Proof of the pudding

Not much progress since my last post, since we have been travelling. But thanks to our son Sam, here are a couple of videos showing the diesel locomotive and the steam engine traversing the track, which is now a complete circuit. Enjoy!

The day finally arrived. After several months of preparing the undergarage, mounting baseboards, contructing portable loop structures, buying track and planning how to use it, I was ready to start track laying. I invited two of my staunch supporters, Peter and Tom, to help. Peter (our middle son) arrived dressed in what his mother considers…

I realise that it is over a month since my last post. I have been travelling a lot, but despite that, some progress has been made. Once the internal baseboards were complete, I started to implement what would be needed outside to be able to start track laying. Here we see where the railway will…

As you will have seen from previous blogs, I had already completed most of the baseboards, but none were yet screwed into place. This was waiting for … the bridge, which will allow a loop to exist within the undergarage. I started by cutting a recess at each end, for the bridge to slot into:…

Peter came down again, and having learnt from our previous experience, we managed to build the remaining shelves in half the time. As you can see, we have already started using them. We also worked out the recessed cuts needed to support the bridge. The bridge has also been cut to size, so the inside…

Peter came down again, and we managed (after 3 hours working) to get one set of storage shelves up. Here you can see the shelf supports (as is the trend with this project, substantial and not going anywhere). Here is the lower shelf in place: And hey presto, here’s the finished thing, with the baseboard…

Peter came down at the weekend to help complete the baseboard structure. Then we put some of the 12mm boards on to see what it looks like (not yet screwed down) Note the table ready as a ‘workstation’. The boxes are full of old Railway Modeller magazines to give me advice and inspiration. On the…

The electrician came recently and installed power sockets, lights and a fuse box. This marks the end of the “man-cave” construction phase.  Now we switch over the railway modelling proper, starting with the baseboards for the inside part of the layout. My son Peter came down and together we started building the framework for the…

One of the most satisfying aspects of model railways is that the trains move without visible means of human propulsion. To achieve this, one needs a locomotive of some sort. There are three main ways in which locomotives can move : a) through electric motors powered by batteries located within the locomotive itself, or b)…