Well I woke up this morning feeling a bit under the weather, I have been feeling a bit rough recently and have put it down to my friend and yours – Man Flu. I call it man flu but really its just a head cold and a sore throat. Despite my illness I decided that for once I was going to pull rank as the boss and take the day off to work on the layout, namely finish the baseboard.
With milder weather arriving over the weekend I was able get about 7 hours of building time in the garage. I also had a couple of trips to B&Q for timber, ply, screws and bolts. For reference I used the following ingredients:
That’s all the ingredients I used, I couldn’t tell you how much of each I used as I lost track. The most expensive part is the timber, it came in at about £9 per pack and I used a lot as I was also using it to make the legs, which I did by screwining 2 lengths together into a kind of L shape. The first image below explains this better.
Having spent a few hours in the garage over the weekend building the baseboard for the new layout, I have actually put pen to paper today and started to plan what I was going to put on the baseboards. Being a very new modeller and eager to see some trains running past, while I sit back and sup my cup of tea, I am going to try and squeeze a two road roundy roundy onto my L shaped boards. Space isn’t too much of a problem so I can expand my plan in any direction really, I just don’t want to try and build a mega 14ft x 10ft monster that I will NEVER finish.
This weekend has finally presented me with the opportunity to get some work done on my proposed main layout. We have a large double garage that houses just one car. The other half has been given over to Junk storage and my model railway.
Despite having rather a lot of space in which to house my layout I am struggling to decide what size this layout is going to be. Whatever it is, it needs at least one ’roundy roundy loop’ so that I and my 4 year old can watch stuff trundle by – plus I like the clickity clack the wagons and coaches make.
Baseboard Framework
Having already erected an 8 foot 3 by 2 foot board along the back wall I added one more 8 by 2 foot board to make it an ‘L’ shape. I also constructed the next 8 by 2 foot board but ran out of time to baton it to wall and attach it to the rest of the frame work.
One of Hornby’s Train Pack releases for 2009 is the Devon Belle Pullman Train Pack, which consists of a rake three of Pullman carriages with an observation car at the end and a single West Country Class, 34007 ‘Wadebridge’, Bullied Pacific. The train pack has a part number of R2817, there is also an additional Devon Belle coach pack listed as being released, part number R4380.
R2817 Devon Belle Pullman 'Wadebridge'
The Devon Pullman commenced service in 1947, operating for 7 months of the year over the summer period, carrying passengers from London to the west country. The final service was run in 1954.
Hornby have released details of their 2009 train set range. This does not include any special releases that are commissioned for specific retailers.
This year see’s the release of just three new train sets, only one of which is digital, which surprises me as DCC is really starting to become more main stream and is being marketed as a way for new modellers young and old, as it negates the need for complex wiring of layouts, like its older sibling DC.
R1125 Somerset Belle Train Set
I am sat here thinking I should post some progress on my steel yard, however I have nothing to report. Sub zero temperatures have rendered the garage absolutely bloody freezing. I did venture out there over the weekend to sort out some bits to enable me to try some kit building, and nearly froze.
I do have a winter plan, that is to build some kits – I think I have about 15 to build of various wagons, coaches and 2 class 400 EMU’s – I have everything I need for the wagons, paints, glue etc etc. I just need to find the motivation to do it.
Disappointingly there aren’t many affiliate marketing programs around for the modelling industry, however I am sure as more and more retailers look to the Internet to increase their sales, we shall see more programs for us to promote online.
Currently the only affiliate program I have found is run by OnTracks. The program is run in house and despite the low commission amount, which is 2% of sales value. The program does track effectively and also converts well.
Finally we have moved into the new house and I have moved enough of the boxes from the garage to start playing trains again. I plan to have a larger permanent layout in addition to the steel terminal, so my first job was to build part of the new frame work, which would allow me to rest ‘Flynn Steel’ on it while I work on it over the winter.
Sex Sells! – That’s right, we all know it and so do the manufacturers but I didn’t really expect to find sex in model railways.
This morning I received my package from OnTracks, that contained a couple of bits I had ordered (2 weeks ago) a BR Railfreight Class 56 and some acrylic spray paint. In the box there was a Noch catalogue, so having 5 minutes spare I thought I would have a peruse and see what they had to offer.