new layout

[rlovatt]

Hi there,

My 9 year old son has expressed interest in model railways. I bought him the Hornby R1230M High Speed Train Set for his birthday.

We are currently planning to make his layout permanent on some ply wood.I am conscious though, that the basic layout which comes with this set, will become boring for him quite quickly.

I have no experience of model railways but I am wanting to add to the existing layout to make it more interesting for him.

Does anybody have any recommendations for us to make a more complex layout? which won't be to difficult for us both.

Any advice would be much appreciated

best regards

Rob

[Mountain Goat]

There are quite a few ways to make things more interesting. Adding points so one can have sidings. A station. An engine shed with water tower. A goods shed etc.
Other hints and tips as things progress will help turn ones trainset to look more like a model railway, but start with fun first. Make it fun to capture the imagination!
I prefer single track designs as they are easier to blend into the scenery though many love to fill their layouts with track like I once did where seemingly every bit of space had some track on it!
What I reccomend is to add a couple of sidings and leave one in such a way that one can add further points to expand in the future.

[rlovatt]

thanks for the advice

we bought a load of scenery like water tower etc.

I guess it's more the track etc, i just want more than a simple loop.

[Brian]

You can have two loops One inside the other. The inner one would use say Radius 2 curves while the outer uses Radius 3 curves. (or replace 2 with radius 3 and 3 with radius 4)
By having two DC train controllers allows totally separate loop operation.
Obtaining two same handed points will make a cross-over set to allow trains to run from one loop to the other.
Adding further points that lead into sidings where locos can be stabled, wagons left and carriages too.
Did the train set come with a Hornby Track Mat? Example Link If not they are worth while as they give a basic twin track plan and makes a good starting place.

[rlovatt]

Hi Brian,

thanks for the reply.

I do have the track mat. Is it easily identifiable from the mat what extra parts I need?

Cheers

[Brian]

Hi
Hornby have produced several Track Mats, each are slightly different. This I believe? is their latest one https://www.newmodellersshop.co.uk/imag ... dscape.jpg

If using this mat, Hornby help by making 'Extension Track Packs A to F' so you can build up slowly or buy them all and make the complete twin track layout or just use some and omit others. You can see the Packs here as an example https://www.newmodellersshop.co.uk/Mode ... k-mats.htm This is assuming the mat you have is the same as this one I have linked to.

I don't have a mat to check so I cant answer if the track section part numbers are individually marked on the mat?? Someone else may know?

[Mountain Goat]

I actually have a spare trackmat which has the code X11269 (Hornby). Is an older one as each year they make new designs, but is going spare as I don't use them myself. They were including them with the trainsets. (No idea if they still include them).

In answer to the question if the track part numbers are on the trackmats. They are not on the one that I have or others I have had in the past, but they are actually easy to work out what track parts one needs as long as one knows what radius curves are on the mat which is not too difficult to work out if one has a curve that one knows is a certain radius to match up to the mat to test.

[rlovatt]

do you need to buy each of the expansion packs in order? or can we buy any of them randomly?

they seem pretty expensive for what you get in the packs.

is it substantially cheaper to buy track track from ebay etc?

thanks for everyone's input.

best regards

Rob '

[IanS]

Buying track from e-bay or elsewhere second hand is not advisable. Postage is expensive for a lot of track and the quality second hand can vary a great deal. It can look ok on the screen but when you use it be very poor.

My advice is to buy it new and locally to avoid expensive postage costs.

I don't know now, but track packs used to work out cheaper than the individual sum for the group.

Also, if at some point you may go to the DCC route, get electro-frog points from Peco. They may not fit exactly on the track mat, but careful use of scenery can hide the mismatch.

The order in which you purchase the track packs will depend on the features you're looking to add. Look carefully at what's included and where it will go on the layout to help you decide if a particular one will fit.

[Mountain Goat]

The way I look at it for a beginner. If you have a chance to buy secondhand track for a cheap price then I would not say no, but you will find that nickel silver track is better as many older track pieces are steel, and that some track may be problematic if it does not sit flat etc.

Ideally new track will be better in that it is less likely to give any issues, but if one can get a lot of secondhand track without spending too much I would not say no. It is all about price as one should account for buying secondhand that not all the track pieces will be in reasonable condition. (As mentioned above that some track may not sit flat and cause de-railments). Buy spare packets of railjoiners if going down this route. Buy a spare pack anyway! Spare railjoiners are handy!

New track is best when it comes to reliable running but the prices of new track are not cheap. Postage is another issue one needs to check with as there is no point in buying secondhand if the postage and the track costs added together are going to be more then they are worth.

To conclude. This is my advice. If you see a bargain bundle and the all in costs are cheap, then one may as well go for it. Buy assuming that 50% of what you buy will be usable is probably a reasonable estimate to be on the side of caution. If the prices are going to be high, then buy new.

Many more experienced budget concious modellers will buy new for their main running lines and use older track in sidings which is what the real railways did. The main running lines that were used the most then had nice track to run trains on, and the lesser used sidings did not matter so much so had old secondhand track which used to be used on the main line until it was replaced.