recycle some fo that to your US prototype layout. Just let us know what questions you have and we'll be glad to help. We have a number of members from the UK so they will be able to give you good advice on where to get things locally.
 
How's it goin eh?

Mckenzies2.jpg


:)

What part of Canada were you originally from?

Mark
 
Cheers and thanks for the welcome Jim. I'm not likely to recycle much from the British layout. Boards are wrong to fit in with the Fremo specs the others are using. I also want to get away from the Peco track and lay my own.

I'll be asking a lot of questions for sure. Most around operational and prototype issues. Then again for me half the fun of modelling is trying out new ideas and techniques.

Mark, I'm originally from Calgary. Nice pic. I could use a couple of stubbies about now, but Molson, blech. :eek: Gimme a Big Rock any day. :D
 
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Andrew - Welcome to the forum!
You'll find it very enjoyable here, I'm sure!

It was interesting to hear you were going to hand lay your track as that is what I have been doing along with building my own switches to fit the circumstances, can't beat it for realism. I'm modeling a time period around the turn of the century, 1900's Colorado RR's and so most of my trains are smaller along with the fact I have some prtty steep grades to climb.

If I can be of any help feel free to contact me, I'll be glad to offer whatever help I can.
 
Not a Molson fan either...gimme an Alexander Keiths on draft anyday. :)

I build my switches as well. If you build 'em right they are so much smoother than store bought ones and are more economical too.

Mark
 
Again, thanks to all for the warm welcome. Once I get out the ye olde soldering iron I'll be asking lots of track building questions to go along with the prototype ones.
 
Say Mark & Andrew,
Mark apologies, I meant to mention that you also hand laid your own track and built your switches too!

Andrew, there are several about hand laying your own track and building your own switches that not only really adds to the realism of the layout but also to the operational quality too as you can make adjustments as needed and even add additional guard rails if needed to ensure proper tracking of the wheels especially going through Switch Frogs. You adjuest the clearances to what works best for you.

I have some shots posted of some of the switches I've built and what they look like as far as realism.
 
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David & Mark. I'm still a few months away from starting my track laying. Baseboards and ripping out some crappy built-in wardrobes to accomodate them are is first on the list.

I've been looking at the Fast Tracks stuff. The reviews seem pretty good. Any opinions? My main concern is that the main lines are supposed to be concrete ties. I may just use Micro Engineering's or Tillig's code 83 flex for those, with all hand laid for the yard. Cost could be another problem. I'd need 3 different assembly fixtures for 16 points, err turnouts. Then again, once I've got them they are reusable for a long time.
 
I just use paper templates to do mine, but from all the reviews the Fast Tracks system looks very impressive, especially in the consistency and quality of the turnouts.

Mark
 
Yep, if I was building my layout over, I'd use the Fast Tracks switches. The cost is actually less than a good quality pre-made switch if you have several of the same type of switch to make. It's also reasonably easy to adjust the templates for those strange kinds of switches, like a #5.5, that you can't buy over the counter, but would fit perfect in the space you've got.
 
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