From Llangunllo to Llanbister Rd.
- Thread starter Geoff
- Start date
ceejaydee
Western Thunderer
With your requirements of a small amount of carefully researched and observed stock , it is likely that comfortably working in 7mm would not be an issue for you Geoff.
In terms of available space and what you are looking to achieve from a layout then only you can give the answer on that topic but, I daresay, like many other followers of your work I'd enjoy seeing what you could produce in the larger scale.
In terms of available space and what you are looking to achieve from a layout then only you can give the answer on that topic but, I daresay, like many other followers of your work I'd enjoy seeing what you could produce in the larger scale.
Geoff
Western Thunderer
Well chaps you've certainly given me plenty of food for thought, so thanks for that and your kind comments about my modelling in general. Rob is correct, I am a builder and take a lot of pleasure from creating things with my own hands. I have had a lot of fun whilst modelling in 4mm EM, and have no intention of scrapping Llangunllo. But I've come to the conclusion that its time to try something else, as Simon T pointed out many posts ago, the nub is how deep I can build my model. So bearing that in mind I'm going to start a full size mock up, based upon a mix of the ideas that I've mentioned here.
Thanks to each, and everyone of you for expressing your views, all of which are very much appreciated.
Geoff
Thanks to each, and everyone of you for expressing your views, all of which are very much appreciated.
Geoff
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Hi Geoff,
Notwithstanding the significant satisfaction obtained from building one's own locos and rolling stock, whether from kits or scratchbuilding, there is something incredibly satisfying for me to be able to simply pick up one of these new RTR 7mm locos, feel the weight and 'presence' and think, 'wow, that's just so good'.
Notwithstanding the significant satisfaction obtained from building one's own locos and rolling stock, whether from kits or scratchbuilding, there is something incredibly satisfying for me to be able to simply pick up one of these new RTR 7mm locos, feel the weight and 'presence' and think, 'wow, that's just so good'.
keefr22
Western Thunderer
I said it before..'Oh no'...! That's my 'resolve' to have nothing to do with 7mm scale done for then! I suppose I'd best start listing the 2 & 4 mm stuff on flea bay ...!!
Keith
D6356
Western Thunderer
Go the whole Hog and G1 1/32 of course- Simon!
My 03, 121 and a railbus plus 4 wagons give all I need for a plank in my flat`s living room!
Love all you have done and specially bought the RMs with your two articles - just to save as inspirational layouts reading material in the winter nights! The Tannant Valley / Cornish Idyll off much artistic content I am sure we will all be pleased and amazed ...
Robert
My 03, 121 and a railbus plus 4 wagons give all I need for a plank in my flat`s living room!
Love all you have done and specially bought the RMs with your two articles - just to save as inspirational layouts reading material in the winter nights! The Tannant Valley / Cornish Idyll off much artistic content I am sure we will all be pleased and amazed ...
Robert
I am really looking forward to seeing your 7mm plans develop Geoff and I am sure it will be a cracking piece of work. Having departed the 7mm world just before the rtr market started developing as it has what now worries me is that you may well lead me back into the world of "just having a little dabble" 
.
John
.John
Geoff
Western Thunderer
You are spot on there Tim,
I said it before..'Oh no'...! That's my 'resolve' to have nothing to do with 7mm scale done for then! I suppose I'd best start listing the 2 & 4 mm stuff on flea bay ...!!
Keith
Wow! Hold on Keith, wait and see if I can make things work first
Cheers Robert
I am really looking forward to seeing your 7mm plans develop Geoff and I am sure it will be a cracking piece of work. Having departed the 7mm world just before the rtr market started developing as it has what now worries me is that you may well lead me back into the world of "just having a little dabble"
John
Oh dear, I've not started yet but I'm already leadng folk astray !
Anyway, after much thought I've decided that Kington engine shed, and any ideas of modelling a through station are none starters. But I've come up with a plausible scheme for keeping my Kington Railways theme going. I'll explain all about that once I've done a tad more research, at the moment my printer is churning out track templates by the dozen, so I might just have the first ideas tried and tested over the weekend.
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keefr22
Western Thunderer
Wow! Hold on Keith, wait and see if I can make things work first
Dont worry Geoff, I'm a master of procrastination, you'll probably be onto your second 7mm layout before I get round to selling anything off...!!
Keith
martin_wynne
Western Thunderer
On the other hand, if you told a permanent way engineer that you were going to set back over a set of points, he would assume that you were going to stop half-way along the turnout. Like a lot of things, there's a proper word for something, and an everyday word used by those who don't need to know the fine details. I would suggest that if you buy them ready-made you could perhaps call them points, but if you are building a turnout yourself as a scale model, you ought to be using the correct terminology for the thing you are building.I stopped calling them turnouts years ago, when a couple of railwaymen of the old school visited my old layout Penhydd, and asked me what I meant by a turnout? One went on to say that if he asked a driver to set back over a turnout he wouldn't have a clue as to what he was talking about, but asking him to set back over a point would have the desired response.
Point has a specific meaning in permanent way matters, and it isn't a turnout. My interest is that writing the instructions for Templot is damn difficult enough, without having to cope with folks using the wrong terms.
Martin.
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Martin Shaw
Western Thunderer
Martin W makes a fair enough point and indeed if you are designing or building said items then turnout is the correct term. Thereafter every other grade of railwayman who has need to refer to them will call them points. So calling them points is wholly right as well. Usage also comes into it, we all know what frogs and hornblocks mean, even if they are essentially modelling descriptions that bear no resemblance to the correct terms.
Regards
Martin S
Regards
Martin S
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
And yet, Geoff, the two railwaymen that you mention in your earlier post did call them points.A fair point Martin, pun not intended, I wondered when someone would take me to task on that one
Certainly operators on the 'big' railway today do term them 'points', I've heard that expression used many times.
But current PW engineers also refer to 'switches' for the blades, and 'crossings' for the 'frog'. This can be confusing to operators, as the term 'crossing' is also used for a level crossing!
But then again, it is the engineers who are the grown-ups on Network Rail these days, so we operators usually just have to do as we're told!
Geoff
Western Thunderer
Tim,
It certainly is confusing, and as Martin points out, (Crumbs here I go again ) it doesn't help when trying to explain how to build a turnout, there I've said it
One of the railwaymen, who I am still in touch with, is still going strong at the grand old age of 89. He worked his way up from a goods guard, and ended up as BR Area Relief Manager. Thanks to him I was able to enjoy a good few cab rides, and visit several locations that were, and I suppose still are strictly, out of bounds for the enthusiast. So when a chap of his experience, and two of his old railway chums, both of whom were 'hands on' railwaymen in the PW dept., tell you in pleasant terms, that you are talking nonsense, you've got to take notice.
But as Martin, and yourself say, whether you use the term point, or turnout depends on whether you are an operator, or engineer. I suppose we modellers could be described as both, which adds to the confusion.
Your comment about the engineers being the grown ups, and you operators having to do as you are told, reminds of what my old manager friend told many years ago. He said how happy he was to get out of the railway industry just before privatisation, when everything was turned on its head, and years of experience was cast aside.
In the meantime, I'm struggling to fit my '0' gauge plans into a 4mm pot, two ideas rejected so far, perhaps it will be third time lucky?
Geoff
martin_wynne
Western Thunderer
Perhaps we should jump back 100 years, and call them "Single Junctions":
Martin.
Martin.
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Nice, reminds me of 'Bath Single Line Junction' - the thought of it - a separate signal box to control where the S&D went from double track to single, only just 'up the line' from Bath Junction itself!
Geoff
Western Thunderer
and return to the Westerns way of spelling shown, thanks for the drawing Martin
I'm feeling rather home sick now for the green, green grass of home
I'm still having no joy with plans for my sort of 7mm modelling, its not that I can't fit a layout into the space that I have. Its more a case of not being able to model what I like best. Simon T did say that it would boil down to how deep I could make the layout, but length is also an issue.
Though I can tolerate a little shunting......
........I prefer watching trains pass through the scene, which rules out any sort of shunting plank.
At the moment the only solution would be to scrap Llangunllo, and rearrange my modelling den, something that I am loath to do at the moment.
Geoff
Far be it for me to advise a skilled modeller such as yourself Geoff but if I were you I would have far more of a dabble with 7mm before ripping up a beauty like Llangunllo.
I think that unless you are very "space rich" it is difficult to model trains in the countryside in 7mm, especially if you start wanting station platforms etc, it is surprising how much width it all takes up.
John
I think that unless you are very "space rich" it is difficult to model trains in the countryside in 7mm, especially if you start wanting station platforms etc, it is surprising how much width it all takes up.
John
keefr22
Western Thunderer
I gave your post a 'like' Geoff for the wonderful Class 14 & railcar pics, but wish I could also give it a 'dislike' for the aweful thought of Llangunllo succumbing to another Beeching axe attack....watching Penhydd laid waste by the scrapmen was traumatic enough...!!
I have to admit that I do like your philosophy of the little train in the big country, likely the reason why this is probably my idea of the perfect layout. I've been pottering around with my N & OO gauge stuff this afternoon, & I don't really have the space to do an 'homage' to Llangunllo even in 4mm (not that my modelling 'skills' would allow me to get anywhere near the standard of the real thing!) So if I were to give into temptation & buy a Dapol Pannier it would have to be a shunting plank. And I wonder just how quickly the novelty of a loco shuffling 3 or 4 wagons along a few yards of track would wear off....
Maybe I best go the other way & invest more time in 2mm....!! I'm just so hopeless at making decisions!
Keith
I have to admit that I do like your philosophy of the little train in the big country, likely the reason why this is probably my idea of the perfect layout. I've been pottering around with my N & OO gauge stuff this afternoon, & I don't really have the space to do an 'homage' to Llangunllo even in 4mm (not that my modelling 'skills' would allow me to get anywhere near the standard of the real thing!) So if I were to give into temptation & buy a Dapol Pannier it would have to be a shunting plank. And I wonder just how quickly the novelty of a loco shuffling 3 or 4 wagons along a few yards of track would wear off....
Maybe I best go the other way & invest more time in 2mm....!! I'm just so hopeless at making decisions!
Keith
geoff_nicholls
Western Thunderer
It all depends on what trains you want to model. 7mm can be modelled with tight curves, Graham Overton's Little Fen was an oval with one corner 3 feet radius, the rest 3 foot six inches. But he was modelling small locos and six wheeled carriages. When operated and viewed from inside the oval the tight curves are not so obvious. The depth of the scene would be a problem, perhaps somewhere like Aberdovey, or Conway or Caernarfon where the line weaves between buildings and cuttings?