Over the years I’ve met many people who were planning to build a model railway when they retired. They were purchasing the equipment they would need to build their dream model railway. Sadly many of them never got around to the task. If this describes you these notes are intended to encourage you to start building your dream layout.
If you’ve toyed with the idea of building a model railway and not known where to start, now is the ideal time to get started. I’ve found treating your first attempt at railway modelling as a learning exercise gives the most satisfying results. Don’t be afraid of changing things around after all; it’s your model railway. What is important is how you like the result.
Your model railway needs a home. Setting up on the floor is hard on the knees (especially for us Starts at Sixties). Operating your trains on the carpet can result in major damage due to carpet fibres jamming the locomotive drive gearing. A reasonable starting point without an exercise in carpentry is a fold up, rollaway table tennis table. This approach gets your track off the floor.
Starting from scratch, a train set is the ideal starting point. These days a train set contains all you need to get going. Most sets contain a plug in power supply, a speed and direction controller, sufficient set track pieces to build an oval of track, a locomotive, some coaches or goods waggons and a reasonable set of instructions on how to set up your train set and maintain it. The choice of train is up to you. While the “Flying Scotsman” set is impressive, it is a model of a large locomotive. A more mundane set might be a better place to start off after all the Air Force doesn’t teach pilots to fly in an F18.
Once you’ve got your train set home you can unpack it. Reading the instructions packed with the set will help you set up and learn to use your train. Check all the couplers are installed and all the coach and waggon wheels spin freely.
Assembling the track is easy. Slide the pieces together on a flat surface, so the rail joiners fit onto the end of the rails of the adjoining track section. You can secure your track to the board/table top it is laid on with twelve millimetres long twenty gauge panel pins. The track securing pins locate the track. Don’t drive the pins in too hard as this may distort your track leading to derailments.
Once your track is assembled and the power supply connected, you can start operating your train. Get familiar with how your locomotive responds to the speed controller. Once you are comfortable with how your locomotive operates, start hauling a train. Smooth starts and stops not only look realistic; they help your train operate more reliably. Once you are comfortable operating your train set, you can enlarge the track plan and add extra waggons and coaches.
The setting and era of your model railway is up to you. If you bought a “Flying Scotsman” set, you could set your model railway on Britain’s east coast main line at any time from the 1920s to the 1960s or on any of a number of preserved lines the now preserved locomotive has operated over since that time. The time period of the model of BR 46247 in the attached photo, based on the locomotive and coach colour schemes is the late 1950’s. In addition to the time period, you have the choice of an urban or rural setting. An urban setting has the advantage your model of the “Flying Scotsman” stopping at a station on your layout is more believable than it stopping at a rural hamlet.
If you are interested in or thinking about starting into railway modelling we’d love to hear from you.
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