Model Railway

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

Nephew-the-younger wants a model railway for his 13th birthday.

So busy researching the subject - which involved taking him to Pecorama in Devon earlier this week, to get some ideas from their exhibition

(Included a round of Crazy Golf - guess who won )

We came away tempted with 009 scale, with which we can use the 00 buildings we already have.

But, I have now discovered the worlds of railway-in-a-suitcase. If you can't cope with the news anymore, this video is an hour of pure escapism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FalpX3BaLx4

Viv

[Wolfgang]

As long as he doesn't want that one... https://www.miniatur-wunderland.de

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

ONE DAY - I'll get to visit that layout - it's on my bucket list!

Rather than the hour long video, this link is to the Suitcase Railway YouTube. Each short film starts with the opening of the case and I think those #100 plus are the most delightful, since they are multi-layered

https://www.youtube.com/c/SuitcaseTrains

Viv

[Courtenay]

Oh wow — now that's a space-saving solution for railway enthusiasts without an attic!

I know you're nowhere near Cheshire, Viv, but if you and/or your nephew might be able to fit in a trip here some time soon, there's a very impressive model railway currently in operation at Chester Cathedral until 3 September — more info here. Lots of fun to watch and incredible to see how much miniature detail the whole layout includes. (And Chester itself is a beautiful city and well worth a trip — I go there quite often now that I can get there easily by train. A full-sized one, that is!!)

[Katharine]

Wow, what a great topic. I love railways, big and small.

Vivi, I hope you manage to find something suitable for your nephew.

I used to love playing with my father's Hornby trainset (00 gauge), and I still remember the excitement of going to a local hobby shop and trying to decide which of the cardboard building kits we would get him for birthdays/Christmas etc.

Wolfgang, my father visited the Hamburg railway just a few weeks ago. 80 years old and he set off on his own for a 3 day trip, just to visit the exhibition - obviously his passion hasn't dwindled over the years.

Courtenay, the Chester railway sounds lovely, I have a friend who lives in Cheshire who I would love to visit, but sadly I don't think I'll have time to arrange a trip up there before the 3rd September. Such a shame as I could have combined two things in one.

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

Fantastic layout in the cathedral - and lots of space!

Thanks for link

[Bertie]

Great thread.
I love the look of the 'Suitcase Trains' videos. And have linked them to my family, who all like trains / layouts even more than I do, and who all thoroughly enjoyed them as well.
And I've mentioned the Chester Cathedral layout to my brother, who is off work next week, and he's going to go there with my two nephews. There's a cheap Merseyrail ticket to get there from Southport, and very cheap entry to the exhibition, so it should be a very enjoyable and affordable day out for them.

[Boatbuilder]

Interesting videos. I enjoyed them.

I bought a Hornby '00' gauge railway almost 25 years ago after our first grandson was born and I added to it over a few years. Unfortunately, because of a lack of space, it hasn't seen the light of day for quite a number of years and everything is in its box. Maybe one day........!

I took some pictures of one of the locomotives about 12 years ago, experimenting with a new camera at the time. Here are a few of them.

[Boodi 2]

Lovely photos John! We are in a similar position as my husband has a huge Marklin model railway that he received as a gift from his father around 50 years ago. When our son was young we used to build it up at Christmas and also added more bits and pieces to it, but it hasn't seen the light of day for at least 15 years due to its size (it takes up about 60% of the living room!) and the lack of space, which I think is rather a pity. It is stored in several boxes in the attic and probably won't emerge again until we have a grandchild!!!

[Boatbuilder]

Thanks, Monique. It's not that large a set as it fits onto a 2.4 x 1.2 Metre board. It would have been nice to have done something larger but as I said, space was the factor if I wanted to leave it up all the time, and my attic is, well, used for storage so that was always out of the question.

[Boodi 2]

I am not sure of the exact measurements of the board we use for the Marklin model railway, but oddly enough I don't think it is a great deal bigger than your board...problem here is that the rooms are fairly small! Another factor was that our son said the part he liked best was taking the railway out of storage and setting it up, especially when we bought new items for it (he loved constructing the various buildings that were placed at the side of the tracks). Once the setting up was finished he tended to lose interest in it, which became more pronounced as he got older.

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

I have just discovered this video about the Chester Cathedral layout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du8MR7FEeGE

When it gets hot again and I won't want to move, I'll enjoy all 70 minutes of it!

Viv

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's great to see the railways and locomotives. When the children were young, we enjoyed seeing a selection of model railways at an exhibition in Tenterden, Kent, which was part of a Thomas the Tank Engine day.

Courtenay, I know Chester city centre quite well - or used to (in fact I was born there!) When I was growing up in North Wales, we went shopping in Chester once or twice a year and sometimes visited the zoo.

[Bertie]

I also visited Chester Zoo a number of times when I was growing up, Anita. Used to love going there and seeing all the lovely animals.
Knowsley Safari Park was closer but we all much preferred Chester Zoo even if it was a longer journey to get there and back. I hadn't been for a number of years but I went about 5 years ago with my brother and my nephews and still thoroughly enjoyed it.

[IceMaiden]

Chester Zoo, that's a real blast from the past! I last went there with a friend on my ninth birthday! And Knowsley is an bigger blast as I was only around 4! I can still remember the green guide booklet with yellow writing and a lion on it, the seal display and the rides and roundabouts, bet it's altered beyond recognition now.

Sorry.. On topic. Railways. I love model railways, I'd make one up myself if I had the time, space and money. They're so fascinating to watch and look at, especially the older steam setups, they transport you back in time. I always find myself looking at them and wishing that the real world was still like it's depicted in those wonderful idyllic layouts. Peaceful, innocent, carefree happy days. I remember going to a model railway exhibition once that had those suitcase sets, they were wonderful but the most ingenious one had to be a man who had turned his wife's ironing board into an entire miniature setup! He'd carefully fixed the whole thing to the top and could just fold it flat to transport it!