Welcome back, Readers! Hard to believe it has been almost a year since the last post. But, as hinted in that post, time to talk trains! Yet another interest/hobby that goes way back to England. Besides getting influenced by the productions of Gerry Anderson, I frequently would watch the steam trains (yes, steam!) go by the house along the Walsall-Lichfield line. The tracks were only 700 feet away from the front door, across a field with no obstructed view (too bad I don't have photos of this..). We would also take these trains to visit Mum's parents in Walsall, as Dad was busy with the wine shop. But as you may know, the five of us packed up and relocated to Canada in 1964. (Surprisingly that field stayed empty, until in 2005, it was bulldozed for a housing estate). But the active line was also gone for many years as well. (If you want to fast forward and avoid the long life story, just scroll down past the italics...)
So watching these trains got me interested. I discovered you can buy operating model trains! On and off for years later I tried unsuccessfully to get a layout started. I had the obligatory ovals, but now it was for the Canadian variety, all diesels and no steam. British train models were limited in availability back then. Only Tri-ang was around at the time. I still watched trains around home, a 5 minute bike ride to a small shunting spur line. Here we little perishers would put pebbles on the tracks so when the engines ran over the rocks they would be pulverized to dust. All the while hiding in the bushes, as we were told by a reliable source that if we got caught, the train men would kill us and throw our bodies in the ditch...
Interest began to wane so I diverted to another pursuit, slot cars. I got my first 1/32 Eldon set around 1968, took over the 5x9 ping pong table in the rec room and built an empire for about four years. Even had the dune buggy set! Towards the end of this period I became bored with the larger scale cars and decided to liquidate the inventory and converted to HO scale AFX cars by Aurora. You could get a lot more in the same space, and there was the possibility of integrating the race track with trains. This I attempted but soon realized the cars could go and leave the rails behind, this being sometime in 1975. Keep in mind that I only received new sets/cars/etc during Christmas and birthdays, or whatever I could scrape up with my allowance.
Then it happened. Late 1976 I walked into the local Leisureworld (Google that!), and found this new product line of 00 gauge British trains called "Mainline Railways". They were great! Steam, diesel, wagons and a track line (found out recently it was Peco track). But trains from the UK are not the same scale; 00 gauge is 1:76 but runs on HO (1:87) scale track. I read the print off the catalogue, but unfortunately at this time, I was working part-time and all my money had to go to College tuition and supplies, plus keeping the new/used car working! (Also remember during all this time I am still heavily entrenched in sci-fi, which has always had priority!)
So three years later, I graduated as an Industrial Designer, and find that the promised prospects for a career in this field are not as available as lead to believe, so I stay at my current job. During this time, of course, those British Trains are not being sold locally any more so I decide to get started on a Canadian theme in HO. I start with a basic oval on a 4x6 plywood table in my bedroom. Inventory is easy to obtain. I have a steady paycheck and there are many stores in the area, plus I read "Model Railroader" for the latest tips and tricks. I became bored with the round and round oval and dismantled the layout. I had seen a shelf switching layout plan in MR and found that was more my style. I planned it out on paper; it was based on a plan called the "Iron Mountain". And here is the first illustration in this long winded life history!
At least I was able to use some of the College skills! I got as far as benchwork and laying track, but when it was time to wire it up, two things happened. First I acquired a stable full time job, and I was 19 and still living at home. Second was the escape; my own bachelor flat. The layout was dismantled yet again and all bits put in a box, and eventually selling most of it. The model railroad was put aside to allow me to enjoy my new found independence! And to top it off I discovered sources selling imported anime kits from Japan. Poor trains... And then it changed again, in June of 1982.
"Blade Runner" came to town. Saw it opening night and have never been the same! Two weeks later I took a girl to see it; she is now my wife of almost 39 years! At least she knew what she was getting herself into! And there's more. Her Dad has a basement empire of HO trains, in the theme of the Duetches Bundesbahn. You may remember him, the afore mentioned "Mister H" in an earlier post, "My First Commission". So at least I can enjoy trains again, albeit vicariously to some extent. With so much to do now, the personal train journey goes on an indefinite hiatus. I eventually give the remaining items to the future Father-In-Law (and it's all still there!).
In this long period of time between 1982 and the present, many things happen as in life often does. Other hobbies & interests, employment ups and downs, family, health, home renovations, etc. and etc. And then about two years ago, things began to change yet again. I was looking for a new model project and happened to catch a TV show on abandoned areas throughout the world. Here was a derelict railyard. Empty buildings, cars and engines idle and rusting, and lots of green taking it all back! Started the diorama the next day. I was going to build a scene about 12" x 24" with an abandoned railway in HO scale (1:87) with people running from and/or attacking a group of terminator-like hunter-killer units, similar to that smaller "Hunter-Prey" model I did several years ago. I had alot of old rail cars (from a charity shop purchase), and other railway bits from here and there. About a few nights later while arranging the cars, I thought to myself, why am I wasting time doing a static diorama? I have the capability to do a fully functional layout in the same space. Everything was packed up and I began to work on a track plan for an operating switching layout.
But during this interim time I had also been slowly collecting British trains again. I had found several sources and was attending Train Shows. I was finding used "Mainline" products and finally getting those items lost all those many years ago. As I was most familiar with Atlas track products, I downloaded their ATPS software. The final result was a very familiar configuration...
Now that we are past the long intro, I'll back up a bit first. The layout above is only 15" x 62". The base is an old door acquired during renovations. I figured as this was going to be my first actual layout in over 40 years, I should build a small portable shelf to get my skills back. Seems the "Iron Mountain" has followed me all this way! It's a two level with a railyard on the right and then ramps up to an industrial area to the left. Satisfied with the plan, I went out to get the track. Unfortunately, there had been something happening on planet Earth recently...
Covid-19 threw quite the spanner in the works. Everything and everyone was affected as you all remember in many ways; we are only just coming out of the worst of it in this part of the world. With so many people at home, locked down and travel restricted, there was suddenly free time to work on hobbies and such. Muggins here wasn't so fortunate; he has an essential service job. (Don't get me wrong; I was grateful to still be working). But when I tried to order the track and parts I needed, they are sold out everywhere. Even now there are shortages, back orders and advanced reservations. Looks like the train is going to be but on hold yet again. Someone trying to tell me something...?
One of the major facets of model railroading is the diversity of skills one can utilize. Depending on how much you want to put into it, there is of course model construction, scenery, carpentry and electronics to name a few. So even though stymied by lack of track, I can work on other elements. And then, quite recently, I came upon an advert on Kijiji; new and used HO track both Atlas and Peco. Bought it all the next day! (Thanks, Lance!). It had everything I needed; turnouts, sectional & flex track and some special wyes and crossings. I could now get the track down. But yet again there was a small problem...
The original plan used all Atlas track; now I have to convert to Peco components. Not a problem. Just have to redo the track plan with the available parts. I downloaded S-C-A-R-M, Simple Computer Aided Railway Modeler. It has all the templates I required, so the plan was converted. It had to be mirrored as the original plan is "left-centric", whereas most of the turnouts I now had were right hand. And now the final track plan, "Rusty Rails".
It's basically the same plan, just mirrored and a few more changes added. Left side is the rail yard and engine facilities, which ramps up to the industrial area. I omitted a runaround track in favour of using helper engines instead; more operational possibilities. On the left there is also a track which will connect to the fiddle yard, and possibly to extend the layout at a later date. (I have another door the same size...) Here is a shot of the reclaimed door.
That was a long one! See what happens when I don't blog for a while... Updates and progress reports will be posted as they transpire. It's almost summer now and the garden beckons, so I fear the trains will be slow moving for the next several months.
