[ajgraham]

Hi all,
Just getting back into OO railway models after 25 years out. I now have the money and space but not much time, whereas 25 years ago I had the time but no money or space.

I live just outside of Houston, Texas now, but I’m from Chester and lived in Edinburgh for a long time. I’ve a rough design for an idealised Edinburgh Waverley, Pitlochry layout loop with a 3D printed (shortened) Firth of Forth rail bridge.

I’ve just spent a small fortune buying used trains on EBay U.K. and Hattons Trunk, I think I’ve bought 11 steam and diesel locos so far. I’m excited to start building the layout.

I also bought my 3 year old son a Hornby Percy and Thomas train set for £50, so going to make a small basic layout for him to play with so he won’t destroy mine. Fingers crossed.

Hopefully in time I can contribute to the community. My background is a web developer.

Thanks,
Alex

 

[dwb]

Welcome to the Forum. I hope you get plenty of enjoyment from returning to the hobby.

David

 

[34C]

Sounds like fun. I am at the Southern end of one of the Waverley routes, modelling the KX area. Sadly Scotland is not yet perfectly supplied with suitable RTR models for your location, but I can heartily commend the Hornby J36 which is from Hornby';s top drawer.

 

[ajgraham]

Sounds like fun. I am at the Southern end of one of the Waverley routes, modelling the KX area. Sadly Scotland is not yet perfectly supplied with suitable RTR models for your location, but I can heartily commend the Hornby J36 which is from Hornby';s top drawer.

Thanks for the warm welcome. Southern end like the borders region or further afield? I used to get the train back and from Chester to Waverley a lot when I lived in Edinburgh or Livingston in the 2000’s.

I forgot to mention above I’m going for an approximate 80’s time period, at least for the Diesel and DMU’s locos. Thanks for the J36 recommendation, I’ll probably end up adding that to my stable of steam locos. However, I know almost nothing about that 80’s Scotrail period so have been using Wikipedia (mainly https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ScotRail_(British_Rail) under Rolling Stock) and Flickr images to reference liveries. I’ve found a few Diesel Class 47 locos which I think might be period and location correct such as:

• 47111 Greyfriars Bobby
• 47705 Lothian
• 47115 Haymarket
• 47709 The Lord Provost

The DMU’s I’m struggling with but that’s probably because the lack of names make it less obvious. I think a Class 104, 107 or 116 would be correct but I’ve not found any models that look right. Any help or insight would be appreciated.

 

[34C]

Southern end like the borders region or further afield?...

The London end of the East Coast main line, Kings Cross inner suburban area. In fine weather the ECML route is always a delight; although I yet haven't tried the new Hitachi hybrid MU's recently introduced to run the fast services, and reports are 'mixed'.


As for your DMU enquiry, a scan of the 'railcar' site may be an aid to picking the appropriate units.

DMU Types

The history of Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs / railcars) in Britain.

www.railcar.co.uk

Bachmann have produced a useful range of BR's DMU's which started with the class 108 which is a 'Derby' type. I suspect that is the closest match for the 107 and 116.

Heljan have announced a class 104, and one of the proposed liveries is the Scotrail 'Mexican bean'; got to be honest and say I never saw such a thing, I suspect it was in service while career seriously limited time for the railway interest. Whatever, delivery estimate is 18 months away...

 

[ajgraham]

I think I've been to Kings Cross once when I was a young child visiting London. I did live in Hampshire for a couple of years so Waterloo was a regular stop for me.

Thanks for the link, that's a good resource I hadn't found before.

I'd seen that Scotrail Mexican Bean on preorder, it didn't do much for me either and I've never seen that while I was in Scotland. I've seen a lot of period images and they all seem to be the yellow/orange livery, so I'll do some hunting.