I got another one!

The City Industrial train set. For £60, compared to the normal £120. Maybe the line is being stopped by Hornby I don’t know but as a bargain to me it was not to be missed. It adds an extra engine so that I can try and run to with a few more pieces of track. Extra track an extra oval with Track Pack A and a few small bits of scenery. Nothing special but to me it’s a welcome addition to my fledging collection.


Poor Evan thou thought that we would be able to run a train each at the same time, I had to let him down gently. Although we both had great fun playing with the siding and watching and changing the train back and forth as we switched the switch on the siding.

Not what I intended to be the next part of my collection, but I couldn’t let it go as I personally thought it to be a bargain. Maybe the engine isn’t the best ect ect, but it will come as a welcome addition to me. It has made me think thou that maybe I need to start planning more and thinking on the exacts that I need to complete my layout and what I really want.

My layout

I have been trying to put a lot of thought into this since I got the train set. I am limited to space but want to try and make as big a layout as possible. I want to be able to run the big diesel trains like the Virgin Pendalino at full speed. So it is starting to become a battle between what I want and realistically what I can do.

My thoughts have led me to wanting to make sure that I have a loop within the track. I want to watch my trains go round and round. Hypnotic maybe, maybe even therapeutic to some – my girlfriend thinks I’m mad! So really I need 6 foot x 4 foot minimal but I want to make my scenery as well. I have through thought think I would like a town station with multiple platforms and a town scene. Also a country station at some part of the layout also, with a rural setting. Also with sidings would be my rural industrial setting of some description. The last part is the part that at the moment is causing me the most thought as to exactly what I want. We will see, but I don’t think I’ll be fitting all that on the size of board I will be able to successfully transport about.
I am limited to the space on the back part of the living room floor, so the layout is going to have to be lifted and transported when not in use or not being worked on. So space is limited and I am going to have to consider a lot exactly what I am going to be able to manage.

I got one!

So I have got one! The Devon Flyer Hornby train set, nothing special, but to me it is magical enough at the moment. As a compromise my girlfriend got to get a rabbit, so her and her daughter went off to sort the rabbit out when we got back and her son and me went to play trains!

We picked the train set up from Hobbycraft, which I found to be reasonably priced for most parts and carrying a large amount of Hornby stock. So another trip to there is well and truley on the cards. At £60.00 I think it was a good price as a starter kit and

It was great fun we opened up the box, and folded out the Midimat, and I laid the track out and put it all together. I was glad I was starting simple and the instructions were easy enough to follow. We had great fun for about an hour watching the train go back and forth, giving it different speeds, and once or twice to much speed as it derailed! (Would never of made a good driver). The great thing thou is it has started to get the thoughts flowing on how I would like an actual layout to look like, and visualising the track on the floor it was great and I really could see the endless possibilities that were about to start.

Next time I have the set out I am going to try and take a few pictures and will add those all up onto the blog when I do ( Thursday next day off work is looking good!)

My first steps into the world of Model Railways.

So I have decided to write this blog to try and keep a track on my progress of creating my model railway. This is the first attempt at trying to create such and I am sure it is going to be a fascinating journey in learning new skills also as the excitement of watching something grow.

There were many questions that I wanted answering, and lots of things that I didn’t know about. Somewhere I thought I may get answers and help was an online forum to which I joined, http://www.modelrailforum.com. I must admit that I have had every question I have asked on the forum answered and have been made more and welcome on there and would recommend anyone with an interest to join.

The other place I found a lot of information and ideas as to what to try and attempt was Hornby Magazine. The monthly magazine is full on articles about new releases, current news, and different layouts. Would again recommend it to anyone with an interest and I have found it very good so far (3 editions in.) http://www.hornbymagazine.com/

My biggest decision was whether to go DCC (Digital Command Control) or stay with the more traditional analogue control. I tried to way up the pros and cons of both With, cost, control, future developments, and ease all coming into consideration. Although I was nearly swayed to go DCC, due to what seems ease of control with the DCC controller being able to run many trains at once, instead of having to isolate different part’s of the track with different analogue controllers. I decided to go with analogue, due to a few different factors. So with that choice made, it was time to buy a train set.
Because of my limited skills and knowledge, I decided I was not going to go all out and buy a really expensive train set to begin with, and to get the basics, I was going to play with a basic set.

Because I am starting this after the event I will be doing a few posts within the first couple of days just to try and get upto speed!