The weekend starts here.

[Night Train]

Yeah, it was a bit, I had to start again!

Oh yeah, I also found that some of the Hornby 0-6-0 chassis used for the tank and shunting engines have a sprung rear axle. They also derail when pulling a heavy train as the loco can 'pull a wheelie' on the sprung axle.
I try to find the ones with fixed axles where the centre axle wheels either have sideways movement or a smaller wheel flange for tight cornering but these are getting harder to find at car boots.

 

[col]

Yeah, it was a bit, I had to start again!

Oh yeah, I also found that some of the Hornby 0-6-0 chassis used for the tank and shunting engines have a sprung rear axle. They also derail when pulling a heavy train as the loco can 'pull a wheelie' on the sprung axle.
I try to find the ones with fixed axles where the centre axle wheels either have sideways movement or a smaller wheel flange for tight cornering but these are getting harder to find at car boots.

As a beginner what would you recommend for my next steam train of that era? Taking into consideration Im using the trak mat for a while before i extend a line from it, which Ill be having a look at the odd boot sale for too probably. Where does my flying scotsman stand as far as running and handling are concerned too,sorry but you know loads more than me, i hope you dont mind me picking your brains?

 

[Night Train]

If your Scotsman is a newer tender driven loco then you will find that it runs wells and is stable on the over tight radii of the track mat. The engine driven ones would sometimes pull the tender over on the curve but did give a realistic wheel spin on setting off.

You could stick to the LNER theme and collect liveried locos and rolling stock as you find it. The period can be earlier then your prefered period but never later unless you want a time travelling engine.

You could look out for a shunter and some extra coaches so that you can shunt together a decent express train. Scotsman coaches are fairly common in the car boots as nearly everyone and their dog bought it. They also want more money for them then other rolling stock sometimes. You will end up with a brake coach for every three passenger coaches though.

I quite like the Fowler tank engines 2-6-4 but they are later then the Scotsman.

 

[Night Train]

If you wanted to stick to the Scotsman theme then you could advance the Engine through the years and get a second tender for it and do a little model making to get the right look.

 

[col]

If your Scotsman is a newer tender driven loco then you will find that it runs wells and is stable on the over tight radii of the track mat. The engine driven ones would sometimes pull the tender over on the curve but did give a realistic wheel spin on setting off.

You could stick to the LNER theme and collect liveried locos and rolling stock as you find it. The period can be earlier then your prefered period but never later unless you want a time travelling engine.

You could look out for a shunter and some extra coaches so that you can shunt together a decent express train. Scotsman coaches are fairly common in the car boots as nearly everyone and their dog bought it. They also want more money for them then other rolling stock sometimes. You will end up with a brake coach for every three passenger coaches though.

I quite like the Fowler tank engines 2-6-4 but they are later then the Scotsman.

Thanks Ill make a note,my scotsman is the older version I think as I have had it three years at least,and i think it was packed maybe a couple before even then? The shunter? Im very new and dont understand if this is like the scotsman or a different type?The brake coach too,whats this please, sorry to be so ignorant,but ill soon click on

Just realised the tender is the one behind the engine is it, if so then i have that one.

 

[Night Train]

Shunters are little engines that move rolling stock (coaches and trucks) around to get them in the right position for the train to be put together. They are usually tank engines, engines that don't have a tender pulled along behind.

The Flying Scotsman is both an engine, as in the locomotive, and a train, as in the collection of coaches pulled by any locomotive. You can have any other period engine pulling the Flying Scotsman coaches.
The Flying Scotsman coaches are Teak effect and have a brake coach at the back of the train, the top one in this image. It only has passengers over two thirds its length as the rest is a guards van where the guard operated the brakes at the back of the train to 'drag' the train back when slowing and stopping. The brake coach needs to be the correct way round for the train to be correct.

Shunting is a real mind bender, a bit like one of those little square puzzles where you had 8 sliding squares and a space and you had to move all the squares around to make the picture. Every train is built up by a shunting engine collecting the coaches in the right order and putting the train together, the big shiny engine then comes along and steals the limelight.

 

[Night Train]

Arch is another train buff and she can tell you loads about trains and engines albeit real ones.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Cool ... I've still got all my old Hornby 00 stuff in the garage at my parents' house. It's not in great condition now (no boxes and some of the locos are damaged) and I'd never have the time or the space to have a layout, but I used to love my trainset when I was small. As far as I remember, I've got a BR - era "Mallard", an LMS - era "Duchess of Sutherland", a pannier tank (which was my first loco ... I wanted it because it reminded me of "Duck" from the "Thomas the Tank Engine" books) and some other stuff. Enjoy yourself, Col ... we'll have to resign ourselves to seeing a bit less of you, but don't forget to post some pics!

 

[col]

Shunters are little engines that move rolling stock (coaches and trucks) around to get them in the right position for the train to be put together. They are usually tank engines, engines that don't have a tender pulled along behind.

The Flying Scotsman is both an engine, as in the locomotive, and a train, as in the collection of coaches pulled by any locomotive. You can have any other period engine pulling the Flying Scotsman coaches.
The Flying Scotsman coaches are Teak effect and have a brake coach at the back of the train, the top one in this image. It only has passengers over two thirds its length as the rest is a guards van where the guard operated the brakes at the back of the train to 'drag' the train back when slowing and stopping. The brake coach needs to be the correct way round for the train to be correct.

Shunting is a real mind bender, a bit like one of those little square puzzles where you had 8 sliding squares and a space and you had to move all the squares around to make the picture. Every train is built up by a shunting engine collecting the coaches in the right order and putting the train together, the big shiny engine then comes along and steals the limelight.

Thanks for that, its clearer to me now. Im sure Ill get into the swing with the terminology. Dcc is something im not going to bother with for the time being, as I want it as simple as i can have it. Eventually who knows, lets see where it takes me eh?

 

[col]

Cool ... I've still got all my old Hornby 00 stuff in the garage at my parents' house. It's not in great condition now (no boxes and some of the locos are damaged) and I'd never have the time or the space to have a layout, but I used to love my trainset when I was small. As far as I remember, I've got a BR - era "Mallard", an LMS - era "Duchess of Sutherland", a pannier tank (which was my first loco ... I wanted it because it reminded me of "Duck" from the "Thomas the Tank Engine" books) and some other stuff. Enjoy yourself, Col ... we'll have to resign ourselves to seeing a bit less of you, but don't forget to post some pics!

Even though Im still in the baseboard stage im really looking forward to getting it up and running, and feel like a kid with a new toy which, I suppose thats exactly what it is really. Nostalgia and tinkering and making scenery seems to be a great combination for fun, and these trains are surprisingly detailed and complicated to look at, and feel very heavy and solid too for their size.
Once Im getting somewhere Ill post pics too, bad or good it will be a learning thing for me too, cheers

 

[Mr Pig]

I got my son a Hornby train set for Christmas but we got an American engine and wagons for it, he thinks they're much more cool! There is a swap meet near us once a month and you can get stuff very cheaply. Track for fifty-pence a bit and we got mint American freight cars for £3 each, we bought eleven of them! :0) He's got this Athearn engine in different colours, yellow and green:

I lost interest in my train set when I was a kid when my dad fixed the track to a board. I liked the fun of making up the track. I think the Flying Scotsman is the coolest engine. I wanted one when I was a kid, might buy one for Calvin if he plays with his set.

 

[col]

I got my son a Hornby train set for Christmas but we got an American engine and wagons for it, he thinks they're much more cool! There is a swap meet near us once a month and you can get stuff very cheaply. Track for fifty-pence a bit and we got mint American freight cars for £3 each, we bought eleven of them! :0) He's got this Athearn engine in different colours, yellow and green:

I lost interest in my train set when I was a kid when my dad fixed the track to a board. I liked the fun of making up the track. I think the Flying Scotsman is the coolest engine. I wanted one when I was a kid, might buy one for Calvin if he plays with his set.

There is a lot I like about these train sets and all the different engines, including the one you pictured, but alas its space a cash that stops me. Have you seen peter watermans layout he has at his home i think? Now thats a layout.

 

[Mr Pig]

There is a lot I like about these train sets and all the different engines, including the one you pictured, but alas its space a cash that stops me.

They run on Hornby track and cost less than Hornby. They are really detailed. I don't see why you couldn't run a few American trains on your layout just for the fun of it? Lots of people collect these trains so there are always mint engines on eBay. We bought my sons engine for £25, it was brand new in the box. A guy had bought it for his collection and never even taken it out of the box! There are always things like that on eBay.

Just off to google Pete Waterman's train set.... ;0)

 

[col]

They run on Hornby track and cost less than Hornby. They are really detailed. I don't see why you couldn't run a few American trains on your layout just for the fun of it? Lots of people collect these trains so there are always mint engines on eBay. We bought my sons engine for £25, it was brand new in the box. A guy had bought it for his collection and never even taken it out of the box! There are always things like that on eBay.

Just off to google Pete Waterman's train set.... ;0)

Thats a good point, Im being blinkered by my keeness to represent an area of my youth, bloody nostalgia eh, its a powerfull emotion.

 

[Mr Pig]

Fair enough if you want to make an exact replica of a point in time. Really does restrict you though. I mean, who's going to know? And who's going to care! ;0)

You could have an oval layout that was UK on one side and US on the other and turn the board around now and then! ;0)