First Sod

Some of my O gauge layout has now had the final coat of paint applied, which opens up the opportunity to start laying the track permanently.  I've laid some of the track temporarily on the undercoated (white) table, which was easy to draw the appropriate centrelines etc. on, however this all needs to come up again in due course.  So today the newly varnished ballast board was nailed down and the first track properly laid!

Here is the Peckett contractor's loco, plus SE&CR van, on the new section of track.  I couldn't be happier with how it all looks and functions!

Originally I had planned to paint the 'ballast' board a light grey, which I have seen on other layouts, but once I started working with the 3mm MDF I realised how good it would look with just a coat of satin varnish.  Obviously not a terribly realistic representation of real ballast, but it's a toy-train layout!  I nailed the MDF down with hardboard nails, positioned under the sleepers so that the heads can't be seen.  The Maldon Track is screwed down through the ballast into the plywood top so that everything is very firm.  The Maldon Track is superb to work with, I'm very happy indeed with the choice to use that.

Each step of building this layout is somewhat challenging, and I really never know quite how it's going to turn out, but I'm certainly happy with everything so far.  Cutting the curved 'ballast' so that it's a nice, smooth curve will be interesting, watch this space!

Flat top

There continues to be good progress on my 'big' railway, with most of the plywood surface now in place.  Installing the plywood is going well, probably better than expected, but it does take time.  I sand the plywood lightly first, then undercoat with a brush to get it right into the grain, then fill any damaged areas, then sand lightly again.  It can now be glued and screwed onto the frame, then the small pieces of plywood that connect it to it's neighbour are installed, all holes filled, including the joints, then all sanded again.

Once all the sheets of ply are installed (leaving one out of the middle for access) I'll give it another coat of undercoat with a roller to provide a nice white surface, ready for the topcoat of green.  Before that though I'll be installing the first oval of track, taking advantage of the white paint to draw the simple trackplan onto the surface.

I'm looking forward very much to laying the track!  And having a really good clean-up, as with all the sanding required the whole space has become very dusty, not something I take kindly to!

Coming along

My new railway is coming along well!  It will be O gauge three-rail and mostly will be based on British prototype, but occasionally other trains may feature!  The base is pretty much finished and I'm really happy with it.  Now the bearers for the table-top are being installed and all being well I hope to attach the first sheet of plywood for the layout surface tomorrow.

Initially the table surface will be left just in undercoat, which will make it easier to mark out where the tracks need to go.  I have been building the straight tracks, which come as a kit- basically sleepers and rails.  It's a fairly slow process, but the results are worth it!  The curves and points come ready made, fortunately.

Very happy with the progress!

A new railway starts to take shape

This week I have finally started on what will be the biggest layout in my Trainbarn - the O gauge three-rail layout.  One of the delays in starting this was a 'struggle' regarding which layout to build in the remaining available space.  I had always planned to build an American Standard Gauge layout there, but for a variety of reasons this has now been put on the backburner.  First of all I laid out some boards to the size of the new layout to make sure it will fit ok.

I'm using all the same techniques that I used for the previous two layouts, for building what is effectively just a huge table.  Here is the first long side, built in two parts.

This layout will use currently available track made by Maldon Track from the UK, which is superb track, though not inexpensive.  The locomotives and rolling stock will be mainly from ACE Trains, Darstaed and WJVintage, all basically limited editions and produced in small numbers.  They are all in the style of some of the great British model train makers of times past, such as Hornby and Bassett-Lowke, and hopefully the layout will have a 'classic' feel to it.

I feel incredibly blessed to have the space available to build this huge layout and while I'm certainly enjoying this stage of building the table, I can't wait to start getting the track down and running some trains!

A Summer Holiday Part 1

We've just returned from a wonderful holiday in Europe, mostly visiting family and friends, but also fitting in a lot of rail-related activities!

On arrival in Budapest, Hungary, for our first stop we were treated to an 'Oldtimer Festival' at the excellent Railway Museum, which I have previously visited.  As well as all the full-sized trains there I was able to take my little grandson on a very good miniature railway ride around the park.  We both enjoyed that!  There were of course lots of interesting old cars too!

We really enjoy Budapest, not just because of family there, but it's a really beautiful city! And it has trams.

Probably the most scenic route is the number 2, which runs along the Danube, and just happened to be close by.

Whilst in Budapest I was able to visit the Roma Market on the outskirts of town, which is always a good place to find railway related items.  This time I found some old 0 gauge track made in Hungary by the PV company.  I was also able to buy a very nice four-wheel coach made by PV in a shop in Budapest.

We spent Easter in Slovenia, in a very beautiful wine growing area.  While there was nothing particularly rail-related I was very impressed by how beautiful Slovenia is.  And we caught up with more family!

We went by train up to Berlin, which was a really interesting journey.  The train was a Hungarian MAV one, and comfortable enough.  The section of the trip through northern Czech and southern Germany along the Elbe River is spectacular!  Passing through Prague I was reminded that my favourite toy trains are made there by ETS trains.  Must spend some time there one day!

Just a quick visit to Berlin this time, but we spent longer on the way back.  We particularly enjoyed the S Bahn system, which operates above ground, often elevated, and is a great way to see Berlin.  There is an old S Bahn coach at Tegel Airport set up as a cafe.

In the next instalment I'll give a brief summary of our time in Train Heaven, aka England!