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Beginners guide for download

Hi all,

Another newcomer...

After not looking at a model train for about 35 years since I were a lad, my youngest son who is a train nut has demanded I do now!!! As we live in a very small/old cottage we don't have anywhere for a large or even medium layout...we started a few months ago with a 6x4 board in 3 sections, based on a Hornby trackmat...it's worked OK but after several damaged rails (from handling the boards up and down every other day) and rails not aligning 100% (even though I used several removable-pin hinges along each join to ensure alignment!), we've decided to start again using a slightly smaller board that I've worked out how to hinge down from a wall in his bedroom. We now need some guidance on boards, wiring for 2 locos and points etc. etc. etc.

I've just copied all the beginners guide articles into a word document, so I can print and save them for later reading offline...because there's no pdf/doc version available to download. As I've done this, I could print a pdf in seconds, which could be put onto the site if it would be of any use to anyone else.

If people think it would be a good idea, and tell me who to send the pdf to so it can be added to the website, I'll copy the last few articles that I didn't need, and create the pdf file.

The info in the guides looks useful...thanks... although I must say that the missing photos/pictures would be very useful for a beginner, where the descriptions alone don't tell the full story!...maybe the authors could add them...please!

Cheers

Nige

Reply to
Nige
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I built a 6x4 hinge down board for my son's bedroom 40 years ago. It was a nightmare, even building light we ended up with a hefty flexing lump that strained fixings. Don't do it. Run some shelves round - doesn't have to be a complete circuit, and these lighter items could be hinged up against the wall when not in use.

Ken.

Reply to
Ken Parkes

Bloody Blue Peter!!! I think that's what my Dad said 40 years ago as well!! Rob

Reply to
Rob Kemp

We don't have a lot of choice...except stick with what we have now...and I will soon get fed up with replacing broken track etc. (also the whole thing is too arkward for my 4'9" wife to assemble with Ben if I'm away...which is a lot...so he moans and groans because he can't play with the trainset!!!)

I can't really see the problem...when I was a lad my old man did a hinge down board that must have been about 8x5ish...made out of blockboard (I don't know if you can still get this but it was bloody heavy!)...I don't remember there ever being any probs with the fixings? For a board that will be 1700x1200 (sorry have switched to metric now as this is 2005!) of 12mm ply and a 50x25 frame, I am thinking a baton on the wall with 4 fixings 75 or 100 x 10 or 12, and 2 or 3 T hinges.

Nige

Reply to
Nige

I make that 5'7"x4'. It's not so much the screws into the wall for the hinge batten, as the fixing of the pulleys I used to raise the weight. The pull is at 45 degrees to the wall so the downward force on the pulley was matched by a correspondig force trying to rip it out horizontally. If it gives way as it is being lifted or lowered see the blood spurt. We were building a scenic layout which meant the hinges had to be mounted six inches above the board which didn't help. When you say you have to stick with what you've got, do you mean timber, or track? I assume you have more than a simple oval for a board that size

- or expect to be getting more. The timber could be cut up for fixed shelves. Blockboard is still available and still heavy and expensive:) Could it be that you were rather older than your son when you had that old layout? Reaching the middle for a small one would be difficult. I had a

24"x18" hole in the middle.

Ken.

Reply to
Ken Parkes

I did something similar when my son was about 10. And on one wall built a sturdy framework "bookcase" on which the layout board is hinged. The layout board rests, and is clipped, against a shelf 4 feet up the wall.

It never did get developed much, and my son is now 31! But it has survived well.

Having retired early I have revived an interest in model rail, intending to get into DCC.

Reply to
Dickie Mint

Badly explained! I mean that our choice is to stick with what we have (3 section board - with 2 loops and sidings...and room for some more BUT if on a 3-section board I have a lot of faffing about to connect the sections of a new loop together electrically!), or build the new hinge down one.

I assume you have more than a simple oval for a board that size

My mum or dad used to get the board down for me as it was too heavy!

Maybe I should be thinking about sundeala instead of ply...is this lighter? I wasn't thinking of a pulley (or winch!) system as the board won't be that big, so me or the wife will just climb on Ben's bed to unclip it at the top/side and lower down either onto fold out legs or a small trestle...haven't decided yet!

Thanks for the comments...any more are gratefully received...as a beginner I need various suggestions to be able to find the best solution for us!

Cheers,

Nige

Reply to
Nige

It was the ref. to your petite wife (I have a daughter just under five feet-(in height Jane, not footed) that made me sit up. Would it be possible to hinge the existing boards to fold and unfold. The hinges would need to be a bit above rail level to make sure the rail ends don't grind against each other. Think of an Orthodox Church triptych opening like a book. Sundeala is very light (and expensive) but would need more bracing I think.

Ken.

Reply to
Ken Parkes

"Nige" wrote

You must be quite a survivor if your youngest son hasn't looked at a model train for about 35 years! :-)

Yes please, sounds very interesting. But what beginners guide articles are we talking about here please? I initially assumed you meant the Toddler ones but they're called "Shows you How" ...

Reply to
Ed Callaghan

And I'm only 44!!! - my English writing skills have never been 100%.

The guide is on the

formatting link
site...in the browse menu at top-left you'll see "beginners guide to model railways"

Nige

Reply to
Nige

And I'm only 44!!! - my English writing skills have never been 100%.

The guide is on the

formatting link
site...in the browse menu at top-left you'll see "beginners guide to model railways"

Nige

Reply to
Nige

Hi Nige,

That'll be me!

Unfortunately I've had to recently suspend all downloads from the website after some kind souls decided to repeatedly download the same files in excess of 100 times in two days causing me massive bandwidth problems. I removed the downloads, banned the ip. address of the person involved, and a few days later reinstated the download section only for it to be hit again.

So, for the time being, I'm not allowing any kind of downloading from the site at all. (other than the normal serving of webpages)

It's a pain in the proverbial, I admit, but I'm suffering from lack of time to update my websites of late and I don't have the time to keep on checking whether things on the site are as they should be.

Other than that, it sounds like a great idea and one that I would have liked to incorporate. :(

Pete

Reply to
mutley

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