Andrew’s been back in touch with his model railway 12×7.
He has ‘finished’ his layout and sent in these pics and a video (his last post is here).
They’ve been hiding in my inbox for a while. How I overlooked them is beyond me.
Have a look at his track cleaner too – another fine example of a simple idea working well:
“Dear Alistair,
It has taken almost 12 months to the day to rebuild my layout and it is now as nearly finished as it can be – there are always refinements and improvements.
It works well and despite their age – some locomotives are now over official retirement age of 65 – it gives me many hours of enjoyment and relaxation away from all the troubles in the world today.
My model railway 12×7 feet is in my garden shed.
Also, here’s my track cleaning system using kitchen paper, elastic bands and a heavy coach with flat bottom.
A bit of trial and error on to get the thickness correct – too thin and no cleaning power – too thick and the coach lifts off the track and derails.
Very handy for the tunnels and avoiding the need to dismantle scenery above.
Best wishes
Andrew”
A huge thanks to Andrew for sharing his Model railway 12×7.
I take great delight in seeing your ideas and inventions – loved his track cleaner.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if you want to get going on your own layout.
Best
Al
Nice work on your layout Andrew , plenty going on …Dangerous Dave
Good to see a Dublo three-rail layout. They have a lot of character and were certainly built to last!
Andrew, nice to see the old 3 track still running. Great layout busy yet not cluttered, quick work to achieve that in a year. Thanks for sharing Peter..
Great layout and unusual to see 3 rail. A word of caution on the use of kitchen roll for track cleaning. I made up a similar pad for use by hand and left a few bits of paper on sharp points at track joints and on a point frog. I then drove a Mainline class 45 round which picked up the paper jammed the gears stripped a few and burnt out the motor. I think old Hornby wouldn’t have this issue but modern stuff is made to finer tolerances. This situation may only occur with plastic gear wheels but you could still burn out a motor.
You can’t get Mainline spares so the loco now sits in a siding with LEDs at each end and a cab light. So a static loco looks an animated part of the layout!
I now use a type of dish cloth which you can’t snag.
Great looking layout Andrew. Very well planned and built.
Best regards, Cary New Market USA
Very nicely done and as you stated, model railroading allows us a wonderful distraction form all the ‘troubles’ in the world. Even though this wonderful layout might be ‘finished’, it never really is! There will always be ‘refinements’ to further enhance. What a wonderful pursuit we all have embraced to share and enjoy from our youth, for many of us, and for the rest of our lives. With thanks to Alistair for keeping us updated and linked to one another
Lovely to see a fully scenicked Dublo 3-rail layout, and one that actually “goes somewhere” other than just round and round in circles! Well done.
A beautiful layout.
One of my favorite things about it is the lack of clutter.
The scenery stands out and the trains do not overpower it.
Makes me think of the Madder Valley railway of old.
Thought the cleaning pad might have been a “Mail bag” caught beneath the Mail car.
Pretty Kool.!!!!
The more I look at this stuff, the more I realize it is “art”. Functional art. Can’t wait for the day when I get the time and space to try out this. I’m sure my layout won’t reach the level of perfection that I see on these pages, but I know it will be fun.
A nice layout. It’s good to see a “Hornby Three Rail” layout, so this means that I’m not the only one still with one.
Peter.
Andrew (also my cat’s name – but he’s not as creative!!!), love it all, but I have a question about the Farm Sidings photo. What kind of trees are supposed to be represented by those with the huge, broad leaves? I’ve never seen anything like that in “real life” and am curious about them and would like to look into what might be the real thing.
Really nice job
Andrew…..great job……. I particularly like your scenery and the rolling hills.
Awesome layout!
Really liked the track plan and the opportunity to actually see the trains in operation! Must lie down now for a bit until my eyes come back into focus — camera tri-pod recommended.
Well Done I like your track layout.
Andrew, very nice layout. I enjoyed the pictures and the video you sent. I all like your track layout. I wish 2 rail track was as easy to make return loops as it is in 3 rail track. Great job.
It reminds me of when I was about 3 to 4 years old and finding a model train with some coaches in Mum and Dad’s wardrobe. It was quite heavy and I didn’t play with it – well, not much. After a couple of days it disappeared for ever. I now know it was a OO gauge LMS Duchess class. Sadly I never asked them about it after being told off for playing with it, and now it’s one of those questions I never will ask them.
Despite that memory I think it’s great to see 3 rail OO/HO layouts being built. It must be quite a task finding all the bits, track especially. They just don’t make then like they used to.
Or are they being made somewhere, like an annex to Santa’s toy factory and the North Pole
Hi Ruben
The trees like everything on my layout are in what I like to think of as the impressionist period – i.e. the image one sees give the impression of a real scene. The trees are an experiment, some made with an electric wire frame and some from plant cuttings. In both cases spray painted shredded strips of kitchen paper makes the foliage. My early attempts were a bit crude and I hope that with practice trees made and planted at a later stage of construction create a better “impression”.
A big THANK YOU to Roger for his comments about kitchen paper shredding on points – I have not yet had a problem yet and I will seek alternative material to avoid the issues he mentions.
And to Louis – my apologies. This was my first attempt at making a video and I hope to do better next time
I must say it was good to see on Andrew’s layout that he uses the same essential modelling tool that I and probably quite a few others use. The pint glass!!
Andrew……great job…….my brother has asked me to set up an “O” scale layout and your pictures have given me a lot of ideas. I gave my brother all my “O” scale trains because I did not have the room anymore for them and I have converted over to “HO” scale. We are going to start planning it.