Episode 4: Engineering Works

In the last episode I elected to go with the 'Track Mat' as a base material for my layout. As mentioned previously these come in a variety of different colours, dimensions and textures. I suggest shopping around, yes - eBay does offer good prices but you can never be 100% sure of what the Mat will look like as the pictures online are often not brilliant. If you've got the time and patience get down to a model shop so you can do a bit of window shopping and then you'll probably be able to shave a few quid off your Track Mat by buying online, but I have found prices in shops to be pretty competitive and reasonable anyway.

If you are thinking of finding your local model shop - pick a good one. In past (young Andy) experience, Model Shops can be very hit and miss. Sometimes they'll cater for a wide variety of modelling such as warcraft and erm other things like that... (Modelzone in Holborn, London is pretty good for this) but some will more resemble toy-shops who stock a few train sets on the side. If you're lucky though, you will stumble upon one that pretty much specialises in just trains (yay!). These definitely tend to be the best in terms of quantity and quality of stock. My shop of choice is John Dutfield in Chelmsford, Essex however off the top of my head there's a really good one in Betwys-y-Coed, North Wales.....

This is what I went with... Gaugemaster Ballest affect TrackMat measuring in at 1m x .75m. This does means I'll have to buy two roles per board in order to cover it, however you may struggle as I did to find (both in shop and online) a Mat bigger enough to cover a 2.5 x 3ft space!

Next comes the messy part - glueing the paper to the wood.

PVA Glue will do the job very well, but I'd definitely recommend watering it down to create a sort of wallpaper-esque paste. The model railway online forums will suggest a variety of different Glue:Water ratios but I went with 70:30. This should make the glue easy to spread but thick enough to take some adhesion.

In true blue-peter fashion, lay down some newspaper - I made sure to pick one up on the tube that day so don't judge my political or culture choice - and start laying on that glue. Many people will elect to glue the back of the Mat but I figured glueing the wood would actually be far easier and far less messy and it ended up worked just as well. Don't be scared, you'll want a decent coating all over. I used a jug to mix the clue which also came in handy in a sort of 'pour and spread' technique. 

Find yourself a Leah/Girlfriend/Boyfriend/Colleague/Parent/Cat* to help you lay down the Mat. I found it easier to lay the Mat straight from the roll and then trim it once it had dried rather than a cut-to-size first. Make sure your Leah/Girlfriend/Boyfriend/Colleague/Parent/Cat* also comes with a good supply of heavy duty University literature. This will act as a very good weight to let the glue set especially at the edges. You'll notice that the Mat looks a little 'bobbely' and uneven... To sort this out I used the Oxford Dictionary pictured above to 'iron out' these creases. Push down on the book pretty firmly and move it slowly across the board - it'll work a treat. To cover the final 3rd (pictured above left) I hacked one of the rolls in half with a knife (above right - be careful now kids), again to make it easier to lay.

*A cat will definitely not be of any use to you.

I repeated with the 2nd board and then left the glue to dry for 24 hours. Where possible keep as much weight on the Mat as possible to help it stick. You could use lots of books, but I turned the 2nd board upside down and placed it on the first. I then put the coffee table in our living-room on top of this Board-Ballast sandwich to help weigh it down and I must say am very pleased with the results....

And there we have it. You'll notice the 'bobbles' have been smoothed out by the combination of Dictionary-Iron and allowing the Mats to dry underneath a coffee table... There are a few blemishes, but hey this was my first ever go at this what do you expect?! The join line on each board is noticeable yes - however don't forget we will be adding grass/roads/other scenery at a later date so these will eventually be covered up.

The only thing I will say is the Gaugemaster Track Mat's actual Ballast effect - which essentially is made up of very small wood shavings stuck onto paper, was that it's pretty loosely stuck down. By this I mean you will create a massive mess as these little flakes of grey unattach and sprinkle themselves all over your living room when moving the boards about. This was very annoying, however I found, or rather my flat mate found, a rather ingenious way of solving (or at least greatly improving) this problem.

Join me in the next episode to find out what it is as we also lay down the track!

Episode 3: Planning Permission

Planning Permission

Google has been working hard in the last few days to provide an answer to the question: 'What shall I lay on my board first?'  

If you're a little bit confused by this question, let me explain...

Before any track can be nailed down, we'll need to consider what is going underneath. There are probably going to be two main colours on your board depending on what 'scene' you are trying to depict: Grey - for track ballast. Green - for grass and scenery. However, you may also be considering Black - for tarmac/pavement/road, Blue for coast/sea/dockyards and maybe Browns and Oranges for industrial plants/quarries/mud etc.

As I'm not trying to complicate things too much, I'm just going to go with Grey for ballast, and Green for general scenery. I will intend at a future date to probably add a road or a street or two, but let's worry first about Grey and Green.

Before I make my final decision on what material to use let's consider some of the options open to us. Remember - we have to get this stage right as we'll be committing to nailing down track after this, which is sort of a point of no return. Once we've done this it's going to be exceptionally difficult for us to change the base material.  So choose wisely, and do which method you feel most confident with!

Paint: Literally go straight onto the wood with a coat of Dulux, or Cuprinol. Whatever floats your boat.

Pros: Very easy. The most basic option open to us is to paint the entire board green or grey. Then once the track is nailed down we can add ballast or grass over the top depending on what colour we went with first. Alternatively we could mark out the green and grey areas first and paint those two colours accordingly. It's going to be quick to achieve and isn't going to be as messy as any of the alternative glue based options (bellow). I'm not sure how much paint costs, it could be expensive but I imagine if you shop around and just get as much as you need it'll actually be pretty cheap.

Cons: It's probably going to look pretty basic, however if you think it looks crap before you lay the track you could in theory change to one of the options further down. (Just let the paint dry first!).

Track Mat: Kind of like fuzzy wallpaper, you buy this stuff in roles and glue it straight to the board. Comes in a variety of sizes, colours and indeed fuzzyness.

Pros: It's cheap and very easy to add one base colour. Glue board and lay like wall paper. Done. It's going to look much better than paint, and just like paint we could glue down one colour, and add others over the top at a later date. 

Cons: Two colours will be slightly harder to achieve. Firstly it'll be more expensive, and you'll probably end up with loads of off cuts from both colours. You'll also have to cut the mat to the shape of the track and at some point we're going to have to join the colours together which could look rubbish if we don't do it absolutely accurately. Again if the boards you have are bigger than the roles you buy, you'll need to have an unsightly join line. Finally this method involves glue, and glue is always messy.  

Scatter: Glue goes down first, and then you sprinkle on a topping. These come in a variety of different flavours ranging from authentic looking gravel for ballast to fluffy looking shrubbery for green scenics.

Pros: Get it right, and it's going to look brilliant and the best of all the options! Laying two colours will be far easier to pull off as you'll be able to hide the join lines with varying degrees of scatter. 

Cons: Expensive. Very expensive. I'd recommend getting on ebay to see if you can buy bulk rather than going to model shops. Time consuming and difficult especially the ballast part.

Conclusion: Naturally I'm going to sit on the fence and go for the middle-of-the-road option - The Track Mat. It's going to look better than paint, but it's not going to be as hard and expensive as scatter. To avoid unsightly join lines and make the process even easier, I'm going to lay only ONE colour. I'll then add the other by using scatter. (OK so I sort of chose two options from above!).

So what is the most dominant colour? I've gone back to my layout plan file (above) and drawn on (using that most professional of tools - Microsoft Paint) what I think is going where.

White - track ballast. So in these areas we'll need some form of Grey preferably that looks like, well, ballast. 

Green - grass/fields/assorted shrubbery. Basically stuff that isn't 'railway.' This may include roads and buildings and in the future.

Yellow - basically the areas that could be either. These could quite easily be green or scenic, but on the flip side there might be line side buildings, depots, signals, stations and miscellaneous railway furniture than in real life would still be within the confines of the 'track bed' area (which in our case is the colour 'Grey').

My vision of this layout includes the addition of lots of line side furniture more so than a 'country scene' so let us assume all the yellow areas are Grey as well.

So coming up next time - we lay us some Grey Track Mat. Join me then!

Episode 2: Design

Design:

After hours on the internet researching Model Railways I decided my layout needs to have certain criteria:

1. Probably the most important of all: The Layout should be easily dismantlable/storable. I live in a smallish flat in London now and with other people so there really is no room for a permanent fixture.
2. Despite this limitation the Layout should be as big as is logically possible to make the most out of all the existing track (Hornby) I have and so that I can run at least 2 trains with more in sidings. This presented two further limitations:
   a) The board(s) need to fit in my car. This is mainly to aid in moving it when I move house, but also just in case it’s good enough to take to an exhibition!
   b) It needs to fit somewhere in the flat, and it will be sitting on our extended dining table when out. Soit  can’t exceed certain sensible dimensions. 
3. It should be easy for me (a relative novice at DIY) to build. However, it should still look as good as possible whilst maintaining a modest budget. 
4. It should be easy to set up and set down.

With these in mind it was back to the world wide web. 

If I’d have google’d ‘Model Railway Base Board’ when I was younger then maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess. Well it turns out there are plenty of companies out there that will professionally build you a base board, which could fold in half or split for your convenience and in some cases lay down scenic felt. 

This would certainly fulfil the ‘Look good’ rule, and all could be made to measure which fulfilled ‘Fit in car,’ ‘Fit in flat,’ and ‘Have lots of track.’ However these certainly were expensive and did take away a little of the ‘Make myself’ element to the project.

I therefore elected to go to B&Q and buy some wood myself. This would be cheap, and I also knew from previously purchasing some MDF to cover up my window to help me sleep during the day after working nights, the exact dimension that my car will accommodate. This lead to the parameter, 3.5ft by 2.5ft. This is big, but not big enough for a layout. I would therefore buy two of these, seperating the board in half when storing the layout which gives me 5ft by 3.5fto work with. Perfect. Now we just need to work out the layout itself!

A very useful website I found was www.freetrackplans.com. Name sort of does what it says on the tin. It gives ideas on Hornby track layouts on certain pre-given sizes. If you go to the geometry section of the website it also gives advice on curve diameters - which played a part in helping me confirm the size of my layout. If this wasn't enough help FreeTrackPlans also links you over to a program called 'AnyRail4.' Which is a free* track planner tool you can download.

*Free up to 50 pieces in layout.

So I set to work , setting my project to be no more than 5ft by 3.5ft and this is what I came up with.

Layout

The dotted line denotes where the board splits in two. I plan at this point to nail down anything that doesn't cross this dotted line and keep the middle straights lose for easy dismantling. This setup also allows for a great deal of future proofing. In theory another piece of wood can be added in the middle when/if more space becomes available to me.

The layout features two ovals (Hornby 1st Radius & 2nd Radius) so two trains can run simultaneously. It also features 2 outer loops meaning at least one (preferably two) other train can be held here and alternated with the running one. The right hand side of the inner oval can be isolated by points, meaning a train can be held here whilst the siding in the middle of the board is accessible from the outer oval. All these options add for lots of flexibility, lots of trains and without complicated powering scenarios.

The long term goal will be to have a town scene in the centre of the board with a modest village style station occupying the straight section of the track towards the bottom of the oval. The siding will act as a wagon yard for the station. The sidings at the bottom of the board will allow for further stock storage and possibly some depot style buildings. At this point I will mention that I do need a liiiitle bit more track (for the 3rd radius curve) which is slightly depressing as I have ALOT of other spare track left over. However, this layout looks like it will really work so I'm going to run with it. Off to B&Q Leah and I go. 

Ply Wood

I opt for 12mm ply wood. To make it seem like I made an educated man-decision this was because I felt MDF would probably put up a fight against a measly track pin. However it will still be durable and strong. Sundeala and Chipboard were also options however I'm told by google and model railway forums that these are prone to warping in heat fluctuations if not built on a frame. I'm not going to build a frame, mainly because this means more money on tools - but more it's a case that I can't be bothered. It's useful to note that my flat has recently been fitted with a new boiler freeing up some storage space. and providing a location to store the boards at a constant temperature. 

Thankfully B&Q will helpfully cut your wood to size. Although the annoying bloke at Beckton Park will be confused as to why you don't want the offcuts. Why do I need them?! 

On return to the flat I set up as much of the layout as possible (minus the missing extra track at this point) to gauge an idea of how it was going to look.

   

Track Rubber

Top Rail: Clean
Bottom Rail: Dirty

First of all though, the track needed a damn good clean. It had amounted 6 or so years of premium grade dust and was hindering the running of trains to a mere stutter (much like the central line if you lean on the doors). To clean them I used Hornby's track cleaning rubber. Luckily I already had one, and despite me thinking it might have disintegrated over the years it still performed the job perfectly. (I'm also surprised that the changing temperature in the previously mentioned parents loft hadn't damaged the track. The day I collected it was sweltering!). 

Track Laying

BR Sprinter

Track was laid and trains were run. The BR Sprinter smoked a little on start up. (Yet more dust) But once run it was fine. All the other trains now worked very well on the freshly cleaned track!

  

Leah jumps in and decides that Model Railways are definitely fun and sits there for a good 5-10 minutes making DLR announcements. Bless. 

At Cutty Sark - The first two sets
and last to sets of doors will not open...

You'll notice at this point that I have very 'modern' trains, an exBR Sprinter, an East Coast Mainline 225 (in former GNER lively) and an EWS loco. Most modellers try and set a theme/locations or a period for their models. Whilst I have modern trains running here, I do have steam too. My cunning plan is to make the town scene as neutral as possible so I can run either if I want to have a theme.

So now we have a board. Lots of trains. And nearly enough track. The next stage is figuring out what material to use to cover the board and how to do it!

Episode 1: A Lost Hobby & Brief

Pre Amble:

I’ve always been into trains. I wouldn’t call myself an anorak by any measure and I couldn’t tell you the names of ‘important’ locomotives… (well apart from the Flying Scotsman, but everyone knows that one) but I love travelling by train, be it Intercity, Underground or International. I also like cars, and for that matter roads but I will always feel slightly bitter about how the automobile killed, or at least damaged, British Railways. Look out of your window on any odd rail journey and you’ll see empty spaces where branch lines diverged, where goods yards used to exist or abandoned platforms at your local station. This is sad. But this is what I like about railways, the sense of a romantic history which the M11 just can’t provide.

A Lost Hobby:

When I was younger, although maybe not as young as you might think, I had a model railway. It covered my floor space and no doubt p*ssed off my parents a fair amount with the constant addition of more track and the need to go to a model shop in Chelmsford every Saturday. It was pretty great, and it was also pretty big. I did leaf through model railway literature with the long term goal of nailing it to some wood and doing it all properly but that never came around. Instead, and rather tactically, my parents got a loft conversion of sorts in the form of laying down floor boards over roof beams. The promise was, clean up my floor space of track and trains, and replace it with a table in the newly floored loft. Once the job was complete I eagerly went to assemble my new layout (now with more fresh track as there was even more floor space to play with, in the loft). Whilst I thoroughly appreciated the efforts to relocate and encourage my hobby, unfortunately said parents forgot to factor in a number of variables:

1. There was very little height in the loft, and what height there was, was further limited by the camber of the roof. Certainly no room for a table and definitely no room for me to stand up.
2. As this was not a proper conversion of such the loft was still susceptible to weather. Namely too hot in summer and too cold in winter.
3. Next was the unbelievable quantity of dust.
4. And finally there was promise of folding ladders being attached to the loft hatch. This was scrapped due to the builder claiming ‘The hatch is at a funny angle and we can’t put folding ladders in.’ What I took from that was we had got a quote from an idiot who couldn't suss out how to problem solve.

Even with these problems I merrily went about setting up my layout in the loft, now on the newly laid floor boards. I tried to make do and enjoy the extra space but the heat, dust and fact I had to move ladders about the house to get up there was making the hobby I used to enjoy hard work. The final nail in the coffin was when I went off to university and it eventually got boxed up, presumably so my Dad could fill up the space with old CD players, empty hi-fi boxes, and naturally – lots more dust.

Spin on 5 years and Leah and I (Leah is my girlfriend, who seems to be copping quite well with the fact that her boyfriend bloody loves trains) were a bit bored and elected to drive to my old house to relieve my loft of my other childhood hobby of Lego. When we got there we discovered there literally was FAR TOO MUCH lego which had been arranged into brick type (which Leah deemed ‘unfun’) and put in FAR TOO MANY boxes. This disappointed Leah so my attention turned to my trains now all nicely boxed (I’m actually pleased at the job my Dad did at dismantling it all – it’s probably because he loves boxes) in two large wooden crates. Eventually Leah allowed me to take home 1 small oval of track and 1 train + wagons. This was excellent fun. Naturally it wasn’t enough.

The next few days and work lunch breaks were spent planning and researching folding/splitting/portable model railway board solutions. Eventually I came up with a plan.

This blog is about that plan, picking off from where I left off and building my own model railway. 

Post Amble: (More on what I'm trying to achieve).

Apart from cataloguing the construction of my model railway the secondary aims of this blog are as follows:

• You don't have to own acres of attic space to build a layout. Kids, this is about showing your parents that there ARE alternatives to having your layout on your bedroom floor, and parents and adults this is about showing you there IS room for a model railway no matter what space you have available to you.

• You don't have to be a complete locomotive number collecting anorak to enjoy a model railway. Rather luckily I already have a large quantity of rolling stock left over from my childhood. If you're literally starting from a blank canvas, and you want to build a rural village station set in the 1930's - brilliant. You can look up what locomotives, and railway companies existed at this time and buy accordingly. But if you're like me, and just love trains of all ages and eras - and want huge steam trains operating next to the Eurostar - by all means this is OK too. Remember the most important part of your layout is the trains themselves! So buy ones you like, and if they are not quite historically accurate to the rest of your model... So what.

• You don't have to be a DIY expert. I am merely armed with Google and my own logic. If you do your research you won't have to have a degree in woodwork or engineering to build something that (hopefully) looks good. This project isn't about creating a model that would appear in a magazine. Those kind of models take years to perfect, and whilst I am inspired by them and appreciate their art I want something fun and usable. It's important to remember that the people who make these absolutely brilliant layouts often have been building them their entire life. I haven't, and this blog is for the inexperienced first time modeller, like myself.