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.
Model Rail Magazine have been supplied with a limited edition Helmsman Controller worth £75 for you to win. The 2M1/2LE has a 2Amp output and is suitable for ‘00/H0′ and ‘0′ gauge railways. You can see more info on the Helmsman Range at http://www.helmsmanuk.co.uk/
Helmsman Limited Edition Controller
Details on entering the competition including the question and all the rules can be found on page 80 on their January 2009 edition. Closing date for entries is the 28 Feb 2009, answers on a postcard!
For the second year in a row Hornby Magazine are running their ‘Layout of the Year’ competition for 2008. Readers are invited to vote online or in writing via the address listed on Hornby Magazines website.
This year the entries have been split into two categories, club layouts and individual layouts. All of the layouts have featured in the magazine over the last 12 months.
My personal votes have go to the club layout of Grimsby Town Modellers Group. Their layout ‘Yarborough’ in 00 gauge which is a modern era, post modernisation layout set in 2000-2008. My favourite individual layout has to be Pete Harvey’s ‘00′ ‘Dudley Road’. Set in 1980’s British Railway Blue era, the layout and Pete are both great inspirations to me as a ‘beginner’. Pete is a thoroughly nice chap and has time for anyone.
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.
Its that time again and the lovely people at Hornby have released details of their January 2009 monthly competition. This months prizes is a R2742X BR Green 4-4-0 Schools Class ‘Brighton’ Locomotive. The ‘x’ at the end of the product code denotes that this model is DCC fitted.
R2743X BR Green Schools Class 4-4-0 'Brighton'
As previously, to enter you are required to sign up as a member - free and easy - and then answer the following question:
How many stations does First Great Western operate? a) 196 b) 227 c) 210. Once you have signed up, you can enter the competition on this page. Closing date for entries is the 1st Feb 2009.
Hornby have four locos with DCC digital sound listed for release this year, and I have to say I am a little excited. One of them is a Class 50! The first commercially available sound fitted class 50 diesel locomotive on the market. It is also Hornby’s first ‘Dutch’ Civil Engineers livery Class 50 that I am aware of, there may have been a Lima release however my interest is only with the Hornby releases. Running number is 50 015 and the loco is named ‘Valient’. Now the bad news, its not due for release until the 4th quarter of 2009. At least I know what to ask Santa for next Christmas though. 
The Hornby part number for this class 50 is R2802XS.
R2802XS Hornby Dutch Civil Engineers Class 50 'Valient' 50 015
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 year Hornby are expanding its ever popular Railroad Range with some new loco’s and rolling stock. Although detailing on these models is very low due to being aimed more at complete beginners of the junior variety, they pose excellent value for money.
The only diesel loco due for release in 2009 comes in the form of a Class 55 ‘Deltic’ in BR Blue part number R2879. From the images on the Hornby website the model is not numbered in any way, making a standard generic model ripe for a bit of detailing. Ontracks are already taking pre-orders of this model, priced at just £36!
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.
Over on the Model Rail Forum, they are running a competition to build an A4 size diorama depicting a British railway scene in any scale and of any epoch using at least two Noch scenery products. The comp is being sponsored by Noch, their UK distributor Gaugemaster and Hornby Magazine.
To enter you are required to build a diorama based on a British Railway theme. Your going to need to make sure their are rails in there and obviously there must be some evidence that the scene is British… using German scenery parts.