Model Railways

Jet_Flight

17 Posts
Thu, 5th May 2011, 6:27pm

Hi Frederick, Interest in model railways commenced about 30 years ago but was interrupted with work and other activities. Now that I am retired I have started building a layout for the grandkids ( and me ). The fun for me is making the scenery and wiring up the layout. I'll send a photo if you are interested. I would like to see your progress. Are you modelling on the WA rail system?

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"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." Albert Einstein

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drats

11 Posts
Mon, 9th May 2011, 6:03pm

Hi Frederick

I have just moved house so my layouts need to be rebuilt.

I have Japanese N and used to model on modules then on club meets you would take your modules along and all join them up and run your trains. I am trying to organise some space to build a home layout.

I also have G garden rail so there's more to plan and build. Keeps one off the streets

Cheers

David

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Frederick Baker

11 Posts
Wed, 11th May 2011, 6:59pm - updated - Wed, 11th May 2011, 7:04pm

Hi Denis.

I have a blog on the RM web http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php with photos.

Search for Geriatric. That is what I called my layout and it will be the name of one of the stations.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/18553-geriatrics-layout/page__view__findpost__p__178522__hl__geriatric__fromsearch__1

I am not modelling the Australian prototype.

Nostalgia has made me go for the UK, and of course the UK models are much cheaper.

No particular area or era. I am going to run whatever I like the look of.

I have taken the plunge and gone for DCC. Glad I did.

I have a couple of sound active locos. They are brilliant.

Denis, I see that you use a jet as an icon. Does that mean you have an Airforce background, or just an interest.

I ask because I spent 22 years flying meteors, Canberras and the Vulcan B2.

Hi David.

I wanted to build modules, but there was no interest here in Western Australia, so I have commandeered the spare bedroom and gone solo.

A garden railway was considered, but the harsh climate ruled it out. Temperatures regularly exceed 40 C in the summer.

Sorry guys for not replying sooner, but I did not expect any interest.

I am very glad to have contacted both of you. There are no clubs or other modellers withing 80 kilometers of where I live.

I will check back here more fequently.

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Jet_Flight

17 Posts
Thu, 12th May 2011, 5:34pm

Hi Frederick,

Wow, I am most impressed. It makes my effort look fairly insignificant. I did say that was a project to share with the grand kids. I will probably complete this project and then start one purely for myself. I am thinking of a 3.0 x 0.75 M to suit my shed space. I will get some photos and post them to my web site.

Wow again, I would love to have flown a Vulcan. Born in 1945 and my favourite machines were - Avro Vulcan, English Electric Lightning and the D-Type Jaguar, not surprisingly all from the UK.

I have a private pilots licence although I have not flown for for nearly 20 years. When I lived in country NSW I had a Cessna 172 and later a half share in a Mooney.

I have an interest in Australian aviation history and have contributed articles to Aeroplane Monthly and other magazines. Some of these articles include, The Visits of the Vulcan to Australia, The Vulcan option for the RAAF and the history of Avro707A, WD280 in Australia.

These articles and others are on my web site - Australian Aviation

In the 1990's I had a ride in XH-558, well it was actually while it was towed by the tug to a hard stand before an airshow at RAF Marham. Recently read Vulcan 607 - the story of the Black Buck Mission.

Would love to hear of your vulcan experiences and see any photos. Will take some train photos and post them to the web. Will let you know when.

Cheers, Denis

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"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." Albert Einstein

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drats

11 Posts
Fri, 13th May 2011, 10:09am

Hi Guys

Frederick, the photos are great, makes me feel that I have dilly dallied about enough and should get on with it.

As always the choosing of a track layout to best suit the space available is my stumbling block. I seem to take ages to make up my mind, and when I do I still find reasons to change it!

Thats life

Cheers to all and choo choo for now,

David

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Frederick Baker

11 Posts
Fri, 13th May 2011, 7:18pm - updated - Fri, 13th May 2011, 7:25pm

Hi Guys.

Something I need to clear Up. When I said I flew Vulcans, I should have said I flew IN Vulcans.

I was a Nav/Rad. Navigator and Radar operator.

In the attached photo, I am on the right. Captain left. Copilot on steps. the nav/plotter and Aeo are taking the picture.

I was at RAF Conningsby 9 Sqdn Vulcans. RAF Cottesmore 9 Sqdn and 35 Sqdn Vulcans 10 years altogether. Canberras 6 Sqdn Raf Akrotiri Cyprus and RAF Vahn Germany 6 years.

Meteor NF 11 RAF Tangmere RAF Acklington Northumberland. I liked my time on Meteors the best.

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Jet_Flight

17 Posts
Sat, 14th May 2011, 4:56pm

Hi Guys, Imagine going to work in that. Great crew photo. Attached are some pictures of the current state of the model rail layout. I had a lot of gear from many,many years ago - transformers, track, point motors etc so I stuck with DC. Any new layout will be DCC although I am not too keen to try installing the decoders into the more valuable locos. Some recently acquired locos are DCC ready however. Any comments about installing decoders? The pic of the display case shows my prized locos - too delicate for the 5 and 7 year olds! They still have plenty to play with. The current board is 2 x 1 m. 

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"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." Albert Einstein

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Jet_Flight

17 Posts
Sat, 14th May 2011, 5:07pm

Sorry, seems the images were too large and only one went through. I'll try again. Cheers.

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"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." Albert Einstein

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Frederick Baker

11 Posts
Sun, 15th May 2011, 8:22am

David.

The web site my pictures are on has lots of info and inspiration, including track plans. Rmweb.co..uk

It will inspire you to take the plunge. It is a relaxing hobby, especially if you build some stuctures from kits. I have a small table infront of me when watching the tele. great for missing the ads. and some of the crap that is on these days.

Denis.

I had the same problem with the picture being too large. Glad to see you are going all Australian.

The diesels are easier to fit with DCC decoders because of the extra space inside. You will get smoother running and great slow running. On the above site, there is advice and in some cases detailed instructions on fitting decoders to specific locos. If not, just ask and you will get a flood of advice. I know it is a Pommy site but there are a LOT of Aussies on it.

A dcc ready loco is easy to convert. Just take a blanking plug out and plug in the decoder.

 dccconcepts.com is an excellent site with loads of advice and detailed instructions on many aspects and best of all, it is Western Australian. 

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Jet_Flight

17 Posts
Mon, 16th May 2011, 7:16pm

Thanks for the tips, Frederick. I have joined up to RMWeb. Their DCC section has lots of great info. I have plenty of time to plan my next layout and will continue to work on the other one and make all the mistakes!!

Let me know when you upload any more photos to your blog.

I have managed some extra space, David, by using pulleys to raise the 2 x 1 m layout up to the celing of my shed. This frees up the floor space for other tasks. I like your idea about modules. The next layout I plan to build as three 1 x 0.6 m modules.

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"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." Albert Einstein

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drats

11 Posts
Tue, 17th May 2011, 5:05pm

Hi Guys

Frederick, thanks for the thumbs up on the Rmweb.co..uk. I have joined up and will explore the site.

Denis, take a look at this site for some module guiide lines. http://www.free-mo.org/standard or

http://www.xs4all.nl/~raicho/layouts/jmodule/standards.html  hope it's food for thought.

Choo Choo,

David

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Jet_Flight

17 Posts
Tue, 17th May 2011, 10:14pm

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the links David.  Tell me a little about your G system David. There has been a lot of progress in model railroading in the last 30 years. You guys are probably up to date with DCC but I have just found a great site with incredibly detailed instructions of wiring a system - http://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/DCC.htm - 46 A4 pages of information with lots of wiring diagrams. What controller system did you go with Frederick? I see that you can control a DCC system wirelessly with an iPhone.

Cheers,

Denis

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"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." Albert Einstein

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drats

11 Posts
Wed, 18th May 2011, 8:33am

Hi Guys,

Denis the Brian Lambert link has a wealth of info, thanks.

Re my Guage, unfortunatley it is still all in boxes after moving house. At the moment I am getting over a hip replacement recall (as seen on 4 corners Monday night) so I am unable to do much at the moment about it. I am going to built a raised layout to cut down on the bending down, poor old bones! I tend to run "Bachmann" rolling stock and  steam engines as I could get them cheaper than the other brands. I will keep you posted as to the progress when I start.

Choo Choo

David

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Jet_Flight

17 Posts
Sat, 21st May 2011, 10:16pm

Hi David,

Hope everything is OK with the hip. I have a mate who had problems for two years before the infected hip was removed. After 8 weeks with no hip and antibiotic therapy he was re-operated and has had an excellent result. His last operation was 2 years ago. It seems your issue may be different. Unfortunately people are not like motor cars, there is a biological unpredictability! Brian Lambert is obviously pretty committed to the hobby. It is great that people are so free with their knowledge.

Cheers,

Denis

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"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." Albert Einstein

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Jet_Flight

17 Posts
Sun, 29th May 2011, 7:35pm

Hi Guys,

How is it going out there. The current project is getting closer to completion so I will then be able to start on my railroad. Have you guys made any progress?

Cheers,

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"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." Albert Einstein

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Frederick Baker

11 Posts
Mon, 30th May 2011, 8:09am

Hi Guys.

David. I hope the new hip works out. If it is any help, I have a neighbour who I  see when we are both walking our dogs, who is also recovering from a second hip replacement. His is going well, but he still has some discomfort a month after the operation.

I use the NCE controller. It was recommended to me by the guy at dccsupplies.com This is a great web site with loads of information, as good as Brian Lamberts site.

His shop is about 70 kilometres from me.

One thing about dcc is that they have established international standards, which even the Poms adhere to.So, any controller will work with any decoder.

People do not seem to have a high opinion of the Hornby or Bachman controllers, although I have never used them.

I have done some work on the layout but no new pictures as yet.

I have another Vulcan picture. This one was taken at Goose Bay in Canada. We trained a lot in Canada because the weather and low level terain was similar to Russia.

The F102 in the forground had tried, unsuccessfully to intercept us earlier.

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drats

11 Posts
Mon, 30th May 2011, 10:44am

Hi Denis,

My progress is so slow it's going in reverse.

At the moment I'm sorting out the shed to make a 4Mx3M area for a layout.

Then I have to organise some heating to make it comfortable, so I am alittle way off the actual construction work

Cheers

David

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drats

11 Posts
Mon, 30th May 2011, 10:48am

Hi Frederick

Thanks for the good wishes.

I am alot more mobile now, and the pain is diminishing.

Hopefully it will soon be a distand memory

Cheers

David

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Jet_Flight

17 Posts
Tue, 31st May 2011, 7:56pm

Hi David

Getting organised and planning it a lot of the interest for me. I like sketching the planned new layout. After the link you sent on module design I am putting more into planning the baseboard and its construction. The heating sounds a good idea particularly if you have been getting the cold weather we have been getting in Sydney.

Cheers,

Denis

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"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." Albert Einstein

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Jet_Flight

17 Posts
Tue, 31st May 2011, 8:04pm

Hi Frederick,

Thanks for the info about the DCC controllers. Its good that I have plenty of time to look into these.

Liked the pic from Goose Bay - looks cold & bleak. The mess must have been welcome after a sortie.

This Vulcan was not so successful as the gun camera from the Mirage shows.

Cheers,

Denis

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