00 Gauge footbrige

But not as good

Ye olde Airfix if you can find one

Not sure about that, I have bought two Bachmann Standard 4MT Tank engines new and paid less than £50 inclusive for one and £40 inclusive for the other and I think they are great.

Eddie

You jest of course! No plastic effort will ever look the least like the real thing. Alan Gibson does a very nice ex MR footbridge in etched brass which costs around GBP30 AFAIK. It was designed by me for the G&SWRA 'cos their bridges were identical. I will shortly be doing another footbridge, this time a Highland one which will be marketed by 'Lochgorm kits' (see website) but I doubt it will cost any less than the Gibson one. And alas you have to build it and paint it. If you would like to see a picture of a completed bridge I could send one off line. Once you have seen the picture you will forget all about plastic footbridges. You need to face facts here, these prices are not stupid, they are in fact very good value as you would discover if you tried to buy the equivalent item from the USA or the continent.

Alistair Wright '5522' Models

Scale Link is etched brass and castings. You can't compare with ready to run or plastic.

If you want a cheap footbridge the former Airfix footbridge kit is now made by Dapol.

Get it from Mainly Trains (a satisfied former customer when I modelled in 4mm)

Hi Alistair,

I suppose I was being a bit flippant as to the building and painting, I would have to do that with the Hornby one I bought. I just personally think that the best part of £60 is too much for a footbridge for a layout that will probably only be viewed by myself and my grandson. I could live with £30 (its actually £40) for a decent looking footbridge, but do not have any experience to build it well, and then I would just get fed up looking at it knowing that I had spent that sort of money and it looks rubbish.

I have seen some kit built locos that cost oodles of money and as they were not made and painted to a high quality look poor against some of the new RTR stuff. I suppose their builders are pleased with them and got some pleasure from the making and painting, but I would prefer something that looks realistic.

So whilst the kit built footbridge may look great when built and painted by a craftsman, by the time I purchase the kit (£40) then pay for someone to build and paint it for me (looking at the prices Ian Rathbone charges I would expect in excess of £150), then my realistic footbridge is going to cost similar to a midrange DCC set.

I would still be interested in seeing the photograph if you would like to send it to me (remove the three questionmarks from the supplied email address).

Eddie.

The Airfix footbridge cosys 4.99 plus the ususal extras from MAinly Trains.

It's a plastic kit which is maybe 40 years old.

One of the things which screams "toy" is using a footbridge whose steps go down to ground level. on the platforms. It is unprototypically high and needs to be cut down to the correct height.

Eddie,

I am assuming you mean the Hornby GWR footbridge ?

Have a look at

The kit is fairly good and it is actually modelled on the one at Hagley

Note that the station building in my model is presently in the process of being replaced with a Ratio 'Castle Cary' as the existing building is not up to my current modelling standards!

Graham Plowman

Hi Graham,

Yes, it is the Hornby one at Hagley, after seeing the prototype I feel that I could make quite a good job of it. Many thanks.

Like the magazine, I have downloaded the current issue and will give it a read tomorrow, I have joined as well, so will download the previous issues over the next few days. Very impressed.

Only thing that is a pain ( I hope you don't mind me saying), is the overrunning of the text at times into the maroon portion at the sides of the website, real bugger to read black on maroon easily, and on a laptop in a high resolution, a real pain.

Also, could not send my details to receive notice of new issues.

Thanks for your reply.

Eddie.

There are too many web sites like that.

Select the text and it becomes readable.

Click on "Edit" and "select all".

"Eddie Bray" wrote

Have you taken a look at the new Skaledale footbridge base on an NER prototype which has appeared in the new 2006 catalogue? It look to have some potential to me.

John.

Hi Eddie,

Apart from the bottom of the home page where the black text only goes on the margin by a tiny amount, I cannot replicate this problem. Which page were you looking at ? Which browser/version are you using ?

Graham Plowman

Hi Graham,

Unfortunately, most of them, Funnily enough on my PC the Home page does not do it. The News page does, Small bit at the top of the Download page, Every page of the Articles section has some encroachment, the DCC Questions and Answers is the worst.

Browser is Internet Explorer Version 6.0.2900.2180.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519 Resolution is set at 1440 x900 32bit.

That works well Chris, thanks.

Eddie

Hi John,

No I have not seen it yet. Is it available? If not any idea when it may be?

Eddie

I imagine John is referring to this footbridge, which I can't find a picture of on the Hornby site :-

D'oh....I didn'tlook very hard, did I? availability is quoted as first quarter, so probably March 31st. :-)

I've never understood why manufacturers don't provide two different heights for platform and ground based footbridges.

"Christopher A. Lee" wrote

Increased tooling cost?

John.

Many local footbridges did come down to ground level as they were used by nearby pedestrians to cross the line.

(kim)