[edzmen]

Hello people!

I'm new to this forum so thought I'd just say hi.

I've been a lover of steam trains ever since childhood and recently I decided to fulfil a dream of my youth and build my own OO gauge layout for the first time.
As a complete novice the experience wasn't without its challenging moments, but I feel pretty happy with the end result and thoroughly enjoyed myself - not to mention learnt lots!

I thought id post a few photos of the layout, as I've never had any opinions from fellow enthusiasts yet.
I was going for a fictional modern-era 'preserved railway' look, as my experience and skills weren't up to the task of replicating a past times real-life location:

Its not fully complete yet, im still messing about with little bits - but I'll post some more shots later if you like these...

Thanks for looking!

 

[Doug]

I like these photos.They are all at real-life perspective. Good lighting and composition. Only the background that distracts slightly, but we see from your wall art that you are keen on planes, trains and canal boats

Welcome to the forum, please show more photos and perhaps give us a track plan.

 

[Dynamite26]

That is a really nice looking layout you got there and as Doug said more photos and maybe a track plan but also how about a photo of the overall layout.

You have some great locos there and i want to get the Mallard to go with my steam fleet.

 

[Brian Considine]

Nice well produced pictures of a nice layout. Thanks for posting them & welcome to the forum.

best regards
Brian

 

[Trav]

very nice layout you have there. im currently working on my layout, did you use underlays for your rails?

 

[rb277170]

Very nice Edzmen. as others have said would quite like a trackplan to put scenes in perspective. However, you certainly have an eye for some good scenes.

Russell

 

[dwb]

I like the clumps of grass growing in and around the rails, very effective. The shot of the GWR 2-8-0 shows just how much wider GWR locos were across the cylinders. This feature limited their ability to travel outside their area.

David

 

[Gwent rail]

Welcome to the forum edzmen.
Like the photos and as the others have said, look forward to more, including track plan.
I think you are doing well, especially as this is a first attempt.
The "messing about" bit is as much fun as anything else and is often what takes the good layout into a top class effort. So more power to your elbow and good luck.

 

[Jeorge]

I would love to see more Pictures.

Great job, I love the yard

 

[edzmen]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, glad you like it! J

I'll post some more shots later in the week.

With regards the plan of the layout, I thought it sensible to start out with the simply Track Mat layout produced by Hornby rather than go for something too ambitious and run into problems.
Essentially, its just the standard Hornby Track Mat layout with an extra outer loop added to allow three trains to run at any one time.

The shots below are taken from slightly higher up and give a better impression of the lie of the lines, but I can always take some fresh ones from above if you want to see more:

 

[rb277170]

Nice.

Maybe Hornby should consider the pics for their next catalogue. Certainly shows off their models to good effect. Its amazing what can be done with the trackmat

Russell

 

[pacman]

Excellent layout

I hope mine looks half as good when it gets off the ground. Much like my 7'6" square space; it shows what you can achieve in a small space. Well done!

I am particularly impressed with the scenery you have used, especially the grass tufts!! And how you integrated the buildings, like the coaling stage...looks good.

 

[Doug]

I agree, it's the best use of the trackmat that I've seen.

Are those all Skaledale model buildings?

 

[disco-dave]

Excellent stuff. I'm just building my first layout, but I ain't got as far as this yet. I think it really goes to show what a great layout can be achieved with the trackmat design.

Is it conventional DC control, or did you go for DCC?

 

[edzmen]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone!

I was originally going to use the buildings provided in the Track Mat add-on packs from Hornby - but they just looked very plastic and un-realistic, so I decided to replace them all with Hornby Skaledale buildings. They make such a huge difference to the realism of a layout and so were more than worth the extra cost, in my opinion.

No the track is all conventionally controlled im afraid, some of the locos I use are older models without the de-coder and I felt I had enough on my plate not to have to fit one to each.

Im sure it could very easily be converted at all DCC and would further enhance the capabilities of the layout. I'll keep it in mind for a future upgrade.

 

[edzmen]

I was just messing about with one of my layout shots in Photoshop the other day, experimenting with adding more atmosphere to the image- and I finished up with this so I thought i'd post it here too:

Original Shot:

Edited Version:

 

[pacman]

Excellent pictures!! I am soooo intrigued by the scenery though; how do you get your grass (tufts n' all) looking so realistic??

I am just starting a layout after a 25 year break, and back then the only thing you had was flock and lichen

You can achieve so much better results with todays products....please do tell

 

[Jeorge]

Is there by Anyc chance you could take an Above photo or a plan of the Yard please?

 

[neil_s_wood]

Welcome to the forum edzmen. Your photographs certainly show off your layout to good effect.

Very nice.

 

[Doug]

Some good Photoshopping there. I like the buildings and lighting added to the photo. It gives a really good effect