Jump to content

Yeoman's Wharf, an OO9 Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Quayside Micro


Recommended Posts

Welcome to my model railway layout build thread.

 

The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway was a narrow gauge railway built between those two North Devon towns. It opened in 1897 and ran as an independent company until the Grouping in 1923, when it came under the control of the Southern Railway. It was closed in 1935, but a 1-mile section of track has been re-opened by the new Lynton & Barnstaple Railway as a heritage steam railway. The new company fully intend to rebuild the whole line and is making great strides with that purpose. Have a look at their website here if you're interested in this amazing project.

 

This layout is/will be a micro/cameo layout portraying a small fictitious quay scene ostensibly in a Barnstaple backwater. Track will be Code 55 flat bottom rail, a combination of paved (i.e. inset) PECO N track and hand-built track. Hopefully, the latter will look a bit more like the real thing than the usual Toytown narrow gauge track available commercially, and avoid the "RSJ rail" look!

 

The intention is to set the layout in two distinct time periods. Firstly, 1905 when the line was relatively new, and secondly around 1930 when it was in its declining years. This will allow a wider variety of locomotives and wagons and a nice contrast in independent and corporate liveries. Locomotives and rolling stock will be mostly RTR PECO and Bachmann with a few 3D-printed and kit-built wagons thrown in; A/M chopper couplings that look a bit more like the real thing are planned.

 

Overall sizes: scenic board is 1m x 0.3m, fiddle yard board is 0.45m x 0.3m.

 

Cheers for now,
Mark

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The majority of the route is still intact, only the section from Barnstaple Town Station to Pilton Yard has really been developed. The new L&B company are hoping to reopen the whole route apart from that section and the final stretch into Lynton Station, where they plan to build a diversion to a better-sited station in the town.

 

Cheers,

Mark

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

I was at Chivenor for a short time before it closed, and I remember that there were still traces of the old route past the base.

I lived across the water, at Bishops Tawton, for a while and the Barnstaple to Exeter line was (is) at the end of our garden.   I have recently taken an interest in model railways, mainly for a GB earlier and I shall follow along to pick up some pointers Mark.

 

Mike

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/2/2021 at 5:18 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

I was at Chivenor for a short time before it closed, and I remember that there were still traces of the old route past the base.

I did about four years there, last couple of years it was an RAF Base and then onto A Flight 22 Sqn for a couple of years as the Commando Logs guys moved in. 

 

Used to run into work on the old railway track up from the centre of Braunton, can't think what it was called, North Devon Coastal Path maybe ? The old Railway Platform is still at Wrafton, just behind the A Flight Crashgate.

 

Been having a sniff at the little model railways since watching the Hornby series, will be watching this.............

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

On 02/12/2021 at 17:34, bootneck said:

I lived across the water, at Bishops Tawton, for a while and the Barnstaple to Exeter line was (is) at the end of our garden.   I have recently taken an interest in model railways, mainly for a GB earlier and I shall follow along to pick up some pointers Mark.

 

Mike

 

18 hours ago, PLC1966 said:

I did about four years there, last couple of years it was an RAF Base and then onto A Flight 22 Sqn for a couple of years as the Commando Logs guys moved in. 

 

Used to run into work on the old railway track up from the centre of Braunton, can't think what it was called, North Devon Coastal Path maybe ? The old Railway Platform is still at Wrafton, just behind the A Flight Crashgate.

 

Been having a sniff at the little model railways since watching the Hornby series, will be watching this.............

Hi chaps and welcome - sorry I haven't posted anything sooner! Narrow gauge has a lot going for it insofar as it can be compact, and its nice to see "serious" NG layouts appearing in more recent years.

 

Hopefully I'll be able to give you some ideas, probably in the best way to not do things, though :) The L&B is a fascinating line, and although its original history is short it has a lot going for it for someone wanting to build an authentic model: the original stations were quite compact with picturesque buildings which are largely intact, while the locos and rolling stock was relatively large for a narrow gauge line and attractively liveried. It also lends itself well to the approach where the model's location is fictitious but uses authentic stock, as I'm doing here.

 

Baseboards used to be great lumping heavy things built from 2"x1" frames topped with chipboard or plywood. Thankfully, there are companies now selling kits of laser-cut plywood flat-pack kits which produce light and strong baseboards. A big advantage of this is that you can adopt a modular approach, adding boards as you wish. And track has come a long way in the last twenty years!

 

If you've got any questions, I'll try to answer them as best I can, or at least point you in the right direction!

 

Cheers,

Mark

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

To recap, the scenic board is 1m long x 0.3m wide, with a separate fiddle yard board 0.45m long x 0.3m wide. To start the ball rolling, so-to-speak, here are a few photos of the roughly laid out track. Please ignore the fact that the track at the front (nearest the camera) is OO gauge - that's just there for effect and the actual track will be 9mm gauge (OO9);

http://IMG-4140.jpg

http://IMG-4141.jpg

http://IMG-4142.jpg

 

The boxes and bits and bobs represent where some buildings may go: there will need to be more to achieve the look of a poor, down-at-heel, wharf area that I'm hoping for.

 

The rear-most track will be a hidden fiddle siding with tallish buildings in front of it, where trains can be assembled; this represents "the rest of the world". Trains then enter centre stage travelling right to left from behind the 4027 box, and carry on toward the left-hand end of the scenic board where there is a trailing point for a dead-end siding serving one or two small merchants. To shunt wagons into this siding, trains will continue off-stage to the left between the second 4027 box and the wooden box into the fiddle yard board where there will be a rotating sector plate with several tracks on it.

 

The siding at the front will be a quay-/wharf-side siding with its track inset into stone setts. It is assumed that the connection for this siding is off-stage to the left, so the rotating fiddle yard sector plate provides that connection also.

 

I've been building a few structure kits, starting with this Wills Goods Store:

http://IMG-4149.jpg

This is a nice little kit, and I've spent a while making it look a bit run down by distressing the planks and breaking and removing a few slates. The planked infill around the base is my addition, and while it looks like a nice mock-Tudor structure, it'll be painted, too. The little corrugated lamp-hut alongside is also a Wills kit, and will be suitably rusty. The run-down look is more suitable for the second period I'm planning, so I may build duplicates of these and finish them in better condition more suited to Edwardian times. By using lift-out bases, the buildings could be swapped appropriately.

 

The boxed wagons behind the store are a brand new Brake Van No.14 and a Bogie Open No.22 that's been around for several years. The latter has had it's interior painted to represent unpainted wood, and a light weathering on the exterior appropriate to it being a fairly new vehicle.

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Cheers,

Mark

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, 2996 Victor said:

Parts of the North Loop of the Tarka Trail are on the trackbed of the old Ilfracombe branch, but don't go over any of the Lynton & Barnstaple trackbed.

 

Cheers,

Mark

Okay, got ya, that makes sense.  Googled up the Wrafton crashgate and it says Tarka Trail on the Pathway Sign, so I am guessing the L&B  headed North from Barnstaple and the Ilfracombe came out West.  Going to have to do some investigation  just for curiosity sake.  Thanks for the pointer though.

 

Any connection with North Devon ?

 

I do like the size of the layout here, makes it a reasonable for storage purposes.

 

What are 'chopper couplings' ?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, PLC1966 said:

Any connection with North Devon ?

More with West Somerset, I was born and brought up just outside Taunton, so I know the Brendon Hills, Exmoor and the Somerset and North Devon coastline like the back of my hand. My better half, Jane, and I love Lynton and Lynmouth, and try to get away to a gorgeous B&B there a couple of times a year.

 

1 hour ago, PLC1966 said:

What are 'chopper couplings' ?

They're centre couplings used with a single, central buffer. A hook a bit like the ones on Hornby couplings (but less massive!) overhangs the buffing face, and as the coupling engages the hook rides up and over the buffer and engage with a draw bar or plate. There is a hook at one end only of each vehicle. If you have a look at this site for the Setesdals Railway in Norway, it'll probably make far more sense than my attempts to describe it! :D If you scroll down, there are good photos and descriptions!

 

Cheers,

Mark

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I lodged in Barnstable (Newport) when I was at North Devon Tech 60/61. The Southern Region branch line ran from Barnstable through Braunton, Mortehoe, Woolacombe and on to Ilfracombe. The Barnstable to Lynton I think had a station near main one but it went from there North eastwards across the town through Pilton and then out roughly NE to Lynton twisting it's way across the countyside. Southern closed in it 1935 and it was auctioned off shortly after. The gauge was 1' 11 and a 1/2" (just under 600mm) so was very narrow gauge. There was yard/maintenance/ sidings in the Pilton area of Barnstable. The viaduct at Chelfhan is worth a good look at as it is a magnificent structure.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, ocatlub said:

I lodged in Barnstable (Newport) when I was at North Devon Tech 60/61. The Southern Region branch line ran from Barnstable through Braunton, Mortehoe, Woolacombe and on to Ilfracombe. The Barnstable to Lynton I think had a station near main one but it went from there North eastwards across the town through Pilton and then out roughly NE to Lynton twisting it's way across the countyside. Southern closed in it 1935 and it was auctioned off shortly after. The gauge was 1' 11 and a 1/2" (just under 600mm) so was very narrow gauge. There was yard/maintenance/ sidings in the Pilton area of Barnstable. The viaduct at Chelfhan is worth a good look at as it is a magnificent structure.

The L&B shared the London & South Western (later Southern) station at Barnstaple Town, with a bay platform and loop on the northern side of the station. The L&B's Works was at Pilton, of course.

 

Chelfham station has recently received a lot of restoration work undertaken by the new L&B's volunteer workers and has received an award. The viaduct is indeed a magnificent structure, built of yellow brick on a curving alignment. Thankfully, it is in great condition.

 

Cheers,

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having had a major re-arrangement of the clutter and detritus in my hobby room, I can now see between twice and three-times as much of the floor! :D The old sideboard upon which the nascent layout rests has also been re-sited to a safer yet more accessible location away from the door.

 

Some time has been spent on CAD designing the point and plain track templates for the rail and sleeper positions. The track is quite distinctive and, as alluded to above, entirely different to any ready-made track available here in the UK (our American brethren are rather luckier in this respect!). I may post some diagrams to show what I mean.

 

I've also been ploughing through some old model railway magazines looking for additional inspiration. Among these was an issue of Railway Modeller showcasing Gordon and Maggie Gravett's "Arun Quay". This is an O scale standard gauge layout set in 1950s Sussex, which uses the unusual perspective of a quay scene from the landward side. Have a look here if you're interested. Anyway, the upshot is that I've decided to turn my little cameo through 180 degrees such that what was the back is now the front. This means fewer buildings to construct but a significantly longer length of hand-built track! The new front view:

http://IMG-4181.jpg

 

There will now be a fiddle yard at both ends instead of a hidden siding at the back, but the whole should be much more open and less cluttered. It will also allow me to incorporate a short bridge over a stream flowing into the river at (what is now) the back of the layout, with trains emerging from a narrow alleyway. All will become clearer soon when I've finally drawn a proper track plan!

 

Anyway, that's it for now as I've also got an Arma Hurricane on my bench!

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Cheers,

Mark

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2996 Victor changed the title to Yeoman's Wharf, an OO9 Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Quayside Micro

Here at last are a few photos of how I'm progressing!

 

First up - cork track bed glued down with the faithful hot-glue gun:

http://IMG-4196.jpg

 

Holes drilled through the cork and baseboard for electrical droppers:

http://IMG-4197.jpg

 

Moulded sleepers removed in three locations and dropper wires soldered to rails:

http://IMG-4199.jpg

 

And wires fed through the pre-drilled holes:

http://IMG-4200.jpg

This model depicts an early attempt by Sir Freddy Laker to launch his Sky Train brand..... 

 

Constructing a jig for the hand-built track based on a CAD drawing of three L&B siding track panels - note the closely-spaced sleepers where the rail joints would be:

http://IMG-4208.jpg

 

And lastly for now, here I've filled in between and either side of the PECO flexi used for the quayside line:

http://IMG-4209.jpg

and the surface of the filler has been sanded back to rail-head level.

 

A word about the filler I've used - its just cheapo Tesco household filler at three quid a tub, mixed with about 15% cheapo PVA from I don't remember where. The filler is very soft and crumbly as bought so the PVA adds a little extra strength to it and makes it a bit more workable.

 

I've progressed quite a bit further than this, but just haven't managed to post up any photos for a while. There'll be some more soon!

 

Cheers for now,

Mark

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

A bit of an update as its been a while and I having been keeping pace!

 

Close-up of the infilled track after sanding smooth:

http://IMG-4210.jpg

 

and with the flangeways reinstated:

http://IMG-4211.jpg

 

An Olfa P-Cutter was carefully dragged along either side of the rail head to redefine it. The flangeways were then given a number of additional passes with the P-Cutter to clear them out and a Stanley knife held at a shallow angle was run along the rail web to clear the filler out of there. A PECO box van was run along the track to check for problems, and when all was good a slip of sandpaper was run along the flangeways to smooth the edge of the filler.

 

Starting to scribe in the setts:

http://IMG-4212.jpg

The edging stones were marked out either side of the rails and scribed with two or three light passes with the P-Cutter. These lines were then opened out with a scriber.

 

The individual edging stones were set at 8mm lengths and marked out.

http://IMG-4214.jpg

You can see top right where I've started to scribe in the setts as well.

 

Edging stones scribed in:

http://IMG-4215.jpg

I've staggered them as you can see - I don't know if that's prototypical but it seemed logical.

 

I've also not worried if the filler has chipped as it helps to give the impression of an older structure that's seen a bit of life. In places, I've deliberately chipped and gouged with a small flat-bladed screwdriver to add a bit of texture. The final job is to give the scribed stones a good scrub with an old toothbrush.

 

Thanks for looking in - there'll be a bit more shortly.

 

Cheers,

Mark

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A bit more.....

 

The setts between the edging stones are defined with the scriber, first by going transverse to the track to give "courses":

http://IMG-4216.jpg

 

And then the individual stones are marked in:

http://IMG-4213.jpg

There's a brick repair infill there as well, just to add a bit of variety  plus some additional texturing carried out with the scriber and screwdriver.

 

Lastly, a trial with some paint:

http://IMG-4217.jpg

All water-based acrylics, Vallejo Model Air, mostly RAF World War 2 colours mixed and tinted artist-fashion as I went along. It all looks a bit shiny where I've given it a wash of Citadel Nuln Oil to fill in the gaps. At this stage, I hadn't painted the rails, these have been done since with Vallejo MA RAF Dark Earth.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Cheers,

Mark

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Red face time!

 

Having started laboriously scribing the setts, it then occurred to me that I should really have thought about provision for uncoupling..... and so I got myself some powerful little magnets from a certain well-known internet auction site and set about digging up my handiwork:

http://IMG-4250.jpg

A 5mm plasterboard drill on "slow" did the necessary excavating without creating too much carnage. The magnets were then embedded with epoxy glue, filled over, and the damage repaired. Phew!

 

Next job was to make the walls, and for this I used Wills coarse stone (cos I had enough). The upper edge of the sheets were lined up 6mm below the baseboard surface, which just happened to be where the baseboard's surface panel dovetailed into the sides. To introduce a slight slope to the walls, I glued some obeche strip along the baseboard side about half-way down. Here the Wills sheets are in place, and I've jumped ahead a bit as the quayside surface has been built up with filler, sanded and the wall's capstones scribed in:

http://IMG-4254.jpg

I'm not worrying about the gaps between the Wills sheets as I'll disguise these with timber baulks.

 

Sett scribing in progress, with my tools to hand:

http://IMG-4260.jpg

 

And lastly, a cruel close-up:

http://IMG-4258.jpg

 

I've scribed the setts as far as I can, as there are a couple of small areas that need more filling to get the surface right. Next jobs are to paint the Wills walling, probably with a Tamiya rattle can, and paint the capstones and setts I've done. I need a strip of 25mm square timber to fix along the bottom at the front, which will blended into the Wills walling to represent low-water sediment.

 

In the meantime, thanks for looking in. Comments or suggestions are always welcome!

 

Cheers,

Mark

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

To bring things up to date, there has been a hiatus in modelling terms due to a short break holiday last week coupled with me spending time researching for a Denver & Rio Grande Rail Road project in HOn3. There was also a bit of a downer on the first warehouse I was building: more on that in a bit.

 

Firstly, and apologies for the poor lighting, a quick overall shot of the layout in its corner -  

http://IMG-4261.jpg

And a close-up of the setts:

http://IMG-4264.jpg

As you can see, I've made a fair bit of progress with the setts. These and the Wills quay walling have been roughly painted with a mish-mash of the colours I mentioned previously, slopped on roughly and blended into one another. The idea was to give an overall finish with a bit of tonal variation. I also went over the inset track that I'd previously done, to give a more regular tone. When I finally finish the inset track and setts, I'll once again pick out individual stones with differing shades, and re-do the brick repairs.

 

A little view from the quay-side up along Steampacket Terrace:

http://IMG-4272.jpg

The half-relief terraced houses are from Fair Price Models on fleabay, and are intended as scratchbuilder's aids. They come as laser-cut kits for the entire basic shell of the structure plus doors, window frames and lintels. Its up to the modeller to provide the surface finish to the wall and roofs. They go together extremely neatly.

 

I plan to extend the end walls back by about half an inch, so that there is a full ridge along the roofs. As the viewing point will pretty much where the camera is here, and there will be a proscenium, the fact that the terrace is half-relief should be effectively disguised. The two single houses at the end have only just been glued, hence the elastic bands, although at this stage none of the facades are fixed as I plan to add some interior detail and possibly a little lighting. Note Quay Street emerging between Nos.3 and 4, and how the railway forces its way between Nos.4 and 6. Poor old Mr Winstanley and his family at No.5 were compulsorily purchased, and moved to Bideford.....

 

Which brings me to W H Sellick & Son's warehouse:

http://IMG-4277.jpg

I'm not very happy with how this has been progressing..... The building kit itself is from LCut Creative, and I really like the modular way it's designed. It allows for a good deal of variation by adding, subtracting or substituting different panels. However, the parts are quite thin and prone to bowing. The thin-ness is particularly evident on the window and door reveals. To obviate this and try to introduce some stability to the panels, I glued them to panels of foamex, which you can just see around the doorways, with aliphatic glue. These were weighted down for a week while we were away. However, once the weight was removed, the wall panels took on a massive bow. Bending in the opposite direction caused the glued surfaces to come apart, but the bowing was removed.

 

All this has left the warehouse rather the worse for wear, and the brick detail starting to come off. As the brickwork is stretcher bond, which is quite un-prototypical, I've decided to take another approach and start again.

 

Lastly for the moment, here's Arthur doing what he does best:

http://IMG-4274.jpg

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Cheers,

Mark

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love this thread.  It’s introducing me to a whole new world of products and materials and impressive results are emerging very quickly.  I admire scenic modellers.  It seems to me the best are further along the scale from kit assemblers to true artists than many of us: observational skills and a true eye for colour essential.  And the stakes are higher: not everyone will have seen a Soviet T34 or a Japanese Ki-84 in the flesh but everyone will know what a row of houses, a harbour walland a rundown warehouse ought to look like.  Hats off, sir!

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some lovely work on display and a project I would like to replicate one day.

 

OO9 has definitely become a lot more accessible in recent years - before about 10 years ago it was the sole preserve of scratch builders and those who could make something out of those all-brass locomotive kits that required a degree in engineering.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Seahawk said:

I love this thread.  It’s introducing me to a whole new world of products and materials and impressive results are emerging very quickly.  I admire scenic modellers.  It seems to me the best are further along the scale from kit assemblers to true artists than many of us: observational skills and a true eye for colour essential.  And the stakes are higher: not everyone will have seen a Soviet T34 or a Japanese Ki-84 in the flesh but everyone will know what a row of houses, a harbour walland a rundown warehouse ought to look like.  Hats off, sir!

 

2 hours ago, Tim R-T-C said:

Some lovely work on display and a project I would like to replicate one day.

 

OO9 has definitely become a lot more accessible in recent years - before about 10 years ago it was the sole preserve of scratch builders and those who could make something out of those all-brass locomotive kits that required a degree in engineering.

Thanks, guys, for your kind words - its really appreciated! To be fair, active railway modelling isn't something I've done in a long time, and certainly not layout building! None of the techniques are my own, so I guess I must have soaked up some of the reading I've done over the years :D

 

I'm really enjoying building this little layout, and although I'm sure many railway modellers would say that I'm doing things "the wrong way around" by not having a set track plan to work to, the ad hoc nature of my progress is working for me and I'm seeing ideas develop as I go. As you can see, I'm making good use of ready-made items such as the terraced houses - they're great items to build the basic shell of the houses, and you can add as much detail as you want. Plus they're dirt cheap and can be assembled with PVA, although I'm using aliphatic resin wood glue.

 

I haven't decided yet how I'm going to do the brickwork: brick sheets are available as embossed styrene and also as pre-printed paper, but then you have the problem of window reveals and corners. Real brickwork is quite interesting, right up there with watching paint dry or grass grow ;), and what many people forget is that stretcher bond for house walling is a fairly recent development as a cladding over blockwork. Older properties will be English bond or Flemish bond, and that introduces such joys as queen closers (quarter bricks) and the like! Oh dear, I'm rambling...... Anyway, I've an interesting little plan for the exposed end wall of No.6 which I hope will work and create a talking point :) 

 

Tim is absolutely right that OO9 has come a long way in recent years. Years ago, it was seen as a bit of joke scale with most layouts being layouts being what was known as a "rabbit warren" with many loops and tunnels, completely fictional and looking like something gnomes might use! Prototypical narrow gauge layouts were very few and far between.

 

That's definitely not the case now with PECO, Heljan and Bachmann producing some superb OO9 locomotives and rolling stock. Injection moulded plastic kits have been around for a long time - Dundas models, for instance, and the late-lamented Ninelines, and there are etched brass kits for the more adventurous from folk like Worsley Works. 3D-printing has also helped bolster the scene, for example Custom OO9 on Facebook, and that's bound to continue. PECO make good, strong track, although the look of it isn't for everyone; there are other commercially-available systems in various gauges. Or you can build your own - not something I've tried yet although I will be very soon for both this layout and for my Denver & Rio Grande HOn3 project!

 

Rail is definitely an interesting subject, the scales are as wide-ranging as aviation and armour and there's plenty of reference material to be found. If I can be of any help then I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have :)

 

Cheers,

Mark

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a light-bulb moment yesterday, made all the more embarrassing to admit to as I know Barnstaple moderately well..... dark grey stonework on the quayside: nope! Traditional building stone in the area is from the Baggy Sandstones group, which consist of "interbedded fine-grained, grey or green-grey sandstones, siltstones and shales, with thicker buff-coloured, fine-and medium-grained feldspathic and micaceous sandstones in places" (from the Devon Building Stone Atlas). I really should have remembered this sooner. This is a warehouse on Rolle Quay, which the L&B served:

http://Rolle-Quay.jpg

:blush: Certainly far from dark grey!

 

However, it matters not as there is still much to do before this little layout is finished  

 

In other news, I've decided that there needs to be a small increase in size. I think I mentioned previously that I'm intending to add a 25mm square strip to the front face. I'm going to add another 125mm wide strip to the rear as well, so that the scenic elements will hopefully be less cramped. It'll also mean that the exact location of the tracks will need to be adjusted, but hey ho, it's no big deal. After all, I'm making this up as I go along, so there are bound to be mods needed.

 

More soon, I hope!

 

Cheers,

Mark

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So this is where you've been hiding! :D   This is a really impressive bit of work so far.  I'm amazed at your scribing the stones. They look so real after your paint, though!  Wow!

 

When I was 10 I got an HO scale set from my uncle -- a locomotive and 4 or 5 cars.  I think it came with a little ticket booth and a little bridge that goes over the track (no idea how to describe it better).  In late high school and early college, I started collecting more cars and more buildings and different materials for grass, trees and a pond.  I had a big idea of making a 3 piece diorama for my train set.  It was pushed into the attic and has been moved to 3 different houses over the years.  I never got to building it because, frankly, I have no room to store such a thing (well, and when you start having kids, the time goes away ;) ).  I recently dug it out and set it up for the kids to play with.  I've got some neat stuff, but I don't think my diorama will ever get made. I'm happy to watch you put this together though!  It is going to look really great when you're done.  This will be fun to watch develop -- there's a set of skills here that is different than aircraft modelling.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...